Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:13:35 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

That weekend in Alicante left me interested in using photographs to show people the way I see things in this world.

I can't draw, I can't paint... generally anything I do with my hands is pewp, and when I wielded the camera I felt a bit of power, so I've borrowed Ben's rather nice DSLR for a bit so I can learn how to take photos.

I've been using the manual modes on the camera, doing everything in my power to make each photograph look like what I'm feeling and seeing in a particular scene.

I've spent a week with it now, and I bought a photography magazine and learned all about all this malarkey to do with the setting of aperture size, the exposure times to go with that, and the iso rating of the ... 'film'? And what it all means.

I quickly realise that actually, this photography thing is a very neat fit for somebody like me, because it suddenly all boils down to numbers and knowing what those numbers mean. This is why I get on with programming so well, so I feel at home setting up the camera to capture shots.

Now, I owned a camera once, when I was 7. It was one of those simple film jobbies which I used to do what thing that everybody else does these days with their mobile phones, taking simple shots of whatever it is you are looking at.
I don't want to do that, I want to capture the essence of a scene, to take a bit of the soul home with me and show it to other people so they can understand what I found beautiful about something.

So, without further ado, some pictures from my first weekend of learning with the camera. I am quite pleased with some of the results, especially as this is my first go with a camera since that one I owned when I was 7.

Attempt Two: Switzerland and France
I hadn't read anything yet, so I was mainly winging it from fiddling with settings and working out from hearsasy what they were all about. I wish I could go back and take some more with just what I've learned from the past couple of days!

The full set of Geneva shots can be found here.

A lamp in France



It was quite dark, as the sun was setting, and I noticed the sun was throwing light through the orange of the lamp and onto the tree behind it. I took a few shots of it with different settings, and this is the one that came out best. Perhaps a different angle would have worked better, but it was the first shot that came out that gave me any level of satisfaction.

F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/60sec
ISO speed: 400

Had I had the tripod with me, this would have worked a lot better with a lower exposure time, and flipping the ISO speed back to 100 where I didn't get such a grainy picture. Ah well - live and learn. This was before I bought the magazine for education and inspiration.

Olives in the Market


We visited the market and I thought it would be a good chance to try and get some colourful shots of some goods on display. The olives were a no-brainer, and the cloth-stand one came out quite well too.

F-Stop: f/8
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec
ISO Speed: ISO-400

Wtf? ISO 400? That was an accident, and by using the light-meter I compensated by upping the speed of the shot without really thinking about it. Whoops. Had I known about aperture at this point, I'd probably have taken a few shots with different layers of olives in varying amounts of focus. Still would have probably chosen this shot though.

Attempt Three: Campus
Okay, so I read a magazine on the plane, and some articles on the internets. I'm an expert now right? Okay, joking aside, after spending the day at home working, I walked into campus and took a few nice shots and they made me happy.

The full set can be found here

Woodland Trees



Having learned that I can get quite a range of depth of field by using a small aperture size, I took this one by bringing it down, and upping the exposure time to a decent length of time. Sticking the camera on the ground on the tripod, and using a timer so I don't have to touch the camera and blur the photograph. It's quite dark under the trees too, so it's sort of necessary.

F-Stop: f/10
Exposure Time: 2 sec
ISO Speed: ISO-100

As much as I like shooting from the floor, it would have been nice to use a proper tripod in this shot and take it from the vantage point I had personally.

Woodland Floor


The floor is quite a pretty and overlooked place as people stamp all over it, so I got down and dirty and took a shot of the undergrowth. It turned out ok, despite the darkness under the tree canopy.

F-Stop: f/11
Exposure Time: 1 sec
ISO Speed: ISO-400

I upped the ISO earlier because I was taking pictures of some moving animals under the canopy, and forgetting to turn it down again the exposure time wasn't quite as long as other shots. It didn't make the shot too grainy thankfully. I should have used a much smaller aperture size I think, and upped the exposure time, this was quite early on and I hadn't quite worked this out yet.

Woodland Floor


Another shot from the floor, but this time looking at the overall scene. Really narrowing the aperture size so I can get a good focus on the entire thing. This meant an obscene exposure time, but I think it turned out ok.

F-Stop: f/16
Exposure Time: 6 sec
ISO Speed: ISO-100

I think I've got this sussed, and decide to go home. I'm looking forward to learning more, this is only my third outing and I feel as if I'm getting the hang of it already.

I know a few of you actually take photographs as a hobby, have you any hints to give me from looking at the above? Am I making any stupidly rookie mistakes? I wouldn't be surprised if I was...