Days 14 - 31 | Everything Else

Days 14, 15 and 16 were huge learning days for me. I finally understand how to read the histogram for each photos as I take it and how this can help me with my settings for the next shot. Darcy also helped me understand more about exposure compensation - something I had learned a lot about from reading my manual on Day 2.

Day 23 was also a big learning curve for me - I have been playing around with the histogram in my adjust menu in iPhoto and was pretty happy I understood how it manipulated the photos. But it was excellent having it so clearly explained by Darcy once again.

All up I learnt a heap and I think I am taking better photos thanks to this series. I feel more in control of my camera. I feel my camera is not a huge obstacle to overcome to get the shot I am imagining. I feel it is a tool - a very complex tool - to help me get the shot I am imagining.

This weekend is my birthday - its also the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend here (Yay for long weekends on your birthday!). Yesterday, when the boys were up before 6am and my hubby suggested we all go down to see the sunrise (usually its just Nathan and the boys on their sunrise strolls, whilst I stay tucked up in bed) it sounded like a great idea and not least because I wanted to see how I would do with taking some shots.

These are the results. I am pretty happy (though the last few got a  little washed out and I should have notched the ISO down a little at this stage). But I can honestly say, everything I learnt during the 31 Day series really paid off yesterday.

Now I want to get myself a reflector so that  I can take some shots of my boys with a little more light on their faces. All in time....

Meanwhile, these shots will remind me for a long time the glorious birthday I celebrated this year with my family at sunrise.

Days 12 & 13 | Setting Custom White Balance

Days 12 & 13 | What's White Balance & Setting Custom White Balance

Darcy explained white balance - once again interns which finally clicked for me. 

"White balance is the process of letting your camera know what is neutral so white things look white. Custom WB also makes your colors as accurate and crisp as possible."

Darcy also explained 2 ways to set custom white balance - using a gray card and using an expo disk. I watched the YouTube clip Darcy linked to, plus a couple of extras. Both methods of setting white balance appeared super easy but I hit one snag - I had neither the expo disk nor the 18% gray card on hand, and I didn't want to spend $100 on the expo disk just yet. So I searched around on YouTube for a DIY alternative to the expo disk and found this tutorial espousing that you could use a piece of toilet paper in place of the expo disk. This I had on hand - so it was the method I used for setting my custom WB.

I am not totally convinced that the toilet paper worked in setting my WB correctly, as I feel my Custom WB photo below still has a "gray film" over it - which is what Darcy described when using Auto WB. Nonetheless, I have learnt a lot with this assignment, and maybe next time I am at a camera store I will see about picking up some 18% grey card stock. If nothing else I managed to be switching between the various WB modes whilst my 16 month old climbed all over my lap, and my 3.5 year old reluctantly climbed all over his lounge chair. All they both wanted was to watch a little Fireman Sam. Maybe I will try again with a vase of flowers?

But here are the relevant specs for the photos below:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G

ISO: 500

Aperture: f/3.3

Shutter Speed: 1/80sec

Do you have a DIY alternative for setting custom white balance? Have you tried the toilet paper trick to great effect?

Day 11 | Tips for shooting Manually

Day 11 | Tips for Shooting Manual

First of all, a bit of a summary of the last few days of 31 Days to a Better Photo:

Day 8 covered the Exposure Triangle. Darcy shared another great analogy (skin type, sunscreen and sun exposure) to help explain the relationships between the 3 elements discussed in the previous week - Shutter Speed, ISO and Aperture.

Day 9 covered the Scales of the 3 elements discussed and Darcy explained that there is more than one way to get the same amount of light into your camera. The key lesson I took away was: 

The fast you shoot - the brighter the image

The higher the ISO - the brighter and noisier the image

The wider the aperture (small number) - the brighter the image and more shallow the depth of field.

Day 10 was about In-Camera Metering and this was a real eye-opener for me.

"Your camera will tell you when you've got the exposure triangle right. You don't have to guess."

