Photography 101 | Think Like a Pro Examples

Just joining in? Here's what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!
Photography 101 | Aperture
Photography 101 | Shutter Speed
Photography 101 | ISO
Photography 101 | Exposure Meter
Photography 101 | Depth of Field
Photography 101 | Motion
Photography 101 | Think Like a Pro

Welcome back to my Photography 101 series! I'm so glad that you have decided to join me.

This week I am going to share some examples along with details about how I selected the settings for each of the photos.  I'm hoping that this will help you to make a little more sense out of last week's post, Think Like a Pro.  All of these are real life examples, where I created the photos under the given circumstances instead of making any attempts to stage the "perfect" shooting environment.

Example 1

For this first example, I decided that I wanted to take some motion shots of Zoe & Lexi.  I was really hoping to take some fun photos of Lexi shaking water off of herself after playing in her pool but it didn't happen, which isn't much of a surprise.  The first rule of photographing pets or children is be flexible!

To start with I took a photo of my scene, to help you see where I was shooting and the lighting conditions I had to consider.  It is my backyard at about 11:30 AM, with the sun positioned almost directly above where I was standing to take this photo...

I took the above photo using my 18-55 mm lens at 18 mm.  I opted to use this lens because it is the widest lens I own, and therefore would show the largest amount of the yard. The above photo was taken with the following settings: f/16 1/200 ISO 200.  Here is how I came up with those settings: I evaluated my scene and nothing in it is in motion, so the first setting I considered was my aperture setting.  I wanted my entire scene to be in focus, so I wanted a large depth of field.  I thought that an aperture of f/16 would provide a large enough depth of field to keep the entire scene in focus, but also allow me to select a reasonably fast shutter speed so I could hand hold the camera with no risk of inducing any blur, and to keep my ISO in the range I like to shoot in with my camera.  I then adjusted my shutter speed, while watching my exposure meter and ISO setting that the camera was automatically adjusting for me.  When the exposure meter read a proper exposure at 1/200 and ISO 200, I knew that would work for this photo.

Could I have picked different settings?  Yes!   For every photograph, there are multiple combinations of settings that will result in a properly exposed image.  I could have closed down the aperture a stop or two, and compensated by slowing the shutter speed by an equivalent adjustment and still captured the same image.  I probably could have opened up the aperture slightly, and increased the shutter speed as well, but if I opened up the aperture too much it would have affected the depth of field and resulted in the background of the photo becoming blurry.

OK, now on to the photos that I took in the above scene.  I decided that I wanted to use my 24-70 mm lens for these photos.  I picked a zoom lens because I wanted the flexibility to be able to change the focal length of my lens as the dogs were in motion.  Both of the photos below were taken with the following settings: f/3.2 1/2000 ISO 100.  Here is how I came up with the settings:  I knew that I was going to be photographing the dogs in motion, and I wanted to show the motion by freezing it, therefore, I needed a fast shutter speed.  I knew I could have selected a speed that was slower, like 1/500 or 1/1000, and still frozen the motion in the photos.  However, I also knew that I wanted a fairly narrow depth of field because I wanted to blur out whatever ended up in the background as much as possible.  So, I thought 1/2000 would freeze the motion, while allowing me to use the aperture setting I wanted to use.  I opted for f/3.2 because it would give a narrow depth of field which would blur out a lot of the background and help to isolate my subject(s), yet wide enough that I thought I could still manage to capture the dogs as they were racing around.  After picking my first two settings, the camera had automatically adjusted the ISO to 100 for a proper exposure.

Example 2

This second example was taken while I was attending a law school function with my husband.  I was sitting across the table, watching the amazing light pouring in from the windows behind me, and asked Jeff if he would be nice enough to allow me to take a few photos of him.  He agreed, so I captured a few candid images of him while he was conversing with the others at the table.

To start with I took a photo of my scene, to help you see where I was shooting and the lighting conditions I had to consider.  This is inside of a restaurant at about 4:30 PM.  I was sitting at the table directly across from my subject, and the entire wall behind me was windows...

