Light, Lines & Color

D is for Differential Focus

Nikon D60 with lens at 200mm: 1/400 second @ f/5.4 and ISO 400

Differential focus is when only a small area of an image is in focus and the remainder is blurred, allowing the subject to be isolated. This is one of my favorite techniques and I intentionally blur portions of many of my images in order to emphasize my subject or to add to the story without shifting focus away from my primary subject. By using a wide aperture like f/4.5 or 5.6 (or f/2.8 if you're lucky enough to have such a fast lens) and focusing carefully i.e. manually, you can separate your subject, like this crocus's stigmata, from the background of it's blurred petals. This also works to blur an otherwise messy background into a sea of color that surrounds the subject. (Wasn't I lucky that purple and yellow are complementary colors thus providing a very pleasing contrast in the photo below.)

Nikon D60 with lens at 200mm: 1/125 second @ f/5.6 and ISO 200

In "C is for Composition", I said that "Photographers have a multitude of decisions to make about light, lines (leading or otherwise), balance, motion, space, focus, perspective, and framing." Focus, differential or otherwise, and its partner depth of field can play a large role in the composition of an image.

Nikon D7000 with lens at 112mm: 1/13 second @ f/5.6 and ISO 100

In this image of the cocktail nuts, I wanted to ensure the focus was on the nuts but within the context of entertaining and what better way than to show some hors d'oeuvres but allow them to be blurred while ensuring the nuts are in sharp focus. A shallow depth of field created with the f/5.6 allowed the blur I wanted while I focused on the nuts.

Nikon D90 with lens at 90mm: 1/250 @ f/5.6 and ISO 400

Lastly, I used differential focus in this image of the sunflowers to tell the story ... to focus on the bloom with the colorful images of what it will become blurred in the background.

Play with differential focus and share your images on the Light, Lines & Color Community in Google+. If you're not a member, join - it's free. Then just ask to become a member of our little community - we love to share and learn.

 

S is for Shutter Speed

Nikon D60: 1/1250 second at f/4.5 and ISO 100

The third part of the photography triumvirate is Shutter Speed, one of the three primary functions of your camera that you can use to make the image you want. We've covered Aperture and the circumstances under which you would choose to shoot in Aperture Mode, and we've touched upon ISO - the light sensitivity of your camera's sensor, now for Shutter Speed. When would you choose to shoot in Shutter Speed Mode? When you want to control the look of something that is moving. You may want to stop something that's moving very fast like that hungry seagull and thus will select a high shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/15 second at f/25 and ISO 100

You may want to give the sense of movement for your subject like the water in this rushing river so you would select a slow shutter speed.

Nikon D90: 1/1250 second at f/5.6 and ISO 200 (lowest on D90)

You could be on a moving vehicle, like a steamship, photographing a moving object like this parasail and want to stop everything including you and the camera shake being caused by the boat's vibration, so once again you'd go for a higher shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/800 second at f/5.6 and ISO 100

And you may have assigned yourself the challenging job of shooting waves one day and you start, as always, shooting at the lowest ISO your camera will allow. On the Nikon D60, that I used this day in Puerto Rico, that's 100. But, with the telephoto zoom lens at 180mm that would only allow a shutter speed of 1/800 second at f/5.6 which was the largest largest aperture the lens would permit. If I could have I would have opened the aperture wider, letting more light in and forcing the camera to adjust by giving me a faster shutter speed, I would have but that wasn't possible. So my only remaining option, using the same lens, was to increase the ISO, thus increasing the sensitivity of the camera's sensor and forcing the camera to increase the shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/2000 second at f/6.3 and ISO 400

And look, it worked. More action was stopped at 1/2000 second and I got a boost in my depth of field from f/5.6 to f/6.3, which really helped in this shot of a long wave.

Are you beginning to understand the give and take between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO? Are you beginning to think like your camera? Are you asking yourself what the camera needs to make the picture you want and getting an answer these days?

It's meant to be a pretty nice weekend, get out and try some shutter speed shots. You can always share them in the Light, Lines & Color Google+ Community. If you're not a member yet, just ask, I'll be happy for you to join the party. Happy shooting! 

 

Happy Easter

Taken with a Nikon D7000 on a tripod:  ISO 200, 0.5 second @ f/7.1

For those of you for whom this is a holiday, I wish you a very Happy Easter!

