Time-Stopper photo challenge week of 8/30

The camera is a very powerful tool. It can freeze something that is too fast for our eyes to see. In doing so it can reveal a hidden worlds that we can only see with its help. We need to know how to do it correctly though. The shutter on most cameras can cycle up to at least 1 1000th of a second which is sufficient to freeze most things in place. This also means that the aperture has to be a bit wider to let in more light in a smaller fraction of time. Lighting can be key in these situations. If you look at a high speed photo of a water balloon popping, it can look beautiful if lit correctly. All of the water droplets turn into tiny reflecting crystals. But is the lighting is poor, the image won't "pop". Look for scenes where bright sunlight can shine onto the object that you are shooting at an angle. So earlier or later in the day is a good bet. Flash can help, but the built in flash in most cameras is too harsh and can blow out details in a scene.
Choose shutter priority on your camera and the camera lets you choose the shutter speed and adjusts everything else for you. On some point and shoots this can be accessed in the menus. This is a rudimentary way to slow things down and there are many techniques that use special flashes and low shutter speeds to accomplish this, but for most people, 1 1000th of a second on shutter priority and some good light can make a great photo

Photo Challenge 8/22

Ember Sebastian

Jason Piro

Jay Windell

Brett Mobey

Nicki Anne

Carolyn Feldman

 Steve Lofman

Photo Challenge Week of August 22nd

Cats. And not the LOL variety. Get creative and send in the pics to the e-mail address on our Facebook group. We'll post the photos in the group throughout the week and on Friday we will post the hi-res versions here. Have fun!

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

1. Submissions should pertain to the theme of the week.

2. One submission per week per member.

3. Photo must be taken the week it is submitted.

4. Submitted photos must be larger than 1000 pixels in either width or height.

5. No butts.

Prime Target

A Prime lens is a lens with one focal length. they come in all different sizes but a 'normal' prime is 50mm, or 35mm on most consumer level DSLRs which have cropped sensors. Prime lenses are usually cheaper, sharper and let in tons more light with f-stops in the 1.8 range. They also have less junk in the lens to get in the way. A kit lens that comes with a camera, like an 18-55mm is filled with lens elements and everything moves in and out. A Prime just rotates internally to focus. Less junk=better pics usually.

What the F is an F-stop!?

Lets talk about Apertures. all cameras have them. They are the hole that lets light hit the sensor. That aperture is either fixed, like on a cheap throwaway camera, or adjustable, like on all DSLRs and most point and shoots. By accessing your menu you can usually find an f-stop control. The amount of light hitting the sensor is important, but how long it hits the sensor is important as well. the shutter speed determines this. It is a delicate dance between the two that makes great photos.
The other thing that the aperture or F-stop is that it helps determine how much of a scene is in focus. You have probably seen cool pictures where the background is out of focus and creamy while the subject in the foreground is sharp as a tack. That is depth of field. The lower the number that your f-stop reads means there is less in focus in a scene, and you get that blurry background or foreground. The higher the f-stop say F 5.6 and above on a fixed lens, the more that is in focus. Once you get into zoom lenses the calculations get pretty nuts because zoom lenses can narrow depth of field as well. The blurred backgrounds created by low f-stop numbers are really cool and arty, but you do lose some sharpness in the photo. a good compromise is to take the lens either two up from the lowest number, or two down from the highest f-stop and those will be the best bet to get the sharpest picture. an easy way to do this on many cameras is the 'A' mode, meaning aperture priority. Then you chose the f-stop you want and the camera chooses everything else, like shutter speed.
When I get arty and nuts, like with my wheat picture, I want blurred backgrounds so I'll take a bit of softness. Likewise when I am shooting indoors or in poor light I crank the F-stop to the lowest number to let all of the light in that I can. My 35mm F-1.8 Nikkor DX lens is great for this. 1.8 lets in a ton of light. But of course my focus is very thin, like one of my cats eyes will be in focus and the other won't. so play around with it and find what works for you. It is fun!