Understanding Manual Mode

In Manual mode there is 4 things I change; the aperture, the shutter speed, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), and the exposure. I am have a Canon Rebel t3i so I'm going to explain how I change everything on my camera, but it shouldn't be much different than other cameras.  

The Aperture
The aperture is probably the easiest to understand and remember. Depending on what lens you will use and what mm you are at will give you different aperture ranges. They range from f1-f22. The closer you are to f1 the more blurry the background will be. The closer you are f22 the sharper the background will be.

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The Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is represented by seconds. 1/125 means that you will take photos with the shutter open for 1/125th of a second. So if you have your shutter speed at 2", you will take photos with the shutter open for 2 seconds. If you have your shutter speed at 1/25th of a second or longer, I would recommend using a tripod. 

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The International Organization of Standardization (ISO)
The ISO is what you change depending on light. The brighter the light is outside or inside the lower the number you want, like 100. The darker it is the higher the number you want, like 3200. 

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The Exposure
The exposure is very simple, and you just have to remember that it's better for you want the arrow to point to 0. If the arrow points to a spot to the left of the 0, your photo will be underexposed (darker.) If the arrow points to a spot to the right of the 0, your photo will be overexposed (lighter.)

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Can’t take photos because of cloudy weather? Try again!

I know what you are all thinking, “Sierra, we can’t take photos because the clouds will make our photos look dark,” But that’s not true. As I have said in previous posts, knowing manual mode is very crucial if you want to be a great photographer. If you shoot photos in automatic mode on cloudy days, you may very well end up with dark photos. If they happen to turn out darker than you want them to be, your other option is to edit them. These photos were taken on a cloudy and wet day.

F5.6, 1/320, ISO 400, No flash

Before photo was edited.

After photo was edited.

Next post will be about understanding manual mode. Stay tuned!

New Camera Lens

This past weekend I decided I wanted another camera lens so I bought one. I bought the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lll camera lens. This lens is great for if you want to take photos of things from a far, like birds or any wildlife.  I haven’t had a chance to take photos with it until yesterday. So I decided to try to take photos of birds and I was really happy how the lens worked and how the photos turned out. I highly recommend getting a tripod if you are planning on using this lens because the higher the mm the more you notice your movement with the camera. I also recommend using the manual focus on the lens because when you are on the automatic mode it focuses on what it thinks you want focused on or it can’t find what object you want it focused on. 

Photo of the bird, using my 18-55mm lens, at 55mm. 

Photo of bird, using my 75-300mm lens, at 300mm.  

Photo of bird, using my 75-300mm lens, at 300mm.

My Photography Bucket List

When someone says bucket list they think things people want to accomplish before they die. I decided I wanted to make a bucket list for photography. This list isn't something I want to do before I die but more like something I accomplish in the next 5 years. By June 1, 2024 I would like to have this list accomplished.

Photography Bucket List
Moon
The stars
Fireworks
People Jumping
Sunrise
Rainbow
A snowflake
A waterfall
Creative/fun photos
The beach
A festival
Centraila, PA
Gettysburg, PA
Highland Park, Rochester, NY
Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, NY
Susquehannock State Park, PA
Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve, PA
Cherry Springs State Park, PA 

Example of creative/fun photo I want to take.

Watkins Glen State Park

What are your thoughts?

This thought has been on my mind for a while and I want to you what your thoughts are. I have been taking photos for almost 2 years now and most people love my photos. I have noticed things that kind of upset me and I don't understand why people do it. So when people post photos I have taken, they add filters to them. I take the photos, I think that I did a great job and they look fine. Then someone adds filters to them and I don't understand why they use a filter.

Do they not like my photos? Are they saying my photos are good just to make me feel better about myself? Are my photos not good enough? Do they just want the photos to look "cool?" Are filters just the trendy thing to do? Do people think they look better when they use a filter? Let me know what you think.

No filters

No filters

With filters

Spring is Coming, Slowly but Surely!

According to Newsweek, Spring started on March 20, 2019 and it will end on June 21, 2019. Well there hasn't been much of a spring yet but there is definitely blossoms on trees and flowers blooming. Some of the trees still don't have any leaves on them but I'm sure they will be on them soon. Hopefully the weather is less rainy and more sunny so all of us photographers don't have to stay inside. 

Trees starting to get leaves on them.

Moss growing on a tree.

Starting to blossom.

Grass after it rained.

First Time I took Photos at a Track Meet

Yesterday, I had the chance to go to a Track meet and take photos. I have never taken photos at a Track meet. I have taken photos at a football game before. I really had no clue what settings is best for photos of running people, so I did some research and the website I clicked on was very helpful. The website gave 12 tips and I used 2 of the tips. It said to have ISO at 800 or 1000 and shutter speed at 1/320th of a second. So when I got there I tried ISO at 800, shutter speed at 1/320 and I knew from previous research that the focus should be a higher number. So I changed my focus to F9. I think I did I pretty good job for my first time. 

All photos, ISO 800, Shutter Speed 1/400, and Focus F9