During the process of building my website one has dead phone air during computer restarts, programs opening etc… Joe asked me for some advise (my web developer) on how to take better pictures of his daughter with his new very expensive digital camera. I went into film mode. To get my head around all the things I have learned in the many years of first film then digital photography, I went back to the basics to teach the way I learned. The ultimate photograph is a combination of many things including and beyond proper exposure and composition.
Proper exposure – is a combination of how much light you are allowing to reach the film and how fast it is getting there. Fast forward in time you can combine what speed you are setting your sensor at. Rule of thumb, decide your sensor setting first, if you are in daylight anywhere from 200-400 is good, evening light or indoor brightly lit 800, night time or candle lite 1600-3200.
Next decide what is important shutter speed or dept of field.
Most people do not understand dept of field, I have had to explain this many time to many people in many different situations but usually it is in person and I am in a restaurant and we all have had a glass of wine and I am using use salt and pepper shakers for live demonstrations. If you check back in a blog or two I will try to explain it.
Shutter speed, it controls motion. If you are trying to take a photograph of a car speeding past you 60 miles per hour and using a 30th of second shutter speed you will get a blurred image. If your shutter speed is 500th of second, chances are you freeze frame the vehicle.
I prefer to receive information a little at a time and therefore give information in small doses so check back or email me for the next lesson in taking better photographs. Thanks for reading!-Irene