I took the above photo using my 18-55 mm lens at 24 mm.  I opted to use this lens because it is the widest lens I own, and therefore would show the largest amount of the scene. The above photo was taken with the following settings: f/5.6 1/100 ISO 100.  Here is how I came up with those settings: I evaluated my scene and nothing in it is in motion (or at least not in much motion - yes Jeff was moving a little as he was talking but he wasn't exactly racing around the table or anything), so the first setting I considered was my aperture setting.  I wanted enough of the scene to be in focus to show what was behind my subject, but the wall and the door were only about 3-4 feet behind Jeff.  I knew an aperture of f/5.6 would provide enough depth of field for the scene I was working with, and allow me to select a shutter speed that would allow me to hand hold the camera with no risk of inducing any blur.  I then adjusted my shutter speed, while watching my exposure meter and ISO setting that the camera was automatically adjusting for me.  When the exposure meter read a proper exposure at 1/100 and ISO 100, I knew that would work for this photo.

OK, now on to the photo I took in the above scene.  The photo below was taken with my 50 mm lens, which I selected because it opens up to a wider aperture than any of my other lenses.  With that crazy wall as my background, I knew I wanted to narrow my depth of field in order to blur that wall as much as possible in an attempt to isolate my subject from it.  So, I opted for an aperture setting of f/1.2.  I then adjusted shutter speed while watching my exposure meter and ISO setting that the camera was automatically adjusting for me.  When the exposure meter read a proper exposure at 1/250 and ISO 100, I knew those settings would work for the photo I wanted to create.

Again, I know that is a lot to take in!  So, I'm going to leave you with these two examples and next week I will return with another example or two taken in different lighting conditions.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

A Long Overdue Appearance

I spent the past few days updating the photo albums on my facebook page, and while I going through my photo archives I realized that I hadn't taken any new photos of Zoe and Lexi in quite a while - especially any portraits! The last few times I've photographed them it has been more action shots of them playing.

So, I dug out a few of their scarves, grabbed a box of treats, and headed out to the backyard with them to take a few photos.  They seemed to have reversed rolls today.  Usually it is Zoe who gives me the most struggles as I try to keep her in place long enough for me to take a photo, but this evening she was a perfect little angel.  She just sat there and let me snap as many photos as I wanted...

Lexi, on the other hand, was being a little stinker and wouldn't stay put for more than a few seconds. As soon as I crouched down and started to raise my camera, she came running up to me. The only photos I managed to get of her tonight were ones where Zoe was sitting right next to her. This photo came from one of those where Zoe wasn't looking at the camera, but Lexi looked really cute - so I just cropped her out. Gotta love Photoshop...

And of course, I had to have one of my two fur babies together...

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Self-Portrait | April 2012

April's self-portrait was once again taken at our rental house in Phoenix, and it is obviously a photo of my feet while I am relaxing in a bubble bath. The irony of this photo is rather amusing to me, as 10-15 years ago I NEVER would have posted this photo for the world to see. I never would have even taken the photo! I used to be so self-conscious of my feet that I refused to wear anything but closed toe shoes. Obviously a lot has changed over the years, but I supposed that is to be expected. One of the great things about getting older is that most of us learn to accept ourselves more as time goes on.

I chose this as my photo for the month for a couple of reasons. First, it is impossible for me to look at my purple painted toes with the cute flowers without smiling and feeling happy, and April has been all about happiness for me! I started a new day job at the beginning of the month that I am really liking, and I opened my shooting schedule up and began booking a few sessions. I also decided to go back to working my day job 4 days a week, which has brought a balance back into my life that has been missing for a very long time. I finally feel like my life is back in a good place. Second, a large part of my month has been consumed with planning the details of a trip we are taking to Hawaii, and the flowers on my toes reminds me of the flowers found in tropical places. So the photo also represents all the plans I've been making for my upcoming vacation.

I will admit that this month's photo was nice and easy to take since I could just hold the camera and shoot, but I spent the entire time terrified that I was going to drop my camera into the water. I had a death grip on it the entire time!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Photography 101 | Think Like a Pro

Just joining in? Here's what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!
Photography 101 | Aperture
Photography 101 | Shutter Speed
Photography 101 | ISO
Photography 101 | Exposure Meter
Photography 101 | Depth of Field
Photography 101 | Motion

Welcome back to my Photography 101 series! I'm so glad that you have decided to join me.

