Over the past week or so, I’ve been learning quite a bit from the book that I bought: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera—one that I highly recommend for amateur photographers who have been reliant upon the [P] setting on your SLRs. Learning some of the fundamentals behind why you should choose certain apertures or consider different shutter speeds has been quite an epiphany for me.

One example the author Bryan Peterson talks about is the range of aperture and generally what they’re of use for. If you set your aperture to a more open setting (like f/2.8), you’re going to increase the isolation of your subject. He calls this single subject photography, where your intention is to isolate a subject and make them the focal point of your exposure.

He also talked about what he calls “storytelling” exposures—the narrower apertures, like f/16 and f/32, the settings you may use for landscape photography. But with settings like that, your shutter speed will generally be slower not only to get a proper exposure, but to help bring a wider range of your subject into focus. Bryan suggests that when you’re shooting a landscape setting, choose the mid-ground of your shot to be in focus as this will give you a more evenly focused image from your foreground to the background.

The author also goes into detail about what he calls the “who cares” apertures of f/5.6 and f/8—middle of the road settings that might seem ordinary compared to the extremes. But Peterson is quick to point out that using an aperture like f/8 will help increase the intensity and contrast in some exposures.

I’m learning more and more and hope to get a better handle on choosing proper light readings as well, something I’m currently reading about. I also want to become schooled in journalistic/documentary style photography, learning how to capture someone’s story in a photo—shoot, even just being able to get the courage to talk to strangers and asking them about “their story” and getting permission to take their pictures. I occasionally will see people on the street that intrigue me, whether by the way they dress or by the expression on their face. Unfortunately I can be pretty reserved and getting the courage to talk to strangers isn’t exactly a natural ability—I’ve always been a bit shy.

So to try and curb that shyness and become more comfortable around people I don’t know from Adam, I’ve become more active in seeking out musicians or songwriters who might want some free photos for their press kit; or finding people who would like to have some nice photos to give to friends or family. Maybe someday that’ll help me become better at being more comfortable with strangers and uncovering their stories that they’ve been just dying to tell someone.

I was particularly inspired by a photographer I met on the Saint Paul Art Crawl last weekend. I can’t remember his name—only that he was on the second floor of the JAX Building—but his photos simply captivated me. He was able to capture such a wealth of emotion and tell a story about that person or those persons in his photos. One such photo was of a couple, one of whom had cancer with her head bald from the chemotherapy. The picture was a close-up showing the couple looking into each others eyes, each with a real subtle, but solitary tear on each of their faces. It was incredibly moving for me; and I’d love to be able to someday capture photos like that. Someday.

I’ve set up a new gallery of some of my better photos here: http://www.designbymichael.com/gallery/. I’ve still got my other one here, but am keeping that for more personal use, like trips or family get-together functions and such. But I’ll be posting more and more of my work over the months to come at the new gallery.

Oi… look at the time. I guess I won’t be getting up early tomorrow.

April 28, 2007, 12:48 am

Filed under: Photoblography, Photography

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