Congratulations Frida
Winning Photo -
She has selected me to host the next challenge.
Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
The Photographic Triangle
1.Aperture - how much light the lens lets into the camera
2.Shutter Speed – how fast the sensor is exposed to the light
3.ISO – the sensitivity of the sensor to light
You will be stooting in manual and working with: ISO, Shutter speed, and Aperture. I know this challenge may sound like a lot, but until you understand one its hard to use the other. I found two links that I think will really help to understand how they work together. For me I had to just go out and play. I would start with the lighting and subject(s) that you know well. Just keep in mind you are now thinking in three and they all work together.
Example Take a shot with an F5.6 and ISO of 100 what shutter speed did you have to use? Next take the same shot and put the aperture on F11 and an aperture higher than 200 what shutter speed did you use?
You will need to post your settings with you photo(s). It will help people when they vote if they have a understanding of what you went through and what you learned. So tell us please. Most of all have fun and my hope for you is you will never shoot in auto again.
The winner of the challenge will select an experienced photographer to host a new challenge. It is the winner’s option on who they want to host the next challenge; it may be someone they follow whose work they admire, or someone who is active offering suggestions on previous CSC challenges. The winner may also select an experienced photographer for the list of photographers who have agreed to host future challenges as another option. Here is the link to that list: http://365project.org/myhrhelper/365/2011-12-12
Expect to receive constructive suggests on how to improve your skills.
How to post your photo on this link:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Copy the “share” code in the bottom right section of that page.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments
@aprilmilani You will do fantastic and I really appreciate you doing this challenge it will be a huge learning curve for so many. I would like to make a suggestion to add a little more specific instructions of what they should do. Example Take a shot with an F5.6 and ISO of 100 what shutter speed did you have to use? Next take the same shot and put the aperture on F11 and an aperture higher than 200 what shutter speed did you use. Something like that. I think the subject is fantastic they just need a little more specific direction of what to do.
I've noticed in the past that when the final entries are posted, it is a collage showing the different settings. Is that something that is required as well?
@taffy Taffy you do not have to post a collage. You could work with one aperture one day and another aperture on another day and see what changes you need to make to the shutter speed. Also check out what happens to shutter speed when you raise your ISO. You will need to watch for digital "noise" when altering ISO. Older cameras do not handle higher ISOs as well as new ones.
@aprilmilani this is a great idea. I've been shooting in manual for a couple years now but I find many times I can't think fast enough so it becomes a guessing game. Wishing to gain more control over how I use my triangular settings.
@myhrhelper I like your idea of being provided some settings and needing to choose others. That might be more work for April though. But at the same time having that guidance for a beginner or someone like me who guesses, it's helpful.
@julz YEAH!! Once you learn these three as one you will never go back to auto=). I will be posting some more help later tonight. Today Id read up on the links I put up. Please as these days go on ask all the questions you can. WE are all here for ya.
I needed this challenge. I haven't uploaded it yet but my picture for today was taken in the parking desk. It took a bit of fiddling to get it to come out. At least I hope I got something usable. If I set the shutter speed too slow I couldn't hold the camera still enough but the flash made it look garish. Now that I think about it, I have no clue what I had the ISO on. That may have been the secret.
I can always think of what I coulda shoulda done after the fact.
At last the parking deck isn't going anywhere so I can always try it again.
@aponi Oh I agree with April it gets easier. I personally try to have my ISO between 100 - 200 when I can and see if I can adjust the shutter speed or Aperture to make it work then I increase the ISO if I need to make it brighter.
The darker the lighting your camera is going to want to go to a slow shutter speed and then you will need a tripod or something to rest your camera on so it doesn't shake.
@myhrhelper I love ISO but, I also love grain. so it can work for you. I always try to keep my SS above 160. So to do that I up my iso. I like bokeh so for the most part I shoot wide open so that doesnt give much room to go wider.
@aprilmilani April, why a 1/160 shutter as a critical break point? if you have action to stop you should be shooting significantly faster, and with no subject motion, isn't the old rule of thumb for a safe hand-held shutter speed something like 1/(full frame equivalent focal length in mm)? Surely you are not consistently shooting with a 160mm telephoto?