You may remember from the discussion about your camera's exposure meter that there are several different combinations of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO that will create a properly exposed photograph, so how do you know which combination to select?

That's what I'm hoping to help you figure out with today's post!  It's time to put together everything we have discussed over the past 6 weeks, and learn how to think like a pro!

What I am going to share with you today is the process that got me started with learning how to select my camera settings.  I'm not claiming that this way is the only way, or even the best way, to take photos, nor is it the way that I use today, but I do think it is a good place to begin as you develop the method that works best for you.  Mainly, I'm hoping it will help you to recognize the questions you need to ask yourself as you prepare to create your own amazing photos.

When I first started shooting, I always did so with my camera in full manual mode.  The exception being that I almost always left my ISO set to auto.  This doesn't mean that I just let the camera select the ISO for me.  Instead, I would allow the camera to adjust the ISO as I adjusted the aperture and shutter speed, and then I'd evaluate the camera's selection.  I felt like it was less overwhelming during the learning process to control two settings instead of three.  Now that I have more experience, I no longer use auto ISO.  However, I still think using the auto ISO setting is a great tool as you get started, and have included it the process description below.

It took me a long time to figure out just how to write this post!  Usually I am doing many of these things simultaneously as I'm adjusting my settings, so it was rather difficult to detail a thought process in linear form in writing.  This was what I came up with, and I really hope that it is straight forward enough to make sense!

Below is the series of questions and considerations that I ask myself as I prepare to take each of the photos that I create:

1. The very first thing I do is ask myself, is the subject in motion?

• Yes - Continue to Step 2
• No - Skip to Step 6

2. What do I want to do with this motion?

• Freeze it - Continue to Step 3
• Intentionally blur it - Skip to Step 4

3.  Any time the subject is in motion, my first priority is going to be to select the shutter speed I want to use.  If my goal is to freeze the motion of my subject, I am going to select a fairly fast shutter speed.

• Select my best estimated shutter speed - Skip to Step 5

4.  Any time the subject is in motion, my first priority is going to be to select the shutter speed I want to use.  If my goal is to intentionally blur my subject, I am going to select a fairly slow shutter speed (which may require a tripod).

• Select my best estimated shutter speed - Continue to Step 5

5.  Once I have selected the shutter speed that I think will show the motion the way I want, I ask myself how large I want the depth of field to be (or how much of the scene do I want in focus)?

• Small depth of field - Select a large aperture opening and continue to Step 8
• Large depth of field - Select a small aperture opening and continue to Step 8

6. If my subject isn't in motion, my first priority is going to be to choose my aperture setting. To do that I ask myself, how large do I want the depth of field to be (or how much of the scene do I want in focus)?

• Small depth of field - Select a large aperture opening and continue to Step 7
• Large depth of field - Select a small aperture opening and continue to Step 7

7.  Once I have selected the aperture that I think will provide the depth of field that I want, I ask myself what shutter speed should I select?  To be honest, the shutter speed really isn't all that critical as long as it will allow for a proper exposure of the image and is fast enough to prevent me from moving the camera while taking the photo.   If I'm shooting with a tripod, then I can pick even slower shutter speeds if I want.

• Select the shutter speed, and continue to Step 8

8.  After I have selected the shutter speed and aperture settings that I think I want to use, I do two things:

• I look at my exposure meter to ensure that it is showing a proper exposure.  If the exposure meter is showing me that my exposure is going to be off, I start back at the beginning and re-ealuate my selections to compensate for what the exposure meter is telling me

• If the meter is showing a negative reading (underexposed photo), I will open up my aperture, slow my shutter speed, or both. 
• If the meter is showing a positive reading (overexposed photo), I will close down my aperture, increase my shutter speed, or both.

