Light, Lines & Color

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!

 

Flowers and Snow

With all the weather we've had, it's been very busy . The next weekly chapter will be J Is For JPEG, but .... in the meantime, I hope you all can enjoy this image that I was able to capture on this very snowy day. 

Nikon D7000, 170mm, ISO 400, 1/250 second at f/18

 

CHEERS EVERYONE, SPRING MUST BE NEAR!

 

I is for ISO

In our very first post, A is for Aperture, we noted that the three basic elements of the triumvirate of photography are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO and these elements are our tools to create a good exposure.

ISO is a measure of the sensitivity of the light sensor in our digital camera. A low number, like 100, means low-sensitivity, and a high number, like 3200 means high sensitivity. Generally speaking the lower the ISO, the better the quality of the image will be because with increase sensitivity comes increased noise. What is noise? It's a graininess in the image introduced in increasing amounts as the ISO is cranked up. These two images don't look terribly different at first, until you zoom in ... see the noise in the ISO 3200 image?

ISO 100, Aperture f/11, Shutter Speed 1/1.6 sec 

ISO 3200, Aperture f/11, Shutter Speed 1/50 second

ISO 100 and slow shutter speed (1/1.6 second) at f/11

ISO 3200 at faster shutter speed (1/50 second) at f/11

So as a general rule shoot at the lowest ISO possible. You might ask if the lowest is the best, why would you change it at all and the answer is circumstances. For example, shooting early one slightly breezy morning I saw this great red barn out beyond a huge field of bright yellow mustard flowers and I just had to capture that image.

ISO 400, Aperture f/20, Shutter speed 1/80 second

I wanted most of the image in focus, so I set the camera to Aperture Priority and I set the aperture to f/20. At an ISO of 100, the camera set the shutter speed well below the 1/60 second I felt comfortable with - handheld. Even at ISO 200 the shutter speed was still too slow to feel confident of a shake-less handheld image, so I set the ISO to 400, the shutter speed came in at 1/80 second, and this is the result. This is how the triumvirate works together - give and take to get a good exposure.

Let's try a weekend project: Get To Know Your ISO. We all have different cameras and they will perform at higher ISOs differently. For example, on my first camera, the Nikon D60, I found through experience that I could comfortably take pictures up to ISO 400 without undue ugly noise, take some pictures at ISO 800 but at ISO 1600 images had too much grain to be any good. Test your camera this weekend and let us know how high you can go without too much noise. Post your results in the comment section here to share your gear's performance. We all need to understand not only the capabilities of our cameras but also their limitations, so we can use them effectively. I look forward to reading your results.

 

C is for Camera - Think Like One

Think like your camera ... This is often the only way I know how to set the camera's aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I ask myself (as the camera), "What do I need to do to make the image she wants to make?" The basic tools in our arsenal are the triumvirate: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO.

Aperture, the size of the hole allowing light to enter the camera, is expressed in something strange called f-stops. The smaller the f number, e.g. f/2, the larger the hole and the larger the number e.g. f/22, the smaller the hole. (Note: the choice here also determines an image’s Depth of Field, but more on that later.)

Shutter Speed, how long the shutter will stay open, allowing light to enter is expressed in seconds, or fractions thereof.

ISO, the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor to light is expressed in round numbers from 100 to 6200 and higher. The lower the number the less sensitive the sensor, the higher the number the more sensitive.

Lower ISOs create the least amount of "noise" in an image - trust me on this for now, that's bad - so I most often start by setting the ISO on the lowest setting the camera allows, usually 100 for my Nikons. Now, how do I choose between Aperture or Shutter Priority?

If I'm shooting a landscape, I know I want as much of the image to be in focus as possible, the flowers in the foreground, as well as the barn in the background, so I know I want the greatest depth of field and thus a fairly high aperture. Set to Aperture Priority, the camera allows me to select the aperture for the greatest depth of field while still shooting at a shutter speed that would be safe for a handheld shot (which this one of a foggy field in early morning was).

 Taken with a Nikon D60 on Aperture Priority - f/18 for 1/100th second

If I want to capture a child running at the beach, my camera will need to stop the action and thus I'll set it to Shutter Priority and choose a speed that I think should work like 1/1000th of a second. The camera might then give me a wide aperture which will result in a shallow depth of field, but I really want to focus solely on the child's action so depth of field means little to me here.

Taken with a Nikon D60 on Shutter Priority - 1/1000th second at f/5.6