So two things came of the reviewing of our photos for Photography Assignment #1 last night.
- He spent more time discussing composition, etc than he did exposure, focus or aperture. I actually found it annoying because I was so proud that I had done everything fully manually and it wasn’t even mentioned. Next time I’ll certainly stick with my strengths and spend more time looking for subject matter that I really like.
- It turns out that my first photo was actually far better than my second photo. I was so distracted by that stupid tree in the background that I felt like the shot was ruined, but it was a far better and more interesting shot…plus it wasn’t too bright like the second one.
On the overhead screen it was really obvious that shot #2 was too bright, there’s too much grass, the tops of the shrubs are cut off, and I’ve lost the most interesting feature…that cool wall and corner.
Goes to show I should always go with my gut instinct. I have a good eye most of the time and I need to trust it. I’m just so used to taking close-up food photos every day that I struggle with landscapes and portraits. I suppose that’s exactly why I’m taking the class, no? :)
It looks to me that your composition in the first photo was really good! Not that I know much about anything, but it seems to fit really well with the "rule of 3rds"
ReplyDelete(We still have an ass load of snow here!)
Hey Jamie, it's cool that you're taking a class and sharing your projects with us. Using the camera in manual is great (I only shoot in manual 95% of the time). However you can't forget the basics of composition while trying to learn how your camera works in manual. The two key things to me for a great photograph are composition and lighting. Using the camera in manual allows you to force the camera to do things it might not normally do on its own, but will not replace composition. I'd recommend continuing to do static images for now, plan your composition and how you see the scene in your minds eye, then work through your aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc to achieve what you want to see. Don't let the nature of the assignment distract you from taking an interesting picture.
ReplyDeleteI agree that your first shot is more interesting, but also agree that the tree is distracting. Sometimes all it takes is moving over a couple of feet one way or the other to make a distracting item either disappear or compliment your scene.
Check out lightenupandshoot.com. It's a great site with videos explaining shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc. They focus on flash photography, but generally everything they say applies. Just mind that when they discuss how shutter speed controls ambient light while aperture controls subject light, this refers to flash photography, whereas with natural light only, both settings affect your overall light. How did you used to use your camera before the course? Did you operate it from auto? From Tv, Av? Is going manual completely foreign? Keep at it, I found photography to be even more fun when I fully learned how to make best use of my camera through the its manual operation.
Anyways, I hope you find my rambling helps. If not, feel free to ignore me :)