And now, in today's world of great optical stabilization (it is utter magic) of lenses and even P&S and integrated cameras, you can typically take this down three and sometimes four full stops, so that it is quite feasible to learn to shoot hand held at 1/20 (three stops down from 1/160) or even less.
@frankhymus You know I guess I cant give a really great reason=). I guess I have found it works for me. I know there are rules to follow. But I do feel getting out there and knowing your camera and lighting is the best rule of all. You can know rules all day long but until you get out and try them in all kinds of light you will never know how to apply them. I am a hands on person....I hope that helps.
This was a bit challenging as my kitchen does not have very good lighting. I wanted to use the actual lighting available to me and not use a flash. I felt it was way to grainy to use an ISO much over 400 (I can only set in even 100's and the camera does do some auto adjusting from there -- it's auto adjust came out to 450). I usually like bokeh, also, but in this case there just wasn't enough definition...I didn't like the result , so ended up with an apperature of f11. This meant that I had to use a pretty slow shutter speed of 1/4, so ended up having to place my camera on the counter to steady it (to lazy to get out the tri-pod that would have been faster in the long run). So after all of that, here is the end result.
@myhrhelper April, in my early days of shooting only manual mode one thing I learned for hand held low light shots is to turn your body into a tripod. You do that by taking a stance with your feet slightly apart so that they line up with your shoulders; tuck your elbows firmly against your side. When you are ready to take the picture, take a breath and hold it while gently pressing the shutter release.
Give this a try and with some practice, you can get quite good at keeping it steady with slow shutter speeds in low light.
Also you can use any kind of object to brace against to steady you.
Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone. It’s the only way to experience new and exciting things.
@aponi You can find out what your ISO was and all of the setting for a digital image by looking at its properties.
To do this on a computer, (I’m referencing a Window’s computer) right click on the image and select Properties. There should be a tab that says Details. This will tell you everything about your image.
Most digital cameras will also allow you to do this in camera in one of the view modes. You can check your manual.
ok - this is making me crazy... i can think of an infinite ways of playing with this challenge... i'm sitting looking at 20 shots and trying to figure out how to reduce it to 9 for a manageable / meaningful collage... somebody STOP ME!!!!
I have 3 shots for this challenge. Two taken yesterday when it was completely overcast and one today after it started to clear up.
1. Cloudy White Balance, f/22, ISO 200, .4 seconds. I also used a 3 stop ND filter and a polarizing filter to help slow down the speed. I also underexposed by one stop.
2. Cloudy White Balance, f/3.2, ISO 200, 1/40 second.
3. Auto White Balance, f/2.8, ISO 200, 1/4000 second.
I didn't so much follow the instructions. I read the old version and went free style. I'll do another one, but since I went to the effort to put this together I'm posting it here anyway - so there.
1. top left: ISO 100; f/5.6; 1/500
2. top right ISO 400; f/5.6; 1/80
3. bottom ISO 100; f/5.6; 1/80
This was a wee shot from yesterday.
The original meter reading was 1/80th sec at F5.6 using an ISO of 400 but I wanted a little more depth of field so I closed the aperture down by one stop to F8. Closing down by one stop means there's now half as much light reaching the sensor but I know from the exposure triangle that I can decrease the shutter speed by one stop to 1/40th or increase the ISO by one stop to 800. 1/40th is a bit iffy to hand hold so I went for the ISO of 800.
Using the exposure triangle isn't so much about finding the right exposure, it's more about how you can manipulate the three sides to get the combination you want without having to re check exposure over and over again.
There's a direct relationship between all three and that's what you're looking for.
@lstasel What a beautiful place you have found. Id love to see what you can do in a night shot. You have daylight down=). I really did a great job in all of them.
1 – ISO 100 for best quality, f/2.8 to maximise on available light... camera is telling me that 1/6 of a second shutter speed will get correct exposure, but i chose 1/13 because i want a kind of low light (underexposed) effect... as you can see, there’s a ton of motion blur!
2 – ISO 100 and f/2.8, but this time i use a shutter speed of 1/200 to stop motion... i think it works, but it’s kinda hard to tell given how dark the shot is...
