Category Archives: What’s that Wednesday
What’s that Wednesday {bokeh}
Good Thursday Morning, yes I realize it is now Thursday, but this still counts as What’s that Wednesday because I started writing this post yesterday. LOL! Anyway, here you go. Enjoy!
First, I have to tell you all that I adore bokeh. I mean like, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! When I download a card after a session and find an image with yummy bokeh, I almost always edit that image right away. (And yes, note to readers I did just call bokeh yummy. But seriously, it is!) So now I got you all thinking what the heck is bokeh anyway?
Wikipedia defines bokeh as follows -
In photography, bokeh is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.” Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting— “good” or “bad” bokeh, respectively. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.
Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights, as blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.
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Now you are probably wondering how to get some of this yummy delight in your next photograph. Well, here are a few things that have worked for me.
-use a good quality lens
-shoot wide open (a.k.a. use a large aperture)
-pose your subject so there is light peeking in behind him or her from a tree or other object
-don’t try too hard, just have fun! (this is probably the most important one!)
Here’s an example of an image with some good bokeh going on. Check it out below and have a great day!
What’s that Wednesday {Depth of Field Contest}
*Yawn*, Happy Wednesday morning everyone. I’m beat, Scott and I spent last night with Scott’s Aunt & Uncle in Boston. (Thank you guys for a great night!) We had a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then went to Fenway to watch the Red Sox beat the Angels! Needless to say we got home very late and of course had to be up very early. But it was totally worth it! Oh and a big shout out to Grammy & Grampy for watching the kiddos! Thanks guys!
Now onto today’s, What’s that Wednesday post. Last week we had guest blogger Lindsay Lehmann here to discuss depth of field. If you missed that post you can check it out here. She and I also challenged you guys to try and create a photograph using DOF to enhance your image. I sweetened the deal by offering a $50 gift certificate to the best image. Sadly though, we only had one entry. I have to say I was surprised and a bit disappointed. But the image we received was a GREAT example and I am very pleased to tell Kellie … you won! I’ll be in touch soon with your certificate and thank you for participating. Check out her image below!
I also promised to critique the images. While critique can sometimes be hard to take, it is very helpful in the learning process. (Or at least it has been for me.) So anyway, to critique Kellie’s image, I had to first review her meta-data or camera settings. Here’s what I found:
Honestly, the image is a good example of DOF and was a perfect entry. The exposure looks right on however the image was slightly out of focus. And really that is just being very nit picky. It definitely was acceptable focus but I prefer super sharp images. When I reviewed her settings I found the reason. Her shutter speed was only 1/50 which is a pretty long exposure to hand hold and explains the camera shake. Kellie, next time try to keep your shutter speed at least double your focal length to avoid camera shake. In this case, the focal length was 39mm so 1/80 shutter or faster would have produced a sharper image.
Thanks again Kellie for participating! Hope you had fun!
What’s that Wednesday {Depth of Field}
Hey everyone, happy Wednesday! Hope you all had a great day! Today’s post has been written by our amazing guest blogger Lindsay Shaw Lehmann. If you missed her intro you can check it out here. So without further ado, here it is. Enjoy!
Ooooh, a Blog on Aperture. What a treat. I love aperture. To me, it’s fascinating.
Aperture is one of the three aspects of exposure that is controlled through the lens in your camera. For some users manual exposure may seem scary, and if you’re just picking up your camera for the first time, or you’re shooting on the fly and don’t have the concentration to control your camera in manual mode, you can shoot in one of your priority modes.
I’m a Nikon shooter (the best camera in the world J ) Just kidding, but on my camera Aperture Priority it is noted as “A” on the mode dial, or control panel. On a Canon it is noted as “AV” in the same places. Take a minute to check out your camera or its manual and find out where your Aperture Priority mode is.
Now, when you shoot in one of those priority modes, your camera is going to allow you to control which aperture you’d like to use while calculating which shutter speed is appropriate to create an average grey picture. In manual mode, you need to calculate this exposure on your own using your light meter to guide you. In Aperture Priority, this calculation is done for you in the camera. Easy, but if your scene is NOT average grey, then you’re going to need to adjust in the computer afterwards, or shoot in manual mode.
So, why would I want to control my Aperture. What is this silly thing anyways? Well, as previously noted, aperture means “hole”, and just like your pupil reacts to light, your aperture changes sizes depending on how much light is in your scene. If you were operating in fully AUTOMATIC mode the following scenario would take place.
If the light is bright your scene your camera may want to use a small aperture to eliminate the amount of light that comes onto your film or your CCD (Charged Couple Device- the light sensitive material in the back of your digital camera that records your image and sends the information over to your disc)
Conversely, if the light in your scene were dark, your aperture would open up to allow more light through the lens and onto your CCD.
(All this happens while your camera is calculating a BASE GRAY or MIDDLE GRAY exposure.)
Much like everything else in photography, the Aperture does not only control the amount of light that comes through the lens, but it also controls DEPTH OF FIELD. Depth of field is often misunderstood as how sharp your focus is. DEPTH of FIELD does not control HOW SHARP your FOCUS is. It controls how much focus is in your photograph. Your photo will only be in focus if you focus sharply on a particular point. Depth of field is how far in front of and behind that point of focus is. So, when you see those cool photos where the subject is in focus and the background or foreground is out of focus, that’s controlled by DEPTH OF FIELD through your APERTURE!
Back in the day (“when I was young, I’m not a kid anymore, but somedays I like to think I was a kid again”- don’t you just have to sing that song when you hear that phrase?) the fully manual cameras had a button called the “depth of field preview button”. When you pushed it, the aperture in the lens closed down and you could see, rather darkly, what your depth of field would look like at that particular aperture. If you wanted more or less you adjusted for it. Now a days with digital, you have to take several photos and see which you like best. This is called bracketing: it will be part of your assignment. Unless you have one of those fancy-schmancy buttons, you’re going to have to test it!
How does it work: Well it’s a lot of quantum physics, no really, it is a physics thing, which I don’t want to bore you with now, but if you’re into the science of it, it’s all about the bending of light through a central point and how quickly the rays of lights break off from each other determines how quickly you will lose focus from that central point.
In English: The smaller the whole, the greater the focus- or depth of field.
The larger the hole, the less the focus- or depth of field.
How do I know the hole size? The larger the number: the smaller the hole (the greater the focus-or depth of field)
The smaller the number: the bigger the hole, (the less the focus or depth of field)
What does that look like?
Check out the following example:
So, back to the good stuff: How do you know which aperture will best fit the depth of field that you want for your photograph. Well, there’s no real way to tell unless you have a fancy lens with a depth of field guide near the focus dial. That would tell you your range. So if you have one, good for you, use it. If you’re like the rest of us and don’t, here’s what you have to do.
Start with a number: if you want a shallower depth of field, choose a lower number 1.4, 1.8, 2, 3.5, 4.0, 5.6. If you’re looking to shoot a subject where most everything in the frame is in focus, then choose a higher numbered depth of field: 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64. If you’re shooting in aperture priority mode then as you change your aperture, your shutter speed will correct for light gain or light loss. (remember as you change your aperture to a higher number less light will come in through the lens, and as you change your aperture lower, more light will come into the lens, if you (in manual mode) or the camera (in priority mode) does not compensate for this light change, then your photo will be over or under exposed.) If your camera tells you LO it means that there is too little light coming through the aperture to create a base gray image. If your camera tells you HI then it means there is too much light coming through and your image will be over exposed. If you need to compensate for light gain or loss through your ISO (sensitivity).
So, use your depth of field to enhance your photos. Most of you have probably been doing that already without really knowing what you’re doing. It just happens, but now you know how and why it happens, so you can control your images in the future. Happy Shooting and good luck! You won’t need it, you’re amazing, all of you!
-Lindsay
Now onto your homework, Lindsay and I challenge you to submit a photograph in which you have used depth of field to enhance your image. You can email your entry to beth@bethbenoit.com. One entry per person. All entries must be submitted before midnight on Sunday, April 2nd. Lindsay and I will judge them and choose one winner who will receive a $50 Beth Benoit Photography gift certificate. So get busy shooting and have fun!