I have noticed the meter in my viewfinder, but never really understood how to manipulate it correctly. Yet it is so easy! If you understand the exposure triangle, but are struggling to take correctly exposed photos  without tons of trial and error (which for me was taking a lot of time whenever I grabbed my camera) I highly recommend reading Day 10! What a difference it was taking photos in manual mode once I had a visual cue to guide me towards the best and correct equation for my shot.

Now to Day 11. The assignment for today:

Shoot manual

And a few of the tips and reminders to get started:

• Turn off your flash
• Set the ISO as low as possible, initially.
• Shooting slowly requires a tripod.
• Kids and pets generally cannot freeze motion below 1/125sec (1/250+ is better).
• If you have subjects on many planes that you want in focus, you need a smaller aperture (larger number). Start by keeping your aperture smaller than the number of subjects in the photo that are in different planes. I prefer to start with # of subjects x 1.5 and go larger if I can pose them well. So if I have 4 people, 4 x 1.5 = 6. I like to shoot at f/6.3 or greater as a starting point.
• Learn the "Sunny 16 Rule": On a sunny day, shoot at f/16 with a shutter speed of 1/ISO#. So ISO 100 at 1/100s or ISO 200 at 1/200s. For overcast days, the rule is "Cloudy 8". Start at f/8 with a shutter speed of 1/ISO# as a guesstimate.
• Focus on your subject when you are metering. If you focus on the sky or shadows, your camera will meter the light for those areas rather than the subject(s).
• Keep the in-camera meter on zero for the proper exposure.

So here are my shots.

The relevant specs for this first series - My sick boy:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/60sec (I know this is much lower than Darcy recommends for shooting children - but a couple of qualifying statements: these were taken at 4pm on a cloudy rainy day and I didn't want to have a huge ISO with lots of noise; my baby boy was very sick with gastro and so I knew freezing his movements was not going to be too much of a problem - I was thinking he would actually be asleep).

Photo 1: ISO 500, f/3.3 (Top Left)

Photo 2: ISO 400, f/3.3 (Top Right)

Photo 3: ISO 400, f/3.3 (Middle Left)

Photo 4: ISO 500, f/4 (Middle Right)

Photo 5: ISO 400, f/3.8 (Bottom Left)

Photo 6: ISO 400, f/3.3 (Bottom Left)

The specs for this second series - Searching for clover:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6

ISO: 100

Photo 1: f/9, 1/200s (Top Left)

Photo 2: f/5.6, 1/500s (Centre)

Photo 3: f/5.6, 1/400s (Top Right)

Photo 4: f/5.6, 1/500s (Bottom Left)

Photo 5: f/10, 1/250s (Bottom Right)

The specs for this final series - Lego fun

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6

Photo 1: ISO 400, f/3.3, 1/125s (Top Left)

Photo 2: ISO 500, f/4.2, 1/80s (Top Right)

Photo 3: ISO 400, f/3.3, 1/200s (Bottom Left)

Photo 4: ISO 500, f/5.6, 1/80s (Bottom Centre)

Photo 5: ISO 400, f/3.3, 1/125s (Bottom Right)

I had so much fun with taking all these shots. When I wanted to have Beau of Noah in focus and a blurred foreground or background, I knew how to change my aperture. When I wanted to freeze Noah's movements out in the garden, I knew how to do that. I felt so much more in control of getting the shot I was envisaging in my mind. More art, less point-and-shoot. FINALLY!

Days 5, 6 & 7: Understanding Aperture 1 & 2 & Tackling Depth of Field

Days 5, 6 & 7 | Understanding Aperture 1 & 2, & Tackling Depth of Field

Aperture, aperture, aperture.  This is where I have really struggled with my photography. Remembering what numbers (or f-stops) give me what effect (or depth of field) - all the numbers and size of depth of field get jumbled somewhere in my head.

Then I read Darcy's birthing analogy for aperture:

"...it's counter intuitive for anyone who has given birth. In the delivery room 10 means push...in camera talk - f/1.2 means push."

Now I have a reference point which I understand. Then Darcy went one step further and gave a visual representation of aperture and the effects of various f-stops. And now I get it! Brilliant!!

Taken from: http://my3boybarians.com/2010/10/understanding-aperture-part-1-day-5/

And finally, Darcy created some birds-eye-view diagrams representing the depth of field or focus areas the different f-stops provide you with.

