Camera Basics: Shutter Speed

We touched on Shutter Speed a little bit in Camera Basics 101, but today we're going to talk about shutter speed and motion. Specifically we are going to talk about Stop Motion versus Motion Blur.  Again, a lot of photography elements are based on your preferences.  I personally lean more in favor of stop motion.  I like the look of it, probably from my days working for the sports beat for the newspaper.  BUT, there are times where I really enjoy motion blur.  For example, low lit artsy pictures, anytime you're dealing with some fun light, or lights that are moving.  Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about and how to achieve these lovely pictures.

Stop Motion

The idea here is that you are "stopping" or freezing something right at the peak of it's motion.  It can cause some really fun pictures.  Since this is a self portrait and I'm using a wireless remote for my shutter, you can see it gets a little motion around the edges, and a tad out of focus.

Here's a little bit better example, and one I have used before.  By having a faster shutter speed (ie higher numbers) you will be able to stop the action.  Now remember to compensate for your lighting in each situation by adjusting your ISO and aperture as necessary depending on your situation.

Motion Blur

As I stated in the above paragraph, motion blur isn't usually my thing...to the point where I had trouble finding a good example to show you in my library of photographs.  SO, I cheated, this is one that Speed Racer took of me while we were camping.  It's a great example of motion blur because the real action that he's blurring is the sparks coming off the fire.  They make beautiful spirals that if you had stopped the action you wouldn't see.  If you're worried about your other subjects blurring, we're getting some blurring here, be sure to use a tripod.  Sometimes it's nice though.  I like it in this photograph because I think it helps add to the softness and feeling of a campfire.  Have I mentioned I love camping?  I do.

Again, in motion blur situations be sure to adjust your lighting to the situation.  Also, it's a good rule of thumb that if your shutter speed is lower than 60, you probably want to use a tripod instead of hand held.  There's so much you can do with motion blur.  You can set up a tripod and track the stars by leaving the shutter open for hours, you can crank down the shutter speed and let the lights of cars paint your photograph, you can pan with a runner or car and get streaks behind them, and you can even make water look like silk...fo real!  Lots and lots of options, so go out there and experiment with stop motion and motion blur!

Camera Basics: Let's talk Composition

As in any art there are some basic rules that help you understand what is good and what is not good.  In photography there are some basic rules of composition that help you discover why the eye looks to certain parts of a photograph...what draws us to that point?  But really, for me, I love to break the rules.  And after all, they're just guidelines. One of the most famous rules of composition is the rule of thirds.   Basically you want to imagine that your photo is divided into nine equal segments by two horizontal and two vertical lines.  You want to put the point of your focus along these lines or at the points where they intersect.

Another example.  At times however, I feel it is fine to break this guideline.  Sometimes it works to have your subject right smack dab in the middle.

Another thing to remember in the rule of thirds composition is that if you do not want that sense of emptiness in the rest of the picture, it is sometimes nice to balance out the other space with other elements.

Another guideline of composition to keep in mind is perspective.  What are you intending the viewer to see?  This is one of my favorites.  Do you want to take the picture from up close? Far away? Above? Below?  Right on the level?  Anyone can just snap a picture but determining what is important in the photo is up to the photographer and your unique "perspective."

The human eye is also drawn to patterns and repetition.  You can draw the eye of the viewer by capturing unique patterns and where they end.

Another composition element similar to capturing patterns is the use of the natural line.  Our eyes follow lines, we follow lines all day long, so naturally we try to find the source.

Another interesting element of composition is the use of natural frames.  This could be a doorway, a window, trees, arches, or anything else that frames an interest.

Depth is also effective.  Here there are layered elements that keep the eye moving in the photograph.  First the field, then single tree, then tree line, mountains, and finally sky.  It would probably be even more effective if there was something more prominent in the foreground.

Cropping is the most direct compositional element.  You are simply saying as the artist, this is what I want you to look at.  Nothing else is important.  And it's quite effective.

Finally, the last composition element is background.  Having a simple, non-distracting background lets the viewer enjoy what is in the foreground.  Photography is a 2-D art, and so even though our eyes might easily separate what is in the foreground and background, it is harder for a camera lens to do so.  Get rid of the distractions either by focus or moving location, so that you can focus on your subject.

Those are some of the main composition elements to think about when you're getting started.  You can mix and match them, isolate them, or just plain ignore them if you'd like, but sooner or later they will sneak into your photographs without you even realizing it.

