31 Days to a Better Photo: Day 8-11

Its me again! More of the "31 Days to a Better Photo" series from "Life with my 3 Boybarians" coming your way! This time I looked at days 8-11, which included lots of useful information on exposure, scales, and metering. Did you know there is a meter on your camera in Manual mode that lets you know if you are using the right combination of ISO, shutter speed, and Aperture to get a good exposure?? You did? Oh...well, I didn't!!! This is all news to me! No more trial and error to get the right exposure! YAY! 

On day 11 we were asked to go play with the camera in manual to see what we can do with it...emphasis placed on looking at the meter. So, I found the most handsome model in the world and we had a photo shoot!

1/30 f/16 ISO 100

 1/250 f/5.6 ISO 100

1/200 f/14 ISO 400

Am I right?? Isn't he the cutest???

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Patricia

31 Days to a Better Photo: Day 4-7

Hello! If you have been reading this blog over the last...oh...16 hours or so, you will see that I have been following the "31 Days to a Better Photo" series on "Life with my 3 boybarians" blog. Ok...perhaps its more like "been OBSESSED" with the series!!! But, its a good obsession since the program is great for beginner photographers, or people like me who have had a DSLR for a couple of years and STILL don't understand everything about it! 

I went through days 4-7 last night and was waiting until this morning to do the assignments. Yes! There are assignments!!! But, don't worry...these are FUN assignments! In these couple of days the topics that were discussed was ISO, Aperture, and Depth of Field. While I had a little understanding of these (and that is extremely little!!!) everything I THOUGHT I knew went out the window as Darcy (the fabulous lady who has these tutorials for FREE!) explained these very important topics VERY clearly. Its like I had one of Oprah's A-HA moments! It was finally clicking in! Why oh why did it take me so long to find this blog!! I would like to thank PINTEREST for helping me get there!!

Anyway, on to the assignment that would help us get comfortable with the depth of field. For this I had to set up my tripod and focus on my subject while changing the Aperture for each shot. This showed how the Aperture changed how blurry the background (the depth of field) was. I'll show you a few shots that I took.

1/2500 f/6.3 ISO 100

I know what your thinking...beer bottles?!?! But, they were close and they make GREAT subjects!! They don't move!!! 

1/1000 f/9 ISO 100 

1/800 f/14 ISO 100 

 1/250 f/22 ISO 100

 1/160 f/29 ISO 100

1/100 F/36 ISO 100

As you can see, as the aperture number increases, the clearer the background becomes and the bigger depth of field you have. I have learned something new! Awesome!

I may have another post ready to go up before the day is over! Make sure you stop back to see!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Patricia 

31 Days to a Better Photo: Day 3

Wow! I con't believe this is my second post in less than an hour! I just really got into the "31 Days to a Better Photo" series over at the "Life with my 3 Boybarians" blog. 

Day 3 talked about shutter speed and how shoot fast compares with shooting slow. The task was to set my camera at the same ISO and Aperture and shoot using different shutter speeds. Just to get an idea of how it differs. I picked Nick's flower that he has been taking care of all summer as my subject. It is just starting to flower! Please ignore the background (my house!) because this was just an experiment shoot! Not taken for beauty! 

And here they are, using an ISO of 400 and a Aperture of 5.6 on my Canon T1i:

Shutter Speed: 1/10

Shutter Speed: 1/15

Shutter Speed: 1/25

Shutter Speed: 1/40

Conclusion: The faster the shutter speed the less light that gets in and the darker the photo will be. I am assuming that every shutter speed has a benefit based on the conditions...ie, the lighting, the time of day, ect. (I bet you can't guess that I have a science educational background and are used to doing labs, can  you? Hee hee!) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Patricia 

31 Days to a Better Photo: Day 2

So, its been a long time since I have blogged...too long. I've had a few ups and downs over the past few months including two weddings (the ups!) and two deaths (the downs). One of those deaths was my grandmother...a woman that I have been close to all my life. We were more like friends than family and she meant the world to me. Because of losing her, I have had a difficult time doing the "normal" things in life...like keeping up with my blog. 

I am slowly coming back to reality...and my camera is helping me find my passions again. I figured there was no better way to get back at it then to continue on with the 3 days to better photo. 

Day 2 requires that you read your camera manual...and this was NOT easy! Can you say BORING! LOL! But, I did learn quite a bit about my camera, so that's good. There were buttons on there that I didn't use because I really didn't know what they were for. I also learned how to take a picture of a waterfall and make it look soft...I've ALWAYS wanted to be able to do that!! 

The truth is, I learned (by total accident!!) a few nights ago what cool photos you can get by using a slow shutter speed! Wanna see?

This one I left in color...I thought it was pretty cool! (This is my nephew, by the way!)

But I REALLY liked it in black and white!

And here is another nephew...

And my youngest (Nick) making "squiggles" with his sparkler.

The fire that we sat around...

And one of the sausages that got roasted...yummmmm!!!

Well, that's all I have for you today. Hopefully I will blog a lot sooner than last time! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Love, Patricia