I even learnt what bokeh means - the elusive blurry background I lust for when shooting gorgeous portraits of my boys.

Today's assignment:

1. Place your camera in aperture priority mode.
2. Keep your flash off.
3. Using a tripod, dial your aperture to the most open it will go.
4. Take a photo. Stay in the same place and focused on the same subject.
5. Notch your aperture 1 stop smaller.
6. Take another photo. Stop down to the next smallest aperture.
7. Repeat these steps until you've visited every possible f-stop your lens allows.
8. Head back to the computer, upload your images to see how aperture affects your images.

The specs and results:
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6G
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed Range: 1/13 - 3.6
Aperture Range: f/3.3 - f/22
(I took a total of 18 shots but I have just included 5 below to demonstrate the assignment)

Apertures:    f/3.3       f/5       f/8       f/13       f/22

What is it that you struggle the most with when it comes to photography? What helps you remember the different relationships and rules relating to aperture?

Day 4 | Controlling the Faucet - Learning ISO

Day 4 | Controlling the Faucet - Learning ISO
ISO is a measurement of how sensitive your camera is to light. Together, ISO and shutter speed control how much light gets to your sensor.
Grab that trusty camera, put it on program mode. 
Set your ISO to the lowest number you can see. 
Take a picture and note the shutter speed your camera chooses. 
Stay in the same place, shoot the same subject again. 
Move the dial one notch - doubling your ISO. 
Take a photo, and note the new shutter speed.

My sister's boyfriend helped me re-learn ISO a few months ago when we were taking long exposure photos of the night sky whilst on holiday. I have appreciated feeling more flexible with the amount of light I can allow to reach the sensor by manipulating this variable since then.

I really REALLY appreciated learning the shortcut to changing ISO on my camera when reading my camera manual a few days ago. So easy now! I was previously reluctant to change it much as I had to go through the shooting menu and this is time consuming. time consuming and shooting impromptu photos of a 3 and 1 year old don't really go hand-in-hand. By the time I've made my way through the menu's the moment is usually over. But the shortcut I learnt this week changes all that.

For today's assignment I snapped these shots of my son at 3pm on a rainy grey afternoon. We were confined indoors and so light was an issue. Hence the shutter speeds chosen in program mode are very low - lower than I would ever consider shooting my kids. There is considerable blur in the first couple of shots, and as you can see, my son was a fairly reluctant participant by the last shot! And the "noise" evident at the larger ISO values is quite considerable (though perhaps not that evident in the size of the images below).

The relevant specs for these shots:
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6
Photo 1: ISO 100 Aperture f/3.3 Shutter Speed 1/4 (Top left)
Photo 2: ISO 200 Aperture f/3.3 Shutter Speed 1/8 (Top centre)
Photo 3: ISO 400 Aperture f/3.3 Shutter Speed 1/20 (Top right)
Photo 4: ISO 800 Aperture f/3.3 Shutter Speed 1/40 (Bottom left)
Photo 5: ISO 1600 Aperture f/3.5 Shutter Speed 1/50 (Bottom centre)
Photo 6: ISO 3200 Aperture f/4.5 Shutter Speed 1/80 (Bottom right)

Four days in and I have learnt so much already. The extra practice of using the different features on my camera is really helping me, and its only taking 10 minutes a day. Awesome for a Mum of 2 small rambunctious boys (and who this week seem to going downhill yet again with illness). Tomorrow I want to try out the High ISO NR option I have just re-read in my camera manual. Actually, its an app of my camera manual called D80 DSLR. I am loving having my camera manual on my iPhone - I don't always have my manual with me, but I do always have my iPhone. Genius.

Day 3 | Shutter Speeds: Shooting fast vs shooting slow

Day 3 | Shutter Speeds: Shooting fast vs shooting slow

• Put your camera in manual mode. Lock in the same ISO and aperture – keeping them the same.
• Find a subject, take several photos, changing the speed 1 click on the dial each shot; watch what happens to your photos as you change shutter speed.
• Pay attention to how shutter speed can effect the amount of light in your photo.
• Pay attention to how shutter speed can show or freeze motion.