Camera Basics: White Balance

Are you having trouble with your pictures coming out too blue? Too orange? Too purple? Okay, so let's hope not purple. Odds are you're not setting your white balance correctly.  But don't worry, we're going to get that all straightened out, and you'll have beautiful, regular colored pictures in no time. There is a lot of scientific, intense information on White Balance (WB), and I'm sure if you google it you can get really in depth.  However, we're just focusing on the basics and easy terms here.  Essentially, there are many different types, shades, and temperatures of light, and our eyes are very good at perceiving them, but our cameras are not.  White Balance is the process of removing unrealistic colors from your photos, so that the objects that appear "white" or even in color to your eye, also appear so in your photographs.  As always, it's easier to explain with examples.

We are going to be focusing on this section of your display screen, so ignore all the other settings for right now.  If you need to, put the rest of your settings on Automatic, just this once, so you can focus on what we're talking about.  You can access your different White Balance settings by pushing the WB above your top display screen, and then using your large wheel to move in between the settings.  So here we have it set on AWB, that's Automatic White Balance, and is probably what most of you have had it set on until now.  AWB is good, but it is just the camera making an estimated guess at what the best white balance would be for what's going on in the photograph.  You're going to run into trouble with it if you have multiple light sources, or low light.

Here is an example of AWB.  Pretty good on average.  It's a little too cool at times for my taste.

Next up is your sunlight setting.  It's that happy little sun icon.  Obviously you want to use this when it's sunny outside, or you're near a window where you are getting primarily sun coming in.

I think this looks a little better than the AWB setting.  It's a little more vibrant.

The icon of a house casting shade, is your shade setting.

Obviously, you would want to use your shade setting actually in the shade and not in the middle of your back yard like I am.  But I primarily want to show you the difference in the tones.  Your shade setting is going to add back in some of the golden you would lose, if you were just on a sunlight or AWB setting because it is compensating for some of the lack of direct light.

The cloud of doom!! Cloudy setting folks.

Still adding in some golden tones, but not as intense as the shade setting.

Light bulb!  That one is pretty self explanatory.  You want to use this indoors when you have Tungsten light.

Again, this is just an example of how it would look on the wrong light source, it would look just normal if I was inside.

That icon is suppose to look like a fluorescent bulb.  You know the old ones in your elementary classrooms  that would sometimes go out and half the class would be left in darkness?  Yeah, those.  It's confusing to us young folks who now have fluorescent bulbs that look like regular light bulbs.  But if you take a picture outside with your camera on fluorescent, it will look like this:

Not pretty.

Flash!  That's right, you would need to use this setting when you have your flash on.

When you don't it looks kinda blue.

This little guy is suppose to look like a gray card, I think.  Anywho, this is your custom white balance setting.  If you have a gray card you can custom set how you would like the white balance to be.

Mine is not custom set at this time, so it just kinda looks normal.

K is for Kelvin.  Kelvin is literally what is used to measure the temperature of a light source.  Kind of confusing, but think of a burning fire.  Lower levels of heat are orange and yellow and red, at higher levels it is blue and white.  Thus the different "temperatures" of light.  This setting allows you to set the color temperature over a broad range.

Now we're going to look at examples of using white balance correctly and incorrectly:

So here, I am in the shade shooting on my sunlight or daylight setting and it's a little blue.

Correctly, with the shade setting on.  Brings back some of the golden colors.

Disturbing photo of Ms. Brisco.  She wasn't too happy about being woken up to have her picture taken.  But this is on the Tungsten (light bulb) setting, and you can see the colors are even.

With the sunlight setting, you can see it's way too orange, and she's done with letting me take her picture.

Finding a more willing subject, here is another example of with the sunlight setting indoors with a tungsten lamp, and then the correct setting.

So there you go!  You're on your way to getting great looking pictures.  A few parting words before you go.  If you have lots of different light sources, say you are inside, with a lamp but there's a big window beside your subject with natural light coming through, what should you do?  You want to do what you can to make one light source the dominant source.  So either choose a setting to shoot on, and edit later if you have editing software, or close the shades, so the Tungsten is your dominant, or turn off the lamp.  You could also use a flash to try and blast out the other options.  But just try and think of which setting is going to give you the most even colors.

Also, color as always, is subject to opinion and taste.  In other words, if you like a photo but it's on the wrong setting, no biggie!  This is a creative art, and it's always fun to experiment.  I like most of my nature shots as realistic as I can get color wise, but for people I like to have a little warmer tone.  It's all about preference, so have fun!