• I consider my ISO setting.  Since I leave the ISO set to auto, the camera will have automatically selected an ISO setting to match the combination of the other two settings I selected to create a properly exposed photograph.  Personally, I opt to keep my ISO setting between 100 - 800 because my particular camera doesn't do well at high ISO levels.  If I shoot a photo using ISO 1600 or greater, I'm going to end up with noise in my photo.  This may or may not be an issue, depending on what I want to use the photo for, so I usually just try to avoid the higher ISO settings.

• ISO between 100 - 800 - take the photo
• ISO 1600 or greater  - Continue to Step 9

9. If my ISO setting with my first choice of shutter speed and aperture settings is 1600 or above, I have a choice to make: I can re-evalaute my settings and see if maybe I can slow my shutter speed slightly or open my aperture slightly to increase the light entering my camera, which will let me decrease the ISO. If I think this will still allow me to capture the image that I want to create, I will modify the settings.  If I think changing the settings will sacrifice the image or if lighting conditions won't allow me to change the settings, I opt to take the photo and live with the possible noise.

And there you have it!  I know that is probably a lot to take in!  I'm going to let you digest all of this information over the coming week and begin practicing with it if you would like, and I will return next week with an example or two.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

BBL 2011-2012 | Take a Photoshop Class

#10 TAKE A PHOTOSHOP CLASS

Why did I include this on my Bucket List?

I included this because everything I know about Photoshop, I have learned from reading books or watching tutorials online. I wanted to see if I could pick up any tips about new and/or easier ways to do things from a real, live instructor. Also, I wanted to see if I could learn about some of the features of photoshop that I don't currently use.

Was the experience what I had hoped it would be?

I feel like the class covered a lot of great material, but it was at such a fast pace that a lot of it didn't really sink in. So, when I went back to use it, I couldn't remember how to do some of the things I had learned.

The details...

I actually took this class a month ago! The fact that I'm just now posting about it is a tribute to how crazy busy this past month has been for me. I decided to take the class because it showed up in my inbox from Groupon for a ridiculously good price. It was a beginner class, so I expected it to be a mix of review of things I already knew how to do and an introduction to some new things.  It was interesting to see that the instructor had a completely different way of doing a lot of the edits that I routinely do on photos. I'm looking forward to trying some of his ways of doing the edits on some up coming photo sessions to see if I like them better.

Just for fun, (and because I didn't feel right about not posting any photos) I thought I'd share a handful of different edits I did in Photoshop on one of Elle's photos when I was finishing up editing her session a few days ago.

When I edit photos, I edit each one individually to best enhance each photo.  Sometimes, I will try a handful of different edits before deciding on the one for the final image.  Yes, this does make it more time consuming to edit the photos!  But, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I feel better knowing that I took the time to view and edit each photo to make it the best it can be.

If you've never seen Photoshop in action before, get ready to be shocked by what it can do! So many of the things that look so amazing in photos these days are actually edited in using photoshop.

OK, so here is the original photo, which, if we are going to be honest, isn't all that exciting.  But I felt like it had potential so I decide to work with it a bit and see if I came up with anything I liked...

Here it is after desaturating the colors, which helps, but it's still not quite right....

From the moment I saw it, I really felt like this photo would be best in black and white...

The above photo is the one that I presented to Elle with her final images because it is a bit more of a "classic" photo. But, from a personal stand point I wasn't quite satisfied with it yet and decided to keep working with it. I'm usually not a fan of grainy photos, but this one just called out to me for more of a gritty feel, so I decided to give it a try...

I tried different amounts of grain on the above photo, but never really found the perfect amount. Since I don't use it all that often, I will be the first to admit that I don't have a real good feel for the perfect combination of the settings. However, no matter how much grain I put on the photo, I felt like it didn't work with the bright white of the pearls. So on this next photo, I decided to add some blur to the photo to take some of the focus off of the necklace and add to the gritty feel of the photo. I knew I wasn't going to do anything with this photo other than amuse myself and perhaps add it to this post, so it isn't a perfect edit. The blurring is perhaps a bit too much, but I think it gets my point across of the endless ways each individual photo can be edited in Photoshop...

So, which photo is your favorite? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Do you want to see my entire 2011-2012 Bucket List? You can find it here.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.