Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Camera troubles....

So before Carol Hannah was born, I got a DSLR camera in hopes that I could one day take pictures that don't look like a monkey was snapping shots with a disposable camera.  I have played around with it quite a bit and even tried out a few of the "priority" modes.  As it stands, I will find 1 picture that I like in every couple of hundred I take.  And that's ok.  Right after Carol Hannah's birthday, I took her outside one day to take some pics with her birthday balloons.  I was pleased with her, the balloons, the background, just about everything.  Only problem was the light.  What?!?  It was a beautiful day!  There should have been plenty of light!  Let me show you an example...
See how she is in a shadow?  I couldn't escape it.  If I turned her towards the light, I got squinty eyes.  I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong!  I decided to consult my friend/photog hobbyist, Jennifer.  She was very helpful, and gave me a quick lesson in metering.  Apparently my camera uses evaluative metering by default.  This means that it takes all the different areas of my picture and decides how to expose the picture based on this.  The problem is that because the majority of my picture is really bright, the focus of my picture (Carol Hannah) turns out dark.  Jennifer encouraged me to try spot metering.  This allows me to choose a point for the camera to meter off of.  It disregards everything else. But guess what....you have to use manual mode to use spot metering!   Argh!  It is something I need to learn anyways, but it is so overwhelming learning how all of the pieces fit into the puzzle.  I have taken Jennifer's advice and I am practicing shooting in manual.  I usually pick up the camera when Carol Hannah is engrossed in something (usually eating) and does not require my undivided attention.  Here are some of my manual mode shots...



They are not perfect, but at least they are decent!

We were outside on Monday and I realized the the conditions were perfect to practice evaluative vs. spot metering.  Here's what I got...

Evaluative metering (see how her face is dark)

Spot metering- Yay, it worked!  Notice the chipmunk cheeks stuffed with animal crackers...

I know I am not a professional photographer.  I do not claim to even be a decent amateur.  Please don't judge :)
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownMarch 4, 2012 at 9:49 PM

    I'm so glad those pointers helped. The pic of her standing with the bottle is to cute! Don't get overwhelmed. Manual mode takes time. I still learn new things every day. I still practice and try different things.

    Another good tip is to use that center dot you see when you look though the view finder as your central focus point. If you want the person's face to be the most in focus then put that center dot on one of their eyes and press down the shutter button 1/2 way, then frame your shot, then shoot. Oh, and make sure your focus is on "ONE SHOT" and not AL SERVO or AL FOCUS.

    Keep practicing. I see a drastic difference already.

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