M is for Motion

Nikon D60: I chose Scene Mode = Sport and Auto ISO 
Camera's Scene Mode selected 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6; Auto ISO chose 160

Let's face it, our world is one of motion. We move, our vehicles move, and the elements around us move. Try to stop a plane in mid-air, a sailboat underway from another moving vehicle, horses stretching for the finish line, a flower bending in the breeze, or water cascading over rocks in a stream - our challenge as photographers is how to either stop the motion or portray the motion, and it's all a lot of fun.

Nikon D60: I chose Scene Mode = Sport and Auto ISO 
Camera's Scene Mode selected 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6; Auto ISO chose 125

Most DSLR's have programmed Scene Modes of which my favorite is Sport. Setting the camera to one of these modes, given a selected ISO and the lighting, the camera will make decisions for you to maximize the possibility of capturing an acceptable image for the situation you're in, like creating a portrait, shooting a landscape, going for a close-up, or capturing a moving object.

Nikon D90: I chose Scene Mode = Sport and ISO 200 
I was on a moving paddle boat, shooting a rapidly moving jet ski on a sunny day.
Camera's Scene Mode selected 1/640 sec @ f/5.6

It seems I photograph a lot of moving objects or I travel on a lot of moving objects while shooting, thus I frequently use the Sport setting. Sport will select a fast shutter speed, given the selected ISO and lighting, which will generally stop the action. It also will mean a fairly large aperture like f/5.6 and thus a shallow depth of field. The latter doesn't usually bother me because I really want the moving subject to be in focus and don't mind if the background is blurred.

Nikon D90: I chose Scene Mode = Sport and ISO 200 
I was on a moving sailboat, shooting a moving sailboat on a sunny day.
Camera's Scene Mode selected 1/640 sec @ f/5.6

Another mode for capturing moving objects and motion is Shutter Priority mode which allows you to select a fast shutter speed to stop the action or perhaps a slightly slower one to acquire some blur and sense of motion. 

Nikon D90: I chose Shutter Priority 1/800 second and ISO 200 
The camera selected f/5.6
I wanted to "stop" the horses "in their tracks" and figured the shallow depth of field at f/5.6 would work for "wall" of horses as they rounded the corner.

There's a fun technique that you can use to intentionally emphasize motion and it's called panning. You set your camera to a slow shutter speed, focus on your moving object and pan right along with its motion, thus creating a truly blurred background. Shooting in continuous mode, i.e. capturing multiple shots per second, can increase the likelihood that you'll capture an image you like. I practiced with this technique last summer at the races in Saratoga and am quite pleased with this result for my first time out!

Nikon D90: I chose Shutter Priority 1/60 second and ISO 200 
The camera selected f/7.1
I felt confident that I could hold the camera "steady" while panning at 1/60 second but nothing less.

Flowers are beautiful but shooting them can be a challenge when the wind is stirring. Selecting a shutter speed that will provide an acceptable aperture at the chosen ISO is a good place to start.

Nikon D90: I chose Shutter Priority 1/400 second and ISO 400 
The camera selected f/5.6
This iris was in the shade and a shutter speed of 1/400 second at ISO 200 resulted in the "Lo" error message in the aperture field. Given the breeze, I didn't want to shoot at a shutter speed below 1/400 second so my only choice was to increase the ISO. At ISO 400 and 1/400 second, the camera now produced it's largest aperture for the lens I was using, f/5.6.

Finally, when shooting flowing water like a stream or water falls, you can choose to stop the action cleanly and crisply, resulting in what I like to call "hard water" ...

Nikon D60: I chose Shutter Priority 1/800 second and ISO 100 
The camera selected f/5.6

or, you can choose to capture the feeling of flowing water by shooting at a slow shutter speed, resulting in what I call "soft water".

Nikon D60: I chose Shutter Priority 1/13 second and ISO 100 
The camera selected f/25
I wanted the greatest depth of field in order to ensure the image would be in focus, front to back, while intentionally showcasing the soft blur of the flowing water.

There's a lot in this chapter but one or two of these examples may fit the exact motion you're trying to shoot, and to that end I hope this helps. If you have any questions or comments, please enter them in the comments section below. We love feedback and blogging is all about interaction.

Happy shooting!

 

F is for F Stop

I remember when I didn't know the difference between an F stop and a bus stop, and I was sure I was never going to "get it". Then one day I no longer thought about learning it, I simply knew it. I promise this can and will happen to you too.

