Aperture - Part 1

Assignment: Find a scene with foreground, middle-ground and background. Set up the tripod, focus half-way into the scene, keep ISO relatively low. Set to aperture priority, cycle through aperture settings letting shutter speed fall where it may. Review differences in depth of field.

I used the table tripod set up outside, focusing on a skull decoration in a round-about outside the front of our house. It was midday and hot, but little man was happy to run around for a little bit! Also, the size ratio was set to 1:1 for a previous image and I forgot to change that... oh well... :)

f3.5

f4

f4.5

f5

f5.6

f6.3

f7

f8

f9

f10

f11

f13

f14

f16

f18

f20

f22

I started this activity with a scenery picture: a cactus at the horizon, a blue sky in the background and mostly dirt with some bushes at the foreground. Really, it did not lend itself well to the aperture changes. But this image was fun to look at the different depths of field. Honestly I think I like the aperture at about 5.6-ish for this image because of the cactus skeleton. I like seeing it mostly clear with the blurred tree, but also having the rocks slightly blurred as well. 

I've never actually sat back and looked at the different aperture settings before. I usually keep it at the lowest setting available for the lens length. I know at the longest focal length with the Samsung lens I can go 5.6 for the lowest aperture (I am unable to control the aperture with the Cannon lens.

ISO

Find a subject to photograph indoors without a flash and set your camera on a tripod. Set lens to f8 or f5.6 in aperture priority and cycle through the ISO settings from lowest (in my case 200) to highest (in my case 6400). What is your comfort level with how high you can go?

I had a hard time finding something interesting in the house worthy of photographing. I did two cycles, one of the carseat and the other of our shoes. During the day I tend to open window blinds to allow in light. I don't feel like I am living in a cave. Though, sometimes the heat is pretty high.

So here are the shoes. :) Much more interesting than the car seat I think. And I needed to run through these quickly as it was during nap time.

ISO 200

ISO 250

ISO 320

ISO 400

ISO 500

ISO 640

ISO 800

ISO 1000

ISO 1250

ISO 1600

ISO 2000

ISO 2500

ISO 3200

ISO 4000

ISO 5000

ISO 6400

I wouldn't mind going up to 800 in the house (that was where the automatic setting took the image at), but that is pushing it. Preferably I wouldn't want to go higher than 400. Though I am impressed with the image quality on my camera at the higher settings. It maybe different at night though with no natural light, though who wants to take images with no natural light? That is not preferential. Natural lighting is the best, and with a flash everything is different... 

I played with post production of the ISO 6400 image...

Focal Length - part 2.1

Now that I have been sitting on the pictures for a week...

Begin at your longest focal length on a subject (I tried to keep it lined up with the far cactus on the left). as you move through to the widest focal length, move closer to the subject to keep it the same.

Compare the backgrounds in each image. The subject should be the same size in each frame but the background will change based on the angle view of the lens in use.

Here are the images with my Samsung 20mm-50mm lens. Files are saved in jpg formatting from raw but are not edited...

50 mm

35mm

24mm

20mm

I think it is interesting how the mountain is more in view and noticeable at 50mm instead of 20mm. yet the angle of the closer cactus makes you feel smaller in the 20mm.

The angle appears to go from a straight head-on with the 50mm to ... I don't know how to explain the angle of the 20mm... It's all through the front cactus and mountains. the perspective changes...

Focal Length - Part 1.1

Compare the focal lengths from a specific distance to see the coverage the lens gives you.

Here are the shots with the Samsung 20-50mm lens using the marked points of 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm

I did not use the table tripod.

Images taken in aperature priority mode, raw sf + jpeg. I did not edit these photos, but saved the .srw as jpg using adobe lightroom. I think those images looked clearer than the .jpg images from the camera.

ISO 250
1/160 sec
f/22
20mm

ISO 250
1/160 sec
f/22
24mm

ISO 250
1/80 sec
f/22
35mm

ISO 250
1/160 sec
f/22
50mm

I just went outside to take some shots, and this was a little difficult as I was also trying to keep an eye on little man at the same time with baby girl asleep in the house in her swing. So once I took these shots, I had to run to the back door to check on her! Fun, fun

To be honest I am not really sure how to compare these images. I prefer being closer to the subject (in this case a cluster of Saguaro cacti) and I feel I should have started either closer to them from the widest angle (20mm) or work backward from the longest focal length (50mm).

I find it interesting that at 35mm the shutter speed dropped by half. I did not think that focal length played a role in that, as the pyramid is ISO, Aperature and Shutter Speed. But, the exposure is brighter than the other two images because of the longer shutter speed...

I do like how the 20mm gives more option of background and foreground in the frame. the 35mm just seems cramped in and cropped versus the 50mm appears to be on purpose. Perhaps it is the tailgate of the truck that caused that and I should have been more cautious of the subject. But since this was strictly a focal length exercise, that was my main priority.

I also find it interesting that the saguaro cluster appears more in the center at 50mm and slightly to the right at 20mm. It seems that the entire plane shifts just slightly to the left the longer the focal length.

I'm really excited about the clouds. Hurrah for cloudy days in the desert! :)

Next will be this same exercise using the Cannon lens...