At the beginning of the course we learned how a DSLR camera works ( 'Digital Single Lens Reflex'). We could use the college Canon manual cameras while in class to help us which is what I did. Having not really known anything about them before, or handled one, I quickly began to like the feel and look of the 'manual' camera. This is what I learned:-
PARTS OF THE MANUAL CAMERA
Apertures:
The aperture is like the iris of the eye, as its opening and closing determines how much light is let inside the camera. This in turn regulates how much of the picture will be sharp (in focus). The controls of this eye are measured by 'f' stops ( numbers prefixed by f). If you want a narrow depth of field to your picture you would use a low number f stop (say an f2 or an f4.5) and if you want a wide depth of field you would use a higher number f stop like a f.22 or above. There are a number of f stops between these two figures to choose from too. With a wide depth of field more of your picture is in focus and with a narrow depth of field only selected items will be in focus.
Shutter speed:
Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second. They control how long the aperture is open for. The shutter is released when you press the button on the camera to take the shot. If you want to freeze a moving object so it is crisp and not blurred in moving, you would use a fast shutter speed ie. 1/125 and if you want to slow something down (streams of light from a car headlights or blur water running from a waterfall) you would use a slow shutter speed ie. between 1 second or 1/8 of a second. Shutter speeds can go to very fast speeds of up to 1/1000 of a second or more. It is best to use a tripod when taking shots with slow shutter speeds so that the image it is not all blurred.
Iso speed:
The iso speed is the camera's sensitivity to light. Therefore if its bright and sunny you need a low iso of 100 or 200 (like the old films we used to get when going away on hols) but if its darker, cloudy, overcast you may need a 400, or for night scenes an 800. You can also get speeds of 160, 3200 and 6400+.
APERTURE CONTROL TASK
I learned that I would need to label my images with the relevant information from the time of exposure. ie. Shutter speeds, aperture values, Iso speeds, equipment used (type of camera, lens, tripod etc). We were asked to present shots which show narrow and wide depth of field and fast and slow shutter speeds, as follows:
Aperture Control:
Monster tree
(narrow depth of field)
I took this shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera containing relevant battery and all following images I shoot will be taken with the same camera unless stated. The Lens on the camera is an L series 24-105mm and I zoomed in up the tree. The camera also contained a SanDisk CompactFlash card 8GB and I had screwed a UV filter onto the end of the lens for protection from marks, scratches and weather, which I will leave on. The branches are in focus but not the green foliage further up. I am pleased with this picture and wouldn't change anything.
I had been dining out this day with my parents when I took these images (Monster Tree and Mooving) and spotted this tree afterwards, nearby to where we ate. It was late afternoon when the light was falling well and creating great reflected colour on the tree. I thought how lucky I was to have captured it.
I like to take shots of trees from different points of view. ie. from standing back to look at them as a whole, parts of them, and from standing close to look up the inside of the tree's trunk and branches. I look at their shape, colour, querkiness and anything else that catches my imagination eye, like monsters... seemingly there is one hiding in the top branches of this tree so I've labelled it accordingly.
I love this tree for the way the light reflects on its many arms here and there and the patterns they behold. Textured tentacles follow up with the eye to welcome you through its centre body to its head at the top. I really like the colour mix: shades of grey formed from light from the sun coming from the right, dispersed with slight green mingled to the sum of sky blue from above. The tree shows it has one button at the bottom of its coat. And of course on close inspection the monster is an added bonus. I think he may be more aparent with a crop....
I cropped into the image in iPhoto to show the upper part of the tree closer....tentacles going everywhere!
How I did this:
There is a pencil icon on iPhoto which I clicked onto (once you have the relevant image on your screen) then clicked onto the crop icon. This puts a highlighted border around the image which you can use your mouse to draw the border inward( by diagonal corners/ sides) making the picture smaller. You are condensing the details of the image to focus on just the details you want to show, then you press 'apply'. The condenced details are made full size. You can then crop in on this new scene again if you wish to make more features more aparent. Once I had done this, I dragged the image to my desktop (by clicking on it and holding the mouse down, whilst I dragged it) where I began to load it in this blog...
