Mom's Meeting Photos {Joanna}

What do y'all think?

Exercise 2. Shutter Speed

The next function on your camera that would be helpful to master is the Shutter Speed. This setting control how fast the camera takes the picture. If you set it on a fast shutter speed( 250 and up) you will see motion frozen and crystal clear. The faster the object the higher the shutter speed you will need to use. So if you are shooting a car flying by you would need a faster shutter speed than if you were taking a picture of a child running across the yard. The only draw back is that you have to have a lot of light to shoot at a high shutter speed so it gets challenging to shoot on an overcast day. If you set your camera on a lower shutter speed( 125 and down) you will start to see some loss of definition but you will have the look of fluid motion. Set your camera on Shutter Speed priority ( usually S or SP on your dial). This will allow you to select the Shutter Speed and the camera will select the appropriate f-stop for a perfect exposure. Try shooting a moving object on a low shutter speed(30-125 depending on the light) and then take a similar picture on a high shutter speed( 250 and up depending on the light) and compare the two. Here are a couple shots of my own using this concept:

Shallow Depth - Stephanie J.

I didn't take these specifically for this challenge, but thought I would post them. Thanks for the help on the depth settings - this is something that I have been playing around with, but I am still trying to figure it out! I am excited about this blog! I am sure we will all benefit from it - thanks Aubrey! - Stephanie J

Exercise 1.Shallow Depth of Field

Hello everyone!

I have set up this blog as a test in the hopes that it will helps us communicate more efficiently and share our work with one another. Since we each hand in our work separately we don't often get to see what others are doing. So feel free to use this blog to post photos, to ask questions, and enjoy one another's work. If you have any specific questions about techniques or ways to recreate effects you have seen,
please post them and I will do my best to walk you through it. I am also going to throw different "assignments" out every month to teach those that are learning to shoot manually as well as give everyone opportunity to practice their skills and show others their work. You can participate as you as much or as little as you desire. I have really enjoyed working with you guys over the last few months and I am excited to see the work that emerges from our group this year :)

So with that said here is the first exercise!

In every photo there is a foreground and a background. Shallow depth of field refers to the background being out of focus while the foreground is perfectly focused. We achieve this effect by manipulating the aperture. The aperture is controlled through the lens and is signified with numbers from F4.5-F22. The lower the number the more shallow( or out of focus) your depth of field will be. Practice setting your camera on apeture priority ( symbol A or AV on your dial). The camera will automatically select the shutter speed you need for the aperture you select. Take an up close photo of a person or object with the lowest aperture setting and then take the same image with the highest setting. Note the differences. Images taken on the highest setting should be completely in focus. Those on the lowest setting should be in focus only in the foreground. Above are some examples of shallow depth of field, Once you get a good image post it up for the rest of us to see!

Shallow Depth of Field (Joanna)

Here are two that I have taken recently.

Baptism and Mother's Day ( Joanna Knowles)

Hi everyone!

Here are some photos that Joanna took on Sunday. I love the angle on the baptismal! The shadows of the plants and the view of their faces is great! I also really like the angle on the one from the back of the church. She utilized the space well. :) As we start posting up work please feel free to give thoughts on how we can continue to improve. If looking at someone's photo gives you an idea or sparks some inspiration, please share so we can continue growing aesthetically as well as technically.