Was gonna try using the desktop client today, but turns out my spotty signal makes for a very frustrating hotspot. It’s also making it nearly impossible for me to get the pictures I’ve been taking on my walk to a place where I can use them.
I’ve watched a lot of videos about photography lately, and one of the beginner tips I’ve seen a lot is to shoot in full manual mode. Primarily so you understand which adjustments do what, but also do you know how your specific equipment works. I’ll admit, it’s a bit intimidating at first. There are a lot of adjustments that can be made, and they sound quite intimidating from the outside.
ISOs, f stops, and the like. At least shutter speed and focal length are named in a way that describes what it does, even if it’s not immediately apparent.
I still don’t grasp it all completely, but spending an hour or so a day with it has helped. ISO controls the sensitivity of the sensor in much the same way we might think of as a brightness knob. The f stop is the size of the opening in the cameras little Stargate iris, more properly called the aperture size. It does much the same thing. Bigger opening = more light = brighter picture.
The shutter speed kinda works the same way. Having the shutter open longer also means more light, which in a very still scene makes things brighter. High motion with no blur needs a very short shutter speed, but let in only a tiny amount of light. This requires us to compensate using the other two settings if there isn’t enough light present.
Focal length affects the field of view. On the surface it can feel a lot like a zoom. I typically use that plus positioning to control what’s visible in frame. Especially if it would be a little hard to see.
And of course, this is all a gross oversimplification. There’s depth of field stuff, which I don’t have a great sense for yet.
I do agree with the reviews of my somewhat older camera that the autofocus is… not great. Today I actually kept manual focus on and just did my best to remember that I needed to check it any time I had moved. I’m skimming through my shots off and on while I write this and I definitely forgot sometimes.
I’m also realizing I either need to shoot at higher shutter speeds or get a tripod, cause for any given group there’s one that came out a tad blurry. Usually the last and sometimes the first. Either that or the focus just isn’t quite right.
Those are skills that will come with time, though. I’m just proud I managed to be where I wanted to be, when I wanted to be there, and get the shots I was after. The reward of a mission well done.
On that Nate, I’m gonna catch a nap, cause I was up at 5am to catch dawn where I wanted to be and I’m nodding off a bit here and there.
Y’all take care, and have a great day! 💖
Hey, it’s Blaugust time! The goal is to simply promote and stimulate the blogging community by encouraging people of all skill levels and backgrounds to post. The official post can be found here and it’s never too late to start.
Unidentified Signal Source 