Day Sixteen: Something I Now Know, But Don't Have To

Today the lesson at 31 Days To A Better Photo is about exposure compensation. Now here's the deal, I started reading into this very carefully and I was thinking, "Good gracious! What else do I have to learn!!"! But when I get toward the end of the bottom, I find out it's for those who don't have the hang of exposure (shutter speed, aperature, and ISO). It's kind of a cheat tool, if you will. You tell your camera to either let more or less light in.

I know how to adjust the exposure on my camera properly by using my meter and checking it after the photo is taken with my histogram, so this lesson didn't apply to me.

I am now more than halfway through the lessons. I noticed the rest are less technical and more about proper ways to take photos. We also get into Photoshop...YAY!

The photos from tonight are plants at Abuelo's. You are probably asking, "Why were you at Abuelo's?". The answer is that Brennen's boss is in town so we trekked to Midland to eat out. Really well. On the company's dime. And I didn't have to clean the kitchen. And I took photos of some very pretty flowers. But not of the boys. They were too busy.

Wanna hear something cool? It's really kind of dark in that restaurant. Look how not dark these pictures are!! I am really happy!

Day Fifteen: Why Use A Histogram?

A histogram is a bar graph that shows the colors in your photo, remember? There are 256 colored pixels that make up a picture with the far left being black, and showing all of the colors in between until you reach the far right. The reason you use the histogram to review your pictures while you are photographing them is so you can get a true read on how exposed your pictures are. The little screen can't show the picture correctly.

Imagine I am taking a photo of my boys wearing white shirts on a sunny morning. After I take the photo and check the histogram, I will be able to tell how the colors look by the bar graph. I want the histogram to have all of the bars in the graph in the middle. Chances are, the white shirts will be over exposed and the line on the far right will be high, but it will look okay if all of the other colors are mid ranged. If we changed the exposure to reduce the white tones, most likely the dark tones will be under exposed and all of the bars in the graph on the light (right) side will be low to the bottom of the scale. Vice versa if we over expose the photo.

What does this mean in the field? It's a quick way to check how the colors look on the go. Especially if I don't have a long time to get photos....like with my busy boys.

Your photo for tonight, which I checked the histogram and it was all in the mid range area, is the saddest picture of Ethan. He woke up this morning feeling unwell and I couldn't help but snap this photo. He spent the morning laying flat on his stomach on the couch. After a dose of Motrin, he started feeling so much better. Now, I can't keep Ethan (or Evan for matter) from running through the house.

Day Fourteen: Histogram

So, I am sure you guys are thinking I am crazy. Why are you doing this? What's so wrong with auto features on your camera? So you learned a few tricks, are you going to be a photographer now??

No, I don't want to be a photographer, I don't have enough patience with other people's kids. I kid, kind of. Anyway, I am still hanging with this because I want to finish something other than a Snickers bar, and while I am taking some great photos now, I want to know all of the things the Canon T2i can do.

We now get into some really technical stuff in the 31 Days To A Better Photo series. A histogram. What is it? Have you ever accidentally pushed the display button while viewing your photos on your camera? I think even some point and shoot cameras do this too. When you do, you change the ways that you are looking at your photo, and you get to this weird graph looking thing.

From what I have learned, the graph shows the colors in your photo. The far left of the graph represents black, and moving to the right, it shows the color until you hit the far right, which represents white. I hope that made a little sense.

So, what does that mean? Why do you need a histogram? Well, it's another way to find out how exposed your photo is. Sure you can look into your little screen, but it's not until you actually upload your picture on your computer that you actually see it in it's full glory. It's only a little two or three inch screen, it will usually look really good anyway.

Tomorrow, Darcy will discuss how to use the histogram to check the exposure to produce better photos.

And now...long and overdue...PICTURES OF THE GRANDKIDS!! You are welcome :)

Day Thirteen: It Worked!!!

This lesson from 31 Days To A Better Photo talks about the custom white balance feature. While using a preset white balance will usually be fine when taking pictures at the zoo and on the go, if we are doing family photos or portraits, we will really want the colors to be right.

How did I set it?

I ordered a gray card. What's that, you may ask? Well, it's a card that is 18% gray. You can make one, but I thought the cost of the ink would be kind of expensive, so I ordered one from Amazon. The card with shipping was all of $8, and it came in the mail yesterday.

http://www.amazon.com/CPM-Delta-inch-Gray-Card/dp/B00290Y9K6/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1327184960&sr=8-10

You guys are probably asking, so was it worth the money??? The answer is yes. Last night while watching Scream, I decided to try it out. There are a ton of steps to get custom white balance on the ol' T2i, and once I got it done I took some sample pictures.

auto white balance.

tungsten white balance

custom white balance

All of those pictures were taken in the same room with very low light. The auto white balance picture has more yellow in it than the tungsten, but the custom white balance really shows that the manual is white. I was pretty impressed with the results.