Camera Basics: Depth of Field

On our last camera basics post we talked about camera settings and Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual.  We lightly touched on what aperture is and depth of field, as well as shutter speed.  Today we're going to talk about how aperture affects your depth of field and how depth of field affects your pictures. Depth of field is literally, the "field" in your photograph that is sharp or in focus.  Your aperture is what determines your depth of field.  Smaller aperture number 2.8 means the larger the opening in the camera is (I know it's confusing it's backwards!), the higher the number like 22 the smaller the hole and the more that is going to be in focus.  Let's use some pictures to illustrate, that always helps me figure it out a little better, and after all this is a photography site!

For example if your aperture is set at 2.8 (wide open) you are going to have a shorter depth of field, meaning the things closer to you will be in focus and the background is going to be soft and out of focus.  Here is a prime example of that.  The red circle highlights the area that is in focus while the background is out of focus.

Here is another example.  In this photograph my aperture is set at 5.0, shifting the depth of field more towards the middle.  Now I am highlighting the corner of the lantern (yes it's a funky lantern, oh the things we use for examples).  This allows the closest part of the object to go out of focus, while also keeping the background out of focus.

Again, as we continue up the aperture numbers, this is at about an 8.0.

And all the way up.  Now, even though aperture controls your depth of field, the point on which you decide to focus on is obviously also going to change what is in focus and what is out.  For example if I were to zoom out in this photograph but keep my aperture at 12-22, then everything would be in focus, not just the back ground.  But I am choosing to focus on the background.  But I am also able to do that because of my aperture being set at the higher setting.  Confused yet?

Sometimes it helps if you take your camera lens off of automatic focus, set it to manual and then set your aperture.  See when you move the focus what is in focus and what can't be in focus at that setting.  That will give you a little better idea of what I mean.

Most of the time I prefer a short depth of field, meaning I keep my camera at 2.8 a lot.  I think it just adds an intimate feeling to the photographs.  But even in this picture I should have paid attention a little bit more and got his little antennae in focus as well.  Focus and depth of field help you tell the viewer what is important to you.

Like pretty flowers...

And tomatoes...

Here is another example of changing the depth of field within the letters on the truck...

A little bit farther out on the focus...

More over all in focus.

Although I prefer the shorter depth of field, there are times when having everything in focus is nice.   Like for large sweeping landscapes, or group shots, or big honkin' trucks.  If you take a landscape picture for example at a shorter depth of field (but you want it all in focus) it may look all in focus at the time, but then you'll get it home, put it in photoshop and go, "why is that mountain back there fuzzy?" Same with group shots, it will look wonderful but then you'll exclaim when poor ol' Uncle Bob is all fuzzy.

The only last thing to remember is that as you're changing your aperture, remember that you have to adjust your other elements like shutter and ISO to compensate for your lighting.  So, if you're in Aperture Priority (AV) your shutter will adjust for you.  But remember to change your ISO if you're going from inside to out, or sun to shade.  If you're in Manual, remember to keep your eye on that light meter in your viewfinder and change your shutter speed when you adjust your aperture.  Now go out there and have some fun with depth of field!!

Camera Basics 101

Lately I've heard a lot of people talk about how they want a new camera and many of them want to graduate to bigger cameras.  As Mrs. Miami put it, "I want a big girl camera."  So, if you are thinking about entering the world of Digital SLRs (which stands for single-lens reflex, F to the Y-I) here is a post for you.  I'm going to try and explain some basics to help you get started and realize what you're looking at.  We're gonna start really basic, and go slowly, so don't be scared.  I'll hold your hand.  And as a side note, if I don't explain it well enough or you've got questions, feel free to comment and I will try to explain it better.  Let's get started!

First, we're gonna want to turn it on.  Now I am using a Canon 40D for all these photos, so depending on what camera you are using some of the buttons may be in different spots, but you should be able to figure it out.

This is your review button so you can see any images you've taken...that way when we start comparing you can be like, "Hm, this one is much darker than this one...I wonder why that is?"  Push it once to review, and once to turn it off.

And the all mighty delete button.  Make sure you don't trash anything you might want.

Big-ol-selection wheel.  Use this to scroll back and forth between pictures on your view screen, as well as select options like, "Well yes I would like to delete this photo."

So those are the first operating basics.  My main focus today is going to be on Aperture Priority Mode, Shutter Priority Mode, Manual Mode, and ISO.  We're going to review what they mean and how to use them.  In the next post we will go into how to apply them and what your pictures will look like using each.  Today's just the mechanical aspect of it.

So here are your three modes I just mentioned.  To be honest, these are what I use for the majority of the time.  We have a no Automatic fly zone here.

