Camera Details / What I'm Working On

What is in my camera bag?
 

·              Camera:  Nikon, D90

·              Lens # 1: Kit Lens = Nikon brand, 18-105 mm, f/3.5-5.6G

·              Lens # 2: Nikon brand, 50 mm, f/1.8D

·              Lens # 3: Nikon brand, 35 mm, f/1.8G

·              UV Filter for each lens

·              External Flash: SB-700

·              Remote

·              Chargers, USB cords, extra memory card

·              Mini tripod and video camera

·              Camera Manual, Notebook, and a handy book

Settings/Preferences:

I used to primarily use the AUTO settings, but since the photography workshop I attended last October  I have been shooting in Aperture Priority mode most of the time (with exposure compensation.)  I used my kit lens exclusively until my daughter was born, at which point we acquired the 50 mm lens.  I LOVE the lovely bokeh I can get with the 50 mm lens, but I also found that I couldn’t get far enough away (especially in low light settings) to capture good snapshots where everyone is in focus.  ENTER the 35 mm lens as an early Christmas present.  Although I still use the 50 mm a lot (and especially for more portrait type shots), the 35 mm is a great one to keep on all of the time.  The snapshots I took at Christmas were taken almost exclusively with this new lens.


Key areas for technical improvement:

·         Depth of Field - Some of my early photos of Ian and Ellen together were flawed because only one of them would be in focus.  I didn’t find out until later on that the problem was that my depth of field was too short.  I didn’t have a good understanding of it before my photography workshop, but now I have a better sense of the settings I need to achieve crisp focus on all of my subjects (bump up the aperture, or scoot back!)   I have an iphone app that calculates the depth of field based on the lens, aperture setting, and distance from the subject, but I have yet to put it to use.  Usually I just fiddle with my settings until everything looks in focus.  I would really like to improve my execution in this area.

·         Quick Manipulation of Settings - Until recently, I was finding that even at my lowest aperture setting, I couldn’t get a quick enough shutter speed to knock out the blur.  Since my main living room has very little natural light, this was a source of  constant frustration, and I hated resorting to the flash (either pop up or external) all of the time.  I have gotten better recently at playing with the shutter speed and ISO settings while on a low aperture to make sure I can capture especially low light moments.

·         Photo Editing – I am currently using Picassa to do some basic adjusting on my photos.  Usually I just increase the Highlights and Shadows and sometimes Brightness, but that is about it.  I have Photoshop Elements but haven’t had an opportunity to really play with it and so don’t use it consistently.  I have heard that Lightroom from Photoshop is awesome, but don’t feel like it is worth the investment right now.  I would like to start familiarizing myself more with my Elements program and start utilizing it instead of Picassa, eventually.

  

To finish out today, here are some photos I like from recent months:

 {Ian @ 10/16/11}

{Babar-esque Mug @ 6/21/11}

{Happy Birthday Ian @ 10/1/11}

{Pea Pod @ 6/11/11} 

 {Garden Haul @ 6/11/11}

{Yahtzee!(tm) @ 9/17/11}

{Ellen @ 12/10/11}

{Nephew @ 12/10/11}

Austin Weekend, Part 1: Photography Workshop

A couple of weekends ago, my little family traveled down to Austin, Texas so that I could attend a short photography workshop on Saturday.  The workshop was given by Katie Evans (http://kevansphotography.blogspot.com/), who has also written a helpful book for aspiring photographers such as myself (http://thekeytotakingpictures.com).  I first found out about Katie’s book through the lovely craft blog from Dana (http://www.dana-made-it.com/) and started following Katie’s photography blog as a result.  A few weeks after I started following her blog, Katie announced that she would be holding a photography workshop in Austin.  Since we had that weekend free, I jumped on the chance to learn how to Get Off of Auto(matic settings on my camera).  During the session, we walked through Katie’s book and took several hours to learn about how to manipulate our camera settings to capture crisp, clean images with proper exposure (yes, it’s basic… but YES, I needed help!)  Then we ventured out with a model (Kelsey) to put what we had learned into practice.  Photos below, but first a few comments:

1)    I ended up using my kit lens (telescoping 18-105 mm) on my Nikon D90 during the photo shoot, and about halfway through the 30 minute shoot I realized that I should have put on my prime 50 mm lens.  It was back in the café, so I couldn’t quickly switch it out.

2)    Since I wasn’t using my best lens, I couldn’t get as low of an aperture as I wanted and the exposure looks pretty ‘meh’ in most of the pictures.  Live and learn, for sure.

3)    Kelsey was a cute model, but most of my favorite shots ended up being of jewelry and accessories.  (Hopefully you like some of the pictures, Kelsey!)

4)    I minimally edited the photos in Picassa because A) I am still figuring out Photoshop Elements and B) I uploaded and worked on these during my lunch hour (mostly) and Elements is only loaded on my computer at home.  Mostly I cropped and manually adjusted up the brightness, highlights, and shadows.

5)    Is obvious that I NEED PRACTICE, like crazy. 

6)    The workshop was fun and I learned a lot... I will post a follow up about the rest of our weekend and include some pictures in which I start to use manual settings. 

Here are my favorites:

{Workshop Participants + Katie + Kelsey}

{Katie photographing Kelsey}

{Katie photographing Kelsey}

{Kelsey and Katie... not a particularly great photograph but I thought it was cute of Katie and a good memory of the day}

{Owl Necklace BW}

{Owl Necklace Blue}

{Rings}

{Accessories}

{Shoe}

{Kelsey 1}

{Kelsey 2}

{Kelsey 3}

{Kelsey 4}

{Kelsey 5 - I like it even though she isn't smiling}

{Kelsey 6 - Typical Senior Portrait}