Advanced Exposure Techniques
Somehow I found 3 hours on Friday night to attend a photography course at Henry’s—Advanced Exposure Techniques. Great course.
I’m one of those people that always used the automatic settings on my Canon Rebel SLR film camera until I made the switch to digital—Canon Digital Rebel XT. Being able to review my photos immediately on an LCD screen allows me to be more creative and experiement.
Having a better understanding of exposure mechanics has helped me a great deal in taking better pictures (okay debatable). Finding the time to take photos is my biggest challenge at the moment. The only way I’m going to improve is by taking a lot more photos and learn from my mistakes.
At the moment I can’t get enough of British photography magazines. There seems to be an endless supply of them on the newstands and I’m slowly weeding out the good ones. I’m also reading the owner’s manual for the Rebel XT as if it was the latest Dan Brown novel.
I must have taken a couple of hundred photos over the weekend but have only posted a couple at Bombippy Photos. I’m becoming a lot more selective on what I post these days—quality over quantity. Even then, I know that these aren’t great photos but I’m learning. You get to watch if you like.
Stumble It!Posted in Photography at 11:59 PM
Comments
I think the best things I ever learned were from Ansel Adams - his zone system is remarkable and will teach you how to really use you metering and your exposure compensation well. But then came digital and the histogram…OH the mighty histogram! I keep mine visible and am always consulting it.
My friend Kevin told me the other day that while you want to avoid clipping your highlights you also want to get them as close as possible. While you can always darken shadows you can’t reclaim the lost detail in highlights. But it’s the last 20% of the highlights that has the bulk of the detail so you want to be sure you get it.
End of unsolicited advice. Would love to hear what you learned.
Posted by: david on May 9, 2005 2:00 AM
The historgam was covered in the course. I’m starting to use mine more now that I understand how to use it. You actually get a better idea of lighting in your photos from the histogram rather than looking at the tiny photo on your lcd display.
While the display is great for general composition I find it difficult to view in daylight. Camera shake? Difficult to see. The other nice feature is being able to see where your image is being clipped/overexposed.
I’ll definitely look into Ansel Adams in more detail. Is there a book that I should be looking at specifically?
Posted by: Jay on May 9, 2005 10:19 AM
Jay, Ansel Adams develloped something called the Zone System. It has nothing to do with dieting. I just did a simple Google search for “Ansel Adams Zone System” and uncovered alot. I had a book at one point but now don’t recall the title. In fact I am not sure whether it was by Ansel Adams or just someone writing about Ansel Adams.
Either way the Zone System at it’s most basic helps you understand the light meter and how to get photos with the best dynamic range of light and texture.
Posted by: david on May 9, 2005 11:28 AM