In the first few weeks of this year, we've touched upon Aperture in nearly every post. It's one of the basic trio of tools (a.k.a. the triumvirate) used to create an image and it happens to be measured in these funny things called f-stops. Now I could try to explain exactly what an "f-stop" is but trust me after reading and re-reading technical explanations - I would fail. If you have a penchant for the technical by all means google f-stop and you'll find lots of definitions, all of which go over my head. I mention this because this means, you can use Aperture and its f-stops without knowing exactly what they are. Just recall from our A-post - A is for Aperture:

Aperture is measured in something called f-stops:

• a small f-stop number means a large opening,
• a large f-stop number means a small opening, and 
• changing from one f-stop to the next will either halve or double the amount of light entering the camera.

Schematic borrowed from Wikipedia

Also recall that a high f number like f/22 will give you greater depth of field than a small f number like f/5.6, i.e.more of the f/22 image will appear in focus than in the f/5.6 image. See:

Nikon D90: 1/60 second at f/22

 

Nikon D90: 1/125 second at f/5.6

Got it? Once you do you'll be well on your way to making the photographs you imagine in your mind's eye. 

E is for Exposure

Exposure - Photography is all about exposure to light and our tools to create an exposure that matches the image in our mind's eye are the triumvirate: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. Let me focus first on Aperture and Shutter Speed.

I never shoot in the fully automatic setting available on my Nikon D90, rather I select Aperture or Shutter Speed depending on what I'm shooting. If I'm shooting a landscape or something static I will select aperture and then begin the thought process of how I want the image to look. If the background is messy I might want a shallow depth of field to throw the mess into a colorful blur so I'd select a low f stop number, or I may want as much of the image in focus as possible as it may all contribute to the story in the image so to maximize the depth of field I'd select a high f stop number.

Let me give a simple example of an image that is the same exposure but with differing results. For ease of demonstration, all of theses photos were taken on Aperture Priority with an ISO of 200. The only setting I changed was the Aperture; the camera adjusted the shutter speed accordingly to achieve a good exposure. Can you see the difference in the depth of field?

1/30 second at f/22 
Notice the blur of the moving palm fronds but the detail in the background. You can see the ocean especially in comparison to the last image below.

1/60 second at f/16

1/125 second at f/11

1/250 second at f/8.0

1/500 second at f/5.6
Notice the soft background resulting from the shallow depth of field created by the large aperture. You can hardly see the ocean.

"The same exposure can be achieved with different combinations of aperture and shutter speed. Fast shutter speeds and larger apertures freeze moving objects and soften background details [like the last image above], while slow shutter speeds and small apertures blur moving objects and bring out background details [like the first image above]." This is directly from my camera's manual and I can honestly say I "get it". Do you?

 

D is for Depth of Field

Depth of field (DOF) refers to the portion of a photograph that appears to be in sharp focus from the foreground to the background. A photograph with a large depth of field will be sharp from front to back; a photograph with a shallow depth of field will have a limited area of sharp focus with blurred areas in front and/or back of it. A photographer can select or determine the depth of field within a photograph by selecting the aperture, measured in f-stops. Choosing a large f stop number like f/22 will provide a large depth of field; choosing a small f stop number like f/2.8 will provide a shallow depth of field. 

This is just one of those things every wannabe photographer must learn but once you've got it you can start having fun.

On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I wanted as much of this image as sharp as possible. I focused about one third of the way in to the frame and then set the Aperture to f/18. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/60th second and I didn't want to shoot handheld any slower or I'd probably see shake.

Shot with Nikon D60 with Aperture Priority on f/18 at 1/60th second

In the Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee, we came upon these falls. I wanted the falls as sharp as possible front to back and this time I had a tripod! With my ISO on 100, I set my aperture to f/22 and happily found the camera set the shutter speed to 1/15th second. Happily? Because the very slow shutter speed gave a wonderful soft blur to all that moving water!

Shot with Nikon D60 with Aperture Priority on f/22 at 1/15th second

The most beautiful flowering bush we have in our yard is a blue-lace hydrangea. Every spring it blossoms with the most delicate light blue flowers imaginable. I love the details in each flower and wanted to set one off against the blues and greens of the bush which called for a shallow depth of field.

Shot with Nikon D90 with Aperture Priority on f/5.0 at 1/100th second

Along the "highway" near our home on Long Island, I saw these sunflowers just beginning to flower. I'd never seen them as they were forming and was captivated by their demonish looking blooms. I wanted the bloom to be the center of attention, but I also wanted the image to show what it would become. I focused on the bloom and set the aperture to a shallow f/5.6, allowing the other flowers to remain recognizable and yet to fade into a blur behind the bloom. BTW the fast shutter speed (1/250th sec) helped with the breezes created by the cars and trucks rushing by behind me.

Shot with Nikon D90with Aperture Priority on f/5.6 at 1/250th second

How do you approach shooting for depth of field? Any suggestions?