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 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.