Thursday, January 31, 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

Day 20: Seasonal


Back to my own handy, dandy 50mm 1.8 lens.

1/100s
f/2.8
ISO 200
White Balance set to cloudy (6000K)

Day 19: Best Friend(s)


1/200s
f/5.0
ISO 400
Shot in Av mode, with Canon speedlight angled and using bounce card, set to ETTL,
exposure compensation (bias) to +1/3
focal length 60mm with borrowed canon 24-105L 4.0 lens.

Day 18: Something New

1/60s
f/2.2
ISO 400

Something new because it was Nick's first time making sushi (with the skipjack tuna he just caught), and something new for me because I haven't dabbled much with food photography.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Day 17: Memories

Memories
f/4.5
1/250s
ISO 200

I wanted to try for some back lighting.  I still shot in Av mode (I think because I am lazy, not that I can't do manual.)  However, with back lighting, you have to take charge and let camera know you're smarter than it is.  I had my exposure compensation set to (+1/3) because the sand is lighter than the 18% gray the camera is looking for.  So I've told the camera this scene is a little light, but there's not a way to tell it that it's back lit.  
Enter the magic of exposure lock.


1/800s
f/8.0
ISO200

If you leave it to auto exposure, this is what you end up with.  With all the light and dark spots, your average is still 18% gray, but nothing is right.

On my canon, the exposure lock is * button, next to the auto focus point selection button, and doubles as the (-) button during photo playback.  When you use it, you are telling the camera to meter according to what you have in your viewfinder now, not what you have in your view finder when you press the shutter button.  

So for this scene, I put a scene of sand and some bushes in the view finder, intentionally not using any of the overly bright sky, then pressed the * button.  Then is moved my camera and composed the scene how I wanted.  The result was much more like the scene my eye was seeing than the automatic exposure is, and I will take a totally overexposed sky over the automatic dark mess any day.

So, in short, when you push the * button, the camera calculates the exposure and sets the ISO, Aperture, and shutter speed, and doesn't change even if you recompose the scene.  While exposure is locked, you see * in your view finder.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Day 16: Animals

1/400s
f2.8
ISO 200
50mm 1.8 prime lens

Of course I would have loved a less-cluttered background, but here we go.  The automatic white balance was WAY off, so I warmed this up in Photoshop. 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Day 15: Technology

So, this is more a photo essay on the isolating nature of modern personal electronics.  All these pictures were taken within a span of a few minutes.

 
 
 
 
 
Posted by Picasa

Day 14: Movement

Lensbaby Composer Pro
1/50s
ISO 200
AWB

I think the aperture was 8.0, but since I didn't write it down and it's not part of the camera's metadata, I can't be certain.

Day 13: Written Words

Lensbaby Composer Pro
f/8.0
1/1000s
ISO 200

Day12: Hands





1/160s
f/5.6
ISO 200
focal length 53mm

Day 11: Something Old

I don't want to call Nick old.  I just needed a picture for day 11 so I can move on with my life.
What if I just call him an old soul? Or that our relationship is old? And no one is policing this challenge.  I'm just reassigning today to be Day 11: Your Significant Other.

My own criticisms- limb chop: I shouldn't have cut off his hands with the composition. I could improve this with a tighter crop. 
White balance is too cool.
Bright spots at top of frame can be distracting and lead eye away from subject.

focal length 55mm
f/5.6
1/125s
ISO 400
Automatic white balance

There is such a huge difference in picture quality between the kit lenses and my favorite, 50mm 1.8 prime lens, but I've been needing the flexibility the kit lenses give.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Day 10: Nature

1/160s
f/5.6
ISO 200

Day 9 Inspiring Person

Sihlouette picture of Nick and the kids.
1/25s
f/5.6
ISO 800

Among its other problems, this picture has a lot of noise.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2013/01/08 Favorite Color

1/125s
f/2.5
ISO 100
50mm 1.8 lens
Off-camera flash, diffuser, 1/8 power




For me these pictures are "ground-breaking" because I'm just learning to use a flash, and I'm even newer at using it off camera.  I had a lot of totally blown photos before these ones.

2013/01/07 Something Funny


I don't really like this picture.  I had the 50mm lens on, so I couldn't zoom out and I was against the wall.  Oh well.  And maybe you had to be there to know why this is funny, which means it's not a very good funny picture either.

1/125s
f/3.5
ISO 400
External Flash ETTL

Sunday, January 6, 2013

2013/01/06 Books


Books.  Three random books, with their limited knowledge, and a tablet propped up against them, with access to near infinite books within.

As long as you have the Internet and power, anyway.
Manual Mode
1/160s
f/2.8
ISO 400

External Flash ETTL mode

2013/01/05 Morning Sky

I'm not much of a morning person, so this is as early as I giving an effort for.

These are wild turkeys, being lured to the fence line by someone feeding them corn.
Getting proper exposure is hard because of the bright white nature of snow, the turkeys are darker, and the background is darker brush and shade.  The chain link fence doesn't add to the charm either, but there you go.

Shot with the kit lens 18-55mm at 55mm.  Tv mode,  1/100s, f/20, ISO 400.
I should have upped the shutter speed to about double what it was, opened the aperture a bit and lowed the ISO to 200.


2013/01/04 Leaves


Perhaps not the leaves the author of the challenge envisioned, these are leaves of a table.  I thought the leaves of gears would be cool to photograph, but I didn't have any laying around.
This was shot with the canon 50 mm 1.8 lens, with non-electronic macro rings (meaning you can't adjust the aperture (it's stuck wide open) and you have to manually focus.)

1/160s
ISO 400

Friday, January 4, 2013

2013/01/03 Happiness


Canon 50mm 1.8 II lens
1/80s
f/2.8
ISO 200

natural light, windows with light diffusing blinds on photographers left and behind.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2013/01/02 Smile

Smile

Interpreted very literally.

50mm, 2.8, 1/160s, ISO 400, no flash
Soft focus added to periphery in post processing.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013/01/01 Favorite Food


30 Day themed photo challenge, day one: Favorite Food.

Diet Dr Pepper on ice, in glass.  Window to right of subject.
Canon xsi, lensbaby composer with double glass optic, aperture 2.8, with 3x macro filter,  ISO 200, exposure 1/40 sec, AWB.
Added Auto contrast in picasa.