Peaceful Morning

[wlotus]

Peaceful Morning, originally uploaded by wlotus.

Each new topic I understand from photography class thrills me. Last week's and this week's lessons on color theory and in-camera image manipulation came together in my head yesterday, so I understood how I could make an image say what I want it to say. I don't have to merely take good photos of what is in front of me; I can use exposure and shutter speed and lenses and white balance settings to make the image portray something specific. Scream came from feelings I had the day before; yesterday was when I figured out a way to get those feelings across in a photograph.

Today's lightbulb moment came while memorizing the apertures and shutter speeds associated with stops. I had previously understood the subject in a vague way, and coupled with my understanding of my exposure meter, I was able to get well-exposed shots. But if someone asked me to increase the aperture by two stops, or if they gave me an aperture and shutter speed and asked me what shutter speed would go with an aperture two stops down, I couldn't tell them off the top of my head. Now I can. It will take me a moment to count through the numbers, but I know what I'm doing. I couldn't say that yesterday.

The universe rewarded me with this shot, taken as I experimented with stopping down apertures and stopping up shutter speeds to keep the image perfectly exposed. Right after the shutter clicked, Enrique moved. Which just goes to show that even with increased technical knowledge, sometimes it really is about being in the right place at the right time with the right camera settings.

Comments

[shutterbug.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous, hun!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This one needs to go on my wall.

[verucas-chaos.livejournal.com]

Very thought provoking photo. Enrique's position is what most intrigues me. I want to know what he is seeing.

[tracied.livejournal.com]

I remember struggling through all that stuff. Sometimes I still have to stop and think, but it is slowly starting to become second nature. It is nice when you can put some intentionality behind your composition. Just wait till you get to proper use of flash......LOTS more information!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I'm still not enamored of flash, as the light is so cold.

How long have you been studying photography?

[tracied.livejournal.com]

flash is good if used properly. We have been doing fill flash which is perfect for shadows and contrasty areas in faces in bright sun. I've been officially studying since February. So not long. But I've been doing photography for the past 8 years or so, playing around.