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Archive: ‘Photo Tips--Challenges’



Photo Challenge: Shooting Manually 2

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

So…these aren’t the most amazing, intriguing, stunning shots I’ve ever taken. BUT, they meet the requirements of my challenge to myself to take shots in manual mode in an effort to learn about light. What I’ve learned so far is that the images don’t look as bright once I get them onto my computer. I find myself bumping the exposure up on almost all of them, maybe about a half a stop. A little tidbit to keep in my back pocket.

I promise, dear internet readers, to have some photos of actual PEOPLE up very soon! I do consider photos of animals to be portraits, too…but there’s something a little more satisfying about calling photos “portraits” when they are actually of human beings.

The exposure was f/5.6 and 1/50, ISO 200. Shot around 4:00 PM in the winter (sunset time 5:00). The sun was beginning to dip below the tree line. In the edit, I bumped the exposure up a little over half a stop, warmed the white balance up slightly, and bumped the contrast and clarity up.

The exposure was f/3.2 and 1/250, ISO 200. Same time as above. I couldn’t help myself on this edit! It was just calling out for more contrast in B&W! I didn’t change it to grayscale, but I took the vibrance all the way down, then I played with the highlights, darks, and shadows. I also bumped up the exposure, contrast, and clarity.

Exposure was f/8 and 1/80, ISO 200. And this one is straight out of camera, aside from a small boost in clarity! Love it!

Photo Challenge: Shooting Manually 1

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

In my last post I reflected on 2009 and told you about some of my goals for 2010. One of those goals is a challenge for myself to understand light and exposure more by intentionally shooting a subject each week–in manual mode.

Ahh, the elusive M on my camera dial. I’m diving in head first, and today I took some shots of our cat Quincy. I’m quite sure you’ll see many more photos of him, as well as our dog, as they are always cute and always willing! So today I took 23 photos of Quincy, which I narrowed down to about 5 and chose two of my favorites to show you. Both shots were slightly underexposed, so I have the before and after here. My goal is to get to a point where I don’t have to play with the exposure in editing, but here’s what I’ve got for now!

3Quincy-016The exposure was f/2.8 and 1/640, ISO 400, window light at around 3:30 PM in the winter. I bumped the exposure up a little over 1/2 stop.

3Quincy-003This exposure was originally f/2.0 and 1/50, ISO 400, inside about 6-8 feet from window light, around 3:30 PM on a winter afternoon. I also bumped this exposure up a little over 1/2 stop.

That’s all for now! Stop back again soon for some of my Christmas vacation shots!

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