Ashley Whiting Photography » Blog

Your camera has a light meter which measures the light in the given shot and sets an ideal exposure automatically. Most people depend on the light meter (when your are shooting automatically) to expose, which is ok, and you may get some nice images once in a while mixed in with poorly exposed ones (too dark, too light). However, if you want to take it to the next level you MUST get comfortable with shutter speed and aperture. Oh and yes, ISO too. Don’t get overwhelmed. It’s not too difficult, however if you want to really take nice images I’d say check out this tutorial about Exposure. Getting Exposure down is key. It will take a little while but learning how to correctly expose your pictures is vital to good photography. You will be glad to took the time to learn.

This is one of my favorite websites to learn about Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I couldn’t explain it any better.

digital-photography-school.com

This is how I began…. I read my camera manual I think 10 times all the way through. Maybe more.   Learn how to change the settings on your camera. Then go back and read the tutorial about exposure one more time.
Get that camera off auto and turn off the flash! I started with my camera on AV mode (which means you decide the aperture and the camera decides the shutter speed). I could set the f-stop and have the camera do the rest. Now PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! It’s fun and with digital it’s free. When I was learning it was film and expensive. Then by the time I got my images back from the lab I would forget what I did to achieve the image. I learned to take notes while I was learning. With digital you can see the results right away.
The best way to get your head around aperture is to get your camera out and do some experimenting. Find a spot where you’ve got items close to you as well as far away and take a series of shots with different aperture settings from the smallest setting to the largest. You’ll quickly see the impact that it can have and the usefulness of being able to control aperture.   If you can master aperture you put into your hands real creative control over your camera. I think that aperture is where a lot of the magic happens in photography.
Once I felt like I had a grasp of this then I moved to manual. Where I learned the relationship between Shutter speed and aperture and how to balance the two to get a correctly exposed image.
It’s fun. There is no reason anyone can’t learn how to take better photos today with all of the information out there on the web. When I first started I read every book I could get my hands on. Now when I have a question, google is my best friend. I can always find my answers.

here are some examples of knowing how to manually change your shutter speed. These were shot at a high shutter speed. These shots would have been lost on automatic…

here are some examples of a very shallow depth of field (small aperture). Do you see how Cozy’s eyes are in focus and here ears are not. Always with faces focus on the eyes. This was shot at f/1.4
Not as shallow of a depth of field in this next image as the previous image but still the background is soft and he is in focus. I shot at f/4

I have had many people ask me for lessons in photography or to offer a class. I have to stick to my guns and not start getting myself too busy again, but I have to say the idea is inticing. I would love to do that. When I think of it my mind starts doing that thing my husband hates. He thinks that when I get “into” a project, or take on an idea  I get tunnel vision. He is right. The creative juices start to flow and my mind races with ideas. Everything gets put on the backburner (except dinner). Down Girl. This year is the year for change. Balance is key this year. Ok, so how could I do that just a little and still have a healthy family life and personal time as well.

So I was thinking I would post photography tips here (on my blog). I don’t know… daily, weekly. I’m not sure yet. Just tossing the idea around. I have over 10 years of experience and I’d love to share what I know. I by no means know everything, infact I use to get really intimidated when someone would ask me how I do what I do. I use to think “I can’t explain it. I just know it.” However, latley I have had so many people, usually moms wanting to take better photos of their kids, asking me about photography. In the last few years my confidence as a teacher has grown. I’m sure, as always is the case, that as I share what I know, I too will gain more knowledge.

Now what to start with.

This was my first photo shoot. It  is my son Griffin who is 11 years old now. I had read every book I could find on photography and finally got a nice SLR film camera. I placed some blankets on the coffee table and sat on the couch facing him (a big north facing window right behind me). I got him to sleep (because at this point a moving target may have overwhelmed me), and plopped some black and white film it the camera. This was the result. All automatic (I think). So the obsession began. I soaked up any and everything I could about photography from then on.