The shutter is what really makes a camera. In essence a camera is just a box that holds some film or a sensor with a hole in the end that opens and closes to let in light. This is evident from as far back as the camera obscura which helped artists essentially trace a picture of a person to resemble their likeness. Similar to that is the pin-hole camera, where a piece of film or printing paper is placed inside a camera and literally a pin-hole is punched in the other end which can be uncovered to take some surprisingly phenomenal photographs. Only slightly more complex from this is a typical 35mm camera. This can introduce aperture, which is actually dependent on the lens. It also gives the ability to adjust mechanically the time the shutter is open. The size of the opening through the lens dramatically decreases the amount of time that the shutter need be open in comparison to pin-hole cameras. Then with DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras, the only thing that is really changed is instead of the shutter opening to a silver halide film plane, it opens to a light sensor of some kind. Today the typical is the CMOS sensor, which is beyond the scope of this post to explain.
Shutter speed generally adjusts from 1/8000 of a second to as long as you want it open, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aperture, camera, DSLR, f/, ISO, light, lighting, photo, photography, shutter, SLR
Posted in Camera parts, photography | 2 Comments »
I have learned through both college and work experience that one of the best ways to learn anything is through critiques of your work and other’s work. That is why, in the spirit of teaching through this blog, I am happy to critique the work of submissions from readers. If you would like a professional critique from me and learn how to better your artwork, be it photo, design, painting, et al, just read these submission guidelines and submit an image through my critique contact form. You can also email your submission to photocrit [at] chrislanephoto.com.
Today I have a photo from Sarah S. She said she took this photo of Prairie Smoke (aka Old Man’s Whiskers or if you are really hardcore Plantae Tracheobionta Spermatophyta Magnoliophyta Magnoliopsida Rosidae Rosales Rosaceae Geum L. Geum triflorum Pursh) in the North Dakota Badlands handheld in a shady ravine. Looking at the metadata, it was taken with a Canon PowerShot S3 IS
at f/2.7 at 1/60.
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Tags: adjustment, alteration, aperture, Badlands, Critique, curves, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, flower, levels, light, natural, North Dakota, photo, photography, Photoshop, Photoshop CS3, Praire Smoke, process, Retouched, shadows, Training, white balance
Posted in Critique, photography, Retouched | 3 Comments »
Failure to experiment leads to craft shows and chintzy work.
The whole process of creating art is completely subjective and open to interpretation at all bounds. I want to urge everyone to not be afraid to experiment in their work. Artwork can be created by the numbers, but most viewers will be able to tell it is done in a formulaic way. It won’t stand out amongst the crowd. I recently attended a local arts & craft show and I couldn’t count how many people were selling mostly the same stuff. If it wasn’t rock bracelets, it was plywood cutout figures. They might be good at what they do when making those figures, but they weren’t willing to experiment. All of them looked the same, to the point I was wondering if they weren’t homemade but rather being resold from elsewhere. That means that they were either being made from a pattern or the entire genre has simply become stagnant.
The thing about experimentation is that no one has to know. Photography, for example, is great for experimentation. It is so easy to try something new, especially with digital cameras. Try getting lower, to the point of laying in the grass, and get a shot from a worm’s eye view.
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Tags: abstract, aperture, Arbroath, camera toss, darkness, experiment, experimental, f-number, f/, light, light painting, Minolta, night, photo, photography, photos, Scotland, SLR, X-700
Posted in Art, Design, photography | No Comments »
Today I will be critiquing a photograph by Lori Lindholm. You can find her on facebook. While you are there, add me on facebook also.
Lori sent me this photograph of an abandoned old Ford pickup. A great subject matter, especially for me because I both like abandoned stuff and old automobiles. So this definitely piqued my interest.
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Tags: abandoned, adjustment, aperture, Before & After, curves, decay, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, Ford, grass, grid, highlights, levels, light, midtones, old, photograph, Photoshop CS3, pickup, process, Rule of Thirds, shadows, shutter, specular, truck
Posted in Critique, photography | 2 Comments »
Used to be…
Older SLR (single lens reflex) cameras, pre-digital info screen, had aperture adjustment on the lens itself. The image shows an example from my Minolta X-700 with a 50mm f/1.7 lens, made in 1983. This camera does, however, have a full auto setting, so that it can adjust the aperture for you. Unfortunately, you cannot tell what it is adjusting to without the digital screen that the somewhat more modern film Canon Rebels had. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aperture, Canon, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, lens, light, Minolta, photography, SLR, X-700
Posted in Camera parts, Training | 1 Comment »
