Waterfalls & Freeways

Remember last night I proclaimed October as "Get to know your camera" month? Well, today I took some time out of my day (and my night) to do just that. Today I played with slow shutter speeds.
I started out this afternoon at the entrance to our community where there are 3 different waterfalls. Here are a couple of the images I captured. . .

My goal with these photos was to get that "silky" "smokey" water look. I have always been a fan of that look but always figured it would be too hard for ME to do. Well, look at me go! They are not perfect but for a 1st try I think they are pretty darn good. And they also helped me with that Love/Hate relationship I told you I had with my camera!

Here are the specs on this 1st one:

Mode: Shutter Priority

Shutter Speed: 1/8 (of a second)

Aperture: F32

Lens: 18-200mm

Focal Length: 65mm

EV Compensation: -2.3

Here are the specs on this next one:
Mode: Shutter Priority
Shutter Speed: 1/8 (of a second)
Aperture: F32
Lens: 18-200mm
Focal Length: 65mm
EV Compensation:-5.0

I didn't realize until I started typing out the specs for these 2 photos that I had picked 2 with the same specs to put on the blog.

This afternoon's shooting adventure went so well I decided to head back out right after the sun set for some fun highway photos. Here are a couple images from tonight's shoot. . .

Again I was shooting with a slow shutter speed. My goal here was to get those "tracers" that lights can make. I know you have all seen these kinds of pictures before. Again, not perfection, but I am pleased. Unfortunately all of the highway overpasses here in Phoenix have "cages" around the walkways so that you can't jump if your pictures don't turn out. (that is the only reason for making overpasses - right?) Because of this, you can see a little bit of a grid in these photos. Oh well, safety first I suppose.

Specs for Highway Photo #1:

Mode: Manual

Shutter Speed: 8 Seconds (WOW!)

Aperture: F32

Lens: 18-200mm

Focal Length: 116mm

EV Compensation: 0.0

Specs for Highway Photo #2:
Mode: shutter Priority
Shutter Speed: 15 Seconds (WOW!)
Aperture: F22
Lens: 18-200mm
Focal Length: 44mm
EV Compensation: 0.0

Specs for Highway Photo #3:
Mode: Shutter Priority
Shutter Speed: 8 Seconds (WOW!)
Aperture: F16
Lens: 18-200mm
Focal Length: 98mm
EV Compensation: -1.0

I hope you enjoyed the photos tonight, and even more I hope it inspires you to try something with your camera (or anything) that you didn't think you could do! A couple little tips for you if you want to try the slower shutter speeds with your camera this weekend.

• Be sure you use a tripod when you use these slower speeds. It is virtually impossible to hand hold your camera under these circumstances. You will just get too much camera shake.
• Take advantage of the self timer on your camera for these shots too. It futher decreases the chance of camera shake.

So, enjoy your weekend! Get out there and enjoy these cool temps we are supposed to get this weekend. WOW! Can you believe the low 80's this weekend! Sounds like heaven to me!!!!!

Comming Clean. . .

Well, tonight I am going to come clean to all of you that have taken my Heart & Soul of Photography class. I feel like such a fraud. So here goes. . .

My name is Marta and I don't know how to use my own camera.

WHEW! I feel better already!

A couple of weeks ago I took a series of photos of my Granddaughter - I was so pleased with them. That is, until I saw them on my computer. Although they were alright and she looked adorable (see photo below), I was not happy with them. They lacked any depth or sharpness. And even though the composition was there, and the subject was there, the technical stuff that makes the magic wasn't.

I sent this image file and a couple of others to a dear friend that is an exceptional photographer, and asked her if she could look them over and see what I was doing wrong. After we ran through the basics she sent them off to her photographer cousin. (sidenote: photographers are the friendliest and most helpful people) He suggested I try a few test shots shooting all in manual, using a tripod and trying different lenses. This way we could possibly tell if it was camera error, lens error or user error. I was excited to get started on these shots, then I caught the flu (yuck!) and had to wait to get started. During the week while I laid in bed I had a lot of time to think. That is not always a good thing! One of the things I thought about was the fact that I had never shot manually before and really did know how to!

So, here I am with this big impressive (and expensive) camera and I don't know anything about Fstops, shutter speeds and the like. My previous cameras (all SLR's) had lots of programed settings (portrait, landscape, night, etc) so I really never stretched myself to learn the technical stuff. I had a pretty good eye for composition and subject matter, and with the programed settings it seemed to be enough. I managed to get several images that I was happy with and proud of. Others seemed to respond to them as well, so all was good in my mind. Then I bought this camera! Although it does have some programmed settings, they are still partially manual settings. You still have to choose your aperture or shutter speed, it doesn't just let you dial up a certain type of photography and then do it all for you.

Since buying this camera I have found myself stuck in a love/hate relationship with it. But I have vowed to learn to love this camera! To do this I need to understand it and what makes it work! It is no different than any other relationship I guess? Friday night, feeling better from my flu but still not great, I started reading. I read lots of articles about aperture, shutter speeds, lighting and so on. I was totally motivated and ready to start shooting! First thing Saturday morning I got up and set up my tripod, got out all of my lenses and readied my subject (a black & white ceramic rooster from my kitchen) and started shooting. Each image I captured was documented, not only with my camera but with pen and paper. I wrote down exactly what setting each image was shot with. I played with every compination I could think of.

By the end of the day I had 110 different images of my patient subject, the rooster. I couldn't wait to upload them all to my computer to see the diffences each combination of settings made on the images. I did not edit any of them for color etc in photoshop, to make them better (okay, that's a lie, I did edit 1). Instead I just looked for the subtle and not so subtle differences. Then I decided I wanted something more portable so that I could view these test shots and study them away from my computer. Being the person I am, that meant time to make a book (or 2). So below you can see I made a photo album and a journal to keep track of all of my experiments and the things I learn from them.

To make my photos easier to compare away from my journal, I added the EXIF data (lens, date taken, ISO, shutter speed,and aperture) plus the use of a tripod and the distance it was set to each photo. Once I got all the info added to the photos I had a big portion of them printed. Below you will see how that looks on the photos.
(This is the one I edited in photoshop - it is the same as the one above)

So, I am proclaiming October as "Get to Know Your Camera" Month. I hope you will all join me in exploring all your camera can do for you and what all of the settings and buttons on your camera do. I spent a couple of hours this morning taking some more test shots and experimenting with the programable settings on my camera this morning. I plan to do even more this weekend. So far I have been shooting only using natural light outdoors. This weekend I plan to take it indoors using artifical light and a more studio type setting and see what I come up with.

I know this was a really long post and I applaud you for sticking it out to the very end! As a treat for making it all the way to the end, I am going to send you on a virtual field trip. A trip to my friend's blog where you will see some of the most beautiful photography ever!

So, what are you doing - look at Penny's blog and then go get your camera and start shooting!!!!