Night


What is YOUR perfect night firework setting??

More Pictures Soon!



Just taking a break to Thank Que sera sera! And Georgina Dollface for the cute blog awards they sent my way =)
Thanks for thinking of me!!
I'm really lazy at accepting these things mostly because I cannot for the life of me think of anything interesting to list about myself!!

Planes II


Planes have been performing all kinds of shenanigans over my area this week.

Not quite a Ninja picture taker

The airspace above my flat was crazy busy today!
After listening for the engines and frantically trying to catch them and missing a few times - I finally got it!
They flew by so fast that I panicked and I switched it frantically to auto so most of the pictures are blurry. If only I could have remained calm under pressure, adjusted ISO and picked the perfect shutter speed all in one swift movement...I would have been golden. Like a ninja. Maybe someday..=)
(shot with the 55-200mm)





Macro photo

Took with my 55-200mm lens - My first time really using it if you can believe it.
I don't really love shooting nature..
I do love how blurred the background is - must use this lens more often?!
This also displays the reason of my lack of taking pictures lately - It's been raining constantly!

The World Out There


I'm not sure I'll ever tire of taking pictures out of windows on buses, trains, cars.
They are charming to me and some of my favorites

Shutter Speed


Ha! Look at the biker. I like Shutter Speed.
I kept taking the picture and it was white. And then I remembered ISO, set it to a low number and all was well =)
Also, a rock flew out from a motorcycle and hit my camera =( Did not know this was a dangerous hobby.

Shutter Speed and Motion

{S 1/2000 F5.6}
{S 1/4000 F4.5}
{S 1/4000 F4.8}
{S 1/4000 F5.3}
The place to be tonight in my little village was the lake shore - strong winds made the normally calm Lake Luzern a very choppy place to be - everyone was out watching!
I wish I could have gotten closer to the water but I was protecting my little camera =)
Below is a non impressive shot but I love that I can see the water beads that are up close to the camera!
(I'm easily amused)

Shutter Speed and Motion in a Photo

When we discussed Shutter Speed in class, we made sure the left dial of our camera was set to S. This means that we can adjust the Shutter speed and the camera will automatically adjust the aperture (fstop).
Focusing on the shutter speed is perfect for pictures that have motion in them - whether you want to create a blur across the picture or if you want to capture the motion in focus.
Examples:
Capturing my dog running = fast shutter speed
(this makes me laugh)
Person running is blurry = slower shutter speed

I am still excited to experiment with this - so watch for that.

Now that I'm learning about all of the basics, it definitely takes away from they "style" - as in, when I'm shooting in manual I'm so focused on my settings etc. Will be excited when they become second nature =)

Shutter Speed


I'm going to talk about shutter speed next...or what I can understand of it =) Until then...this is an example of what to do - or what not to do, I don't know! I kind of like it blurry =)

Depth of Field/Aperture

Today a friend and I took a free 2 hour photo course in Luzern! We were taught how to use the basics of our cameras - how to set the ISO, speed and aperture.  I had have unknowingly/knowingly played around with these things with our old digital camera but never really paused to fully understand them - so it was nice to be taught on my Nikon. 
I'll break up the 2 main things that he taught in separate posts (with examples) so as not to overwhelm. But first, as a foundation, he explained the significance of the ISO number. The brighter your setting, the smaller the ISO number. We set our ISO's ahead of time.  It was a cloudy day and he recommended 1600.
*My friend stresses that whenever you turn your camera on and you're working in any of the M,A,S or P settings that you automatically think ISO and set it accordingly.
(My camera goes anywhere from 200-3200 plus some additional ones whose meanings I am not sure of)

Depth of Field/Aperture


~The Depth of Field refers to how much of your picture is in focus~
~Aperture refers to the amount of light that the camera is letting in~
1. Greater Depth of Field = All of your picture is in focus which is perfect for landscapes
2. Shallow Depth of Field = Your subject is in focus but the background is blurred

The part that is hard to keep straight is what aperture number leads to what depth of field.

Greater Depth of Field needs a smaller opening (less light) which means a large aperture number (f25)
Shallow depth of field needs a larger opening (more light) which means a smaller aperture number (f3.8)

So basically...landscapes = a high f number
Portraits = small f number

  • When learning to use the camera in Aperture mode we made sure the dial on the left was set to A. We then changed the aperture by spinning the main dial on the front right side of the camera.<--I've used the auto portrait setting so I know what look I want to be achieving but the manual is what I've needed to learn!

Here are the pictures that I took when learning about Aperture/Depth of Field. I'm really picky about my pictures so I'm sending out a HUGE disclaimer that these are not great - as in we were all just randomly shooting eachother and the model, talking and goofing around =)

:: Greater Depth of Field ::
{f16}

:: Shallow Depth of Field ::
{f5.3}
Notice the difference in backgrounds?

Tomorrow I'll post what he taught/pictures regarding the Shutter Speed =)






JPG.com


Tell me, are you a member of JPG.com? I joined last year but only recently started getting more involved with it. It might be a good idea for you if you are serious about your photography, wanting feedback and wanting to stay motivated. They have a lot of themes that you can "enter" your pictures in. Plus, you can find a lot of inspiration as there are so many great photographers - I could spend all day on this website (although, I'm still not sure how it all works). I especially like that you can subscribe to an RSS feed of your favorite photographers so that you will always know when they add a new picture.
My profile is here if you are a member or end up joining

Used lens coffee mugs...for real!


I was reading Nina's Love and Lemonade photography blog and ran across these coffee mugs in used lenses! How fun! Although, I would surely tip it over...how would they even stand?!
Buy it here if you dare...

Hipstamatic

6/1/10 - Hergiswil, Switzerland

I can't resist using the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone  =)

Update


First, I sincerely want to thank you for your supportive comments! I started this as a way to document what I'm learning, what pictures I'm taking and random photo related things around the Internet so that I could keep myself accountable and didn't really expect anyone to really read it much less comment! So thank you! It is motivating =)
~
I admit I haven't been reading my book and applying things like I should be - so my old pictures are a cover up ;) I plan to spend some quality time with it today so stay tuned. 
~
I've been realizing lately that I definitely prefer taking pictures of things around cities, buildings and people. Landscapes just aren't my thing even though I still do it. I wonder why that is? What do you prefer taking pictures of? 
~
A member of a Luzern group on FB that I'm a part of is offering a free little 2 hour class on photography this Sunday where he'll be discussing camera basics, depth of field and appropriate zooming based on the subject. My friend and I signed right up so I hope to have some new things to discuss here in a few days!