serene scrapper
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This Week's Assignments - first wk of FebOk, I admit that I am shooting from the hip here, but my goal is to get us taking better pictures, so any pretty much guessing how to get this kick-started. So here goes:
These are the things I want you to do this to warm up that camera. Please post your photos here. Try not to overload, just post the ones you really like.
1. Take more pictures. Add a day or a small block of time, whatever works, to your schedule this week and simply take some shots. You don't have to go anywhere, unless you want to. Just take more. Use whatever settings you want. Just practice!
2. Now get out that manual. No groaning, please. Review it. Or read bits of it for the first time, if you haven't covered it all (I haven't!). If you are like me, it kinda runs together. So look over a section you are interested in, and then try it out. You will be asked to do this again, so don't try to devour all of it, by any means.
3. Do you have a sports setting? Us that to take some shots of something moving. Your kids, the birds outside, your dog, a car whirring down the road, whatever. See what that gives you.
4. Now try a portrait. If you use portrait setting on your camera, you may find you need a tripod. If you don't have one, see if you can be still enough to avoid blur. Otherwise, just use auto. We will play around with portraits, so just try what you can.
Once we try these then we can talk about how to make them better.
Again, I am far far far from expert. This is my learning process, too. So jump in and offer ideas, too.
Photography is both easy and difficult at the same time. Let's see what we can learn simply by practicing.
Ok, go!
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Scrappygirl123
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MANUAL????? Man, that means I have to find it  . I will see what I can come up with this week.
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~ melodyz ~
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:thumbup: awesome assignment!
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scrapnkitty
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I have no manual. THe camera was a hand me down. I will see what I can find on the internet though.
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serene scrapper
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I'll bet there is one, Katt. But at least you can sit and try to figure out what your buttons are all about. Just to get the most out of your camera, that's the point.
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lisa9er
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| Scrappygirl123 wrote: | | MANUAL????? Man, that means I have to find it . I will see what I can come up with this week. |
 that's what I was thinkin!!
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laticiaragle
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Can't wait to see all these yummy pics!
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vellumx
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 ..well, just getting back from seeing Nina and Ian, you know I took loads of photos....I tried different settings on some, but it seemed like Auto worked best.
I did try night setting when I took them to the pond to feed the ducks. The sun was just setting, but still light out.
Are we suppose to share a photo
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laticiaragle
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Well of course Roe....share share share! We want to see them!
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vellumx
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..before or after the editing....I may upload one of the many I took of the ducks..:)
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serene scrapper
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| vellumx wrote: | ..well, just getting back from seeing Nina and Ian, you know I took loads of photos....I tried different settings on some, but it seemed like Auto worked best.
I did try night setting when I took them to the pond to feed the ducks. The sun was just setting, but still light out.
Are we suppose to share a photo |
Yes, share. That was part of the instructions.
As for settings, yes, I can see where auto is better. That's because it's designed to give you a good shot. And you can just stay there, not a crime. A good camera should almost always give you a decent shot. HOWEVER, you can get a lot more out of your camera and practice that creativity in you by learning what your camera can do for you. If nothing else, use the settings designed for a specific thing, like portrait, etc. See what happens!
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serene scrapper
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Oh, and before or after editing is fine.
Ok, everyone, remember the assignments! You have this week to give them a try!
As for your manual, do what you can and are willing to do. You may just want to choose a button on your camera and look it up to see what it can do for you. More than one way to go at it!
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serene scrapper
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Here are my portraits, quick and dirty, but still fun! First one unedited. Second slightly edited. Third, pretty obvious it's edited!
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laticiaragle
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Oh Marlene....I love the last picture that you edited! It's a great shot really....did you take that in portrait mode? However it was taken it's awesome! I love the off center focal point! 
I will try and post a few soon!
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serene scrapper
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| laticiaragle wrote: | Oh Marlene....I love the last picture that you edited! It's a great shot really....did you take that in portrait mode? However it was taken it's awesome! I love the off center focal point!
I will try and post a few soon! |
Yes, I used portrait mode. Worked pretty well! Took off the flash, of course. Fun!
Can't wait to see yours, Ticia. Now don't show us up too much, ok? 
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laticiaragle
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Oh please Marlene....I am addicted to photoshop that is the only reason some of my pics turn out okay!
To be honest I hate using portrait mode on the camera so this will be good practice for me as well. I will get some pictures taken today and upload!
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serene scrapper
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| laticiaragle wrote: | Oh please Marlene....I am addicted to photoshop that is the only reason some of my pics turn out okay!
To be honest I hate using portrait mode on the camera so this will be good practice for me as well. I will get some pictures taken today and upload! |
would love to know why you do not like portrait mode. I am guessing we can learn something from your answer. What don't you like about it?
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GrammyScraps
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I agree with the artistry of the third pic, Marlene. It is a really great shot. But, I soooo love the one of Jim and Em.
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laticiaragle
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Well hate is such a strong word. I would say the portrait mode just doesn't come into play with my shooting style. I shoot at various focal lengths and am what I would call a non-traditional photographer so I am constantly moving and changing angles as I shoot. To stop and change settings in the middle of a wedding or shoot to me may cause me to miss a very important moment. So for those cases I just use auto. Now there are many photographers that change their settings as they work...I have just found that it does not work well for me. I prefer to edit in photoshop.
Now, the portrait mode is for shooting just that a portrait. The catch is your subject has to be the closest thing to you for your camera to pull off the picture correctly. So in my case if I am shooting a more "artsy" type shot then I would shoot in auto and edit later. That is just my style of shooting though. I think that the portrait mode is a great tool and one that would be good to learn so that when in the situation you can pull off a great portrait shot.
I am actually looking forward to the challenge. I have not done much work in sports either so maybe I can find a chance to use this setting as well.
