Where to start? Completely new to photography...

[Raycer]

Hi Xavier,
Good to see you posting pictures.
Here's my nagging W.I.F.E. check list for shooting:
White balance - check your white balance the picture seems very warm (yellow).
ISO - What ISO were you using?
Focus - what focus mode are you on? which focus point(s) are you planning to use?
Exposure - exposure mode? spot metering, center weighted, matrix (Nikon, don't know the terminology for Canon) check your light meter? EV + or -? what's your aperture, shutter speed?

Technical part is the easiest part of photography. Artistic part (composition and lighting) will take a life time, at least for me, to learn.

[Mario Xavier]

Hi Xavier,
Good to see you posting pictures.
Here's my nagging W.I.F.E. check list for shooting:
White balance - check your white balance the picture seems very warm (yellow).
ISO - What ISO were you using?
Focus - what focus mode are you on? which focus point(s) are you planning to use?
Exposure - exposure mode? spot metering, center weighted, matrix (Nikon, don't know the terminology for Canon) check your light meter? EV + or -? what's your aperture, shutter speed?

Technical part is the easiest part of photography. Artistic part (composition and lighting) will take a life time, at least for me, to learn.

The yellow is because of the lamp. It was the only light source in a very sleepy house (I took the picture on my way home from work. I stop by my sister's every night to say goodnight to her and my niece.) That being said, I turned the flash off and I left everything in auto.

The camera picked the following:
Auto White Balance
F3.5
ISO 1250
1/30 shutter speed

The histogram shows that it is really unbalanced and dark. Could the Shutter speed and white balance have made the difference?

P.S. Since I mentioned my niece I have to share her with you - my sis on the other hand wasn't exactly photogenic given the hour.

[Donald]

The yellow is because of the lamp.

And that's why being able to correct white balance is so important (unless you want to hold on the atmosphere created by artifical light). I would suggest that the colour you saw when you looked at this image is NOT what the camera saw and what we see in this image. That's because your brain automatically made the adjustment and corrected the yellow cast that was being thrown onto the objects by the lamp. But the camera just picked it as it was. So, that's why, in post-processing, you often have to intervene and correct the white balance.

The histogram shows that it is really unbalanced and dark. Could the Shutter speed and white balance have made the difference?

The white balance setting didn't affect this, but the shutter speed did. But it's not only the shutter speed. It's the correlatioon between shutter speed, aperture setting and ISO that determines how the exposure is going to be. If you haven't done so, I would strongly encourage you to read the CiC tutorial 'Camera Exposure' that you can access by clicking here. It really will accelerate you up the learning curve.

[Raycer]

Could the Shutter speed and white balance have made the difference?

cute niece of yours. good composition.
as to your question above, the exposure is related to shutter speed and no for WB, at least not this case.

IMHO, the only way is to learn is to take the dive and put it on 'M' and use the in camera light meter. If all the pilots did their training in autopilot, I don't think any of the pilots would know how to fly. To me, leaving the camera inside the green box means you just purchased an over price point and shoot.

[Mario Xavier]

cute niece of yours. good composition.
as to your question above, the exposure is related to shutter speed and no for WB, at least not this case.

IMHO, the only way is to learn is to take the dive and put it on 'M' and use the in camera light meter. If all the pilots did their training in autopilot, I don't think any of the pilots would know how to fly. To me, leaving the camera inside the green box means you just purchased an over price point and shoot.

Thanks! She's my heart and soul!

If all the pilots did their training in autopilot, I don't think any of the pilots would know how to fly.

So true. I'm one step of head of you on the dive into manual mode! I took the leap earlier today after reading your checklist, Donald's critique, the manual, and the tutorials again. I had a nudge of frustration with the auto-everything babying me and doing things that I don't understand. So, I found where the histogram is and enabled it in the LCD and the light meter as well. I now comprehend better what you all mean about there being a balance between the settings. I think I'm learning on a deeper level this way.

I'll let this thread die so others can get attention. I'll spend the evening and tomorrow reading/experimenting and come back with an image that I think is good that can be graded or critiqued.

