DigitalCamFan
How to take a silhouette picture
A trip to the park at sunset created the perfect opportunity for me to work on my silhouettes. In both these photos my kids are climbing up this really cool rope pyramid which they call the Eiffel Tower. The first one is my son taken with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens in manual, shutter speed 1/250 F-Stop 3.5
A couple things I have learned about silhouettes is to make sure your background is brighter than your subject. Trying around sunset is perfect! The first time you position yourself in front of a sunset to take a silhouette you will see the sun sets faster than you think! So be prepared! Expose for the light. If you want your subject to be identifiable meter off their face instead.
This next one is my daughter same settings Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens shot at a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec. and F-Stop 3.5
The one thing about Montana come August we usually have Forrest fires in the surrounding areas. This summer was no different, but definitely not as bad as past years. The smoke still came and lingered in the valley for a bit. This picture below is unedited. I was in the kitchen when I looked out the window and saw the sun was pretty close to setting so my daughter and I jumped in the car and drove to a near by park to take this picture. I realize it’s not a silhouette… just a picture taken at sunset.
Fall is in the air
Taking my daughter to school this morning felt like a fall morning. The ground was still wet from a little rain fall earlier this morning, the sun just coming over the mountains. Seriously… the sun couldn’t rise at a more perfect time for us. Every morning on our walk to school the sun is just coming up over the mountains. I am making up for all the sun rises I have missed in my life.
Every morning I drop my daughter off and go for a 30 minute walk or run before I start the day. Some mornings I bring the camera some days I just bring my MP3 player. This morning I choose the camera as I walked out so I could take in the fall morning at a much slower pace.
This first picture I took I used my EF-S 55-250mm lens at F-Stop 6.3 shutter speed 1/40sec, aperture priority. If I had noticed the 1/40 sec on this photo I might have taken another one at 1/60th, but I think it came out o.k. for hand held. There is a dark house behind which made a great back drop and by bringing up my contrast in Photoshop it made it look black.
Here are a few more from my morning adventure. I love the feelings I get when the seasons change each one bringing a different wave of anticipation. Fall makes me feel a need to start racking before the leaves have even fallen. Pull all the hoses inside so they don’t freeze during the winter months. Pull out the sweaters and pour myself a cup of hot tea instead of iced tea.
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
This past weekend we did something different! There is a place not to far from where I live called the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas. I have never been there before but have heard great things about it. There goal is to create One thousand hand-cast Buddha statues that will be arrayed around the central figure of Yum Chenmo, or the Great Mother. On Saturday they celebrated a peace day a fundraiser for the garden to reach their goal. It was a very fun peaceful day full of music and great food.
These were taken in a shed were they were storing some of the buddhas. There was a crowd of people when I came in to take a picture. I knew it was time to leave this particular spot when I looked down and saw my daughter putting her pink necklaces around the buddha in the front row.
Gamma Correction
The other day I learned a new word… Gamma!
After spending a very frustrating afternoon attempting to print a picture which looked nothing like the picture on my monitor I learned what gamma correction is. Now I could go into an in depth explanation of what this word gamma means, but I don’t feel I truly understand what it means to explain it properly. What I can tell you is how I fixed it. If you would like a more technical report you might want to check out the Wiki – Gamma Corrections
The picture above is the same exact picture displayed with different gamma settings. The picture on the right is what my monitor was set at so when I edited the picture I ended up with a blue and orange picture which is what I wanted. When I printed the picture it looked like the one on the left with a very dark dark background.
To change the gamma settings: Right click on the monitor – go to properties – settings – advanced – Click on your Graphic Adapter mine is a GeForce FX 5200 – Click on the Display Control Panel to see your settings . I lowered my gamma to 0%. I then edited the picture again since the color was off and hit print with my fingers crossed I waited… and it worked!
The harsh news was everything I have been editing is edited incorrect. I looked back at my recently edited photos and realized most were a bit dark. Apparently I haven’t printed anything in awhile so I am still unsure how or why it changed. I can keep guessing on that one, but the problem seems to be fixed! Today I had our Christmas cards printed locally again I was worried about the outcome. My monitor and printer seem to be working together, but what about outside my little work area. When I opened the box I was relieved to see exactly what I had hoped to see… phew!
Now you are probably wondering where did I get this beautiful scarf to photograph! I was surprised by my ever so talented friend Erika on my birthday! A beautiful lady who continuously impresses me with her kindness and creativity! You can take a look at some of her knitting projects on her website mamalovesknitting.com.
Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 230
I love the gear as much as I love taking the pictures. Of course I want to learn everything about how to take a picture. I also want to understand how the camera works. Since my son loves to take apart anything he can get his hands on it seemed like a good project to purchase an old camera take it apart together and see how it works. I found an old camera for $.50 Can you say bargain!
While shopping I found this gem for a mere $5.00! How cool is that!
The Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 230! This one I am not planning on take apart. On the contrary this one I want to get to know. The old battery – No. 531 (4.5 volt) was still inside corroded pretty bad. So I took out the battery and stuck the cord in vinegar and listened to it sizzle. Wiped it clean and presto ready for a new battery. Now it just needs a new battery and film.
Good ol’ Amazon has the film – Fuji pack film comes in FP-100C, FP-100B and FP-3000B. No longer does Polaroid make the film for this camera, but I have read that the Fuji film will work I will let you know!
Stages of Photography
My husband just sent me this graph “The Stages of a Photographer”! I am sure it has been around for awhile, but it is the first time I have seen it… It made me laugh since I can see myself within the graph.. Thought I would share! Click on the image to see it larger!
External Flash?
For the past year I have been fighting with the ability to take indoor pictures. I don’t like the flash on the camera so I never use it. First I adjust the aperture then move to the ISO, but once you are opened up all the way and the ISO is cranked to 1600 where do you go?
During pumpkin carving this year I was having a hard time taking pictures of everyone carving pumpkins because of the low light. Now our house isn’t a cave the curtains were all open, but it just wasn’t enough light. I remembered I had an old flash in an old camera bag downstairs that someone had given me about 10 years ago, but never used. It is the Quantaray QB-350A I thought I would give it a try. So I dusted it off pointed the flash at the ceiling and had a moment of “aaaaahhhhh” flash is not bad just the flash on my camera is!
So now the search for an external flash for the camera. Of course Canon Flash Speedlite is where I ended up first, but is that the best? What do you think?
A moment of silence!
Walking through the university on a cold windy Sunday morning I found myself breathing deep enjoying every moment. The wind that circled my fingers as I took some pictures. The sound of the leaves moving from one side of the ground to the other. The only thing missing was a cup of hot coffee in my hands, but that would have to come later right now my hands were full as I walked around enjoying the morning.
The last few Sundays a friend and I have been starting our day with the sun. Before the family, the house, before my life calls to me we sneak out the door quietly camera in hand picking a different area to photograph each week. It is a great way to start off the week or end the week whichever way you want to look at it!
These are my serene shots from this week:
Sunny 16
Sunny 16
I just found out a new technique! Such a simple easy to remember rule… When taking a picture in 100% sunshine you set your F-Stop=16 – ISO=100 and shutter speed=100. This will produce perfect exposure in the sun every time.
This picture was taken using Sunny 16 at an incredible fun maze right before Halloween this year. The maze was 1 mile of twists and turns which connected to a corn maze. There was even a guy who maned the center just in case you found your self lost but really that is what you hope will happen if you find yourself in a maze.
A few conditions to keep in mind when using Sunny 16
1. The sun must be high enough to be bright
2. Subject must be in the sun
3. Make sure the sun isn’t behind a cloud must be full sunshine.
4. Conditions should be average meaning no snow or sand etc.
Interesting Fact: Shade is about 3 stops darker than sun (8x’s darker) When using Sunny 16 with some shade in the picture you can decide what you want to do either zoom in on your subject so there is no shade or maybe open up 1 stop and see what happens your shadows might look better and the subject would probably be o.k.
If you have a starting point in the sunshine you can edit and play!
Canon XSi automatic setting
O.k. so a few days turned out to be more like a week!
This was my first trip without my husband and two children…. Dad did awesome as Mr. Mom taken on everything! No this trip was for my mom and me. We flew to California to visit family. Just a quick visit to check in on the grandma’s. I wish I lived closer to family!
San Jose proved to be as crazy as I remember this time we rented a GPS unit which was awesome it got us around like a charm absolutely amazing This was much better then having your head down looking at the google map you printed before you left home. The only time it led us astray was on the way back to the airport. The pretty voice said proceed to the left lane so I did crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get there and then she said exit right… Driving on and off freeways is not my cup of tea. Seeing my two lovely grandma’s was a treasure each so amazing in their own special way.
This picture was taken by my mom with my camera. Another excellent feature about the Canon XSi you can be as creative as you want or just put it on automatic and hand the camera to someone.
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