Photography – Playing with Aperture and Shutter Speed

I spent some time in my back yard playing with aperture on my camera and trying to remember exactly ow my camera settings work again. I had some beautiful Gerber daisies in some of my pots and they were in full bloom so I thought I would take advantage of some free time and the nice weather to play….

The flowers were very cooperative – posing and not complaining! The sunshine was bright and I thought it created extra interest in my subject – it also created sweat that dripped into my eyes, wow was it hot!

I focused on different apertures and shutter speeds to see the effect. This was recommended by this article https://photographylife.com/iso-shutter-speed-and-aperture-for-beginners which I found after realizing how much I had forgotten…

All images are taken with my Canon EOS REBEl T5i with the CAnon EFS 18-55mm lens. I also used a Vivtar Series 1 10X MACRO lens filter on some of them (possibly most, I forgot to keep track…)

All are also taken at ISO 100 as it was a very bright sunny day… I did remember the information about “film” speed. Simply put 100 bright and sunny, 200 indoor with flash/all-purpose, 400 better than 200 indoors with a flash especially if you are using a zoom lens (school gyms and those ever so cute plays and concerts), 80 requires even more light but will definitely start to get grainy, 1600 is better in low light or if you want that graining artsy look to your photos… I will try experimenting with this soon…

ISO 100, f/32, 1/25 sec 46mm, Aperture Priority, Pattern Metering

It is very easy to see the difference between this one and the next. The larger aperture number allowed for a better depth of field (what parts of the photo are in focus based on distance from the lens).

In the above photo the ground and fence are soft but both flowers are pretty sharp not completely but close. The petals on the flower on the right that are closer are slightly soft.

 

ISO 100, f/5, 1/1600 sec., Shutter priority, Pattern metering, 40mm

In this very similar photo the ground and fence are so soft that they are unrecognisable – just a blur. This caused less distraction from the flowers and made them pop. The trade-off though, is that the flower on the right is very soft as are several petals on the main flower… but nice if I wanted to make the center of the flower the main attraction. I like this effect but the composition could have been better.

 

ISO 100, f/32, 1/30 sec., Shutter Priority, Pattern metering, 40mm

This is another great example of more depth of field, the flower center on the left is sharp and easily identifiable… I find this distracting… An aperture  between the f/5 and the f/32 would probably be nicer with this composition.

 

ISO 100, f/5, 1/500, Manual , Pattern metering, 25mm

This one is my favorite from the day… I love the bright softness of it. Although this photo was taken with the same aperture as the second photo above the effect of the depth of field is very different. The composition is quite different as it is a side view therefore the petals in front and behind the center of the flower are both very different distances form the lens than the center of the photo which is the featured detail. The longer expose 1/500 vs 1/1600 also caused higher expose with helped to create the bright softness I love so much.

 

…seriously there is a picture just below it is just REALLY REALLY overexposed….

ISO 100, f/4, 1/2 sec, Manual, pattern metering 24mm

 

 

ISO 100, f/22, 1/30 sec., Shutter Priority, Pattern metering, 18mm

 

ISO 100, f/22, 1/25 sec, shutter priority, pattern metering, 18mm

The difference between the last two photos above is a slightly longer exposure in the bottom one. It is slightly softer. In this case I prefer the sharper version of the top one.

The hour or so I spent outside on this day continued to wet my appetite for photography! I have continued to play with aperture and shutter speed quite a bit and with composition. I, also, signed up for an couple of online photo classes. There are a couple more blogs coming soon on photography… experimenting with photographing eyes and my trip to the beautiful city of Victoria, BC.