22 Sept 2010

Decaying Rose and Exposure Experiment

I'm killing three birds with one stone today. I did say, when I posted the picture of my autumn rose a week ago that I'd record its decay.  I also said a couple of days ago that I'd posted my last pictures on my old camera and the next would be on my new 550D. And I'm currently reading Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure which I'm loving for its down-to-earth, non-technical speak.

This is my rose, looking rather brown around the edges and a little less than perky. It was taken at f/5, 1/400 sec., ISO 400. The exercise was to start at the widest aperture, adjust the shutter speed until a correct exposure was indicated and take the picture. Then reduce by one stop, adjust shutter speed and take another picture and so on through all the f stops available.

This is the final exposure at f/32, 1/13 sec., ISO400. Obviously the exercise is to show how to use the aperture setting creatively, either producing shallow or great depth of field. I didn't use a tripod which is why the position of the rose is slightly different.

The lens I'm using at the moment is the original 18-55 EF-S lens from my old EOS 300D which I sold years ago. I'm waiting for a 55-250 zoom to arrive and will then start saving my pennies for the 10-22 EF-S. Both of these are relatively cheap but have reasonably good reviews and will get me started. One day I may feel I've advanced enough to get a couple of really good lenses. May have a look at the 50mm prime lens recommended by Justine Gordon!

3 comments:

  1. oh I just saw my name! you know the 50mm is sooo cheap for the amazing quality. I have the understanding exposure book it's great isn't it.

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  2. 50mm 1.8s are wonderful. Not sure what kind of camera you have, but the Nikon ones are relatively inexpensive.

    I hope you are enjoying Bryan Petersen. I think everything he does is extremely good.

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  3. I love to learn and experiment with exposures too - it's amazing how you can squeeze a photo out of any situation when you know how to outsmart your cameras default settings :)

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