Why Photo Exploration?

Deciding to enter into the amazing world of digital photography, brings some big challenges. This is my personal exploration. I'm documenting my journey from the beginning to the end. Starting with equipment selection and moving into techniques and tricks as I learn them. My hope is that what I learn will benefit your journey as well.

 

My day job is as a consultant in engineering and management. Learning over the years how to find the nuggets in mountains of information, my goal is to do the same with digital photograpy while at the same time learning to take fantastic pictures.

Digital Camera Basics – Light and Exposure

by MichaelB on July 30, 2009

Plan – Master Light and Exposure

Getting exposure right was the mission. After reading online and a few books, it was clear that mastering light and exposure was one of the most important things I would need to learn.

I used the Olympus E-520 auto exposure setting for a few days, but then found that it’s OK as long as there’s no motion. I haven’t tried the programmed sports mode under “Scenes” because I’m not going to master exposure using pre-programmed camera modes. I quickly graduated to using Aperture and Shutter Speed modes. After a week taking a thousand photos with those settings, I moved to Manual mode yesterday.

Now, I certainly haven’t mastered exposure, that will probably take a long time. However, I have quickly graduated from complete Auto mode to Manual mode. I don’t think you can take properly exposed photos in manual mode without at least knowing the basics.

The Basics

Here are the basics as I understand them at this point:

  1. Full Sunlight – Aperture = f/16, Shutter Speed = 1/125 at ISO 100. This is the starting point.
  2. As light changes brighter or darker, adjustments are made in increments called stops.
  3. Decreasing a stop increases light sensitivity on the camera sensor, increasing a stop decreases light sensitivity.
  4. If you increase shutter speed one stop (from 1/125 to 1/250) decrease aperture by one stop (from f/18 to f/22). Note that increasing an aperture number decreases the aperture opening which decreases the light falling on the sensor.
  5. Doubling shutter speed decreases light sensitivity one stop, halving shutter speed is one stop in the other direction and increases light sensitivity.
  6. If you decrease shutter speed by one stop (from 1/125 to 1/60) increase aperture size by one stop (from f/16 to f/11).
  7. Full Aperture stops are f/1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32.
  8. Larger aperture openings result in loss of background detail or depth of field (DOF).
  9. If you increase ISO (film speed) from 100, increase your shutter speed to the reciprocal of the the film speed. ISO 200 at f16 = 1/200 sec. shutter speed. ISO 400 at f/16 = 1/400 sec. Note that increasing ISO will increase noise in the photo.
  10. Doubling ISO increases light sensitivity by one stop, cutting ISO in half reduces light sensitivity by one stop.
  11. In some modes, you can also adjust exposure with the camera. My camera allows adjustment +/- 5 stops in 1/3 stop increments.

That’s what I learned from books and magazines and that’s what I took to the field in an interesting way. I’m working in the Philippines on a consulting assignment and I have a 20 minute commute in the morning and afternoon. This commute is my exposure experiment.

I’ll start describing the experiement in the next post. But, before I go, here is the shot from this morning that is the culmination of the experiment to this point.

The shot was taken while moving at about 10 miles per hour, through the van window while the van was making a turn. I had just an instant to set exposure, compose and shoot. Settings are f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 100, Zuiko 40-150mm lens at 58mm. Time was 7:45 a.m. so the sun was hot behind the building. You can see the sunlight in the window in the upper right hand corner.

Jeepney-Scene-at-turnaround-7-09-640

Cheers

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What’s in the Bag? – My Digital Camera Kit

by MichaelB on July 23, 2009

My Camera Bag

It wasn’t an easy decision. I spent days reading through reviews and forums and digital photography sites. I travel internationally and I was looking for the most compact and complete kit without sacrificing features or quality.

In the end, the Olympus E-520 met my requirements. The camera is small and weighs in at just over one pound. It has the option of a lens viewfinder or an LCD screen with the actual view of what the lens is seeing.

I was also on a budget, and the Zuiko lenses for the camera are specifically built for digital pictures and seemed less expensive than similar lenses for other cameras.

Now Olympus is not the top selling brand of camera. Nikon and Canon are the most popular and there’s a lot more accessories and guidance for using those cameras. However, the top of the line Canon and  are about 5 times more expensive than the top of the line Olympus. I figured that when and if I upgrade, it will be much less expensive. I won’t pretend that camera costing five times more are not better, but I don’t think I’ll be ready for top of line pro gear for years.

Years in digital photography means a lot of progess. So by going with Olympus now, I will be saving towards a top end Nikon or Canon in four or five years.

Here’s What I Bought:

  • Olympus E-520 Digital Camera Kit with a 14-42mm lens
  • 35mm Macro Lens
  • 40-150mm Medium Telephoto Lens
  • 70-300mm Telephoto Lens
  • 4 – 2GB Memory Cards

I also bought a backpack (Wolverine from Amazon) made specifically to carry camera gear and my computer. I had a Manfroto Tripod with a floating head from video work we do for my wife’s Daytona Beach real estate site.

The gear was here when I got back from my last trip to Asia on July 10th. The first thing I did was read the manual and get a few books on photography (I list those in another post). I also signed up for online videos at www.kelbytraining.com. I would recommend that site to get going quickly. Rick Sammon in digital camera basics will accelerate the process quickly. It’s $20 a month or $200 per year.

So that’s the initial gear. I believe I next need a external flash, but I wanted to learn to use the camera before I spent any more money.

I also have Photoshop installed. This is an expensive piece of software. Fortunately, I’ve been using Photoshop for years for real estate photos and didn’t need to spend that money. I purchased Photoshop Elements 7 for $60 from Amazon, and I’ve worked with a bit, but I’m now using Photoshop CS4 almost all the time. I’ll review Photoshop Elements 7 in another post.

That’s it for now. The next post will include some photos.

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