After four weeks of my photography class we've finally been given our first assignment. Up to this point we've discussed a lot about equipment and gone on so many tangents that I'm not even sure what I've learned. The teacher is fabulous and tries to stay on track but the students just won't let him teach.
Our assignment: 1) Photograph something obviously moving with a high shutter speed (aka. it can't be blurry!); 2) Subject movement to demonstrate an action (see the movement, but picture has to be clear); and 3) catch peak of action. I still don't understand the difference between 1 & 3, but I gave it a shot.
Version 1: Eric is very obviously flying through the air. Not blurry despite the lack of light and slight rain that was falling. I was impressed (both with my camera and his ability to fly!)
Version 2: Again, with the defying gravity!
2) Subject movement to demonstrate action.
Version 1: I didn't think about this counting until just now. Sparky's face in in focus, you can clearly see him and look at the movement.....his little tail wagging while we play with his favorite ball. This picture makes me smile!
Version 2: In an effort to move this assignment along on Monday night, with no daylight left, my darling husband helped. He poured water out of a bottle into this bowl while I left the shutter open for 5 seconds. It isn't perfect, but the water becomes "foamy" instead of capturing one quick shot of the stream we "see" the water flowing for 5 seconds.
When he announced that we had to take pictures and print them for class I felt my eyes grow wide and my mouth went dry. What? You expect me to take good pictures and NOT use AUTO? WHAT? Of course, this is the point of taking the class, isn't it? How can I get any better if I don't try....but me, the perfectionist was not happy about failing because I just knew I'd struggle.
Our assignment: 1) Photograph something obviously moving with a high shutter speed (aka. it can't be blurry!); 2) Subject movement to demonstrate an action (see the movement, but picture has to be clear); and 3) catch peak of action. I still don't understand the difference between 1 & 3, but I gave it a shot.
The world was out to get me with this project it seemed. More specifically Mother Nature. In order to catch action you need a lot of light for a high shutter speed. It started raining on Friday and hasn't stopped. I have not seen the sun since last Thursday. In a last ditch effort a friend of mine from work, Eric, agreed to help me over our lunch. Eric has been a fabulous help to me - he has a photograph minor so that doesn't hurt either.
So, I present to you, my versions of the assignments.
1) Photograph something obviously moving.
Version 1: Eric is very obviously flying through the air. Not blurry despite the lack of light and slight rain that was falling. I was impressed (both with my camera and his ability to fly!)
Version 2: Again, with the defying gravity!
2) Subject movement to demonstrate action. Version 1: I didn't think about this counting until just now. Sparky's face in in focus, you can clearly see him and look at the movement.....his little tail wagging while we play with his favorite ball. This picture makes me smile!
Version 2: In an effort to move this assignment along on Monday night, with no daylight left, my darling husband helped. He poured water out of a bottle into this bowl while I left the shutter open for 5 seconds. It isn't perfect, but the water becomes "foamy" instead of capturing one quick shot of the stream we "see" the water flowing for 5 seconds.3) Peak of action.
Version 1: I did slow the shutter speed down on this one and the ball isn't even blurry - hopefully it is what I was "supposed" to catch.
I know these pictures are not perfect. The teacher told us we'd fail....trust me, I had my fair share of failing just to get these pictures. It was a good chance to actually learned how ISO, f-stop and shutter speed relate to one another. And, I will admit that some of my mistakes are laughable......and as long as I keep laughing I haven't given up.
5 comments:
LOVE the pictures - he totally looks like he's defying gravity. Very cool. I'd give you an A++++ = )
Thanks for sharing!
Oooo those pics are great! I really like the first one of Eric. Impressive acrobatic skills from him, too. What a fun photo assignment! I think your pics are great, especially for a first assignment.
I took B&W Photography in high school, and the only themes we did were self-portraits and "glamour" shots.
In my photo class in high school, we shot, developed, and printed black and white film. The maddening part was that sometimes you didn't realize you'd failed until you were actually making an enlargement.
We were also told, though, that if you get 3 or 4 good shots on one roll of film, that's an accomplishment. My best photo ever was a "happy accident" on my very first roll!
What a great job you did on your assignment!!! I can't say I understand everything you had to do (I'm an AUTO-girl) but I love the way your pictures came out, especially the first one of Eric flying and Sparky wagging his tail. The picture of the ball in the air is cool too. I can sort of see how it's about to turn and fall but it's still up there.
I hope you're happy about your assignment!
:kram:
Beautiful work, SJ! Keep us posted with all your assignments. I LOVE that one of Sparky's tail! :aww:
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