Lesson 5

This is not my alphabet challenge post but my lesson 5 assignment for Jeff Wignall's book Exposure Photo Workshop.  I do this book and its lessons to try and improve my photography.  Lesson 5 is Shutter Speed and Subject Motion and the assignment was to use a long shutter speed and jiggle the camera around to see the effect..  I took this picture while driving home.  Here is my lesson 5.

Cherry Blossoms 162/365

It is peak time for the cherry blossoms in D.C. so today I took a walk down to the tidal basin to enjoy them as I love the beauty of the trees.  It was so crowded with it being spring break here and tourists coming into town but it was still so beautiful.  Here is one of the photos I took today and I think I finally figured out how to do shallow depth of field on my camera!!  Woo-Hoo!! Between the information in Exposure Photo Workshop by Jeff Wignall, trial and error and information from Matt (one of the guys I commute with in the morning who spent a bunch of time the other day explaining my camera and how best to achieve the results I was looking for...Thank you Matt!) I think I understand it.  Of course that doesn't mean I can always achieve it but I am happy with this picture, what do you guys think?

Lesson 4 155/365

If you have been following my blog you know that I have been reading Exposure Photo Workshop by Jeff Wignall.  I had read chapter 4 almost 2 months ago and I understood the concept but had a hard time executing it.  The concepts covered in chapter 4 are Lens Apertures and Depth of Field.  The assignment was to take a shallow depth of field photo.  I tried to do this many times over the last 2 months with no success.  I need to emphasize that this is not do to the author's writing this is totally me.  As a matter of fact the author even covered the possibility that if you don't have a SLR this may not be an assignment you can do well.  Well I have an advanced zoom camera and of course, I thought I would be able to do it.  I was wrong.  So today I finally decided to take a photo in portrait mode which is supposed to create a blurred background with my camera and as you can see below it really didn't but just post in anyways.

 I have decided to move onto Chapter 5 as I have learned a ton from this book and want to keep going.  If you are someone who wants to learn more about photography I would highly recommend this book.

Lesson 3 117/365

As I have talked about previously I am reading Jeff Wignall's book Exposure Photo Workshop and doing the assignments that follow each chapter.  For lesson 3 the assignment "is to search out a subject that you think is a good middle tone - whether its gray or a particular color - and either walk close enough to meter just that tone or use your center-weighted or spot metering function to meter only that tone."  I have taken the photo below spot metering on the brick as I thought the gray maybe too dark and after locking the exposure I recomposed the shot.  I am not sure it right because the sky is so white but that is the winter sky. Of course I do not like all the power lines but this is the picture straight out of the camera.  I only added my signature in Photoshop Elements.

Lesson 2 110/365

I totally forgot to post yesterday's picture so here it is.

As I posted about here I am working my way through Jeff Wignall's book Exposure Photo Workshop.  Lesson 2's assignment is to take a picture in a relatively dim location by cranking up the ISO as far as it will go and see what you can do.  Well I have a ZLR camera which is a zoom-lens reflex camera.  Wikipedia defines this as "A Zoom-lens reflex (or ZLR) camera is a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera having an integrated zoom lens rather than the interchangeable lenses found on other SLR cameras."  Jeff Wignall calls this advanced zoom.  Either way it means that I do not have all the bells and whistles of a SLR camera including the fact that my highest ISO is 400 and it is much higher (about 1600 or higher) on most SLR cameras.  So the other day I tried to take a picture at night in my house using a 400 ISO...no success.  Yesterday I was in a dimly lit restaurant with a friend and her son and so I took this picture with my ISO at 400 and  I wouldn't have gotten this shot without cranking up the ISO.  I know there is a light above the flamingo which looks likes it is giving off a lot of light but in truth it was not.  Here is the picture:

Two lesson done.  Nine more to go.

Lesson 1 109/365

My friend stampmouse recommended that I read Jeff Wignall's book Exposure Photo Workshop so I just started and I have finished chapter 1.  Each chapter has an assignment at the end so I thought I would try the work and post it here.  The first assignment is to photograph a piece of architecture in whole or part and to not to worry about exposure but shoot in full automatic mode. It is interesting because I use to shoot in auto or program mode and now 95% or more of the time I shoot in full manual mode so it is weird to go back to auto. Since I take the commuter train to and from Union Station every day and I love all the arches in the building I decided to use Union Station for this assignment.  Here is my photo: