I love photographing the important people in my life...getting to do so in the golden glow of a wheat field was even better! Love you Goertz family! xo
Thursday, July 28, 2011
{family&children} wheat kings and pretty things
If you follow my blog, you'll recognize my lovely friend Jenica in this post. Last year, her and her family moved to a beautiful home in the country surrounded by acres of forest and fields. This summer they found themselves encircled by the beauty of soft, golden wheat. Jenica was so excited to take advantage of it with a family photo-shoot, and I was instantly on board!
I love photographing the important people in my life...getting to do so in the golden glow of a wheat field was even better! Love you Goertz family! xo
I love photographing the important people in my life...getting to do so in the golden glow of a wheat field was even better! Love you Goertz family! xo
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
a little lesson
A girlfriend of mine recently asked me for a crash course in ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. She is always playing around with editing her digital images for Facebook (they are turning out great, btw!) but she wants to start using her film SLR more often. What started out as a short email listing a few tips turned out a bit more wordy than I planned (sorry about that, Laura!), but I thought since I had it written out already, that I might as well post it in case anyone else had an interest and could benefit from it! Here we go...
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The three things you'll need to learn to control if you want to get off of Auto Mode and into Manual Mode are ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture (also called F-Stop).
The purpose of the above three tools is to capture light. That's what photography is all about, light...how to get it, how to use it, and how much you need to correctly expose your photograph. So these are the three tools you'll need to get that light...
Okay, so let's start with ISO:
The ISO number is the speed of your film. The measure of the film's sensitivity to light. The higher the number = the faster the film, which means that you can take photos in lower light situations. The downside to a high ISO (eg. 400, 800, 1000) is that the photos may come out more grainy, which is sometimes cool if you want that effect (on black and white photos for example) but not always desirable. The way to think about it is, the more light you are going to have (a bright sunny day) the lower the number needs to be. Keep in mind...ISO is not the only thing you can use to capture that light, so if you have a low ISO but not much light, you need to move onto the next two ways to get it...
Next is Shutter Speed:
Both the Shutter Speed and the Aperture (F-Stop) deal with the camera's shutter, which is released when you press your shutter release button on your camera (the button that takes the photo). Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter of a camera remains open before it shuts. The longer it is open (or the slower your shutter speed is), the more light it lets in and the brighter your photo. The numbers work something like this...1/250 of a second, 1/500 of a second, 1/1000 of a second, etc., getting faster and faster. The advantage of a really fast shutter speed is that your photos (as long as they're focused) will probably be sharper because it is not likely that your subject will move faster than your shutter. Lower shutter speeds (1/30, 1/40) are dicier, because you may shake the camera while your taking the photo, or your subject might move and the photo will come out blurry. As a rule your shutter speed should not be slower than the length of your lens. For example, if you are using a 50mm lens then don't go slower than a 1/50 shutter speed. If that is still not slow enough to get enough light for your photo, then you'll have to use Aperture (F-Stop) to compensate...
Aperture:
Aperture or F-Stop refers to the size of your shutter opening. The larger the opening the more light it lets in and the brighter your photo. The numbers are a bit confusing, because they seem to work backwards. The smaller the number, the bigger your opening. The bigger the number, the smaller the opening. (eg. F5.6, F8, F11). The other thing that F-Stop controls is the area of focus. So if you have a small number (like F2.8) and the opening is larger that means that your focus has to be more precise. If you focus on the eyes of your subject, the background and foreground may be more out of focus. Things in your photo will get blurrier the farther away from your focus point they are, so you have to make sure that you are focusing on just what you want in focus to get the effect you want. Its a cool effect though, to have the surroundings out of focus and your subject clear. Alternatively, if you use a larger number for your F-Stop (eg. F22), which means your opening is small, you will get more focus area. So for larger groups, landscapes, or anything else where you'll want more stuff/people in focus, use a larger F#.
In order to use all these tools to get the right exposure for your pic, I use my in-camera light meter. When I focus on a subject and look in my view finder I can see a scale at the bottom which is my in-camera meter. It will tell me if I am over or under exposed and then I will adjust these numbers to get the effect I want, as well as the right exposure.
Phew...I think that's it for now. Hopefully this was as useful as it was long! ;)
Thanks everyone!
--------
The three things you'll need to learn to control if you want to get off of Auto Mode and into Manual Mode are ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture (also called F-Stop).
The purpose of the above three tools is to capture light. That's what photography is all about, light...how to get it, how to use it, and how much you need to correctly expose your photograph. So these are the three tools you'll need to get that light...
Okay, so let's start with ISO:
The ISO number is the speed of your film. The measure of the film's sensitivity to light. The higher the number = the faster the film, which means that you can take photos in lower light situations. The downside to a high ISO (eg. 400, 800, 1000) is that the photos may come out more grainy, which is sometimes cool if you want that effect (on black and white photos for example) but not always desirable. The way to think about it is, the more light you are going to have (a bright sunny day) the lower the number needs to be. Keep in mind...ISO is not the only thing you can use to capture that light, so if you have a low ISO but not much light, you need to move onto the next two ways to get it...
