Your objective: maximum control, maximum manageability Know how the light works Know how photography works Know the camera you re using Making the most of what you have to work with. ISO This is the first setting you ll make Tells the camera in general how much light there is in your situation. Modern digital cameras are similar in their requirements for correct exposure, but may be more forgiving than Kodachrome. The Sunny 16 rule If you re without a light meter, use the Sunny 16 rule, which lets you estimate the exposure between 10 am and 5 pm accurately. We will assume ISO 100. For ISO 100, at mid day with sunlit mid-toned object, set the aperture at f16, and the shutter speed at 1/ISO in this case, 1/100th (if your camera does not have a shutter speed of 1/100th, use a setting of 1/125. http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=30235 Lower ISO settings are used for the brightest light situations, and vice versa. 100: Bright, cloudless day 200: Partly cloudy days 400: Cloudy days, bright indoor settings 800: Well-lit indoor settings 1600: poorly lit indoor settings In situations where you are trying to stop action you need a higher shutter speed, which also means a higher ISO setting. In situations where you want more depth of field, you need a smaller aperture, which also means a higher ISO.
Know how the light works Seeing light (photo presentation) Light at different times of day The sun gives off different colors of light at different times of day and gets more white as it approaches noon. About an hour after dawn and before sunset the light is gorgeous a golden yellow. These are prime times for photography, times nature and commercial photographers really seek. At early dawn and late dusk, light is dark and bluish. Some days, sunset yields a beautiful reddish color. Color of indoor lights Artificial lights (that s anything other than the sun) throw out light that casts many different colors. Fluorescent lights are green to the camera; other lights are various shades of orange, yellow and blue. The white balance setting is used so that the camera can filter the light correctly. Auto usually works well, but sometimes you may need to pick a more specific light setting, or a manual white balance. http://photo.net/making-photographs/light On cloudy days and in the sun, light takes on a bluish color.
Know how photography works Getting an accurate meter reading 18% gray SHUTTER The shutter is a cover over the film or CCD that controls the length of time that the light reaches the light-sensitive object. It is located in the camera. Speeds run from as long as bulb to incredibly short times of 1/8000th of a second. A main feature of shutter adjustments is the ability to stop action. - A fast shutter speed stops action. - A slow speed allows the action to blur. - panning is movement of the camera as you take the picture More than you want to know: http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/tech/fp-shutter.html APERTURE The aperture is a variable hole in front of the lens that adjusts to let in light. It is located in the lens. A main feature of the aperture is the ability to control how much of the picture is in focus (depth of field.) Good tutorial: http://www.dcviews.com/tutors-t.htm?tt51010 Depth of field More than you want to know: http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/tech/dof.html The shutter speed and aperture setting work in sync. Here are some equivalent exposure settings: If the meter reads 60 at f8 at ISO 400: 8 @ f22 15 @ f16 30 @ f11 60 @ f8 125 @ f5.6 250 @ f4 500 @ f2.8
Shutter speed is of primary importance when shooting sports. Your first decision is whether or not you want to stop the action. Speeds slower than 60 generally won t stop action. The photo on the left stops the players in full run, with no motion blur. It was shot at ISO 100, shutter speed of 1000 and an aperture of f4. The photo on the right was shot to achieve blurred motion. It was photo was shot at ISO 100, shutter speed of 1/20th of a second and aperture of f29. Aperture is how you can control how much of the image is in focus. On the left, only the tiger is in focus. The other objects are 12 inches in front of and 12 inches behind the tiger. The photo was shot at ISO 200, f8, 500th of a second. On the right, the shutter speed was 50 and the aperture was f22. The achieve an aperture this high, the ISO was dialed up to 1600.
THE CAMERAS http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/ (D80 has been replaced by the D90) Manual setting Aperture priority Shutter priority Metering options Focus points SETTINGS WE USE: Switching lenses LENS EQUIVALENT Film v. digital, x 1.5 50mm lens in film is approximately what your eye sees. Anything less than 50mm is considered wide angle. Wide angle lens are used in tight spaces or to achieve creative distortion. Anything more than 50mm is considered telephoto. These are used to bring objects closer or to compress objects together. Lens come in either fixed focal lenghts or zoom lengths. 18mm lens on a digital camera = 27mm 35mm = 52mm 100mm = 150mm 300mm = 450mm
THE STROBE Inside mixed with ambient light Outside flash fill PHOTOSHOP (Hand out pages) TONING: Over exposed photo Under exposed photo Auto levels. Set white Set black Levels Curves Lasso Feather Midtones RECAP?: More lesson photos
Exercises
Notes