Pea-n-Me
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2004
- Messages
- 41,894
Hi All,
I am going to start this early as I'll be busy over the next few days and I'd like to give everyone plenty of time to get started.
Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
Linda
Really great work and participation on last month's assignment, Summer and Patriotism!
I thought we'd make it a little challenging this time around. I chose this subject based on requests on the "I'd like to bring back" thread as well as the number of requests for help with low light shots on the PB. It was also one of the most challenging things for me to learn.
I'm going to do a short tutorial here geared toward beginners, just to help you get started. The one thing I don't want is for you to skip this assignment because it's too "advanced". We'll all work together here to make it UNDERSTANDABLE and FUN for all.
If people who have an advanced understanding of this subject matter care to impart their wisdom, of course, it's welcome, too. Other sources include the book, Understanding Shutter Speed by Bryan Peterson and a few links, below; feel free to add others you think might be helpful.
Tutorial, Pea-n-Me style:
There are three parts to an exposure: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. We are going to work with shutter speed this month. Shutter speed relates to how long the shutter stays open during any given exposure. The reason we get blur during nighttime or low light shots is that the shutter needs to stay open longer to allow enough light in, and any movement on the part of the camera OR the subject matter, even the slightest bit, will cause unintentional blur. How to avoid this? One of the best ways is to use a tripod, which keeps the camera still and allows the shutter to stay open to its heart's content, without blur - for still subjects.
Part I - Low Light
Which setting to use for low light? Experiment! You probably want to venture out of Auto since this will usually cause the flash to pop up, and we'd probably prefer to get shots without flash, as they look more natural and beautiful, and less harsh (though there are times that a flash can be used, we'll save that for another assignment). You could use Program, which is like Auto, but you can adjust the settings and the flash won't necessarily fire. You may need to raise the ISO if you are shooting in the dark, as little as you must to get the shot to avoid noise, or graininess. Or, you may find use of one of the creative, semi-auto modes on your camera helpful here, such as Night Scene, Night Portrait, Sunset, Candlelight, etc. With these, settings are pre-adjusted. You could also use Aperture, Shutter Speed or Manual modes on your camera. Try them all!
Tripods come in various styles: full size, travel, mini (< $10 @ WalMart), gorrilapod style are some, but they're available for every style and budget. Otherwise, the top of a trashcan, literally, will always do, the important thing being to keep the camera perfectly still. But for the purposes of this assignment, I hope everyone will try using a tripod.
Part II - Creative Use of Shutter Speed
The second part to this assignment, for those who want to try it, is creative use of Shutter Speed. This will yield those neat pictures that show trails of light, lush watefalls, or freezing of action, for example.
How to do? Set up your tripod and choose the Shutter Priority setting on your camera. There should be a knob or control bar that adjusts the shutter speed however you want it. Times range from extremely fast, to extremely slow. You want to deliberately pick on that's a little slow, such as 1/60 sec for daytime waterfall pictures, or quite slow, such as 4 seconds for nighttime light trail pictures; or very fast to freeze action. Play around with the settings and see what the options are. You may need to take lots of different shots to get some that you like. But once you do, you have a head slapping, "Ah Ha!" moment, and your subsequent possiblilities are endless.
With this assignment, keep in mind that aperture and ISO are also part of that exposure triangle, so that if you're having trouble with your photos coming out too light or too dark, you need to look at the three of those elements together and find the right exposure in order to get what you're trying to achieve. **Disclaimer, I had a difficult time with this myself until I finally got the hang of it. Keep trying!**
Here are some links:
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and...getting-creative-with-photography-495555.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5020443_use-shutter-speed-creative-photography.html
"Shutter speeds are expressed as fractions like 1/1000 and 1/60 or 30” if the time is long enough for whole numbers, in this case thirty seconds. Fractions can be a bit confusing if you aren’t accustomed to working with them so just remember, the smaller the bottom number the slower the shutter speed."
Remember, since the whole purpose here is to learn and try new techniques, we want to get NEW pictures. Post as many, as often as you like, and try to post EXIF data if you can so we can all learn from them.
Have fun!!
