CM 101 Class: Week 3

This week we are to start putting everything together.   Can you sense the S-T-R-E-S-S?  I made the mistake of messing with my BBF custom settings and I can't remember what I had it on when I initially set it, so I feel like I've struggled to put it all together......at least smoothly.  I still feel a little bit "all thumbs" when it comes to changing my settings.  And the jumpy meter is about to drive me crazy.
Oh, and I forgot to mention it has rained everyday this week......well until today.  So I begged and pleaded with the kids to be my models yet again for me to practice.

Photo #1: Emily......can't you tell she is just thrilled? I had to work quickly, because her sighs were very audible while I fooled around with my settings.  I would have loved to have her looking at me, but you take what you can get right?

Settings: 50 mm lens, ISO 200, f 4.5, 1/125

Image #2: Jessica out in our front yard.  Sun is to camera left.  She was standing in full shade with dappled light behind her.  I feel like she metered ok, but I really blew out my sky.  I used spot metering and BBF.  

Settings: ISO 100, f3.2, 1/60.  

Image #3: Another image of Jessica taken in backyard with sun behind her.  I still feel this is a bit cool, but I wanted to show it in comparison to photo above.  Settings: ISO 100, 3.2, 1/200

Image #4: Just for fun, I was trying to capture the basketball going through the net and freeze motion.  Settings: ISO 400, 3.5, 1/1250
I was squatting underneath the goal, so I had to scramble to get out the way of the ball so that it didn't hit me or worse yet my camera.  I'm sure it was rather comical to watch!

White Balance

I seriously need some help with white balance.  All of my indoor shots have that nice yellow glow.

Working through the exercises...I grabbed a sugar and creamer from kitchen and went to my half bath which has some funky lighting from my chandelier.

Shot #1: AWB

Shot #2: WB setting on tungsten...yuck!

Shot #3: CWB

Assignment #1

I'm a complete nervous wreck.  Our assignment for the class was to take 4 pictures using full manual, shooting in jpeg only with a 50mm lens.  One was to be outside, using window light, inside (low light) and location of your choice.

I started taking photos in RAW format a few months ago, so this assignment has really been hard because I want to take them into LR and brighten them up or tweak the white balance.

I have to admit......I'm not so sure why I was so scared of manual.......for years.  Maybe it was being forced to do an assignment, but something just "clicked" excuse the pun while doing this exercise.  I have to say.......the instructor had a few short audio clips to listen to while setting up your shots.  WOW!!  It made me evaluate my surroundings and really help me make the connection between the exposure triangle.  Something that has eluded me for a long time.

Another thing I'm excited about is focus.......My images appear sharper than I recall in a long time.  I'm sure part of that has to do with working with a prime lens, but let me tell you I've been so discouraged with soft images for a long time.

So without more rambling here are my photos with their settings.  I'm anxious to receive feedback from the instructors and classmates.  I have purposely only looked at one person's work, and it was awesome.....didn't look like a beginner at all......so I was afraid if I looked at others I would never get the nerve to post!!!

1. Outside: Full sun, 50 mm lens, ISO 100, f2.0, 1/4000

This shot is also going to serve as my photo for the theme "UP" for the CM 52 week challenge.

2.  Window Light: 50 mm lens, ISO 2500, f1.8, 1/160

3.  Inside Light (low light):  50 mm lens, ISO 1000, f1.8, 1/2000

I really struggled with this one.  All of my inside shots looked really yellow or grey, so I'm anxious to learn more about white balance in the upcoming week.

4.  Location of choice: Outside late afternoon, Lens 50mm, ISO 400, f1.8, 1/1000

Caleb is playing basketball with little dribbler's for the first time this year.  This is so "him" right now. He is so into basketball wearing his absolute favorite sweatshirt from our summer Nebraska mission trip.  I'm loving that I was able to get him in sharp focus with the blurred background, but now that I've loaded it I'm not real happy with the shadows across his face.  So much to learn!!