P.S. All entries will be featured on the blog for What’s that Wednesday next week.
What’s that Wednesday {shutter speed}
What’s that Wednesday today is focusing on shutter speeds. As I mentioned in my previous post in order to use your DSLR to it’s full advantage you really need to shoot in manual mode. And in order to do that you must understand how to get proper exposure of your images. Last week we talked about aperture and how it relates to exposure. So now that you understand that, we can talk about shutter speed.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:
In still cameras, the term shutter speed represents the time that the shutter remains open when taking a photograph.
In addition to its effect on exposure, the shutter speed changes the way movement appears in the picture. Very short shutter speeds can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. Very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for artistic effect.[1] Short exposure times are sometimes called “fast”, and long exposure times “slow”.
A couple side notes, when you are controlling your shutter speed manually you will need to decrease your shutter speed to increase your exposure time. I know backwards again, right? Basically a shutter speed of 1/60 will leave the camera aperture open for 1/60th of a second and so on and so on. Confused? Try messing around with your settings and you’ll see what I mean.
The other thing, like mentioned above is when you are controlling your shutter speeds you can essentially freeze motion or intentionally blur motion. (So if you are chasing toddlers, raise those shutter speeds or they will look like great big blurry messes! LOL!) Also note until you get good at hand holding a very heavy camera and lens, (depending on your combo of choice) you shouldn’t try and hand hold low shutters speeds. If you find you absolutely must use a low shutter speed you should use a tripod. A good rule of thumb, is your shutter speed should be at least double the length of your lens. (i.e. if you are shooting with a 50mm lens your shutter speed should be at least 1/100)
Hopefully I haven’t left your head spinning too much! LOL! My goal is just to try and teach you some basics so you can use your camera in manual mode. Like I mentioned before, go ahead and try things out. Try changing you shutter speed and aperture and see what you get for results. The more you practice the more it will start to make sense. At least, that’s how it worked for me. But then I am totally a hands on learner. Next week we will talk about ISO and it’s effect on exposure So stay tuned!
What’s that Wednesday {aperture}
I have been getting lots of emails and questions lately from people who have just bought their first DSLR camera. (Digital single-lens reflex camera) So I thought it would be helpful to share some basic info here. And so begins the new series “What’s that Wednesday”.
Let’s get started. One of the first and most important things you need to learn about your camera is how to use it in “M” mode or manual. (If you leave your camera on “A” or automatic you might as well still be shooting with a point and shoot because you still won’t get the great results you are hoping for.) In order to do this you need to understand some basic things about exposure. Your camera has a built in light meter. This will help guide you in finding the proper exposure. You will need to change your aperture and shutter speed based on your light meter to achieve correct exposure. This week we are going to talk about aperture or f-stop and how it effects exposure.
Here’s the dictionary definition -
ap·er·ture [ap-er-cher]
–noun
1. an opening, as a hole, slit, crack, gap, etc.
2. Also called aperture stop. Optics. an opening, usually circular, that limits the quantity of light that can enter an optical instrument.
Confused yet? LOL! It’s much simpler than it seems. Grab your camera – go ahead, go get it….I’ll wait.
OK great, your back. Now turn it on and turn the dial to “M” mode.
You will notice one of the settings that you can change has numbers that look like this 2.0, 2.8, 3.2, 4.0, 5.6, 8 etc…… Those are your f-stops or apertures. Those numbers control the opening on your lens that allows the light into your camera. Now comes the tricky part, the smaller the number the more light that this allowed into your camera. So an f-8 would let much less light int then say an f-2. I know, it is just the opposite of what you would think. Right? The way I keep it straight in my head is this, the less light I have the smaller number I need. So less light small f-stop, lots of light large f-stop. Does that make sense?
Note: another thing aperture or f-stop effects is depth of field. But that is a whole other topic to be covered at a later date.
Here’s a picture I took several times with all the same settings just changed the aperture (f-stop). See the difference? Go ahead and give it a try!
Hope this post makes sense to you and helps you understand aperture better. Next week, we will talk about shutter speed and how that effects exposure.
