Similar Photos, Different Settings

One of the first assignments in my Digital Photography class this semester included taking two outdoor shots of the same scene, one using ISO 100, and one using ISO 2000.  Both had to turn out properly exposed.  Here are my two shots:

ISO 100 50mm 0ev f/10 1/13

ISO 2000 50mm 0ev f/10 1/320

Pretty similar right?  I used a tripod for both scenes.  In order to get the correct exposures I had to change the shutter speed in addition to the ISO.  The higher the ISO went the faster I had to set my shutter speed to get a good image.

I really liked this pumpkin photo.  I tweaked it  a little bit in Aperture and have put it on my website as a print and also a card.  They can be found in this gallery if you are interested in taking a look.

Thoughts on my pumpkins or your experiences with ISO and shutter speed?  Feel free to leave them below.

Cheers!

Irony and the Mailbox

I was originally going call this post something like, “Brr….It’s Cold Outside”.  That is what I was thinking about yesterday morning when I was outside taking pictures of the frost on our mailbox.  So that is where I will start.  It’s been cold here, so I was hoping to create a picture that would express that.  Here is what I started with:

ISO 125 50mm 0ev f/5.6 0.5s

This first version I shot using the tungsten white balance setting on my camera, I think the blue tint just adds to the cold feel of the picture.  The other white balance settings just didn’t thrill me as much.  I was also using my tripod, so that I could lower my ISO and get as still of an image as possible.  I did not use my remote shutter in this case, because that felt like a bit of overkill.  I edited this version a bit in Aperture.  I did some cropping and sharpening.

Here is my second version:

ISO 100 50mm (-1,0,1)ev f/1.8 1/40

Here I was trying to express the “glow” of the cold.  In reading that statement it occurs to me that perhaps I had been out too long.  Anyway, I increased my shutter speed to hopefully avoid any movement as I was shooting a bracketed exposure.  I lowered my ISO to avoid, as much as possible, too many blown out highlights.  I also put the f-stop to 1.8 because I wanted to blur out the background more than I had in the first photo.  This photo has been processed in Photomatix.  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to create a black and white image, but that was what looked best in my opinion once the editing had been done.

Now here is the irony.  Someone hit our mailbox just hours later.  And I’m not talking about a slight bump.  The post was snapped in two at the base.  We did emergency repairs (and when I say we, let me be honest and say, it wasn’t me) and now the mailbox is a little shorter, but hopefully it will hold until full repairs can be made.

As for the photos, what do you think of the two versions? have a favorite or another comment? feel free to leave them below.

Cheers!

 

Black and white this week

It is interesting that both my digital photography and design class are dealing with black and white this week.  While I don’t do a whole lot with black and white photography, I do enjoy it.  Here is one of my images from this week:

ISO 1000 50mm 0ev f/3.2 1/160

Some of you that read the exif data I include might wonder why I used an ISO of 1000 and the answer is simple.  I forgot to change it when I was setting up for these photos.  I did use a bracketed exposure for this image and then used Photomatix to edit.

What was most interesting to me in making this image is that the color version showed the frost on the leaves, while in black and white you pretty much can’t tell it’s there.

Cheers!

For the Birds: Part 2

Like yesterday, here I am taking pictures of birds in the middle of the day:

ISO 640 f/7.1 1/200 50mm

I used a higher ISO, so I was able to avoid having to lighten the bird in Aperture.  The only editing I have done here is to crop the photo.  I’ll be honest, I’m not crazy about the angle here.  I am going to have to try putting the tripod somewhere else, see if I like the outcome better.

Cheers!

For the Birds

Or, thanks to the birds that hang out nearby so I can take their picture:

ISO 160 f/3.2 1/200 50mm

I took this photo right when you are not supposed to take pictures, that is, the middle of the day.  Harsh light and shadows are an issue that is certain.  I shot this at ISO 160 but then had to lighten the bird in Aperture so that you could see some detail.  I will try this again using a higher ISO to see if that makes it possible to edit less.  I will be working on trying different angles to shoot from as well.  I did use a tripod, but this is about as high as is goes.  I will have to think about other ways I might get a nice shot.  Any thoughts on that?

Cheers!

Another Walk in the Garden

It is a busy time for bees that live near a pond that I walk by fairly frequently.  Last week I took photos with my iPhone, this time I had my point and shoot camera with me.  It was so bright out that I have done some post-editing with this photo:

ISO 100 f/8 1/320 4.3mm

I will tell you at this point that I had set the ISO to 100 and I underexposed the original image by a whole stop.  It is still a really bright picture.  So, I have applied a Sepia filter, but then toned that down to bring back just a hint of the original color.  Different than what I normally do.  What do you think of the outcome?

Cheers!

Panda on a Perch

A Red Panda in this case.  This panda definitely rates high on the “awww” scale, I think it is the fact that it’s fur looks so soft:

ISO 400 f/5.6 1/50 135mm

The toughest part of getting this photo, is actually being able to see the animal, it likes to hang out in remote parts of its enclosure.  Not a whole lot I can do about that.  I think next time, I will shoot in full manual mode, try to get the shutter speed a bit faster.  I am also thinking I should have tried a higher ISO.  I think I will also try getting a shot with the flash on, I’m thinking that might have helped fill in the darker parts of the panda’s fir.

Cheers!