Posing for the teacher!
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If you’ve taken my beginner camera course, remember to set your camera to S or Tv, set your shutter speed above 1/60, check that the fstop is not blinking or LO. Then set your+/- exposure scale to +1 to compensate for the snow. Otherwise your histogram will be dark. Try all kinds of shutter speeds. Today’s ISO #. Try 400-800 (it isn’t too bright out there). Good luck! If anyone wants to join me for a snow workshop late tonight, call the studio. 215 672-5686. Here’s one I just manipulated in Photoshop that I took this morning.
Camera Speed
How quickly the camera reacts to light is known as the speed. Digital cameras often have several speeds available, known as “ISO” settings, which can be chosen manually or automatically. ISO stands for the International Standards Organization which developed a system for film where a 200 ISO is twice as fast (i.e. it reacts twice as quickly) as 100 ISO. (You may have also heard of ASA or DIN – these were two other standards which were replaced by the ISO.)
Why not just have a fast ISO? There is a trade-off between speed and quality. Generally it is preferable to use a slower speed (say 100 ISO) as it gives a sharper image (a finer grain). But when there isn’t enough light (indoors or at night), you’ll need a faster speed (say 400 or 1600 ISO) and will have to suffer it’s less-distinct image (coarser grain).
Shallow Depth of Field
There are actually three factors that will affect your ability to reduce your depth-of-field and blur the background in a portrait.
The first is the aperture. The low number apertures (i.e. f/2, f/2.8, etc.) will produce your shortest, shallowest depth-of-field’s. In fact, the lower the number, the shallower the depth-of-field.
The second factor is the lens’ focal length. The longer lenses will have inherently shorter depth-of-fields.
The third and final factor is the camera-to-subject distance. Don’t expect to have a beautifully fuzzy background using a 50mm lens with your subject at 20 feet. Instead, consider using a lens in the range of 85mm to 135mm at a distance of 8-10 feet.
You could actually use any telephoto lens and I’ve seen some shooters using 200-300mm lens on occasion, but lenses in the 85-135mm range are usually considered to be “portrait” lenses and using this combination does provide a few benefits. First of all, instead of being right on top of your subject, the greater distance moves the photographer out of the subject’s personal space making them more relaxed. Then the gentle compression of the short telephoto lens usually has a flattering effect on the subject’s features. Combine that with the aforementioned shallow depth-of-field of a smaller f/number and you have a lot of the makings for a wonderful portrait!
This will be an All-Day Overview of the Beginners Digital Camera Class.
- Seminar: Saturday, February 20, 2010
- Times: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Cost: $99
- Deposit: $49 to hold your seat, balance of $50 due on date of seminar
Seminar will be held at Katydid’s Photography Studio, 363 W. Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5686,
Learn Photoshop’s menus, options and tools. Crop and resize images. Create beautiful black and white images and learn how to colorize only parts of your image for an artistic look.
Learn how to create layers, use control keys to make effects, transform photos, adjust all color levels and then how to flatten the layers and save your image in various formats.Katydid will show you how to make general enhancements, special effects and how to create collages.
Once you have mastered Photoshop the capabilities are endless.
- Classes start: Monday, March 15, 22, 29, and April 5, 2010
- Times: 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Duration: 4 Week Session
- Cost: $249
- Deposit: A deposit of $49 to hold your seat, balance of $200 due at first class
Classes held at Katydid’s Photography Studio, 363 W. Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5686,
Learn New Techniques and Cool Tricks!
Continuation of learning how to use your camera to its fullest!
Prerequisite: Beginning Digital Photography
- Classes: Wednesday, February 10, 17, and 24.
- Times: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Duration: 3 weeks
- Cost: $149
- Deposit: $49 to hold your seat, balance of $100 due at first class
Classes held at Katydid’s Photography Studio, 363 W. Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5686,
Questions and Answers:
I can take a good picture, I just can’t take a great picture! Can you help me?
Of course! At Katydid, we make sure you go away from our classes with the knowledge of how your camera works at it’s best.
How do I remember which f-stop to use? What are the tricks?
Try to remember the small numbers are the larger lens openings. They let in lots of light and create a shallow depth of field. The larger numbers are the smallest lens openings and they let in only a little bit of light. They also create a larger depth of field so more distance is in focus.
Digital SLR Camera
You will learn how to master your digital camera. Learn to understand what each function on your camera is and more importantly what it does. Not only will we explore the buttons and dials, we will cover proper exposure using ISO, f-stops, shutter speeds, depth of field, lenses, flash and composition.
Discover how to stop the action of sports photos and learn how to take beautiful portraits of your loved ones. A separate weekend field trip is included to try out all your new skills. Bring a friend and save $20.
- Classes: Tuesday, February 9, 16, 23, and March 2, plus Field Trip
- Times: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Duration: 4 weeks
- Cost: $199 complete with instructions and laminated camera cheat sheet
- Deposit: $49 to hold your seat, balance of $150 due at first class
Classes held at Katydid’s Photography Studio, 363 W. Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5686,
Never set your camera to AUTO! You have no control what so ever! If you want total automatic, try the PROGRAM mode and set your ISO according to the lighting you are shooting in.
Better yet, have more control by setting your camera to S, shutter priority (sometimes called Tv for time value). Choose your ISO and set your shutter speed to 1/60 or above. The camera will then choose the proper f-stop for the lighting conditions.
You will learn how to master your digital camera. Learn to understand what each function on your camera is and more importantly what it does. Not only will we explore the buttons and dials, we will cover proper exposure using ISO, f-stops, shutter speeds, depth of field, lenses, flash and composition.
Discover how to stop the action of sports photos and learn how to take beautiful portraits of your loved ones. A separate weekend field trip is included to try out all your new skills. Bring a friend and save $20.
- Classes: Wednesday, January 13, 20, 27, and February 3, 2010
- Times: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Duration: 4 weeks
- Cost: $179
- Deposit: $49 to hold your seat, balance of $130 due at first class
Classes held at Katydid’s Photography Studio, 363 W. Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5686,
Come join us on Friday, December 18, 2009 at 9 pm for our Holiday Light Workshop. Learn to be creative and shoot lights at night. Will teach you what settings to use and what will work the most effectively.
The workshop will have a maximum of only 1o people and it costs $20. Bring your camera as well as a tripod. If you don’t have one, it can be provided for you. Call to confirm your reservation.