AV= Aperture Priority.  Your aperture is the actual size hole in your camera that is letting light in as well as determining your depth of field.  Depth of field is another way to say focus, or specifically what parts of your pictures are in focus.  So we've all seen pictures where something really close up is in focus but the background is out of focus or vice versa, those are changes in the depth of field.  When you scroll back and forth in Aperture Priority you are going to notice the numbers go from 2.8 (depending on what lens you are using) to 22, these are called F-Stops.  At 2.8 the hole in your camera is wide open, letting the most light possible in, this is perfect for low light situations as well as close up focus.  At 22 the hole is as small as possible, letting the least amount of light in and also making more of your picture in focus.

That is how you tell what aperture capability the lens you are using can do.  So this can go to F4.0, which is just ok, the lens I'm using to take the photo with can go to 2.8, which is why I was using that one.

So once you have set your camera to AV, your screen will look something like this.  The top box is your F-Stop.  So right now I am as wide open as that lens will let me go.  The bottom number is my ISO Setting.  ISO is the digital version of film speed.  Back in the good ol' film days, you would pick your film depending on what you were shooting.  100-400 speed film was used mostly for outdoor settings where there was plenty of light and then 400-3200 was when you would transition into indoor and low light settings.  So basically lower speed film like 100 was less sensitive so it required more light, while higher speed films like 3200 were more sensitive to light so required less light to expose them.  The ISO setting on your digital camera is replicating this.  I was shooting inside so my ISO is set at 1600, to compensate for it being darker.

You can change your ISO setting by pushing your ISO button, and then using your smaller scroll wheel, which is located next to your trigger, to change the setting.

When you are in Aperture Priority, you are still in a semi-automatic mode.  Meaning that while you are controlling your light and focus by determining how open your aperture is, your camera is automatically adjusting your shutter speed to match it.  That way your photos will come out with an even amount of light.

TV=Shutter Priority.  The shutter is the device in your camera that opens and closes when you take a picture.  When you switch to TV, you are selecting to control how fast or slow the shutter opens, while your camera automatically chooses an aperture that will balance the light for you.  Occasionally you will run into a circumstance where you have a high shutter speed and your camera cannot get a low enough aperture to compensate for the lack of light.  At this point, inside the viewfinder, you will see a blinking light and the camera will not let you take a photo.  And you will be forced to bring your shutter speed down.

This is what it looks like when you are in Shutter Priority.  The lower the numbers the slower your shutter is going to open and close.  When your shutter is at a slower speed, you are more likely to get motion blur in low light situations.  Which isn't always a bad thing.  When your shutter is at a higher speed, you are able to stop whatever motion is happening and freeze it.  So, lots of famous sports pictures where the athlete is frozen in action are taken at high shutter speeds.

A lot of times I will use Aperture priority for nature or portraits, while I will use Shutter Priority for sports, or kids playing.

Aperture Priority

Shutter Priority

However, I'm old school.  Most of the time, I would say 99% of the time at this point, I shoot in Manual.

Manual=full control.  So basically it's up to me in any given situation to change my ISO, my Aperture, and my Shutter speed to match the light that I want in the photo.  When I first started shooting with a digital camera, I got frustrated...alot.  I was so use to setting everything myself and then checking my light meter to make sure I had the light where I wanted it.  But in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority the camera is matching the speed etc, so that you will get the optimal balanced light.  So your light meter always looks like this:

Right smack dab in the middle.  And I'm going to admit something that's kinda embarrassing, for awhile I didn't realize that this was my light meter.  EEk!  My light meter was very different on my old film Pentax.  But this light meter is also in your viewfinder at the bottom.

So this is what it looks like in Manual Mode.  You have control of all these buttons, and your light meter will change, which is super handy.  So you can always use your light meter to gauge what's going on.  I will warn you however, beware of white things, shiny things, mirrors, and windows...it's gonna freak your poor ol' light meter out!  So just experiment and try to gauge how to get the light the way you would like it.

And the last little tidbit in this marathon of a post, is how to set your Diopter.  Your Diopter adjusts the focus in your viewfinder to the strength of your eyes.  This might not seem like a big deal, but I have had times when I have picked up someone's camera to use and taken a photo and it looks out of focus.  I can't figure out why it would be out of focus, and it's because their Diopter is different from mine.  So this is easy to do, just hold the camera up to your eye, relax, and scroll the Diopter up and down until it looks as sharp as it can be.

So that is our start on getting to know your camera.  The best thing to do is play with the settings, see what you get, don't be afraid to push buttons, and just see what setting is the most comfortable for you.  On the next camera post we will work on applying these settings to actual photographs.