Lynsey: May 2011

Saturday 28 May 2011

Rule of thirds

Aperture and shutter speeds combined

Manual Techniques - Aperture and shutter speeds combined

If you are not wanting to alter all of the settings yourself you can choose either to have aperture priority (depth of field) or shutter priority. If it is the depth of field that you need to control but the shutter speed is less of an issue for example if the camera is tripod mounted for a macro shot then use the aperture prioirty and choose your f stop. The camera will then automatically choose the best shutter speed for your image.

If it is shutter speed that will make your image work for example you need a fast shutter speed to freeze an action shot then select shutter priority. The camera will now select the best aperture for your image (depth of field).

The diagram above shows the affects of adjusting the shutter speed on the aperture and vice versa.

Collins Digital SLR Handbook - John Freeman

ISO

Manual Techniques - ISO

ISO - International Standards Organisation

ISO enables to take images without using the flash and takes advantage of the natural light available in glommy conditions.
As the light gets dimmer the ISO needs to be adjusted.
ISO is set by M mode and selecting the set button which gives you the choice of ISO settings as shown below.
The higher the ISO the greater the risk of 'noise' which makes images look 'granier'.

ISO 100 - Bright daylight, sunny conditions, hand held shooting, where clean images (no noise are priority)

ISO 200 - As for ISO 100, but where a faster shutter speed or a slightly longer focal length is required and where you may also need flexibility with apertures and shutter speeds.

ISO 400 - Indoor or slightly overcast conditions, where you want to avoid using flash or you need fast shutter speeds and full aperture control to shoo hand held.

ISO 800 - Overcast or dark indoor shooting, sports or action photography, where you need to freeze the motion and noise issues are not a problem.

ISO 1250 - Low light or indoors, long lens shooting (hand held) at this level noise could become an issue.

ISO 1600 - Night time, low light, very long lens shooting. Noise will be evident in shots.

ISO 3200 - As for previous ISO but where high shutter speeds are required. Noise will be evident in shots.

Examples of different settings of ISO

ISO Setting: 200

ISO Setting: 1600

Shutter Speeds

Manual Techniques - Shutter Speeds

To adjust the shutter speed of the my Cannon 500D the mode dial is adjusted to TV. However when the camera is set in TV mode it automatically adjust the aperture, this also applies when you use the AV setting as the camera will automatically set the shutter speed and allow you to alter the aperture.

To set both the aperture and shutter speed yourself it is best to use M.

The aperture determines how much light passses through the lense and onto the sensor and the shutter speed governs the amount of time that the light is allowed to do so.

By choosing a quick shutter speed eg 1/60 sec moving water would appear motionless. To make the water look like it is flowing you would use a longer shutter speed eg. 8 secs. Although whilst using a longer shutter speed a tripod is necessary.

Subject	Shutter Speed
Landscape	60
Portrait	125
Children	250
Animals	500
Sports	1000
Race Cars	4000

F - Stops , aperture and Depth of field

Manual Techniques - F - Stops = Depth of field

Aperture

Aperture is the size of the opening of the lens when a picture is taken. Whe you hit the shutter release button on the camera a hole opens up that allows the image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you are wanting to capture. The aperture that you set affects the size of the hole.

The smaller the hole the less light gets in (shallow depth of field making the image in the foreground in focus and the background fuzzy).

The larger the hole more light gets in (large depth of field means most of your image is in focus wether its close to the camera or far away) .

Aperture is measured in F Stops - f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,f/8,f/2

Aperture has a big impact upon depth of field. Large aperture (remember it’s a smaller f stop number) will decrease depth of field while small aperture (larger numbers f stop number) will give you larger depth of field. Small numbers mean small DOF and large numbers mean large DOF.

Different styles of photography require different DOF. For my chosen area Portrait it is better to use a large aperture (small f stop) to make the subject in complete focus and the background blurry. Landscape photography tends to be smaller apertures (high Fstop) to allow the whole of the image from the foreground to the horizon to be in focus.

Diagram of decreasing apertures, that is, increasing f-numbers, each aperture has half the light gathering area of the previous one.

Depth of field/aperture example shots

Large Depth of field = higher f stop number = small aperture

Shallow depth of field = F Stop 5 = large aperture

Venture Photography - Contempory Research

Sunday 22 May 2011

First Portrait shots

This was new to me, not really took many portrait pictures with this camera as I tend to always go for landscapes or macro shots.

Saturday 14 May 2011

I love the cheekyness of this image. The image is very bright and fresh - it almost makes you feel as if it is cold! The image is done close up and has captured the boys facial expressions which is the main focus of the image.

This picture appealed to me as it was in black and white has a slight vintage feel. I liked the innocence of the picture and the different textures that are captured with the grass and flowers. Everthing is dark but the girls stands out due to the girls clothing and lighting which in turn also makes the flowers in the background stand out. The girl is on focuse on this picture whilst the background is out of focuse.

Statement of Intent

Principles of location photography

Unit 208 - Nature

I like this picture because its simple. Again the I chose this picture because of the reflections in the droplets of water. The water droplets soften the picture. I like the burst of colour in the droplets although I think they could be more vivid.

Again this macro shot is simple and doesn't have a lot of going on. The pattern caught my eye.

Statement of Intent

Unit 208 - Principles of location photography

Intentions/purpose of the photography to be taken:
People and Portraits

Reasons for selection of theme:
I like photos that capture a moment before its lost. Photos that are fun and that are a bit quirky or cheeky - dancing in the rain.

Photographer Henri Cartier Bresson captures shots like these. I like pictures that have layers, in a way a picture within a picture by having a reflection. Whether the reflection is in water or a mirror.