Sorry, no photos of the boys tonight. We had a minor catastrophe, and let me just say, I am so thankful that I live in a day and age that we have washing machines. Wringing out a load of cold wet laundry is awesome. <Enter sarcasm font here>

Day 13: Err...I Mean 12. Wait, What Day Is This??

I have always heard that there is something called Mommy ADD. I never believed it until I actually became a mommy. Mommy ADD can be described as knowing thing one needs to be done, and starting it. But, finding that something else, that is WAY more important, needs to get done before thing one. Which, of course, leaves thing one halfway done. Sprinkle in a few, "Mom, I need a ..........!" or a "Uh oh!!!" along the way, and that, in a nutshell, is Mommy ADD. And also what happened to my blog post from yesterday.

Hey, trying to document learning your camera and showing photographs daily is tough!

I am also thinking about documenting my life on here. And showing pictures to the grandparents...Brennen is out of town. I am chatty.

SEE!! It's happening again! This Mommy ADD!!!

So, Day 11 was just a link up day. On Day 12 of 31 Days To A Better Photo talks about white balance. I am going to quote Darcy with her definition of what white balance is. "White balance is the process of letting your camera know what is neutral so white things look white." What that means is, if we are taking pictures our boys in Colorado in a very bushy area where it's really dark and shady with little areas of light colors, it might be difficult for the camera to judge the neutral colors.

To fix that problem, you can use a white balance preset. On my Canon, they are:
Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White flourescent light, Flash, and Custom.

I have been shooting all of my pictures in auto, and it's done very well in most instances. But, when I take the pictures of my boys at night in their rooms, the pictures always look yellow. If I were to take the pictures with a Tungsten white balance, it would put more blue into the photo to reduce the yellow-ish tint. YAY! This is exciting!

So here is me playing with my camera, and adjusting the white balance as needed.

1/1250s f/5.6 ISO 100

White balance set at Sunny or Approx. 5200K (kelvins)

1/1250s f/5.6 ISO 100

White Balance Approx. 5200K

While the auto white balance pictures look very much the same, I did notice a little bit of difference. The pictures weren't so bright, if that makes sense.

I have tried to get pictures of the boys, but I have failed over the last days. Let's see what I can get this afternoon.

Day Eleven: Talk Free Tuesday

Day 11 was just a day to link up pictures to 31 Days to a Better Photo .

I am just leaving this post with two hard working boys. Evan writing g's, and Ethan working on spelling. They are awesome!

An Interview with Evan

I saw this on a blog that I follow. I tried this with Ethan once and wondered what kind of answers Evan would give. His answers are so Evan-y. Also, his answers are in purple, his favorite color.

What are you good at?
Writing letters and words for notes.

What do you like about yourself?
I have muscles.

What makes you happy?
Doing homework.

What's your favorite book?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

What's your favorite TV show?
Team UmiZoomi.


What is your favorite food?
Apples, grapes, strawberries dipped in chocolate.

What's your favorite toy?
Legos.

What are you afraid of?
I am not afraid of anything.

What do you like about your dad?
He let's me help him.

What do you like about your mom?
She plays with me.

What do you like about your brother?
He plays with me.

Where's your favorite place to go?
Legoland.

What do you like about being a kid?
Building with Legos all day.

If you could be an animal which one would you be?
A monkey because I like to climb.

What's a nice thing you do for others?
Giving toys to kids who don't have any.

What would you do with $100?
Buy another (toy) rifle so Ethan can have one.

What is one new thing you'd like to try this year?
Kindergarten.

What kinds of lies do you tell?
I don't like telling lies.

What do you think makes a person pretty?
Make up.

What do you think you will be doing in 10 years?
I'll be a teenager.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A builder. I want to create buildings.

Was this interview fun?
Yes.

I love this kid!

Day Ten: There Is a Meter in My Camera?

Yes!! There is! And you know what is the most exciting part? It will tell you if your picture is over exposed, under exposed, or just right. I was just as shocked!!

In day 10's lesson at 31 Days To A Better Photo, Darcy explains about the mysterious meter. If you have a DSLR camera, it's the scale thingy on the screen on your camera.

If you have your ISO, shutter and aperature correct, the scale will balance at 0. On my Canon camera, if the picture is under exposed (or too dark), the meter will be on the negative side (-). If I have my setting too high, the meter will be on the positive side (+).

