Saturday 3 May 2014

Manual DSLR Camera Fun and A Great Book!

I have been having the most fun experimenting and practicing with my DSLR. It's only been every now and then that I have ventured out on that limb of 'manual photography', normally I stay in my comfort zone with the settings on 'automatic'.

I borrowed this amazing book from the library called 'Photographing Your Children - A Handbook of Style and Instruction' by Jen Altman, you can purchase this book from Amazon here. I've read a few photography books now, and this is, by far one of the best I've ever sunk my teeth into. 

It's basic, clear communication makes it so much easier to understand the sometimes rather complicated key terms that photographers use. To top it off, it has visual inspiration from the photos taken by Jen which are stunningly beautiful and great idea prompters. I haven't even finished reading the book yet and I've learnt so much already. If you're a photographer, no matter what stage you're at, or what 'subject' you choose for your photography, you need to get this book!

I've fiddled with the ISO, the f-stop, the White Balance and the Shutter Speed and had the camera on Manual Focus mode and Direct Manual Focus. It has been amazing.

Jen talks about how once you get out of 'auto mode' you'll be addicted. My first thought? 'Yeah right; how could it possibly be any different?' Well, she was right, and I'm hooked! It's such an incredible sense of achievement to not just let the camera do most of the work for you. You're taking it one step, one big step further, and controlling everything.

Obviously I still have to practice a lot and still have so much to learn about photography across the board, but I'm developing my skills and working out difficult things as I go along ... one of the incredible joys of self teaching!

I took some horrible photos and then some (in my opinion) beautiful ones. Especially the ones of my beautiful boy and little kitty 'Ollie' ... they both make great subjects! 

The chapters cover this Info:

Introduction
  1. The Basics of Photography
  2. Why Light Is So Important
  3. Composing Portraits
  4. Photographing Infants
  5. Photographing Toddlers and Young Children
  6. Through the Eyes of Love
  7. What's Next?
  8. Resources

Here's some of the images that I snapped over a couple of hours throughout the day; both inside and outside. I really love the detail that manual photography captures, as well as the beautiful depth of field in each one. 

f/13   ISO - 800   70mm

f/13   ISO - 100   60mm

f/5.6   ISO - 100   60mm

f/5.6   ISO - 400   50mm

f/5.6   ISO - 100   70mm

f/5.6   ISO - 100   70mm

f/5.6   ISO - 200   60mm

f/5.6   ISO - 200   60mm

f/5.6   ISO - 200   60mm

f?5.6   ISO - 400   50mm
So what do you think?! I'm really excited to keep on experimenting and snapping away at pretty much anything and everything that is beautiful! 

Do you prefer manual or auto when it comes to your camera settings? 

I hope you enjoy being creative this week ... I know I will!

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