while enjoying the nice weather and snapping pics of little miss outdoors, I remembered a gift from my photog friend, ran inside to grab it, and was so excited to start lesson 1. I have been waiting for nice weather to get started on this begginers photo class from 2 peas in a bucket. {make sure and check their home page too, here, they have all sorts of lovely scrapbooking ideas, and creative what-nots, on top of their photography tips, LOVE this site}
I bought my canon rebel xs because I wanted to take sweet little pictures of my baby and wanted to take rockstar shots for my etsy store. I will admit, I had an altered conception of {photography} to say the least. I was under the impression you drop a few several hundred $dollars$, get a nice camera, and all of a sudden your pics just looked amazing. well, imagine my disappoinment upon buying my first slr camera and my photos were not winning any awards. I realized I had a lot to learn but had no clue where to start. thanks to my friend molly, she so kindly printed off all the lessons and put them in a handy dandy little notebook and made it so pretty and gave it to me as a christmas gift.. GENIUS..
so, if you're like me and need some very basic direction to get to know your camera and want to take better pictures, then join me as I do this 12 weeks to better photos. I will link up each week to the content and then share the photos I have taken and you do the same... sound fun?? ok, let's get started.
lesson 1: aperature basic training {click on this here link and it will take you to the content}
I will be the first to say, what? aperature? maybe I should continue to shoot in green square {a term dubbed by my friend jolene} another way of saying automatic. well, I am going to give it 12 weeks and see if I am brave enough to shoot in AV or whatever you photog's call it, or continue in green square.
I did lesson 1 and I vow to shoot in AV all week long. I changed nothing on my camera except the f/stop, like it said to do. here is what I came up with...
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| gus {the gorilla} is more in focus here, while the plants in the back are out of focus |
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| it seems like both gus and the plants are in focus here... |
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| to me, gus is in focus but not as sharp and the plants are also in focus |
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| I see it! first flower in focus, the rest a nice "blur" |
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| front flower still in focus, background not quite as blurred... |
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| everything in focus! |
and again...
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| front lily's in focus, and bushes in background blurred |
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| front lily's in focus, back bushes more in focus but still a little fuzzy... |
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| mostly everything in focus... |
so, play around this week with your camera, but shoot in AV mode only. take some different shots while adjusting your f/stop.. next week, we will add in the next lesson...
{on a side note}
remember how I said I was having a selfish sewing session?? well, I sewed many different projects and one of them, a new camera strap to jazz up my canon.. she was in need of a new outfit... I have seen these ruffled camera straps before and thought, I {heart} ruffles, I {heart} camera straps, why not? and I love how it turned out with these fun gray and pink polka dots and pink ruffly goodness and I especially love the gray decorative serging. it's definitely a keeper {and thank goodness, because these little baby's are hard to get on}
more pictures coming soon from my selfish sewing session, there are lots of lovelies to share.
have a lovely week friends!
oh and check out my new bloggie bff for a chance to win not only from the pink jellybean but many other adorbsey little shops as well...
OK Elizabeth. I think you have inspired me. I have had the twelve weeks saved on my computer for a long time, but haven't gotten around to actually doing the exercises. I think it will be fun to do it with you! I will do my best (in between chasing two crazy girls around) to take and post pictures. Maybe it will help me keep my blog updated too :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to do this with you! I just found you from the Wiegand's blog and am so glad I did. I have a Canon Rebel XTi and mainly shoot in AV mode, but don't know why it works for me! I've been wanting to learn more about my manual settings. Also, I love your camera strap~!
ReplyDeleteYou got it girl - that is correct - aperture is one way to control the "depth of field" {the fancy way of saying how much of the image is in focus} This is a great start into understanding how your camera works!
ReplyDeleteOne way to thing of aperture {f -stops} is like an eyeball - your pupil gets larger when it is dark - and smaller when it is light - for now just keep that idea in mind and I will explain it a little further in depth when you do a few more lessons.
Let me know if you have any questions or need anything!
Tiffeny
wow, i just hit the jackpot with finding your blog! i'm a new wannabe photographer and when i found you (and this series) via casey weigand, i was just thrilled! i currently have a "photo friday" link party every friday that i'm trying to start up that highlights something new i'm learning. this will fit in perfectly! i'd love for you to come link up if you'd like to~ oh and i'm your newest follower :) great to "meet" you!
ReplyDelete