I am going to start this early as I'll be busy over the next few days and I'd like to give everyone plenty of time to get started.
Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
Linda
Really great work and participation on last month's assignment, Summer and Patriotism!
I thought we'd make it a little challenging this time around. I chose this subject based on requests on the "I'd like to bring back" thread as well as the number of requests for help with low light shots on the PB. It was also one of the most challenging things for me to learn.
I'm going to do a short tutorial here geared toward beginners, just to help you get started. The one thing I don't want is for you to skip this assignment because it's too "advanced". We'll all work together here to make it UNDERSTANDABLE and FUN for all.
If people who have an advanced understanding of this subject matter care to impart their wisdom, of course, it's welcome, too. Other sources include the book, Understanding Shutter Speed by Bryan Peterson and a few links, below; feel free to add others you think might be helpful.
Tutorial, Pea-n-Me style:
There are three parts to an exposure: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. We are going to work with shutter speed this month. Shutter speed relates to how long the shutter stays open during any given exposure. The reason we get blur during nighttime or low light shots is that the shutter needs to stay open longer to allow enough light in, and any movement on the part of the camera OR the subject matter, even the slightest bit, will cause unintentional blur. How to avoid this? One of the best ways is to use a tripod, which keeps the camera still and allows the shutter to stay open to its heart's content, without blur - for still subjects.
Part I - Low Light
Which setting to use for low light? Experiment! You probably want to venture out of Auto since this will usually cause the flash to pop up, and we'd probably prefer to get shots without flash, as they look more natural and beautiful, and less harsh (though there are times that a flash can be used, we'll save that for another assignment). You could use Program, which is like Auto, but you can adjust the settings and the flash won't necessarily fire. You may need to raise the ISO if you are shooting in the dark, as little as you must to get the shot to avoid noise, or graininess. Or, you may find use of one of the creative, semi-auto modes on your camera helpful here, such as Night Scene, Night Portrait, Sunset, Candlelight, etc. With these, settings are pre-adjusted. You could also use Aperture, Shutter Speed or Manual modes on your camera. Try them all!
Tripods come in various styles: full size, travel, mini (< $10 @ WalMart), gorrilapod style are some, but they're available for every style and budget. Otherwise, the top of a trashcan, literally, will always do, the important thing being to keep the camera perfectly still. But for the purposes of this assignment, I hope everyone will try using a tripod.
Part II - Creative Use of Shutter Speed
The second part to this assignment, for those who want to try it, is creative use of Shutter Speed. This will yield those neat pictures that show trails of light, lush watefalls, or freezing of action, for example.
How to do? Set up your tripod and choose the Shutter Priority setting on your camera. There should be a knob or control bar that adjusts the shutter speed however you want it. Times range from extremely fast, to extremely slow. You want to deliberately pick on that's a little slow, such as 1/60 sec for daytime waterfall pictures, or quite slow, such as 4 seconds for nighttime light trail pictures; or very fast to freeze action. Play around with the settings and see what the options are. You may need to take lots of different shots to get some that you like. But once you do, you have a head slapping, "Ah Ha!" moment, and your subsequent possiblilities are endless.
With this assignment, keep in mind that aperture and ISO are also part of that exposure triangle, so that if you're having trouble with your photos coming out too light or too dark, you need to look at the three of those elements together and find the right exposure in order to get what you're trying to achieve. **Disclaimer, I had a difficult time with this myself until I finally got the hang of it. Keep trying!**
Here are some links:
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and...getting-creative-with-photography-495555.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5020443_use-shutter-speed-creative-photography.html
"Shutter speeds are expressed as fractions like 1/1000 and 1/60 or 30” if the time is long enough for whole numbers, in this case thirty seconds. Fractions can be a bit confusing if you aren’t accustomed to working with them so just remember, the smaller the bottom number the slower the shutter speed."
Remember, since the whole purpose here is to learn and try new techniques, we want to get NEW pictures. Post as many, as often as you like, and try to post EXIF data if you can so we can all learn from them.
Have fun!!
My new tripod just recently arrived from B & H and I'm itching to do some low light experimentation 
