Saturday, October 23, 2010

Brooke Snow Photo Class Oct 2010

Sometimes people take me bowling just so that they feel better about themselves. (I tend to score low, unless you are counting the pins I knock over in the lane next to mine....)

After perusing my classmates blogs I am getting the sneaky suspicion that this will also be the case. Oh well. I am a slow learner and I don't mind boosting moral and self worth.

Come. I will be chronicling my experience, lessons learned, and why I am an idget.

Singular Theme
The concept: Sharpness is deliberately limited to a single area in the frame. Preferred f/5 and below.

f/1.8
I like singular Theme the best because for some reason it is what my camera likes the most. (I get the brightest clean images). We went a'looking for punkins with the kiddos. So, my first pic was this:
I set my aperture to the lowest setting and then metered my camera and voila.

Then I backed up a bit (so my camera wouldn't spas) and took this at the f/8

Then I backed up even more and took this at f/22




The first thing I noticed in this exercise was how much difference your aperture makes in metering. (LIKE A LOT)This is because each aperture setting lets in a different amount of light Oh, and Brooke, don't look at dapples or where the light is coming from because that is a different lesson--right? This is where I am an idget. To have been true to the assignment I probably shouldn't have backed up on each exposure, because I think the point was to take the same picture with the aperture at different settings.



Story telling Aperture
The concept: It has a beginning, middle, and end--like a story. Preferred f/16 and f/22

Let it be noted, that I hate this picture. I am fairly confident I did everything wrong. And, if I had not procrastinated my assignment I would retake it, but alas, daylight is gone. I do not even have three pictures to show because they all looked equally dreadful. This brings me to a brooke question. Brooke: Why do my pictures get so grainy when the object is far away? Is it my camera? I am metering correctly. (I think...)




Who Cares Aperture
The concept: Everything is on the same plane. Preferred f/8 or f/11

I cheated on this one. Kind of. I put my "oh so not obedient" model in front of a brick wall to: a. corral her and b. so that it was all on the same plane. Then I tried several different apertures. It is too late to call Brooke (BROOKE...you wake?) so I don't know how to find the digital info to know exactly which aperture was which. However....I have this sneaky suspicion that I didn't get anything below f/5 because they were blurry and I deleted them. (Darn fidgety model)




While this setting (not aperture, but framing of said wily creature in front of wall) showed for the least variance in results I did notice that it was easiest to meter at the preferred settings.


In conclusion I would like to say that even though I did not get the greatest results for this assignment, the information finally stuck. (Brooke, remember how I had to take drivers ed twice? This might be the time I actually get it!) I already think differently every time I take a picture...my intention is more acute.


Now, just for a finale I would like to share this pic taken from a point-and-shoot. My husband told our daughter to get some old clothing on so that she could carve the pumpkin. She wore this outfit down the stairs....Goggles for pumpkin carving....Ha ha. What a kid.