jbr13
www.jbr.smugmug.com
Let me start with a job well done last weekend on everyone’s WIP! Ok, This week for our WIP lets do a little assignment and learning.
The task for this weekend will be to get a picture of a stationary subject of your choice in the foreground, and a pleasing background. (Try to get a subject that is a about 10-15 feet away from you with a back ground even further away.)
For those with cameras that have Aperture priority modes, here is where you can learn more about it.
Find your subject and a pleasing background. Make sure you have good outside light so you can keep your shutter speed up. You may want to use a tripod of something to stead the camera on. Don’t worry about shutter speed we will just be adjusting aperture in this little game.
Put your camera in Aperture Priority mode (you camera will set everything else in this mode), and set your aperture to the lowest number you can possibly set it to. (DSLR users this should be 2.8, 3.5, or something low that your lens will do) Focus on your subject and take a good shot. Most P&S will go from F2.8 or 3.5 up to F8, DSLR users will have a range like 2.8, 3.5 to F22. The lower number depends on your lens. Now for your second picture find a middle range aperture like F5.6 to F8, and take the same picture as before. Ok last step, take your camera to a higher number like F16 or so, and take the same shot one last time. Well done! Now go download your pictures and lets take a look at them.
Notice when you look at your pictures your first shot will have a blurry background, but your subject will be in focus and sharp. Now the second picture your took, you should notice the background gets a little more focused with the subject still as sharp as in the first photo. The third photo, you will see that the subject and the back ground are both sharp and focused. This is called DOF, for Depth of Field. As you move your aperture to a higher number the amount of area in focus from near to far increases. So what does this really do for you? Well if you are shooting a scenic picture, you would want to get as much as possible in good sharp focus. If you were taking a picture of a person, you would want to just get the person in focus and blur the background. The background being out of focus will help you subject pop out of the picture a little better.
Good Luck
The task for this weekend will be to get a picture of a stationary subject of your choice in the foreground, and a pleasing background. (Try to get a subject that is a about 10-15 feet away from you with a back ground even further away.)
For those with cameras that have Aperture priority modes, here is where you can learn more about it.
Find your subject and a pleasing background. Make sure you have good outside light so you can keep your shutter speed up. You may want to use a tripod of something to stead the camera on. Don’t worry about shutter speed we will just be adjusting aperture in this little game.
Put your camera in Aperture Priority mode (you camera will set everything else in this mode), and set your aperture to the lowest number you can possibly set it to. (DSLR users this should be 2.8, 3.5, or something low that your lens will do) Focus on your subject and take a good shot. Most P&S will go from F2.8 or 3.5 up to F8, DSLR users will have a range like 2.8, 3.5 to F22. The lower number depends on your lens. Now for your second picture find a middle range aperture like F5.6 to F8, and take the same picture as before. Ok last step, take your camera to a higher number like F16 or so, and take the same shot one last time. Well done! Now go download your pictures and lets take a look at them.
Notice when you look at your pictures your first shot will have a blurry background, but your subject will be in focus and sharp. Now the second picture your took, you should notice the background gets a little more focused with the subject still as sharp as in the first photo. The third photo, you will see that the subject and the back ground are both sharp and focused. This is called DOF, for Depth of Field. As you move your aperture to a higher number the amount of area in focus from near to far increases. So what does this really do for you? Well if you are shooting a scenic picture, you would want to get as much as possible in good sharp focus. If you were taking a picture of a person, you would want to just get the person in focus and blur the background. The background being out of focus will help you subject pop out of the picture a little better.
Good Luck
) but I'll try my best 
Me too! 
