I got the chance to go take pictures with my cousin, who is very passionate about photography and was actually the one that inspired me to do this project. Let me say, it is completely different learning by reading and learning hands on with someone teaching you. Not to get me wrong, the book did teach a lot, but I found that I learned a lot more plus I enjoyed it more when I was able to learn as I went taking pictures.
We went to Valley Forge park on some day earlier this week (I don't even remember what day it was...) and the weather was actually pretty nice for taking pictures. It was nice to be on break because we had no time limits and we basically just drove around until we found something I wanted to take pictures of.
The book I read (Nikon D3100: From Snapshots to Great Shots) did not cover exposure in depth. I learned so much about it from my cousin and we figured out how to put a histogram on my display screen so I could see the exposure! (Wow...you know its bad when I'm excited about a histogram). For the people reading this who don't know what a histogram is, it is basically a graph that shows the amount of light in different places.
This is the display screen: (The histogram is the graph on the right)
Overall, I think this picture does a pretty good job of showing you the basic graphs of a underexposed, well exposed and overexposed picture. To change the exposure, you have to play with other settings like ISO, shutter speed, aperture, camera angle, lighting...etc.
Here, the sky is well exposed, but the tree is way to underexposed.
Quite the opposite with this one- the tree is well exposed, but the sky is overexposed.
Alright, enough about my boring histogram talk. If you're still awake, here are some pictures:
It's not a trip to Valley Forge without a pictures of'/with a cannon!
I like these, but not my favorite. I just had to post it because I took about forty others trying to get a good one.
I like the tree shadows on the road. At first I thought they were there because something was wrong with my camera.
Some of the prettiest moss I've ever seen.
There was a large number of fallen trees...
I also took some pictures of my neighbors and my brother playing basketball. I hate the background, but I love some of the pictures I was getting:
I absolutely love this picture. Like seriously, how can you not love it?
Pretty cool if you ask me...
Look how ugly the background is. Ew.
Just an example of how you can freeze motion. If you look closely, he is not even standing on the table. He is completely in the air.
*Note I think this is my seventh, but I wanted to post it!
These look great Kara! The actions shots look awesome and I'm worried Bryce is going to fall flat on his face...did he? Anyway you definitely accomplished a lot this project. I know you had some issues with getting places but once you got to Valley Forge you really took advantage of it! Can't wait for your TED talk!!
ReplyDeleteI love your last photo! I've also experimented with upping the shutter speed to capture things in mid-air too and it's so cool. It's great that you took something like a driveway basketball game and reflected all the action and excitement going on in just your photos. I hope that you are having luck with your TED Talk! I imagine ours may be similar :)
ReplyDeleteKara, these photographs are amazing! Your photographs are evidence of how you have become more knowledgeable in this topic. The different effects are awesome and I am in love with all these photos! Especially the one of Bryce dunking the ball and him on the table getting ready to dunk it. The use of freezing motion is wonderful and your photos came out wonderfully. I'm very excited for your TED Talk and I wish you luck!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Kara, these are awesome! I was always interested in pictures, especially the mid-air freezing pictures! It's so cool! I also liked pictures of your cousin hiding in the bushes, and lying on a tree. They look as if they were taken by a professional photographer. It's clearly visible of how much time you've put in this project to learn about different aspects in photography! I'm so jealous that you can take amazing photos! Nice job, Kara! It's sad to think there will be no more photographs posted on this blog...
ReplyDeleteWow, Kara! Your pictures are really cool! From reading your blog, I got the impression that you really seemed to have a passion for photography based on your tone. I like how you take all sorts of different pictures, like pictures of still objects and pictures of still people and pictures of moving people. It gives you experience in all categories of photography, which can be useful in the future! I also liked how you were able to take simple things, like moss or a tree and a cannon, and turn them into a beautiful masterpiece! Overall, I've really seen you improve, from your first blog where you were taking pictures of random pretty things, to this blog, where you seem to know what you're talking about and you know fancy tricks to take pictures and you are turning boring things into beautiful pictures. Great job! I hope you continue to do photography in the future!
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