To do this you click on the little picture icon on the bar at the top of the screen you are writing your text in (new post screen - it brings up an 'add image box), then click on 'choose files'. From here you make sure 'desktop' is in the top file box (using any drop down arrows to select it) and the series of numbers of your photos on the desktop will be shown within the showing box. You highlight the image you want to load on, and this image imediately appears in the box to the right. You select the 'choose' button and wait while it loads onto the 'add images' box, then press 'add selected'.
Where you have left your cursor in the blog and/or made room for it, is where the picture uploads to this screen.
Once the picture is here, you can click onto it once, it turns a light blue and sizes appear below it. The bold type size that shows is the size the picture is currently displayed at, and further size options appear in a darker blue ie. if its already bold in Medium, you have a choice of small, large, X-large, original size.
I clicked on the cropped image of Monster tree and chose X-large, as shown above.
( I am making most of my images larger this easy way once I have uploaded them to this blog, as they come quite small)
Shutter speed 1/100. Aperture f22 Iso 400
(wide depth of field)
When a group of cows started to come down towards me at the bottom of a field, just outside the venue where we had eaten, I decided to shoot the scene just experimenting to see how it would turn out. Im using the image as it fits with the example of the aperture value I wanted to show and my theme of natural wonders......the cows just wondering down, with some of them showing their shadows with light from the sun coming from the right. I like the image for the simple composition, colour contrast of the cows dark to mid brown tones to the deep green textured grass of the foreground, with the lighter green, to the light blue/whites of the cloudy sky. I find myself counting the cows: I caught 12 in the scene, with a springling of trees in the far off distance. The scene is well balanced in my opinion but I await its marks, and if it is, it is by luck more than judgement.
I like the fact that a cow is perched on the horizon, the just off centre cow has his face radiating and the horizon clouds are herding together too. The blue of the sky contrasts well in my opinion, even with the band of cloud running through.
I was standing behind a fence when I took the picture, and zoomed in with the lens. I would have liked a closer shot of the cows too.
What went wrong:
In my Mooving image I detected a speck to the right, mid way up in the scene and wondered what it could be. I was concerned that my camera might have some sort of fault? Later I learned that it was dust inside the lens and is quite common when using manual cameras and changing lenses. I would need to get it cleaned professionally, which I did at a later date.
What went right:
I had a lovely day out and was pleased with my above shots when I examined them on the computer.
Shutter control:
shutter 1/125. Aperture 4.00
(fast shutter speed)
I took this shot in the evening and do not have a flash on my camera. My incorrect settings led to this image being to dark. I later enhanced it in iPhoto (using the enhance button) which added light to the image to the following effect:
Similar to before, once you have your image in i-Photo on the screen you click on the pencil icon at the bottom. If it is not showing at the time, you can left click your mouse to bring up sub menus which let you select 'edit in full screen'. Once I did this the pencil icon showed. From here I clicked on the pencil and then the enhance icon. This imediately makes the image brighter, taking down lots of the shadows.
The duck had been dipping its head in and out of the water to create this rippled effect which shows well on the fast shutter speed (freezing the movement of the water waves), so I thought the image was worth rescue. I like the colours of the duck but its not close or clear enough to see its eye, so I decided to crop into it in iPhoto , and enlarge on here as follows:
The duck looks bigger and so do the waters waves. You can see its colour better; I like the yellow beak, emerald green head, red feet and its necklace but I still can't see its eye (maybe it had it closed) . I was standing on a bridge high above the duck when the shot was taken. I did zoom in but next time I would like to be nearer the water for hopefully better results. I do like the patterns the waves created though and is an example of my pattern effects image. The increased size shows how bitty the water was.
Images can also be amended in Photoshop. I did alittle of this at the beginning of my blog. My aim though is to create the best possibly image I can within the camera, not really liking the idea of lots of manipulation afterwards (I may be old fashioned here) though I can see its advantages.
My slow shutter speed images to date are my night shots of 'Home Fingers' (see Light Task blog). Though I plan to take more in the future with the use of a tripod, when possible.
Equipment used in above images:
*Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with battery
*L series Lens 24-105mm
*SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash card 8GB
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