Understanding Exposure

[Jusselin]

So i have bought the book and when possible making time to read it, now that the wife is back in college for this semester i have reading time....

i wanted to go over a few things i am learning (because a book can only answer so many questions)

ok here we go

The thing i learned last night while reading was that getting exposure correct isnt always the best shot, not that you want it under exposed but because there are different options.

!. Leaving your f-stop at 1.8 and adjusting your shutter speed and ISO

2. setting your shutter speed to what you want and adjust your f-stop and ISO


the example he was showing were 3 different shots of a ferris wheel and how setting your shutter speed to what you want and adjusting your f-stop and ISO could get you the different motion captures you are after...and i got to see the different settings and results, and i must admit i cant wait to try and play around with what i learned

also i loved the way he explained ISO being worker bees and if it is set to 100 then you have 100 bees going out to bring in the light and if its at 200 then you have 200 bees going out to collect your light...and so on, i am enjoying the book

Does any one have anything to add that might be helpful or any suggested excersizes

[Debbi]

Excellent book!!! Nothing to add except to continue reading the book and following the exercises. You will be amazed at how much better you will understand photography.

[Jusselin]

i know i could hardly sleep last night because it was like i was slapped with a revelation lol, i stopped reading at that point to soak in the new info, i was scared that if i kept reading past that point that i would learn something else and forget that...i will start again tonight

[groovyone]

I always had my SLR by my side when reading that book. I tried to go out each night and try whatever I had learned from that chapter. It is a great resource.

My suggestion is do just what I did. Read it one chapter at a time, then experiment.

[Jusselin]

Originally Posted by groovyone

I always had my SLR by my side when reading that book. I tried to go out each night and try whatever I had learned from that chapter. It is a great resource.

My suggestion is do just what I did. Read it one chapter at a time, then experiment.

sweet lol the only thing i regret is not having more day light and time for the book and excersize, its going to take me a while but i am working my way through it

[venchka]

Hey, whatever works for you.

Go out and take picutres.

Enjoy!

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by Jusselin

sweet lol the only thing i regret is not having more day light and time for the book and excersize, its going to take me a while but i am working my way through it

Yeah, I did a lot of my testing at home or out at night. The shutter speed chapter is good to try at night. I went and photographed cars on the highway, from the safety of a parking lot of course.

[L Stegall]

ha ha - and this is exactly why I sound like a broken record and recommend this book to people starting out. My only other recommendation is to do what you are doing.....read it and then go practice it and re-read and practice and so on and so on. That's really the best way to have this stuff totally engrained to where it becomes second nature - you don't even have to think about it, you'll just know, well, I want to use x aperture or y shutter speed to get the look I want, so then I need to adjust either x, y or z to get a good exposure. Give your self a little challenge every week or month or whatever time frame you have - whether it is capturing motion blurs, freezing the action, shallow depth of field, etc. One of my fun little projects is to just stick my 50 mm on my camera for a day or weekend and make myself go back to framing the world through my 50. Or choose another focal length and do the same thing, but just stick with that one focal length no matter what. I did a whole trip to San Francisco with nothing but my 50 and got much different images than I did with my wide angle or telephoto and it was a lot of fun.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Jusselin

Does any one have anything to add that might be helpful or any suggested excersizes

But here is the first thing you can do. Go get a journal. Take your 50mm outside and find something to shoot. Put gaffers tape over your LCD. Set the camera to manual. Reset the counting system for your file names so it starts with 1.

Use your little meter in the camera body to figure out your exposure.

Use your brain and set up the composition you want. Start with something easy like a flower. Compose it IN THE CAMERA (none of this "I will crop it in post" ****.) Use your light meter to figure out what the exposure you need and adjust the aperture, shutter speed and ISO to get what you need. Write down why you composed the shot how you did - thinking about the rule of thirds and what you are trying to do with the picture. Why did you use the aperture/shutter/iso that you did? Write it down.

Take 10 pictures of the flower, then move on to a different kind of flower. Do the same thing, keeping a detailed journal of why you shot it the way you did.

Try using different apertures and shutter speeds. Try over exposing and underexposing.

20 pictures, a little bit of writing.

Now put the pics on the computer and review your notes. Even better, post the pics and your notes about the composition of each one.

Things to write down in each journal entry:

Composition:
Why did you frame the picture how you did?
Are you following the rule of thirds?
Do you have any special patterns that you want to display?
What were you trying to accomplish with the framing of this photo?

Aperture:
Shutter Speed:
ISO:

What depth of field are you trying to get from this picture? [shallow/deep/very shallow/infinity/etc]
What aperture did you use to achieve that?
About how far was the lens from the subject?


Then leave space:
When you review the picture in the computer, answer:
Did I over expose?
Did I under expose?
Did I focus correctly?
Did I achieve my goals in composition?
How could I have taken this picture better?

Do stuff like this and you will become a MUCH better photographer in no time. But stick with that 50mm lens. With the crap kit lenses you have, you really can't play with depth of field or anything like that much, which will hurt your development as a photographer, just like your reliance on zoom.

Yeah, have you tried the exercise that I gave you in another thread? Just taking lots of pictures isn't enough if you don't figure out what went wrong and what went good.

You can also do the same type of deal, but set your camera on a tripod or bench or table or something and use different shutter speeds/apertures.

Go outside at noon and set your camera on a table. Put the settings on ISO 200, Aperture F/16 and shutter speed 1/200th s. Click change the aperture down and the shutter speed up one click each. Go to the limits of your camera (1.8 and f/22) and then pull all those pics up on your computer and look at things like depth of field and exposure.

[Jusselin]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

Yeah, have you tried the exercise that I gave you in another thread? Just taking lots of pictures isn't enough if you don't figure out what went wrong and what went good.

You can also do the same type of deal, but set your camera on a tripod or bench or table or something and use different shutter speeds/apertures.

Go outside at noon and set your camera on a table. Put the settings on ISO 200, Aperture F/16 and shutter speed 1/200th s. Click change the aperture down and the shutter speed up one click each. Go to the limits of your camera (1.8 and f/22) and then pull all those pics up on your computer and look at things like depth of field and exposure.

yes sir i was actually talking about subject suggestions for the excercise ;) sorry about not being clear on that...i am taking your advice just wanted to know if any one knew of a motion capture subject i could practice on...i dont have ferris wheels at my finger tips lol

[Tom]

Cars driving by on a street work great.

[Debbi]

Depending on how adverturous you are and how far you want to drive, I believe the State Fair does start tomorrow so you could have a ferris wheel.

[L Stegall]

I think it may be the following weekend. I haven't seen the usual hoopla about it that comes with opening day.

[Debbi]

Originally Posted by L Stegall

I think it may be the following weekend. I haven't seen the usual hoopla about it that comes with opening day.

Could be. Since I haven't made my annual trip to Dallas yet, I never see the hoopla but I do keep hearing about it.

Sorry for the derail.

[L Stegall]

Not a derail -the Fair can be a really fun place to practice motion blurs and just general photography. It does start 9/25. here's the link: http://www.bigtex.com/ Maybe the sun will come out between now and then.

On the other hand, the Dallas Arboretum does have it's Fall Blooms starting this weekend - huge pumpkin display and other stuff going on and it's a great spot to practice different techniques as well, but I'm not sure how the garden hasn't been swept into White Rock Lake with all the rain we've had. :-D