Watching Sean Tucker’s, ‘How to Nail Exposure Using Manual Mode’ video, helped me grasp the 3 main components of a DSLR camera. These factors being ‘aperture, shutter speed and ISO’. During our class activity I found it difficult to navigate the settings of my Canon 200D camera. Through following Brian’s suggested camera settings (on the activity sheet), slowly I was able to grasp the interrelationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. However, I still found it quite difficult to capture shots that I was relatively happy with. (Definitely need more practice!)
Here were some of my Notes from Tucker’s video:
(Tucker, Youtube Video 2018)
TRIALS:
This was an image I took where I adjusted the ‘exposure & ISO’ to be significantly higher than when on the ‘Automatic’ setting. This created a ‘White Christmas’ feel to my room, I personally like how the image was crisp and the how the ‘whites’ in the photo were prominent. On the ‘Auto’ setting, my room appeared dull and dreary.
I than began to experiment with shutter speed (the most enjoyable setting!) and was able to create several ‘zoom-in’ warp shots by zooming in whilst slowing down the shutter speed. I’d love to trial this effect by capturing moving cars (from a vertical perspective) – to capture the trail of a car, as it passes by me. I also want to experiment with shutterspeed when the background is still, and a moving object is in the foreground. Two of the shots I’ve attached below are more artistic than commercial (Commercial being the type of photography I would love to become better in). In that case, I need to focus more on experimenting with ISO and aperture settings to play with the fine details in clothing & makeup. (through Noise & Depth of field)
I had the ISO fairly low on this image, I like how the palm trees appear faded towards the ends of the branches.
I’ve realised I need to familiarise myself with my Canon 200D’s settings and practice shooting in various environments with different types of lighting. This week I’ve realised I’m more interested in capturing self-portraits and commercial marketing content in fashion & beauty than nature photography.
In today’s reading we discussed how the revolutionary event in the world of photography was not the arrival of digital cameras, however the broadband connection of digital cameras to the internet. Digital images have unlimited potential when transcended into the Internet’s realm. (Kuc, 2016) Through the development of the internet we are now able to instantaneously broadcast, distribute and print our photography. Online images are distilled in time and they will never age physically.
Due to the boundless accessibility of photographic devices and the observation that we are unable to “order food, go on holiday, learn about the Moon, have sex” without these events being encapsulated, concurs with Sontag’s theory that “photographs are us”. (Zylinska 2016, p.8) In addition to the collection of frames in time that photographs hold, they also affect us “optically, neurologically, intellectually, emotionally, viscerally (and) physically”. (Zylinska 2016, p.10) Photographs can take you back in time and through imagery, they are connected to memories which hold deep emotion for many of us. Like anything in life, we can feel positively or negatively towards certain reminders and memories. The encapsulation of the past through photography is impactful as it can hold emotional or heavy-weighted memories. These images can cause feelings of discomfort, nostalgia, sadness, joy, gratitude or even remorse.
References:
Kuc, K, & Zylinska, J 2016, Photomediations: A reader, Open Humanities Press, pp. 8-13
Tucker, S 2018, How to Nail Exposure using Manual Mode, Youtube Video, accessed 5th November 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUtlZ3sahz8&ab_channel=SeanTucker>