Although
photography is not new to me, and I did experience the use of a digital camera,
I always preferred to use the automatic mode for my photo-shoots. The main
thing this unit tough me was not to be afraid of experimenting new things. I
learned how to take my time, try taking one photo, examine it and re-adjust if
need be; instead of clicking automatically and then realising I only have 2-3
usable photos.
I
learned how ISO affect the background noise and can be used to create more
interesting outcomes, in a creative manner that appeals to the eye rather than
random outcomes that might look nice but have no creative meaning. Understanding
how sensitivity to light creates different results and being able to manipulate
the scene to my needs makes me feel I am in control of the scene instead of
being controlled by it.
The
ISO function is, to me, the true revelation of this course, as I really didn’t
know anything about it before taking this unit.
Another
thing I learned was basic terminology such as Exposure, Aperture, Shutter speed
etc, which I then looked online for tutorials that can contribute to my
understanding of the subjects learnt in class. Practicing those new skills
allowed me to explore deeply and more thoroughly towards producing better
photographs.
Shutter
speed
controls the time the shutter is open, allowing the image to “burn” into the sensor
of the camera (before digital cameras, the image was burned onto the film).
Therefore,
when she shutter opens for a brief of a second, the image burned will be clear
(mostly used to capture bodies in motion like sports events, body in the air
etc.) while when the shutter is open for longer, the image burned will be
blurry. The shutter speeds measures in 1/x of a second, meaning that 1/3000
will let half as much light in than 1/1500.
Depth
of field refers
to how sharp the image or the object taken or how in focus they are. Depth of
field is measured by the focus point. When the object stands in the focus
point, meaning when it is the sharpest once a photograph is being taken, the
further we adjust the Fpoint the deeper the depth of field will be, and the blurrier
the background will show.
Focus
point of F/1.8 will give us a deep depth of field, while focus point of
F/1.6 will be a shallow depth of field and the objects in the background will be blurrier.
Depth
of field is determined by the aperture size, the distance an object is from the
lens and the focal length of the lens.
ISO is the camera’s
sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO is, the grainier or “noisy” the
background will appear. Unfortunately, in my camera, the highest ISO setting is
1600, which didn’t show the result I was hoping for.
White
balance
controls the resulted colour of the object under different light settings. Because
the camera is not the human eye, the definition of “white” is schematic and not
always realistic, therefore we need to define either what we consider white, so
the camera can adjust object colour accordingly, or we need to define the (artificial)
light we are using to make the object appear more natural.
Focal
length (zoom)
determines how much of the scene will be captured in the photo and how bit the
objects will look. When we zoom in – fewer objects will be captured in the
photo, and the object we do capture will look bigger. As we zoom out, more
objects will be captured in the photo, but we will lose details.
Evaluation of my work:
There is no doubt my performance have significantly improved. My first photos (first blog entry), as much as I love them and they do look artistic to me, had nothing to do with understanding photography or the camera. The more I learned about photography and the more I practiced the use of aperture, white balance, ISO and shutter speed, I could create more usable photos and not just relaying on luck. I started this unit thinking I know a lot about photography, while, in fact, I mostly used the camera’s settings and not really gave much thought about what I can create and capture. I now know that I will use more manual function when taking photos.
There is no doubt my performance have significantly improved. My first photos (first blog entry), as much as I love them and they do look artistic to me, had nothing to do with understanding photography or the camera. The more I learned about photography and the more I practiced the use of aperture, white balance, ISO and shutter speed, I could create more usable photos and not just relaying on luck. I started this unit thinking I know a lot about photography, while, in fact, I mostly used the camera’s settings and not really gave much thought about what I can create and capture. I now know that I will use more manual function when taking photos.
Another
thing that has changed since I took this unit is the amount of photos I am
taking. While in the beginning of the unit I took over 200 photos to come up
with four good ones, I now take about ten of the same scene to choose 3-4 good
ones.
I
can now operate the camera manually, understand and predict the outcomes of my
work. I can control the scene rather than letting the scene control me, and
take the time to plan before shooting.