Next is Shutter Speed:
Both the Shutter Speed and the Aperture (F-Stop) deal with the camera's shutter, which is released when you press your shutter release button on your camera (the button that takes the photo). Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter of a camera remains open before it shuts. The longer it is open (or the slower your shutter speed is), the more light it lets in and the brighter your photo. The numbers work something like this...1/250 of a second, 1/500 of a second, 1/1000 of a second, etc., getting faster and faster. The advantage of a really fast shutter speed is that your photos (as long as they're focused) will probably be sharper because it is not likely that your subject will move faster than your shutter. Lower shutter speeds (1/30, 1/40) are dicier, because you may shake the camera while your taking the photo, or your subject might move and the photo will come out blurry. As a rule your shutter speed should not be slower than the length of your lens. For example, if you are using a 50mm lens then don't go slower than a 1/50 shutter speed. If that is still not slow enough to get enough light for your photo, then you'll have to use Aperture (F-Stop) to compensate...
Aperture:
Aperture or F-Stop refers to the size of your shutter opening. The larger the opening the more light it lets in and the brighter your photo. The numbers are a bit confusing, because they seem to work backwards. The smaller the number, the bigger your opening. The bigger the number, the smaller the opening. (eg. F5.6, F8, F11). The other thing that F-Stop controls is the area of focus. So if you have a small number (like F2.8) and the opening is larger that means that your focus has to be more precise. If you focus on the eyes of your subject, the background and foreground may be more out of focus. Things in your photo will get blurrier the farther away from your focus point they are, so you have to make sure that you are focusing on just what you want in focus to get the effect you want. Its a cool effect though, to have the surroundings out of focus and your subject clear. Alternatively, if you use a larger number for your F-Stop (eg. F22), which means your opening is small, you will get more focus area. So for larger groups, landscapes, or anything else where you'll want more stuff/people in focus, use a larger F#.
In order to use all these tools to get the right exposure for your pic, I use my in-camera light meter. When I focus on a subject and look in my view finder I can see a scale at the bottom which is my in-camera meter. It will tell me if I am over or under exposed and then I will adjust these numbers to get the effect I want, as well as the right exposure.
Phew...I think that's it for now. Hopefully this was as useful as it was long! ;)
Thanks everyone!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
{specialty} four!!
I had the honour of being asked to take photos at the St. Thomas Chapter: Youth For Christ Annual Golf Tournament this year. The event was held at the Tamarack Ridge Golf Club and featured a steak dinner and prizes for every golfer. Everyone also got a chance to meet Gino Reda from TSN!
It was a great day for an even greater cause!
It was a great day for an even greater cause!
Monday, July 18, 2011
{portraits} {specialty} puppets in the park?
I met ventriloquist Yvette Locke at May's Mom to Mom Show in Pinafore Park. I was pleasantly surprised when, a couple of months later, she contacted me about needing some new promotional photos done for her website. After discussing her needs, I have to admit that, at first, I felt a little ill-equipped. Sure I've become comfortable over the years photographing and working with people, but would that do me any good when working with puppets?? I had never done anything like this before, and wanted to make sure my style would combine well with Yvette's vision. In the end I am so glad we did it, and I'm really happy with the results. Yvette was so fun to work with, although I found it hard to pry myself away from taking photos of just her! She is a beautiful and uniquely talented woman who I am so glad to have met! Enjoy!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
{family&children} willick family values
I had such a great time photographing this family! Not only were they fun, adventurous and super good-looking (talk about great genes!), I also got to shoot at one of my favourite local spots. The St. Thomas Railway Museum is like ten locations in one! I think I could photograph there fifty times and still not touch on all of it's potential. Thanks so much Willick family! I loved meeting you and had a blast with these photos.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
{family&children} going west
My June session, with our good friends Brad and Lori and their wonderful family, was definitely bittersweet. Everyone was in great spirits and this family's love for each other was so apparent, but there was also an unspoken, palpable sadness. Lesley, Lori's younger sister, has recently graduated from Western with her Bachelor of Science Honors (the sweet) and will soon be off to UBC to complete her masters (the bitter). This close family is so proud of her accomplishments but, as the summer counts down, the reality of how much she will be missed is setting in. I pray for long summer days, lots of quality moments and a great autumn long distance plan!
Thank you Hill family, for letting me be part of this time in your lives. I hope these photos capture at least a small part of the devotion, affection and warmth that you so obviously feel for one another.
Thank you Hill family, for letting me be part of this time in your lives. I hope these photos capture at least a small part of the devotion, affection and warmth that you so obviously feel for one another.
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