Day 3 - An Informational Manual Mode Post, Just for you Dad!

Did it really have to snow? That's ok, we did go outside for, oh, 5 minutes today, then Jonas realized it was too cold for his liking. He refused to put his coat on. But I did get some cute shots outside for those 5 min. I just clicked away and picked the good ones.

Needless to say, today became a toy day, which was great because then I got to emphasize focal points. My dad mentioned that he thought I would be talking about manual mode, etc. on my blog, but it's just pictures. So I decided to include some info about each picture regarding manual mode, just for my dad. I think he wants to learn. And if you don't care to learn about the manual mode settings, just look at the pictures and move on.  Maybe I'll keep including the settings on a couple of pictures in each blog post. In fact, when I would look at pictures on "Click it up a notch" I did learn about the exposure triangle a lot better when I saw the exposure settings along with the picture. So here's for you dad! Love ya!


Because we are indoors, I know I'm going to need my ISO to be higher, which lets in more light. We are in Jonas's bedroom, so the natural light isn't the best, so my ISO is set to 1600.  My aperture is f/2.0. The smaller the number, the more light is let in, and the more blurry the background, etc.  As you can see, I'm focusing on his toy, which therefore he becomes part of the blur, but not as blurry as the background. And my shutter speed is 1/160. The faster the shutter speed (the bigger the denominator, bottom number), the less light, but it also captures quick movement better.

 Believe it or not, the picture right above was a little bit underexposed (I fixed it in photoshop), so I changed my settings for this picture beneath (which I didn't have to change the exposure at all because it was perfect), so it was the proper exposure. It's better to have proper exposure straight out of the camera if possible. But it's kind of hard when you have a moving toddler and you have to think quick.

ISO 3200 SS (shutter speed) 1/160 and Aperture 2.0

This one was actually a little bit underexposed as well, but I fixed it in Photoshop. But the exposure settings still help. ISO1600, SS 1/320 Aperture f/2.0. (I should have lowered the shutter speed a little to allow more light to get a proper exposure) But, I still needed my shutterspeed to be faster than the picture avoe because Jonas was playing in different light (it was lighter than before) so I made less light come in by quickening the shutterspeed, but since it was underexposed, I probably should have made the shutterspeed 1/160 or something like that. I have to be quick when Jonas is playing, so all of this is going through my head within a matter of seconds. See? A nice challenge.  But again, my aperture is low so I can focus on one thing and everything else will be blurry.

 For this one, Jonas changed places where he was playing again. He was in the front room, which has great light because of the 2 big windows on the front, plus another window which lets in more natural light. Therefore, I changed my settings again.  ISO 800 (the lower the ISO, the less grainy your picture will be) SS 1/200, Aperture f/2.0. Again I used a low aperture so I could focus one one thing, the car.

The settings are the same for this picture because he was playing in the same room. I could have made the aperture a bigger number so more was in focus, since I wasn't trying to be artistic, like the others above. Oh well, I'm learning. I read that when you photograph children, to not go below an aperture of 3.5, or 3.2. I agree with that, so I should have made my aperture higher for this one, then more would have been in focus.

 

ISO 800 SS 1/160 Aperture f/2.5  Since this was a small toy, I wanted a little bit more to be in focus but still have a blurry background, so I changed the aperture (bigger number, less light), which meant I needed to change my shutter speed to allow more light in. It's all about the light.

 Then we went outside. Outside is awesome! You have the bright sun that gives you the best light ever! Jonas was standing directly in the light in this one, so the settings are different than when he stands in the shade.

ISO 100 SS 1/1600 Aperture f/3.5  I was using the 3.5 to make sure more was in focus. I notice when I use smaller apertures outside, the pictures don't turn out that great, unless I'm doing a close up shot of his face. Anyway, the shutter speed has to be really quick when your outside because it's so bright. The quicker the shutterspeed, the less light, which is great when you're outside.

 Now this picture Jonas is in the shade. Look how much my settings changed from when he was standing directly in the sun. ISO 100 (if your outside, there is no need to have the ISO higher than 100) SS 1/320 Aperture f/3.5.  Notice I drastically changed my shutter speed because the smaller the number on the bottom, the more light is let in, and since he was in the shade, I needed a little more light. I probably could have still made the shutter speed less quick and the exposure would have been just fine.

Settings are similar to above. He was still in the shade. ISO 100 SS 1/500 aperture f/3.5. Even on this one I made the shutter speed quicker (less light was allowed in) and the exposure was still fine. But it did capture the movement better because it was quicker.

  These settings are the same as above. Still in the shade.

Now this is where it get's tricky. Jonas was inside the bathroom, as I was trying to clean it, and he was being so cute making faces at himself. But also know that this bathroom has no window, which means no natural light, so I'm only relying on the light coming from the energy efficient lightbulbs which gives an awful yellow tint to the pictures. See what I mean? This picture was straight out of the camera I didn't do any editing to it. Yuck! This is a white balance issue.

So as you can see, I'm still trying to work on white balance straight from the camera. It's really hard when there is no natural light. But this picture below is edited. I tried to fix the white balance and take away the yellow greenish tint that was there. I want to get the white balanced fixed right when I take the picture as opposed to when I'm editing because it's kinda hard to get the right colors when I'm editing the photos. Oh well, it's still pretty good considering the above image.

Now for the settings, ISO 1600 (I kept switching from 1600 to 3200 to see if I could let more light in) SS 1/400 Aperture f/2.2. So I kept my aperture low because I wanted the focus to be of his face in the mirror and everything else blurry. I think it looks cool.   He's so silly! I love these faces he's pulling!

Just so you know, I always set my aperture first, because I like to have control over how much is in focus or not, and then from there I usually change the ISO next (because I know what the ISO will most likely be for inside vs outside) and then I change my shutterspeed last because that is the easiest part to change when I'm taking pictures. But then of course If it's still not properly exposed, I go back and change whatever I need to so it's exposed correctly. And all these pictures on the blog are always edited before you see them. I add some clarity, or contrast, or change the exposure slightly, or I fix blemishes or skin smoothing, brighten the eyes if needed, change to Black and White, etc. before you see them. But I make sure to make them subtle because I still like a natural looking photo. Photoshop is a beautiful thing!
  
So there you have it. That is all that goes on in my head when I'm taking the pictures, before and after. It's a fun challenge, and I love it. I thrive off of manual mode, plus I have complete control over how my pictures look, and I'm kind of a control freak, so it works perfectly with my personality. I hope you learned something dad, and anybody else. Enjoy!