Random Picture Challenge

So here is another Saturday and Brittany over at 4 Little Men is hosting this again! This week the picture is the 44th photo from November 2007.



This is from Thanksgiving weekend..."A's" first. My inlaws live in Melbourne so we took the opportunity to go to the beach with the kids. My SIL and BIL and their kids went too! DH took the picture...notice the extreme amount of sky!

18-month-old Portraits

I can't believe she is 18-months old! I took "A" out for a little photo shoot today so that I can have photos ready and sent out some time next week. She isn't the most cooperative subject at this age, but I think I got some worthwhile shots. I am posting quite a few so you can get a good idea of what I got. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these.

Week 4 - Shutter Priority Part 3

I have shot many different water features this week in an effort to work with shutter speed. Today's result is my favorite so far. After trudging to different location at the University of Miami and Coral Gables, I found my favorite subject right at the front of my complex...go figure!

All images were shot with a Canon 20D, 18-55 lens, at a focal length of 33mm. I used a tripod to steady the image and to help with shake in the slower shutter speeds. No flash was used.


1/1600
f/4.5
ISO 1600
AWB - Shade






1/1000
f/5.6
ISO 1600
AWB - Shade






1/800
f/4.5
ISO 800
AWB - Shade






I changed the AWB to auto for the rest of the images. I think I actually like the colors in the Shade setting better.


1/640
f/4.5
ISO 800
AWB







1/500
f/5.0
ISO 800
AWB







1/320
f/4.5
ISO 400
AWB







1/200
f/4.5
ISO 200
AWB







1/125
f/5.6
ISO 200
AWB
Exp. Comp. -1/3






1/40
f/10
ISO 200
AWB
Exp. Comp. -1/3





1/15
f/13
ISO 100
AWB
Exp. Comp. -2/3





1/8
f/18
ISO 100
AWB
Exp. Comp. -2/3





1/4
f/25
ISO 100
AWB
Exp. Comp. -2/3





0"4
f/29
ISO 100
AWB
Exp. Comp. -2/3





0"8
f/29
ISO 100
AWB
Exp. Comp. -2/3

Random Picture Challenge

4 Little Men and Girly Twins is doing this weekly. So I will play along. This week, the folder is August 2007 and the 30th picture.

"A" was just days old in this picture. This was her first bath at home. She was so tiny...hard to believe 18 months have already gone by.

Drama

I don't know about you, but I just love this photo. I liked it in color, but felt that the B&W was stunning. I did a little post processing...blurred some edges and removed the crumbs from her face. Here's my final result. What do you think?

Week 4 - Shutter Priority Part 2

Here are some closer views at a different angle. It's a little easier to see the effect in these. But, clicking on the images for larger view will make it easier. Again, all shots were taken with a Canon 20D with a focal length of 33mm. No flash was used.


f/4.5
1/640
ISO 800









f/4.5
1/320
ISO 400









f/5.6
1/125
ISO 200









f/5
1/60
ISO 100









f/8
1/20
ISO 100









f/25
1/2
ISO 100

Week 4 - Shutter Priority

This week's photography challenge is the play with shutter speeds. This is by far the most difficult photography concept for me. So I am eager to figure this one out. First of all, the things I learned in the previous weeks will help tremendously. In the past, I have had trouble with shutter speed. I know that a fast shutter speed stops action...freezes it. I know that a slower shutter speed slows things down...makes them look fluid or slightly blurred to show motion. The problem I always had in the past was that if I wanted to use a slower shutter speed, my images were always very washed out because too much light was hitting the sensor. Now I know that I can adjust my ISO to help with this issue. It's all coming together.

I went to the Biltmore in Coral Gables to shoot on of their fountains for this assignment. I wanted a stable subject that still had movement...what better than a fountain with moving water! However, there wasn't enough water to get a really dramatic effect, so I will be doing this assignment again. Nonetheless, the images I got do show how shutter speeds can effect the image.

All images in this set shot with a Canon 20D, 52mm focal length, no flash, and the white balance set for shade.

Since the images are small, you will need to click on the images for larger views in order to see the details and differences.


f/5.6
1/1000
ISO 1600








f/5.6
1/500
ISO 800







These next two images were shot with the same f-stop and shutter speed. But the ISO was changed. You can see that the second image (ISO 200) is darker than the first image (ISO 400). This is because the lower ISO makes the sensor less sensitive to light. So, since the shutter speed is relatively fast, you need a higher ISO so that enough light makes it to the sensor.


f/5.6
1/200
ISO 400








f/5.6
1/200
ISO 200







The last three images were shot with the slower shutter speeds.


f/7.1
1/60
ISO 200








f/18
1/4
ISO 100








f/22
1/2
ISO 100







The images I shot after this were overexposed. This was because I could not adjust the ISO lower than 100, therefore too much light was hitting the sensor and causing the washed out images from my past.

Random Picture Challenge

I found this on 4 Little Men & Girly Twins. Thought this might be interesting. So here is the 8th picture from one of my January folders. Since I have many January folders, I just picked one.

Obviously I was not going for photo contest quality here...I think that is the point. Just random snapshots of our life. This one was taken a few days ago. She loves to get into Mommy's craft drawers...and it just so happens that her crayons are stored there too! So, while I worked on a scrapbook page, she colored...I think she might have randomly colored on more than 10 separate pages in the notebook. This was the first time she has colored without eating the crayons.

52/365 - Week 3: Aperture Priority Mode

This week was all about choosing the aperture size manually...in other words, what effect does changing the f/stop have on the image. It has been a challenge for me to get these photos because I really wanted to do this with a portrait, but my 17-month-old subject doesn't stay still long enough to get the desired image. So, my second attempt was with toys...they stay very still and let you take as many pictures as you need. I am going to make another attempt at outdoor portrait this weekend, but here are a few image that demonstrate the point pretty well.

All shots were taken with a Canon 20D, Lens 18-55, No Flash, and a Focal Length of 50mm.


#1 -
f/5.6
1/30
ISO 400
AWB - Fluorescent






#2 -
f/10
1/10
ISO 400
AWB - Fluorescent






#3 -
f/14
1/6
ISO 400
AWB - Fluorescent






#4 -
f/25
1/5
ISO 1600
AWB - Fluorescent





Notice that the first image has the lower f/stop and the background is blurred. This makes the subject of the picture stand out. As the f/stop was increased, the background became more focused. In other words, the higher the f/stop, the greater the depth of field. Pretty cool huh?

Also notice that the more I stopped down the f/stop (increased it), the slower the shutter speed. In the final image, I had to also change the ISO setting so that I could get a focused image without using flash. The higher ISO allows more light onto the image sensor, but creates a grainier (noisier) image. If you click on the image, you will get a larger version and will be able to see the grain.

Jungle Island

I took two photos at Jungle Island that I really liked. What do you think?


AE Mode
f/5.6
1/80
ISO 400
21mm
AWB - Shade
No Flash










Macro Mode
f/5.6
1/400
ISO 400
55mm
AWB
No Flash