Today I decided that I needed to do all of the above (because focusing on 1 thing is too difficult!). I have really wanted to play around with water and fire. (To be honest I had forgotten that I had wanted to do these types of shots until I heard the "drip, drip, drop" coming from the kitchen. Once again I hadn't switched off the water all the way!) Another goal of mine was to do this without having my camera on Auto - it needed to be in Shutter or Manual Priority modes. This way I could really see how the camera works and get the practice I needed.
First Project - Water drops from the faucet (Shutter Priority).
I started out by setting my camera up on Shutter Priority. I've been waiting for spring so I can catch runners, kids and dogs running around in the parks, but though hey! water works just fine for the time being. The first several shots I swore I was hitting the shutter button at the exact moment the water drops were falling...not so much. I had to first focus on the actual facuet, shift my lens down so that it would catch the drop mid-fall, and then snap the photo just before the drop was released from the faucet head. Also a factor - I had the shutter speed set at 1/200 ...too quick! I slowed it down to 1/100...still not getting what I was looking for...finally after about 30 mins I found the perfect speed - 1/60. I realize I have no sense of how quick tenths and hundreths of seconds actually are...I'll have to keep a notebook for subjects and their best shutter speeds.
It took me several shots but here's what I ended up with:
Not the best, but better then I was expecting - great shutter experience too! As I was taking the first few photos I noticed they were coming out blue...I played around in the camera trying figure it out until I realized that the White Balance was set incorrectly. I snapped a few shots on the different settings and became more familiar with whole new set of setting options. A quick switch and I was back in business! So in this project I was able to learn more about shutter speed as well as timing (drops) and White Balance!
Second Project - Flames (Shutter and Manual)
Well, unfortunately this project didn't go over as well. I had lit a candle and wanted to catch the flame so that it was sharp and clear...I must have played around with the shutter speed for ages. No matter what I did I got a somewhat blurry shot. Nothing came out like I wanted. To be honest, I got pretty frustrated after about 45 mins and started playing around with the Manual Mode. I still wasn't able to get the flame to be crisp but I was able to get some good shots by adjusting the Shutter and Aperature levels. I played around for about an hour and I'm sad to say that this is the only decent flame photo I came out with (only looks cool b/c of the effect)
After I gave up on my flame dream I decided to play around with a few other items in the apartment:
2 comments:
Oh! When it is warmer out, go to Ellison park where the dogs hang out and swim. You can get pet portraits AND water splashes as the doggies swim and jump in the water! It sounds so hard to take those water pics, but I think they turned out great for your first attempt :) I look forward to your Sunday posts from now on!
That's a really good idea...I'll add it to my summer project list - thanks!! I got your other post as well (not sure why it's not appearing) - I'll def. look into the shops in Webster :)
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