Ashley's Photography

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Week 5 Assignment

Photographic Message and Meaning

When I read what the assignment was for the week, I wanted to really capture life around me. I wanted to find some great things happening in life, that really spoke to me. I was looking for things that could share meaning..........and tell a real story.

But I was at a loss. I just didn't know what to photograph.

Then, I took my kids outside (and that husband of mine!) and we played around. That's when I realized that my little family is my story. Being a mom has changed me.......and created a fulfilling lifestyle for me to live. I never knew my life would be like this. Or this fulfilling.

My little ones are constantly telling a story. And I love capturing them in my photographs, most of all. That is what gets the camera out of the bag most often.

1/200s
f/1.8
ISO 400

Sorry, I couldn't pick just a couple photos to share. These little monkeys just get me grinning.

1/320s
f/1.8
ISO 400

1/200s
f/1.8
ISO 400

One last thing that really speaks to me, is watching my husband with our children.

He adores them.

And they surely can't get enough of him.

1/200s
f/1.8
ISO 400

One minute, this little lady can be entirely upset......

1/200s
f/1.8
ISO 400

.......and in the next minute, her daddy has her completely consoled.

Warms me right up.

1/160s
f/1.8
ISO 400

What a great assignment Brooke, and great way to end the class. Thanks for allowing me to think of my story and what brings me joy while photographing.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Assignment 3 - Composition

Composition. This can be tricky I guess but more than that, a lot of fun. I loved trying to think of places to find interesting patterns, backgrounds, and natural frames that would create a great picture. I didn't quite have time to drive around to these places......but I've tucked them away in that brain of mine. One day they'll be put to good use.

But here are a few that I practiced for this week's assignment.

And I know you talked about not cutting off at joints Brooke, but if I didn't cut off at my little guy's joints, it cut off my little girl's joints. That was a bit tricky for me.

1/64s
f/4.5
ISO: 400

And then darn it, I really metered wrong with these pictures. It was just a tad too light, so I washed out their faces a bit. Especially my little girl. I should have taken it down a notch, just in case. Because it was hard to see the back image (to verify) while it was semi-sunny outside.

1/125s
f/4.5
ISO: 400

And the other night for dinner, we had these sweet pork tacos with cilantro lime slaw on top. The perfect subject. Funny how there was no whining or bribing involved, like with those monkeys above. They held perfectly still. Haha!

1/64s
f/4.5
ISO: 400

And in case you were wondering, they were delicious!

1/500s
f/4.5
ISO: 400

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Assignment 2 - Shutter Speed

So, I am loving all the things learned from this class so far. Thanks Brooke. I end up playing around a lot with the techniques and then when it's time to take some actual pictures for the assignment, I get outside too late and have problems with lighting.......or like tonight, the bugs were out and making me crazy. Aaaggh! We live in GA and my gosh, has anyone heard of sand gnats? They're awful little buggers that swarm you and bite anywhere they can. Good 'ol South. Okay, off topic.

But, thanks Brooke, for explaining things so well. And I really have had no real understanding of how cameras work......so all of this information is starting to come together (even if I have to listen to the tutorial a couple of times so that my brain can process this new stuff).

And yes Brooke, I have actually been shooting more and more with manual for my normal every day pictures. It's fantastic. And freeing. Wahoo! So hopefully with time, I will get quicker and adjusting the settings won't take so long and I won't lose as many moments with the little ones.

Anyway, here's the assignment for week 2.

Frozen Action Image:
1/250s
f/4.5
ISO 400

For this image, my little girl was running towards me and then veered off to the right but she was mostly clear in the picture. Her left hand is blurry but the rest is pretty clear. So Brooke, if I would have had my camera set to 1/500s or 1/1000s, would her hand have come out clear? Just trying to talk myself through that.

Implied Motion Image:
1/10s
f/16
ISO 400

I wanted the water to look even more liquid but if I slowed down the shutter speed, it blurred the rest of the photo. Would it help if there was more light? Or do I just need a tripod if slowing down the shutter speed below 1/10s? Just curious.

Panning Image:
1/20s
f/13
ISO 400

Ack, panning images was pretty hard. I had a lot of blurry images but this one I at least stayed at the same speed as her face. The rest of her body was too wiggly. But I think I metered too light. Hmmmm....
I can tell it will just take some practice. I think I would pan too quickly, then too slowly. Is there certain light that is best for panning? I'm excited to keep working with this technique though.

Anyway, one big issue I had with this weeks lesson was adjusting the aperture. If I would set my shutter speed to 1/500 or 1/1000 or higher, then my aperture wouldn't budge. For example, I would set my shutter speed to 1/500 and then spin the dial to adjust aperture over and over and over and nothing would change. Is this because it was too dark outside? But I had plenty of light. It was about 5:30 with plenty of sunshine. Or maybe I wasn't metering correctly? I'm confused with this. But I just could not meter with the aperture if my shutter speed was faster than 1/500. Weird. Any thoughts?

Anyway, hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!
Ashley

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Assignment 1 - Aperture and Depth of Field

Well, I went out too late to take these pictures......so I was fighting sundown. Darn it. :)

But here are this week's photos.

Storytelling:

f/3.5
ISO 400