Simplicity SLR Class: Window Light and Aperture

In July I took Faith Raider’s very first photography ecourse and recommended it as a cheap way to inspire your photography. The course was really great and though I was familiar with the technical aspects taught, the exercises still challenged me to learn my camera settings and think outside the box.

The photo sharing part of the ecourse is done on Flickr where feedback is received not only from Faith, but from the talented class participants as well. I’ve taken other photography workshops where the feedback was primarily received by just the teacher and/or guest photographers and I definitely prefer the more community-based photography class.

I registered for her September SLR-only class, however my life got in the way of photography and this blog majorly so I asked her if I could move my registration to her January SLR course. She did not hesitate to say yes and I’m so delighted to be able to participate in this class!

There are five photography assignments this week:

1. Window Light (demonstrating small/narrow and large/wide apertures)
2. Light/Perspective (photograph one object from different angles)
3. Outdoor Light (demonstrating small and large apertures)
4. Contemplate Your Shot (take 2 minutes to visualize before shooting)
5. Snapshot of Your Life

Just today I had a chance to shoot for the Window Light assignment. I have no idea how I’m going to fit in the rest, but I’m excited to try. I doubt I’ll have a post for each assignment, but I do want to use this blog to track my progress in the class more than I did the last time.

As much as possible, I’ve decided to shoot assignments for this class in Manual Mode.

Aperture

With the exception of the first photo in this entry, these photos are straight out of the camera It was a requirement for this assignment and if I’d adjusted the exposure, brightness or contrast at all, the camera data wouldn’t be as relevant.

There are two reasons I like shooting with a large aperture (that’s a low f-stop number):

The first is that it’s quicker. Since the aperture is open wide, more light is getting to the sensors and therefore the shutter speed can be faster. This is better for hand-held, indoor shots. The smaller the aperture, the slower the shutter speed needs to be and hand-held shots become more and more challenging.

The second is the depth of field it creates. The larger the aperture, the more shallow the point of focus. I really like seeing things with a new perspective in DoF shots.

Perhaps the real reason I like a large aperture is that it allows me to blur out all that crap in the background. In the photos below, the toys on the floor are much more distracting in the photo on the right.

Having a shallow depth of field can also be a drawback, however. Since the area of focus is so specific, it’s incredibly easy to accidentally focus on just the wrong area. While there can always be happy mistakes, usually having a photograph with an unintended point of focus, or one that’s completely (if just slightly) out of focus is annoying.

Shooting with a small aperture (higher f-stop number) has perks of its own as overall it produces sharper images.

While at first glace the shots below look nearly identical, click through to the larger versions to see the one on the left has more of the flower in focus and is considerably sharper. The shot on the right does not have the stems or leaves in focus and the part that is in focus is softer than the one taken with the smaller aperture opening.

Do you find that you tend to gravitate toward smaller or larger apertures? What types of shots do you like getting with both large and small apertures?