Moms with Camera's

Shutter Speed

2011-04-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Moms with Camera’s - Walk and Shoot - Shutter Speed

When using Shutter Priority the Camera choose’s the Aperture and you choose the Shutter Speed. Shutter speed is most important when you need a fast speed for photographing your kids playing or you want to slow your shutter speed right down to create a soft blur of movement such as water moving. It can be a really fun way to create dramatic and artistic images using light and most important when photographing in low light or at night.

Lets start by setting our camera’s to “S” Shutter Priority and then setting out shutter speed to 1/500 of a second. This speed will fast enough to catch your kids playing and running.

If you are shooting with a DSLR I suggest changing your Auto Focus Area Mode. I’ll bet most of you assumed your Autofocus will automatically do the perfect job but one of the greta things about a DSLR is that we have tools in our camera to help even our Auto settings work a bit better.

In the control panel or in the shooting information display you will see an AF-A, AF-S, or AF-C. Find the AF button on their camera and hold it down then turn your command dial to AF-C. This is the best option for shooting Action. If you are shooting a still subject change this dial to AF-S. AF-A will let the camera make the choice which is not bad but the camera will often choose the subject closest to it.

I your command display you will also see your Shooting Mode Dial. It look like a three photographs layered in top of one another. This lets your camera shoot continuous frames as long as your finger is pressed on the trigger. Set this to H.

Practice shooting each other moving, or if you are doing this lesson from home get your kids to run for you, starting with a shutter speed of 1/500 and working up and down from there. Notice how the image blurs or sharpens.

Reset your Shooting Mode Dial to “S”. Lower your ISO setting and reset your AF button to AF-S.

Now re-set your camera speed to its slowest shutter setting. The available light will effect your available shutter speed, less light allowing a slower available shutter speed. On my camera display a three second shutter speed looks like 3” which means my shutter while stay open for up to three seconds. You can only do this with a tripod because you will never be able to stay still enough to prevent blur. We should be able to create a ghost effect by having subject behind tree when the camera trigger is released and having them slowly walk into the frame. Play around with your subject moving at different speeds and then maintain a steady speed at different shutter speeds.

These slow shutter speeds can be hard to work with but can also create some really interesting images. I suggest turning your house lights on taking your camera outside in the dark. If you don’t have a tri-pod bring a stool and working with these really slow shutter speeds photograph your house. Place an object in the window and play with the shutter speeds to see how much definition of shape you can create by using a slow shutter speed.

Here are some images created by Opal! Well done I would say you mastered this task!

I hope this helps! Next month we will review both aperture and shutter speed and give you some tools to help you better understand how they work together.

Histograms!

2011-03-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

A great tool to learning how to properly exposing your images is to learn how to read your histogram! Your histogram will tell you if your image is over or under exposed. As we work towards learning how to use the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO together the histogram will help you to know what kind of exposure results you are getting as you take each shot.

See you all on the 10th!

Depth of field aka Aperture or F-stop!

2011-03-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Nat took us on a great Walk and Shoot lesson all about depth of field. A surprising number of Moms showed up...it was cold! I was more than happy to wheel and cuddle a few of the babies. Less happy to be the target of so many camera's ;) There were a LOT of you!

Here are some examples of the results Jodi took practicing at home:

And some more taken by Leyla on the walk:

even bird poop can become a subject!

Thanks for the pics ladies!

What an unexpected turn out!

2011-03-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! Nineteen ladies showed up last Sunday to take part in Moms with Camera's. There were at least ten more who e-mailed to say they were unable to make it that night. There was hardly any sitting room left! I couldn't have asked for a better turn out.

The images brought were telling. Almost everyone had a picture of their kids! No surprise! I think only one Mom veered from the expected and brought the sweetest picture of her daughters pony....though I did discover she also brought a picture of her daughter.

When I finally sat down to read through the registration forms I was pleased to read such a range of experience and a willingness to share and learn. What I liked best was the repeated "I want to learn to take time for myself and be creative" comments. That is exactly what Moms with Camera's is about!

This months assignment, the first, is fairly easy for Moms. The theme is innocence. It can be straight forward or more complex. We will be moving into more in depth themes later.

This weekend we are holding a walk and shoot directed by Natalie. We will meet at the band shell at Riverside Park at 10am where we will work on photographing at different depths of field.

In the meantime here is a video about exposure that very clearly explains how aperture, shutter speed and your ISO settings work together. It is important to understand how they connect before you start learning about them individually. Its a little dry but the explanation is very clear.

I will bring registration forms with me on Sunday for those who were not able to attend on Sunday. If you are able to bring your registration fee thats great. If not it will be due next month :)

I look forward to seeing many of you on Sunday!

Welcome!

2011-03-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

Life Unfolding is sponsoring a camera club for Moms!

I have plenty of personal friends who have bought shiny new DSLR's but aren't entirely sure what to do with them. I also know others who have a pretty good idea but would love to grow artistically and connect with other Moms who share the same passion. I also know a professional or two who would like to share their skills with other Moms in the community.

Whether you are new to photography, a shutter bug already or a professional we all have something to offer one another.

Moms with Camera's will meet the first Sunday of every month at the Life Unfolding studio (okay more like upstairs from the studio) starting March 6 2011 at 7pm. There we will be given an assignment for the month. We will all bring the previous assignments work and share it and talk about how we achieved it. We will talk about both art related topics and whatever other subjects those discussions may lead us to. The months images will be publicly shared on my website. At the end of every evening we will choose an image for our end of the year gallery showing. Yes, you read that right, a gallery showing!

Every second month we will meet for an "on location" assignment which will include studio work and the opportunity to participate in Trash the Dress!

At the end of twelve months we will accumulate all of our chosen images and present "Moms with Camera's" in a public gallery.

Because this is a club with an end goal there will be a membership fee of $50.00 for the year which will be put towards paying for the final Gallery display.

To participate contact me at photographer@lifeunfolding.ca

I look forward to meeting many of you!