Photography~grow your eye challenges~#7 Texture

[Goatherd]

Thanks for that information. Keep up the good work!

 

[redtailgal]

Hey.....that pine cone is a pretty nice shot............I'm gonna TRY to do this one today too. sigh.........

 

[crazyland]

Good luck with the pinecone.

I went to try some more today... I'm not sure how I could get the water shots better. All those buttons are confusing!

Plants have a lot of variance but I find I have to pay close attention to the angle of light.

 

[redtailgal]

Crazyland, this post is for you.

You were talking about getting better water shots. You can get some very dramatic differences by simply adjusting your shutter speed. (remember to adjust your f-stop accordingly, ask me if you dont know how to meter your shots)

For instance: this shot was taken with a very quick shutter speed: 1/320th of a second and an f-stop of 4.5. You'll notice that the water is frozen, catching individual droplets of water for a very cold crisp look.

The following image is the exact same frame......I didnt move the camera. I changed my settings to: 1 second shutter speed, and changed my f stop to meter correctly (cant remember what I used). The longer exposure time allowed the movement of the water to become blurred, while the trees remained crisp since they were still. The longer shutter speed allows for the soft dreamy look in a water fall.

 

[redtailgal]

Here is my texture.......these are actually some older shots, but after crazylands post with water, I wanted you all to see some of the cool effects that can happen with a simple drop of water.......see if you can figure out how I some these effects....... (there was no special equipment, I ionly used common household items)

 

[Lothiriel]

Ooooh.... You got me, RTG.....

I am now going to attempt those things tomorrow. I don't have a fancy camera (Canon Powershot A720), but it does have shutter speed settings that I've used quite a bit.

 

[crazyland]

I've no clue where those buttons are and maybe I was playing with it and never knew. I found the iOS button but is can't be used when in some of the modes. I also found how to get monochrome. Lol ok to time to look manual.

Red, that middle one looks like food coloring. The purple would be from the color of the glass? Not sure about the 2 or 5. I know I came across the 1 but have forgotten.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I've no clue where those buttons are and maybe I was playing with it and never knew. I found the iOS button but is can't be used when in some of the modes. I also found how to get monochrome. Lol ok to time to look manual.

Red, that middle one looks like food coloring. The purple would be from the color of the glass? Not sure about the 2 or 5. I know I came across the 1 but have forgotten.

Crazyland, what type of Rebel camera do you have? I have a Rebel XS, with most of the buttons I've figured out.

IMHO, the best setting to work with is the Manual setting (M in the flat cylindrical "button" with a bunch of other symbols on there). This way you can goof around with the F-stops, ISO, aperture and exposure settings and get more practice that way instead of leaving it on Auto (green rectangle). The way to adjust your F-stop is to press the Av +/- button, then the scroll button between the ISO button and the button you use to snap pictures with. Hold down the Av +/- button as you roll the scroller (gotta be another name for it, but can't think of it off hand). The higher the F-stop the more of your picture you're going to get that is not blurry. And of course as you adjust the F-stop you have to adjust the exposure settings as well. ISO should be kept at 100 to 200 both inside and outside.

I know a new dSLR camera can be a bit of a learning curve, but it's totally worth it.

 

[redtailgal]

ISO settins can be adjusted to aid in a situation where there is poor lighting or "blotchy" lighting, and the aperture settings cannot be modified to get the proper exposure settings. Often higher ISO settings are used with High speed photography (such as the water drop shots that I showed in a previous post). Very high speed shutter settings greatly reduce the amount of light going to the sensor on the camera, because the shutter opens and closes so quickly. USUALLY by changing the F-stop, this can be corrected because the F-stop changes the SIZE of the opening of that shutter...a larger opening lets in more light, even if the shutter opens and closes very quickly.

However, with very fast shutter speeds, even the largest opening will not let in enough light, and at times, a particular F-stop is needed to get the proper depth of field in your shot (depth of field is how much of your background is actually in focus). Sometimes, esp in an outdoor portrait situation, there will be limited lighting, AND I will want the nice blurry background with my subject in crisp focus. For this, I will need a higher shutter speed that reduces my light AND an f-stop that is narrow enough to blur the background, thus reducing the light even more. in this situation, I'll often raise my ISO to 500-600. A higher ISO heightens the sensor's ability to take in light, so that it does not need as much light, nor does it need prolonged exposure to the light.

Another thing that ISO modification can be beneficial for is special effects. With proper settings, you can take a pic with higher ISO settings and it be crisp and clear, but one can also modify the settings a little and use a higher ISO take take a pic that looks older.......a procedure often used when photographing subjects in costume (for example the tourist places where you paly dress up to look like your in an old western).

For those of you that have a DSLR and are learning about your camera, I strongly urge you to leanr about your ISO settings.....they are a valuable tool, and learning to modify and set these setting correctly can have an AMAZING impact on your photographs. ISO is a valuable setting on your camera, and is one that you really should not be afraid to use, else you are not using your camera to its full potential.

 

[elevan]

I love the texture of wood so here are some tree bark pics.

(with a little moss)

(some fungi)