Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Decent exposure (get it?)

I was on an awesome photographer's blog the other day and was glancing through her FAQ section. I was a little shocked but more jealous to read that most of her shots are SOOC (straight out of camera). She does not Photoshop or saturate colors - she said that she just finds the light and figures out how to manipulate it to get her photographs (that are simply AMAZING).

That is my main issue with photography. I can visualize the pictures I want in my head. I can compose a shot like nobodies business. The light is what gets me almost every time. I get lucky now and then, but it is simply sheer luck - I am in no way master over my lighting situation.

I decided it was time to do something about that.

While we were at the Meijer Gardens yesterday (pictures are coming...soon) I decided to try to tweak my exposure a bit and see what would happen. I was really happy with a lot of the shots I took, but unless I look up the properties of every photo, I don't know what I shot with what exposure. Duh. I don't have the ability to compare and contrast. So today while I was watching Hailey play in the pool I figured it was the perfect opportunity. Just so you know, these photos are nothing at all special. In fact if you are still reading this post, you may want to stop. These shots are for my own benefit - part of my self inflicted "homework".

All of the following photographs were shot with the exact same camera settings - the only difference was the exposure.

Shot at "normal" exposure
+1 stop

+2 stops

Back to normal

-1 stop

-2 stops
(and this one looks like it would have been cute)

These last two are just because my baby girl is so stinkin' cute!


Baby Mirabel is a little overdressed for the pool, but Hailey insisted that she watch her swim.

In my opinion the photograph shot at the +1 exposure stop looks the best and that is not the shot that I would get using my camera in its "normal" settings. I am much more comfortable changing exposure settings now - I learned a lot in my trial and error.
I will soon be Master of the Light!

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