[PopsPhotos]

Think of the aperture and the shutter speed as the ends of a teeter-totter and the ISO as the center post. I've found that this trick helps many remember the "what goes up makes the other go down."

Pops

[UtopianStardust]

What makes you think the teacher is new to photography and what are you actually learning? Are you developing your own film?

the teacher is a former art teacher. The photography teacher left last year so now he is taking on the task. He is completely unexperienced. And yes, we are. We are developing our own film and pictures. Right now, we're focusing on panning shots and moving objects and how to control your shutter speed in each situation.

[Shadowman]

the teacher is a former art teacher. The photography teacher left last year so now he is taking on the task. He is completely unexperienced. And yes, we are. We are developing our own film and pictures. Right now, we're focusing on panning shots and moving objects and how to control your shutter speed in each situation.

Panning shots and moving objects is difficult subject matter. Perhaps the departing instructor left a lesson plan with some methods the new teacher is unfamiliar with. Are you and the students allowed to share your own knowledge with the class, doing so could help the instructor but it would have to be done with diplomacy? But don't let me steer you in the wrong direction regarding classroom decorum, perhaps you could approach the instructor separate from the class and see if assistance is needed.

[Raycer]

maybe because of my sick and twisted nature, I'm actually happy to see people turning the dial to M, developing BW films and share the same frustration I did.

UtopianStardust,
so glad things haven't change. You brought back memories of transferring the film from bulk container to their shells in complete darkness - while trying to squeeze in all the film I can without letting the teacher know.

[Mario Xavier]

Ok I'm in a cafe taking a break from my ventures downtown. I have a question: How do I make it blur things in front of and behind a subject. I've got the foreground to background and the opposite. Sorry I'm on my mobile.

[Dave Humphries]

I have a question: How do I make it blur things in front of and behind a subject. I've got the foreground to background and the opposite.

Hi Xavier,

I think you are asking about something called Depth of Field (usually "DoF"), this is achieved by using as wide a lens aperture as possible. So using a lens that has an aperture range of say f2.8 to f22, you would use f2.8, or at least, something towards that end of the numbers. You need to have accurate focus, or the subject might be too 'soft' as well, e.g., for a portrait, one usually focuses on the nearest eye, anything else looks wrong.

Sometimes the effect can be applied, or enhanced, in post processing (PP) by careful blurring of the areas around the subject, but it usually looks fake unless done very careful on a composition that lends itself to the treatment (some do, some don't).

Cheers,

[Pohled]

Hello,

I'm also a newbie here, and I'd like to thanks Xavier for the questions and all the others for the answers =) Very enlightening, because I'm still lost in 'what to do or to learn first when you don't know anything'

=)

[Raycer]

Ok I'm in a cafe taking a break from my ventures downtown. I have a question: How do I make it blur things in front of and behind a subject. I've got the foreground to background and the opposite. Sorry I'm on my mobile.

if you have an iphone, down load 'Field Tools' its a real handy depth of field calculator app. It used to be on all the Nikkor lenses but its no longer on the new lenses. Not too sure if Canon still have it on the lenses.

Also a nifty app is the light meter app.
Both are free.

[Mario Xavier]

Thanks Dave! It helped a bit. My camera is kind of wierd or it doesn't go that low but I got the gist of it with a few tests.

Pohled - Haha! Glad I could be of some assistance. They say you can learn a lot from a dummy so it's MY PLEASURE.

Raycer - no iPhone for me. But I'll check what they have for the EVO.

With that being said... I'm going to start a new thread for the homework I've done today.

[UtopianStardust]

Panning shots and moving objects is difficult subject matter. Perhaps the departing instructor left a lesson plan with some methods the new teacher is unfamiliar with. Are you and the students allowed to share your own knowledge with the class, doing so could help the instructor but it would have to be done with diplomacy? But don't let me steer you in the wrong direction regarding classroom decorum, perhaps you could approach the instructor separate from the class and see if assistance is needed.

Yes, we are allowed to share. Often times I find myself knowing more than the teacher.