Photo of the day

[Compaq]

 

[thereyougo!]

Hi Elizabeth30,1st of all, it looks like you have gotten metering in the snow down. I like your exposure just fine. Any little problems can always be corrected post production. Back before all this fancy "through the lens, spot metering, etc. etc. we would use a hand held meter, check the scene and add 2 stops more exposure, worked like a charm. Becoming a better photographer is a process. Everybody starts out learning the basics of their camera and how it works. Looks like that is exactly what you are doing. Not that you can't be working on composition and lighting while you are working on understanding the camera, it should definitely be and is your 1st priority. Metering for me has always meant having enough light on the main subject. Most meters calculate exposure to an average of neutral gray. That is why your snow will come out gray and you subject too dark if you don't compensate or use spot metering. Mastering depth of field or I like to call it DEPTH OF FOCUS (DoF) is another very important camera technique you should read up on. It lets YOU control how much of the scene in front of and behind of the main subject is in acceptable focus. To over simplify it, bigger f stops like 11,16,22 mean deep DoF and small f stops like 2.8, 4, mean shallower DoF. There are other important factors that play into DoF but that is the start of it. good luck and keep pushing that button

Not trying to nitpick but f stops 11, 16, 22 are small stops and f/2.8, 4 are large stops. One of the main lessons is understanding that the numbers are fractions of the focal length. A 1/4 is much larger than 1/22nd. It's an important definition as stopping down has a different effect to stopping up. It also helps to define DOF

 

[Compaq]

A stop is a stop - a measure that's convenient. There aren't large stops, and there aren't small stops. "2 stops" could mean anything - going from f/2 to f/4, or going from f/22 to f/16. What you're talking about is the aperture. Though their sizes are relative. f/4 might be a "large" aperture for a super tele, but not very large for a 50mm prime.

(some of the apprx) f#s:

1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22

For example: f/4 are found thus

f/4 = f * (1/(sqrt(2)^4), f being the focal length

the f-number can be used to calculate the opening of the lens


As you see, tele lenses need a much bigger opening to be termed an "f/4" lens than smaller focal length lenses. That's part of why they're expensive: more high quality glass.

 

[greybeard]

Hi Elizabeth30,1st of all, it looks like you have gotten metering in the snow down. I like your exposure just fine. Any little problems can always be corrected post production. Back before all this fancy "through the lens, spot metering, etc. etc. we would use a hand held meter, check the scene and add 2 stops more exposure, worked like a charm. Becoming a better photographer is a process. Everybody starts out learning the basics of their camera and how it works. Looks like that is exactly what you are doing. Not that you can't be working on composition and lighting while you are working on understanding the camera, it should definitely be and is your 1st priority. Metering for me has always meant having enough light on the main subject. Most meters calculate exposure to an average of neutral gray. That is why your snow will come out gray and you subject too dark if you don't compensate or use spot metering. Mastering depth of field or I like to call it DEPTH OF FOCUS (DoF) is another very important camera technique you should read up on. It lets YOU control how much of the scene in front of and behind of the main subject is in acceptable focus. To over simplify it, bigger f stops like 11,16,22 mean deep DoF and small f stops like 2.8, 4, mean shallower DoF. There are other important factors that play into DoF but that is the start of it. good luck and keep pushing that button

Not trying to nitpick but f stops 11, 16, 22 are small stops and f/2.8, 4 are large stops. One of the main lessons is understanding that the numbers are fractions of the focal length. A 1/4 is much larger than 1/22nd. It's an important definition as stopping down has a different effect to stopping up. It also helps to define DOF

oops I knew that........senior moment..