Exposure

My February focus was exposure, and I have to admit this one was a bit more of a challenge to practice than the Rule of Thirds, since there's a lot more involved.  I had originally chose this as my challenge for February since I though it would be a basic one.

Exposure, or Exposure Value, as defined in Wikipedia is the combination of the camera's shutter speed and realative aperature.  The Exposure Value (EV) is also used to indicate an interval on the photographic exposure scale, with 1 EV corresponding to a standard power-of-2 exposure steps, commonly referred to as a stop.

The shutter speed (measured in seconds) plays an important role in that it determines the length of time the shutter is open, and can create interesting effects by blurring motion or halting motion at different levels.  Most commonly seen in pictures of moving water, where a slow shutter speed blurs the moving water, and a fast shutter speed halts the movement of the water.
Each number represents seconds.  For example, a scale that goes 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4 these are 2 seconds, 1 second, 1/2 second, 1/4 second.

The aperature (the f number) determines how much light enters the camera.   The larger the f number the smaller the opening, the smaller the f number the larger the opening.  Therefore, larger numbers let in less light and smaller numbers let in more light.  The aperature also effects the depth of field, but I'm going to leave that to look in to another month.
Each number represents one stop in the camera (f-stop).  For example, for a scale that goes 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, from 1 to 1.4 is one f-stop, and from 1 to 2 is 2 f-stops.  Each stop is relative to the one before, so that 1.4 lets in half the light that was let in when the f-stop was 1, or conversely 1 lets in twice as much light as 2 (because there's a stop in between, 1.4, which lets in one time as much light as 2).
Note that digital cameras can sometimes go up in 1/3 or 1/4 of a stop because they are more finely tuned that a traditional or older camera (just something to be aware of when adjusting the aperature).

Shutter speed and aperature have a direct relationship with each other.  The smaller the aperature the faster the shutter speed, and the larger the aperature the slower the shutter speed.  The camera will indicate when it is at an optimal setting by indicating a '0' rather than '+' or '-'.  When a camera is in "Auto" it will always look for the '0'.  If a picture is over-exposed the "whites" or highlights will be too bright, and if you under-expose the dark areas will be too dark.  Both have the same effect - you loose the details.

I took a series of shots with the same subject to show the effect.  I shot these with my camera in Shutter priority mode, which means I set the shutter speed and the camera chose the aperature setting for me.



Shutter speed - 1/2000, Aperature - F 6.3



Shutter speed - 1/8, Aperature - F 4.0



Shutter speed - 1", Aperature - F 8.0



Shutter speed - 4", Aperature - F 8.0



Shutter speed - 8", Aperature - F 8.0

 My favourites would be the 1" and 1/8" shutter speed, and it's pretty close between the two of them.  If I had to choose one it would be the 1/8" shutter speed with the F 4.0,  simply because the railing in the background blurs a bit more and the angle is more sharply in focus.

What I learned about my camera - That on my camera when I look at the shutter speed, if it's red the image will be too dark or too light.

Even though I should focus on something totally different for the month of March I don't feel like I've worked with exposure enough.  So, I'm going to spend my practice time using  my camera in Shutter Priority, and take a few more experimental shots.  I may move in to Aperature priority to work on Depth of Field, but we'll see what the month brings.

Rule of Thirds

My January photography focus was the Rule of Thirds:

The rule of thirds is a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such as paintings, photographs and designs.  The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.  Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would. (From Wikipedia)

I was watching my parent's dog for a couple weeks, so took advantage of a couple long walks to take some pictures where I think I've successfully applies the rule of thirds.  And some lovely Chick-a-Dees flew around my head, landing close enough for some great shots (as long as I was quick).

This picture is just cute - not sure what the little bird was looking at.













I like the perspective in the picture on the right, as  you can tel I was standing below the bird, but I managed to capture him in the left third of the photo with the lovely tree a blur in the background.
 

  

Casey sat very nicely watching the ducks, while I took her picture.  I think the picture captures her focus, and keeps the interest in the bottom left third of the picture.

This picture is a bit blurry, but I wanted to include it as I like the way the road leads from the right, bottom third of the picture up to the bridge, which is still in the right third.  I think it would have been a better picture, if I had kept it in focus and had placed the bridge more in the upper right corner.

Again, this picture is a bit blurry and I'm not sure why, but I really like the perspective.  I like that the first post is in the right third and the othe posts are in the background.

Fresh Start

My goal for this blog in 2012, was to post an average of one post per week.  I almost made that goal, but in looking back at the blog the posts were all over the place in terms of topics and timing of the posts.
In 2013, I didn't have posting on this blog on my list of goals for the year, but it makes sense for me to start doing this on a regular basis to keep me accountable for two of my goals.

Goal #1 - Reach a healthy, happy body size/weight/strength/fitness level.
Goal #2 - Develop my photography skills.

So, I've decided to change the focus of this blog and really make it about my fitness and photography.  Keeping that in mind I've gone through my past posts and removed any that I felt didn't fall in to either of these categories (trust me you're not missing out on anything...they turned out to be a lot of posts about my dating/relationship issues).

My goals are actually more specific than they appear above.

For goal number one, I have an actual calendar with body size targets and various 5K runs, canoe trips, and a Warrior Dash to help with the fitness goal.  Which I'll share in another post, and maybe create a separate page for, if I can figure out how to do that.  My plan is to blog about my progress each week, and try to share anything I learn or blogs/websites I like as I go alone.

For goal number two, the specific goal is to learn about one new photography technique each month and then spend at least three hours practicing that specific technique.  With the end result being that I'm more consistent producing pictures that are pleasing to my eye (and hopefully other's as well).  I'll be posting at least twice per month, once about the technique, and then a second time to share my favourite photos that I took during my practice sessions.