I actually had read ahead a few days and used my meter when taking pictures on Saturday. I couldn't be happier with the results! Because I am gaining knowledge on where my ISO and my aperature should be, it was easy changing the shutter speed. I was taking lots of stills so the only adjustment I made was to the the shutter.

I did keep in mind that the last modification that should be made is ISO. Remember, a high ISO creates too much noise in your picture.

Here's your grandkid pics for the day. I had intended on taking more pictures. I walked/ran five laps while the boys were playing, and then I started snapping some pictures. By the time I got to picture number 5, Ethan had made a friend and kind of left Evan behind. So, Evan and I went to the swings and had fun going high.

The bonus tonight is another post. It's an interview with Evan. Be sure to check it out!

Day Nine: Understanding the Rules of Shooting

The lesson for today in the 31 Days To A Better Photo covers the rules of shooting. It talks a lot about numbers...ISO, aperature, and shutter speed. There is more than one way to get a photo. Let's say I am shooting pictures of the boys and we are in the shade. I know that they are busy and to get the best photo I am going to have use a fast shutter. So, I set my camera to 1/2000s, but because my shutter is fast most likely my image will be dark. What needs to be done to correct this? I can open my lens with a wider aperature, and I can increase my ISO. But remember, the higher the ISO the more noise in the photo.

Vice versa, if I am taking still photos of plants outside on a sunny day, for example, I would reduce my ISO and slow my shutter down. Depending on how I want the picture to look, I might or might not mess with the aperature. Close ups of a bloom, I would keep my depth of field shallow. Pictures of trees, I would want a wide depth of field.

How do you know when you have your exposure correct??

Well, tomorrow I will talk about meters.

The boys are home, so here is your photos of the day. I interrupted them during the movie. I also threw in some of the Daddy, the Lug (Jet), and Miss Nosey Pants (Ruby Soo).

I love these guys!

Day Eight: I Am Really Getting It!

Today's lesson from 31 Days To A Better Photo series really confirms that I really don't need to use any automatic features on my camera. YAY! Really, it reiterates information that I already know.

The boys are at Loal and Sandy's house for the weekend, so I don't have a picture of them for today. Brennen and I went to Midland and I got some great shots downtown and at Lafayette Place.

On a side note, I really want to live at Lafayette Place. I am sure the residents will one day either know me by name, or will be asking me to leave their streets alone :)

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures taken. All in manual mode. I am proud of the way they turned out.

I am loving this photography thing!

Day Seven: The Lesson About Depth of Field

The next lesson in the 31 Days To A Better Photo series is learning about depth of field. To get a full understanding about aperature, you have to start thinking about your subject or subjects on a plane. The best way for me to describe this is, imagine Ethan, Evan and I are standing close together with Evan being closer to the camera, Ethan being to the right of Evan slightly behind him, and me being in the back. If we use a wide aperature, Evan will be the sharpest, Ethan will be slightly blurred, and I will be the most blurry. If we were to change the aperature to a deeper depth of field, we would all be in focus and the background would be less blurry.

This lesson applies in so many instances, but when Darcy, the writer of My 3 Boybarians and the writer of the 31 Days to a Better Photo series, used the analogy of a soccer field, it really hit home. If Ethan is playing in a soccer game and I want to get a photo with him being the focal point, I would set my aperature wide and the result would be Ethan in focus with everyone else blurry. If I wanted to get all of the children playing around him in focus also, I would set my aperature to a small size and then my depth of field is wider.

Here are some photo examples:

1/20s f/4.5 ISO1600

This picture shows how the "l" is in focus, the "s" is slightly out of focus and the "w" is the least in focus.

1/20s f/4.5 ISO1600

This photo is a good example of the soccer field analogy. The "a" is the most sharpest of the group. I love the blur of the "y" and "s" in the background.

1/15s f/4 ISO1600

1/15s f/18 ISO 6400

This photo is taken at the same distance as above. I changed the aperature and the ISO. I needed to slow the shutter down also, but I wanted to show 1.) How the f-stop allowed the background to be in focus and 2.) How narrowing the lens allows less light into the lens. That's why it is dark.

Let me just say, I am no longer using any of the automatic features on my camera, except for the auto focus. Even then, I know how to adjust the focus to my liking as well. I am so proud, that after a week, I know how to make my pictures look the way I want them. I do know that I want another lens. My f-stop on my kit lens isn't as open as I would like. Add that to my wish list!!

1/1000s f/4.5 ISO100

How great is this picture? Completely manual! WOO HOO! 

Now, for the boys. They were a lot more cooperative today.