I started today's assignment whilst my eldest boy was at preschool and my younger one asleep - because we all know kids have limited patience with Mummy fiddling with the camera and asking them to sit still. So the first shots I took are very boring pics of the homemade tomato relish my husband and I cooked up last night. 


The relevant specs for these first photos I took to examine shutter speed a little more closely:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6

ISO: 640

Aperture: f/5.3

Shutter Speeds: 1/60   1/80   1/100   1/125   1/160   1/200

Shutter Speeds: 1/60   1/80   1/100   1/125   1/160

Late this afternoon, I took some shots of the boys playing around in the backyard. They were somewhat reluctant subjects today and so I had to put on some music and get them dancing to convince them to let me take their photo repeatedly. The problem with this of course was they wouldn't stand still causing some blurry-movement with the lower shutter speeds - but I kind of like that this captures the "dance" my son was doing to "We are the Dinosaurs!"


The camera and lens were the same as for the above photos, but the ISO and aperture were a little different:

ISO: 1000

Aperture: f/4

Shutter Speeds: 1/160   1/200   1/250   1/320   1/400   1/500

The best tip from today's lesson:

"If you want children to be sharp, shoot faster than 1/125th second. Children have a hard time sitting still."

This explains a lot of the problems I have had with taking pics of my kids. I have a decent understanding of how shutter speed affects the light composition of my photos, so if I am shooting in Manual mode, it has been my go-to variable to alter when I needed to lighten or darken my photos. But that has come at a cost - often blurry photos if my kids are moving and the light is low. I'm hoping that now that I am understanding ISO and aperture a little more (thanks to reading my manual) I hope can avoid some of that unintentional blur I seem to have mastered. Though sometimes the blur is exactly what you are after.


What unintentional effect have you noticed in your photos which isn't altogether bad - even if it was by accident?

Day 2 | Find your camera manual

Day 2 | Find your camera manual
Go curl up with your manual. Then come back here and let us know something you learned!

I admit it, I saw todays task and I rolled my eyes. "Why do I need to read my manual? What can it tell me I don't already know after using my camera for close to 4 years and managing the occasional decent shot in manual?"

But, of course, 3 pages into the manual I was already I'm kicking myself for not reading the manual 4 years ago! Its not all photo-shattering revelations, but they will make a huge difference to how I interact with my camera and the speed at which I can alter my settings and adapt to different environments, available lights and unruly subjects (my children).

It's taken me 3 days so far to read, re-read, and re-read the manual, and I still have a ways to go. But here are a few of my camera-manual-revelations:

1. I have a playback ZOOM button!!
How often have I sat squinting at that tiny LCD screen trying to see more detail in the photo I just took. Or see if what I wanted was in focus. Or point out to an elderly family member something cute about my boys? I can't believe I have ignored this button for 4 years!

2. I have red-eye reduction, slow sync and rear-curtain sync flash modes!
I have spent MANY hours post-editing red-eye from my shots! I am pretty sure I used to know about these features, but somewhere between pregnancy-brain and mummy-brain I lost this knowledge. As for slow-sync and rear-curtain sync flash modes - I am looking forward to seeing how they impact my photos.

3. White balance matters.
I remember a little about this from the photography course I took before my son was born, but most of that I have never applied to changing any of my camera settings. I am looking forward to fiddling with these settings over the coming weeks and seeing how it improves my photos. I think Days 12 and 13 are going to be big learning days for me.

4. Bracketing - Gulp!
I have read this section 3 times now and I think I have some rudimentary understanding of the concepts - but when to use it...? I think I am going to have to re-read this section again, play around with my camera and the different bracketing options/modes available and work it out via trial and error. Stay tuned.

I could keep listing all the eye-opening lessons I have learned from reading my manual, but you get the point.

READ YOUR CAMERA MANUAL.
Then re-read it regularly to refresh your memory of some of the modes and options available which you may not be using very often. You may be surprised at how quickly you forget something just because your not using it, or applying it, regularly.

