You'll work through them deleting or trying to salvage anything useful and slowly becoming more and more disillusioned with your new camera. It is of course always the camera's fault when photos are turning out how you planned, but then you'll stumble across "The One". It'll be perfectly exposed, beautifully focused and generally (in your own head at least) the best photo you've ever taken. You'll show it friends and family and their reaction will be muted, and you won't understand why. You'll lavish your post-processing all over it and it'll come out better than you ever imagined. For me that photo is to the right and is of my cat Smudge (with Lola in the background.) It's these watershed photos that really keep you moving forward as a photographer, and progressing towards the level you want to be. But rather than sitting back and basking in the glory of your new best shot you need to analyse the why and how closely to gain a better understanding of what you actually did. Note down a couple of the things below and use them to your advantage next time you're shooting. Once you've started to get the hang of why/how images come out the way they do the easier it will be to set your camera to these settings prior to taking a shot. So let's take a look at the settings for the photo to the right.
ISO : 220 - I always try to have my ISO set as low as possible, and ideally that's what you need to be aiming for. The lower the ISO, the clearer the image, the higher the ISO the more digital noise. Of course this isn't always possible when taking photo's in low light as with low ISO's you'll often find shutter speeds lengthen which will in turn lead to camera shake/bluriness. Whilst ISO is often left out in the cold with aperture and shutter speed taking centre stage when composing a photo, it is still very important to consider when taking a clear photograph. If you're shooting in manual mode I'd advise getting the ISO setting sorted for the available light prior to any aperture/shutter adjustments so the photo is as clear (and free from digital noise) as it can be in the available light. Fortunately with the photo above, it was a very sunny day and light was reflecting from all over, which allowed me to choose a low ISO setting and gave me alot of scope for creative use of aperture and shutter speed.
Aperture : f5.6 - I'm a sucker for bokeh in the background of a photo, it's a brilliant way of focusing the viewers attention on the main subject of your shot. For any portrait shot, I always try and use a lower aperture. That way you don't get distracting elements in focus in the background. As you can see in this shot, there isn't so much bokeh that you can't make out the background, but it is blurred enough so as not to immediately attract the viewers attention. Upon more detailed examination, the viewer will notice my other cat (Lola) also in the shot.
Shutter Speed : 1/250 - The shutter speed in this photo became an irrelavance due to the previous settings. You will find that more and more when you begin to take control of your shots. In this instance, which is essentially a portrait I was more concerned about the clarity of the image, and the bokeh-ed background. Therefore by applying both ISO 220, and Aperture f5.6 the matrix metering system in my camera told me that a 1/250 shutter speed would result in a correct exposure. However if I were photographing sport, or something with quick movement I would prioritise shutter speed and ISO over aperture. The pre-programmed modes in your camera are useful to get a feel for what sort of manual settings you should be prioritising for different types of shot. So from an accidentally good shot comes some great information on how and why the photo came out like it did. You can now use that information to actually get this type of shot in the future. Having analysing and looked at the settings you'll be better equipped to get shots on purpose rather than stumbling across them every so often.
Afew links for the weekend :
Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2009 Photo Tips
Smashing Apps Humourous Photography
My Favourite Flickr Photo of the Week : Don't Disturb by Maria