3 – same aperture and shutter speed, but boosted ISO to 800 to get more light... it works, but now that you can see, if you could zoom in tight, you’ll notice that the DOF appears too narrow...
4 – aperture at f/7.1 to increase DOF and boosted ISO to 6400 to let in more light... now it’s pretty sharp throughout, altho’ rather grainy if you look real close (is your nose touching the puter screen yet?)... which is why if i really wanted to shoot this i would use a flash
@aprilmilani Thanks April. A night shot would be really interesting. I will have to see if I can get over there at night. It is the corporate headquarters for Papa John Pizza.
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Thanks again April
@taffy Taffy you do not have to post a collage. You could work with one aperture one day and another aperture on another day and see what changes you need to make to the shutter speed. Also check out what happens to shutter speed when you raise your ISO. You will need to watch for digital "noise" when altering ISO. Older cameras do not handle higher ISOs as well as new ones.
@myhrhelper I like your idea of being provided some settings and needing to choose others. That might be more work for April though. But at the same time having that guidance for a beginner or someone like me who guesses, it's helpful.
Looking forward to playing.
A collage is not required. Just post what makes you happy.
I can always think of what I coulda shoulda done after the fact.
At last the parking deck isn't going anywhere so I can always try it again.
The darker the lighting your camera is going to want to go to a slow shutter speed and then you will need a tripod or something to rest your camera on so it doesn't shake.
@aprilmilani What is your general opinion on ISO?
And now, in today's world of great optical stabilization (it is utter magic) of lenses and even P&S and integrated cameras, you can typically take this down three and sometimes four full stops, so that it is quite feasible to learn to shoot hand held at 1/20 (three stops down from 1/160) or even less.
Give this a try and with some practice, you can get quite good at keeping it steady with slow shutter speeds in low light.
Also you can use any kind of object to brace against to steady you.
Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone. It’s the only way to experience new and exciting things.
To do this on a computer, (I’m referencing a Window’s computer) right click on the image and select Properties. There should be a tab that says Details. This will tell you everything about your image.
Most digital cameras will also allow you to do this in camera in one of the view modes. You can check your manual.
The story of the triangle I chose is on the photo (and it comes with a recipe). :)
1. Cloudy White Balance, f/22, ISO 200, .4 seconds. I also used a 3 stop ND filter and a polarizing filter to help slow down the speed. I also underexposed by one stop.
2. Cloudy White Balance, f/3.2, ISO 200, 1/40 second.
3. Auto White Balance, f/2.8, ISO 200, 1/4000 second.
1. top left: ISO 100; f/5.6; 1/500
2. top right ISO 400; f/5.6; 1/80
3. bottom ISO 100; f/5.6; 1/80
This was a wee shot from yesterday.
The original meter reading was 1/80th sec at F5.6 using an ISO of 400 but I wanted a little more depth of field so I closed the aperture down by one stop to F8. Closing down by one stop means there's now half as much light reaching the sensor but I know from the exposure triangle that I can decrease the shutter speed by one stop to 1/40th or increase the ISO by one stop to 800. 1/40th is a bit iffy to hand hold so I went for the ISO of 800.
Using the exposure triangle isn't so much about finding the right exposure, it's more about how you can manipulate the three sides to get the combination you want without having to re check exposure over and over again.
There's a direct relationship between all three and that's what you're looking for.
1 – ISO 100 for best quality, f/2.8 to maximise on available light... camera is telling me that 1/6 of a second shutter speed will get correct exposure, but i chose 1/13 because i want a kind of low light (underexposed) effect... as you can see, there’s a ton of motion blur!
2 – ISO 100 and f/2.8, but this time i use a shutter speed of 1/200 to stop motion... i think it works, but it’s kinda hard to tell given how dark the shot is...
3 – same aperture and shutter speed, but boosted ISO to 800 to get more light... it works, but now that you can see, if you could zoom in tight, you’ll notice that the DOF appears too narrow...
4 – aperture at f/7.1 to increase DOF and boosted ISO to 6400 to let in more light... now it’s pretty sharp throughout, altho’ rather grainy if you look real close (is your nose touching the puter screen yet?)... which is why if i really wanted to shoot this i would use a flash
I did a lot of playing with these settings.