Here I took a photograph of Pamella with contrasting shadows and a high dynamic range. I used a low ISO of 125 as it was sunny, well lit conditions. I used the widest aperture possible on my kit zoom lens which was just f/5.6, as I wanted a blurred background. This blurred background came out well in this photograph and isolates my subject, producing a lovely portrait. Shutter speed was kept relatively fast as my subject was blinking her eyes a lot due to the sunlight, so I wanted to capture her eyes open in the photo therefore the faster shutter speed.
This photograph is taken in the same location but without the sun hitting my subjects face, leading to a much darker low key photograph. I had to use a fast shutter speed as the background was coming out much brighter than the foreground, so to compensate for this and get a good exposure I used a shutter speed of 1/400. ISO and aperture values were kept the same as the lighting conditions were the same as the last photograph.
This neutrally lit photograph was taken in overcast conditions creating a very soft light, perfect for portrait photography. Due to the low brightness conditions I had to increase the ISO. Looking back now I could have used a slower shutter speed instead of increasing the ISO. Out of all three examples this is my favourite portrait as the soft light created by the clouds makes it look like I used a softbox when shooting this photograph. I also feel the eye contact and neutral face of my subject conveys a lot of character creating a very strong image.
Still life
In this still life photograph I set the focus on the foreground and used the widest aperture I had on my lens. This was to create a sense of depth of field and separate the foreground from the background. This is my favourite still life photograph I took as there is good isolation of the strawberry from the rest of the still life objects creating a nice depth of field effect.
Here I used a very narrow aperture to be able to get the whole image in focus. By using a narrow aperture there is less depth of field created but all planes in the photograph come in to focus. The sacrifice I had to make was to use a very high ISO which lead to the photograph becoming very noisy.
Here I wanted to isolate the background from the foreground so I focused on the background and used a relatively wide aperture to create depth of field by blurring the foreground. Note how I kept the same shutter speed in all these photos as I was just experimenting in changing the aperture and seeing how using different aperture values affected the photograph.
White balance
The white balance setting in your camera dictates what colour temperature your photographs are taken in. This temperature is measured in Kelvins, a lower Kelvin value leads to colder photographs with more blue in them, a higher Kelvin value leads to warmer photographs with more orange in them. You are able to put in a custom Kelvin value in your camera but most cameras come with pre-sets for various scenarios that work well other than that the cameras auto white balance setting is sufficient for everyday shooting. You can also change the white balance in your photographs as a stylistic choice to create creative photographs. Below are six photographs taken in the same composition using the six different white balance pre-sets my camera came with.
Daylight 5200K – To be used in sunny light conditions with a lot of natural light.
Shade 7000k – To be used in a setting where lots of shadows are present, injects a lot of orange in to the photo as the camera is compensating for the lack of sunlight
Cloudy 6000k – To be used in overcast conditions where sunlight is present but is diffused by clouds. This is my favourite photograph as it a faithful representation of the scene, creating a natural colour temperature as my eyes would perceive the scene as.
Tungsten 3200K – To be used when orange tungsten lighting is present. Such as shooting in indoor scenarios where most of the light is provided by lamps. A lot of blue is injected in to the photograph to compensate for the orange from the tungsten lights.
White fluorescent light 4000K – To be used in scenarios where white florescent light is present. Such as street lamps or indoor office lighting. White fluorescent light is slightly colder than tungsten lighting, so the camera doesn’t add as much as blue, like it would do with tungsten lights.
Flash 6000k – To be used when using a flash in your photographs. Flashes are a cold source of light, so this setting helps add some warmth back in to the photograph by adding some orange back in. The Kelvin value is the same as the cloudy pre set in my camera.
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