I read the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. By far, one of the best books that I've ever read, this book clearly and concisely explains the concept of digital photography. It is replete with samples that helps in better understanding the complicated setup and maths that goes behind a creatively expressed photograph.
I took some notes from the book and hope this is useful for some of the upcoming photographers out there :-) Do let me know if this did help.
Story telling - short cut
18mm, f/22 and adjust shutter speed or use aperture priority mode
Neutral density filter - sole purpose to reduce the intensity of the light. Generally by 3 stops.
I took some notes from the book and hope this is useful for some of the upcoming photographers out there :-) Do let me know if this did help.
Overall Summary
- Set to Manual mode and shoot pics. Always shoot in raw.
- For general landscape, try f/11 or f/16 with shutter at 1/ISO - normally 1/100s.
- Keep aperture fixed, Vary ISO and record Shutter speed. Now repeat with shutter speed fixed and varying ISO and aperture. Try default whitebalance as cloudy for outdoor and fix at home - always shoot raw.
- Try WB setting of cloudy for most pics - even in sunny days. Alternately try Incandescent / Tungsten in evening / early morning to get a blue effect. (Shoot in RAW)
- Choose a stationary object. set to widest open and keep stepping down. Note down details and see which one results in best exposure. Repeat for waterfall / sea and repeat for child on swing.
- Apertures: f/16, f/22 & f/32 - story telling; f/2.3, f/4 & f/5.6 - isoltation exposures
- Shutter speed: 1/250s, 1/500s & 1/1000s - freeze action ; 1/60s, 1/30s & 1/15s - panning; 1/4s, 1/2s & 1s - imply motion
- Wide angle for apsc is 12-18 mm.
- Best time to shoot: 1 hr after sunrise, 1 or 2 hrs before sunset
- overcast sky is good to shoot potraits, flowers, etc and landscapes need special attention
- Always use matrix metering mode
- shoot twice - once at correct exposure and once at 2/3rd underexposed - oftentimes, the latter looks better
Story telling - short cut
18mm, f/22 and adjust shutter speed or use aperture priority mode
Rules of thumb
- Sunny days - brother blue sky. Take measurement off the blue sky and then take the picture.
- Backlit scenes (shooting backlit objects) - brother backlit sky (reading of sky to left/right of sun)
- Landscapes / buildings at dusk - brother dusky sky (sky after sun has set but still warm in color)
- Lake / river or shiny surface - brother reflecting sky (take the reading of the reflected surface - like reflecting water)
- When shooting green landscapes - Mr Green Jeans (reading off the greens in the scene) and -2/3 exposure
Filters
Polarizing filter - can use to cut harsh light / glare- esp midday; also useful during sunset and sunrise when shooting towards the bright lightNeutral density filter - sole purpose to reduce the intensity of the light. Generally by 3 stops.
- Graduated ND filter is a bit harder - same effect with multiple exposure and then merging them
- Multi exposure is for patterns and for implying motion. Learn how to use multiple exposures on Nikon.
- Photomatix has best HRD capabilities - dowload? (www.hdrsoft.com)
- Flash - Nikon SB-900
- What is TTL mode in flash? (through the lens)
Action items
- Try the different exposure approaches using the sky brothers rules of thumb.
- Try HDR photography - download pirated software
- Buy polarier and ND/graduated ND filter combo - if magenta added - that's great
- Finally, look for a wide angle lens
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