Even just re-hashing the simple principles of shutter speed, ISO, and aperture helped me think more intentionally about some shots of my boys that I took on the weekend. We were at the Grand Opening of Jump Squad HQ, Sydney's first indoor parkour facilty. The boys had a blast jumping on the huge trampoline and on the mats and beams. It wasn't an ideal photo-taking environment - the boys were back-lit on the trampoline and under fluorescent lights. But I knew how to easily alter my ISO to compensate for the lack of natural light without having to resort to my flash (which was not going to achieve much given my distance from the boys) and I could change my shutter speed and aperture to gain the sense of movement I was hoping for. The end products - not too shabby.

Have you had this experience - where years down the track you finally got around to reading that manual - and viola, problems solved, questions answered, new possibilities present themselves? What have you learnt?

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31 Days To A Better Photo

So a couple of months ago I participated in "March Photo A Day" challenge created by FatMumSlim author Chantelle. I enjoyed the challenge of finding an image to capture each day which fitted with the daily prompt word. But I had gone into the challenge thinking it may help me improve my photography skills. It definitely gave me many opportunities to photograph objects, scenes, and people I may not have otherwise snapped, but I don't think it helped me improve my photography skills - outside of iPhone-ography that is and some of my Photogene and Instagram editing skills.

After my husband gave me my digital camera 4 years ago, and at 8.5 months pregnant with our first son, I did take a beginners class - Digital photography 1: How to use a Digitial Camera in Venice, LA. I learned a lot in that class, but over time I have found myself relying more and more on the "digital-vari programs" of my camera rather than shooting fully manual or even just using the other advanced modes. And really when that is the case, why am I using a DSLR at all? I remember saying to my husband whilst viewing my cousins amazing photos of his trip visiting us in NYC, "Having children has really killed my photographic flair and abilities."

However, thanks to my sister's beau, Djordje, and a family trip away which included a spectacular evening sky of stars, I have been more and more playing with shooting manual. Sometimes this works, sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to get all the settings right, and then I find I may still have shots that are a little under- or over-exposed. In short, I need to learn more about my camera and the basic photography principles again.

Pinterest, of course, has also helped re-inspire me. I have stumbled across a myriad of "How to" pins over the past few months - "The photography tips 96 photographers wished they learned sooner", "Photography cheat sheet for exposure, shutter, aperture, ISO & white balance", "Advanced tips for sharper images", "The rule of thirds" - the list continues.

Then I came across this pin.




I read around this website for a couple of days (during our week long home-imprisonment thanks to whooping cough's cousin para-pertussis). And I decided to see how it went - after a recent rejection to volunteer on a school board (how humiliating) I decided my brain needed some extra stimulation.
So here it is. My 31 days to a better photo.

Day 1: Welcome
When did you realize how much you loved photos? What motivates you to love your images?

I bought my first SLR in high school and started taking photography as an extra-curricular subject. I LOVED watching an image I took come to life on the paper during processing in the dark room. It was the closest I had ever come to producing real magic. I truly loved that feeling.

A neighbour lent me her box of lenses and filters and polarizes. I played for hours with the different effects each created. I remember setting up a photo shoot with my younger sister (who was, and still is, adorable). I had my parents hold venetian blinds in the sunlight so that I could capture all the shadows on her face. I still remember the feeling of capturing those shots. Freezing that moment with my sister. I wonder where that photo is now...

After school I saved up and bought my first Nikon. An F65. I was in love. For 10 years I took that camera everywhere. I refused to switch to digital. I loved film. The magic - even if I wasn't the one processing the film.

But I did switch. The year my son was born, my husband gave me my Nikon D80. Now I was in love. Instant gratification. Unlimited number of "frames". I could shoot anything, anywhere, as many times as I wanted - and immediately see which to keep and which to trash - of course unless the image is completely black I rarely trash anything (I'm a little OCD about that).

I love portraits. Of my sons. Of my husband. Of my family. I love capturing emotion. Freezing a moment. Or better yet, freezing many many consecutive moments so that if I flick through them fast I can see the movement of those moments. I love seeing my sons' beautiful blue eyes, smiling or crying or thinking or singing. A good shot for me has magic eyes. Is full of emotion.

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