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laticiaragle
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Okay here is a baby portrait I shot.
The type of shot is perfect to shoot in portrait mode because there is a simple background and your subject is in the center of the frame and is the closest thing to you.
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serene scrapper
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All I can say is WOW!!!
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~ melodyz ~
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| laticiaragle wrote: | Okay here is a baby portrait I shot.
The type of shot is perfect to shoot in portrait mode because there is a simple background and your subject is in the center of the frame and is the closest thing to you. |
GIRL..YOU GOT IT GOING ON!
WOW...I MEAN WOW! that is one gorgeous photo!
what were the exact settings..did you zoom..anything?
or have the pic mode in portrait..and lens on auto?????
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laticiaragle
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Thanks Marlene and Mel for your kind words.
Mel, yes I did have it in portrait mode....the shot was zoomed in and edited of course. I was not using the stock lens though (manual mode) and I have an external flash.
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~ melodyz ~
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thankx chickie
what other settings did you have it on
ISO..etc??
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laticiaragle
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ISO - 400
f/4
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GrammyScraps
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I love those sorts of photos...just beautiful and precious.
I use the sports mode tons and love it. It's the setting I use in Montana so much when taking my much loved (by me) water photos. Also use it when we are traveling down the hiway.
Here's a water one.. Not a favorite particularly but certainly shows movement.
Sorry...got carried away and away from the theme of this thread. Here is one I used portrait mode and then cropped further.
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~ melodyz ~
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| laticiaragle wrote: | ISO - 400
f/4 |
thankx chickie
will try those settings :
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~ melodyz ~
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| GrammyScraps wrote: | I love those sorts of photos...just beautiful and precious.
I use the sports mode tons and love it. It's the setting I use in Montana so much when taking my much loved (by me) water photos. Also use it when we are traveling down the hiway.
Here's a water one.. Not a favorite particularly but certainly shows movement.
Sorry...got carried away and away from the theme of this thread. Here is one I used portrait mode and then cropped further.
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wow ~ fabulous shots!
lovin that nature pic and how it stills the water!
and great shot with the portrait mode..love it!
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vellumx
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Cool photos ladies..and yes, I'm still learning about the apture and ISO!!
Here is a photo I took of Nina. I would say it was set on "P" (programed auto), so not sure what the numbers were. This was in a natural lit room with just light coming from the opened blinds and sliding door.
Once I downloaded the photo, I did play with it in Photoshop.
I cropped the photo, changed it to b/w and then used the 'lite filter' on the Photoshop program
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GrammyScraps
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Wow, Roe...you turned an already stunning photo into a work of art. Love it.
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laticiaragle
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Great job ladies...these are some great shots!
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~ melodyz ~
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| vellumx wrote: | Cool photos ladies..and yes, I'm still learning about the apture and ISO!!
Here is a photo I took of Nina. I would say it was set on "P" (programed auto), so not sure what the numbers were. This was in a natural lit room with just light coming from the opened blinds and sliding door.
Once I downloaded the photo, I did play with it in Photoshop.
I cropped the photo, changed it to b/w and then used the 'lite filter' on the Photoshop program
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wow ~ beautiful photo of nina! she's such a *natural*
love the edite on :thumbup: :thumbup:
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~ melodyz ~
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here's a couple shots of my dh..excuse the hair
he's havin a bad hair day
my camera was set to portrait
ISO 200 f/5.6..ok..still working on that part
i cropped and changed to sepia
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serene scrapper
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Nice, Mel!!!! I'd love to see the color one - all original. Will you show us?
I am so glad you did this - I hope it helps everyone!
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serene scrapper
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Roe, I didn't tell you how excellent that photo of Nina is! Bravo!
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~ melodyz ~
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you got it chickie..here's the original of the 1st pic
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serene scrapper
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Very good, Mel. I do like the bw, tho. Good cropping and changing.
BTW, did you know you can change to B/W while the photo is still in your camera? Look in your manual on pg 134. I personally think it does a nice job.
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~ melodyz ~
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yepperz..i was checkin into that marlene..haven't tried it though
i had deleted the pics off my camera..silly me!
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~ melodyz ~
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| laticiaragle wrote: | ISO - 400
f/4 |
 ticia..what did you use for the black background?
love that!
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serene scrapper
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| ~ melodyz ~ wrote: | yepperz..i was checkin into that marlene..haven't tried it though
i had deleted the pics off my camera..silly me! |
No bigs. Try this, just for fun. Take another shot of him or your dd or whoever (I like people shots rather than objects). Take as you please, whatever mode, but portrait is nice. Then do the b/w conversion thing. Keep the original copy too (I think you can do that. But just in case take two shots same pose). Then after you have the b/w that you've converted in camera, download to you computer, then do the color again to b/w in photoshop. See how they differ. If they do.
I am going to do this too. Soon as I get a chance.
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laticiaragle
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| ~ melodyz ~ wrote: | | laticiaragle wrote: | ISO - 400
f/4 |
ticia..what did you use for the black background?
love that! |
I took this shot in the home of one of my clients so I set up a black blanket/sheet over their couch. Kept the lights off except for a lamp on the left side of the room.
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~ melodyz ~
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thankx chickie ~ sorry for all the questions!
ok..i think i need a black blankie ..i love that look
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laticiaragle
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Ask all the questions you want...if I don't know the answer I will look for it!
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scrapnkitty
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I know I am a bit late on this one, but I did take a pretty good pic on Saturday using the sports mode on my camera so I wanted to share. Here is a pic of CJ in action at the bowling alley.
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GrammyScraps
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Cute Katt...my gosh! he looks so much older!!!
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laticiaragle
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Great Katt!
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serene scrapper
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Nice, Katt! He's in focus, with some motion in the bg, very good! And yes, he looks older!
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