You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

A couple of lessons ago, Reese taught me the basics of shooting on A-mode and S-mode instead of M-mode.  After learning these two modes, I told him that I didn't want to use it.  My thinking was, if I'm going to use this kind of camera, then I'm going to always shoot in manual mode so I can adjust everything to the way I see it, rather than how the camera thinks I should see it.  He had cautioned me that sometimes you have to use the other modes because the lighting situation changes too quickly for you to make tweaks to all your settings.  If in those cases you don't use the A-mode or the S-mode, you're going to miss the shots.  And today, was a prime example of that happening.  Sunny, cloudy, sunny, cloudy, rainy, cloudy, sunny...
(See, I'm really paying attention in class, Reese!  Lol!)

Anyway, here are some shots I captured of kids getting tossed and spun around in the pool by their swim instructor.  Boy, this guy is strong!  

ISO 100, f/7.1, shutter 1/500

ISO 100, f/7.1, shutter 1/500

Lovely Day

While driving into work on Friday, I noticed what a lovely day it was going to be in Hawai'i nei - light breeze and lots of sunshine.  Being the extremely inexperienced photographer that I am, I asked Reese if we could go to take photos of scenery at lunch time and of course, he agreed, so off we went.  When we got to our destination, what I thought would be terrific conditions for shooting awesome landscape pictures was completely WRONG.  Reese told me that when the sun is directly above you, it's probably the worst time to take photos...especially if you don't have a polarized filter.  The pictures will come out hazy, which it did because of all the glare.   Oh, well...guess I'll have to buy a polarized filter, huh?  Lesson learned, Reese.

ISO 100, -0.3EV, f/10, shutter 1/400
(original photo)

Same photo enhanced using iPhoto

Against All Odds

Today was an extremely hectic day for me.  I was looking forward to the field trip that Reese and I were going to take to the beach right before sunset.  When we got there, it looked as though today's sunset would be a nice one.  There was just one problem. While trying to set up the tripod to mount my camera on, I accidentally "dislocated" one of its legs.  I think I loosened the locking mechanism on one of the legs too much that I must have caused a part in the leg to misalign and the leg wouldn't lock.  So, while Reese calmly tried to fix it, neither one of us were able to capture the sunset which ended up to be a pretty nice one.  BUT, I did manage to capture this shot with Reese's camera as he continued to fix the tripod.

ISO 125, f/8, shutter 1/60

ISO 125, f/8, shutter 1/60
(same picture as above, but cropped to enlarge subject)

Today's weather brought lots of  clouds and wind.  I could see the clouds quickly rolling by as though they were late for a party.  But even with all the clouds, the sky itself was clear...no vog or haze in sight!  

ISO 125, f/13, shutter 6

ISO 800, -0.3EV, f/8, shutter 5

Tonight we were also able to take photographs of the crescent moon.  To the naked eye, the moon looked like a sliver of white light.  But, zoom in closer and this is what it REALLY looked like.  Even in some of the photos I took, you could see the faint silhouette of the entire moon.  Pretty cool, huh?

ISO 100, -0.3EV, f/8, shutter 1/40

ISO 100, -0.3EV, f/8, shutter 1/40
(same picture as above, but cropped to enlarge subject)

Ballerina Girl, You Are So Lovely

This past Friday, Reese let me tag along with him to the mall to take shots of the Hawaii State Ballet performing on Ala Moana's Centerstage.  It would be my first time shooting action with a flash.  I must admit, the first 5 minutes were really hard.  The shots I took were blurry and I couldn't quite get the all the girls in my frame.  I was just snapping shots left and right, hoping that some would turn out decent.  Well, apparently, that didn't work.  What I ended up doing after those frustrating 5 minutes was I started to follow the ballerinas through the eyepiece.  I listened to the music, selected one particular subject to follow and waited for a jump or a twirl BEFORE I snapped the picture.  The results, much better!  


What I gained from this outing:  Photography isn't just about pushing a button to take a picture.  Photography requires patience, quick thinking and the ability to make adjustments.  It was a great lesson.

ISO 400, 100mm, f/4.5, shutter 1/200

ISO 400, 200mm, f/5.6, shutter 1/160

ISO 400, 180mm, f/5.6, shutter 1/160

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4, shutter 1/200

You Got It

Last weekend, I was given a take-home exam to see if I could apply what Reese had taught me over the past week.  When I first read the scenarios, I thought to myself, there is nothing in my neighborhood I could take photos of!  But, to my surprise, I was able to "see" things I probably would've never seen had I not been given this test.  Below are the scenarios which I was given, my photo response and the teacher's grade.

Capture a night shot without flash.

ISO 100, f/18, shutter 13
Grade:  B+, Good low light shot, could use a touch more exposure

Take a photo of a flower in sharp focus.

ISO 200, f/18, shutter 1/250
Grade: A, Very sharp, nice shot

Photograph a moving car in sharp focus with blurry background.

ISO 200, f/11, shutter  1/50
Grade: A, Good panning shot

Photograph a moving car with background in sharp focus.

ISO 100, f/9, shutter 1/20
Grade: A, Good blurring of the car

Take a photo of something close in focus with the background blurry.

ISO 200, f/6.3, shutter 1/80
Grade: A, Good focus selection and control of depth of field

Take a photo of something blurry and the background sharp.

ISO 200, f/7.1, shutter 1/40
Grade: A, Good focus selection and control of depth of field

Get The Party Started.

I've been thinking about buying a SLR camera for quite some time. My greatest fear about making the leap from a point-and-shoot to a SLR was that I wouldn't know how to use it. Lucky for me, my wonderful photographer friend Reese agreed to take me under his wing and show me the beautiful world we live in through the eyes of a camera lens. Before purchasing my SLR, Reese walked me through the basics of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Class began the day I ordered my camera which took 5 LONG days to arrive! The day I got my Nikon D3200, I "demanded" that we go on a field trip to take some pictures to see if I truly did have a basic understanding of the 3 most important elements of photography. Our field trip took us to the beach at sunset.  

So have I become addicted to photography? Well, you'll just have to follow me and see. 

May 2012, 7:41pm - ISO 100, f/8, shutter 13

   

May 2012, 8:05pm - ISO 100, f/8, shutter 13