Canon AE-1, a trial and error approach

This post won't contain any pictures besides the one here. It is more of my attempt at understanding and analyzing how to take pictures with my older manual SLR camera.

So I've been trying to take more pictures with my Canon AE-1 film SLR to learn more about how to take pictures with it. I bought a four pack of Fujifilm 400speed film from work with the idea that if I kept the speed constant, I would be able to understand the limits of what I can and cannot do with the camera at that film speed. The first roll I used while I was in Irvine and about 12 out of 27 shots came out how I wanted them to come out. The problem was that I wasn't sure why the shots came out that way. While I understand that if the film speed(or ISO in the DSLR world) is the same, that I can change aperture and shutter speed to control the brightness and clarity of the picture. The lower shutter speed should allow me to brighten up everything at the risk of blur by shakiness and movement and the higher aperture should allow me to brighten up the picture as well at the risk of creating strong bokeh.

I also realize that I can only keep a couple of things as constants.
- I've been having Costco develop my film, same place, same guy so far.
- Same film/film speed
- Mainly 2 lenses (28mm F2.8 and 50mm F1.8)

Other than that, everything else becomes a variable factor. What I did with my second roll of film was to actually jot down every shot I took and listing the certain conditions. My format is:
1. Shutter Speed
2. Aperture(F-Stop)
3. Indoor/Outdoor
4. Lighting/light sources
5. Subject
6. Lens

My original intent was to just take macro shots and once I get that down to move on elsewhere. However, I ended up messing up the streak because I was a bit trigger happy. Something I should add to the things I should list is the position of the light meter in the camera as well as whether or the light comes on for over/under exposure. I'm still not quite sure whether or not I am supposed to try and match the aperture to the light meter by changing shutter speed or to try and keep the light meter in the center on every shot. Of course, there are times in which the depth of field needs to be taken advantage of.

My results? About 5-6 shots were too dark/blurry, but all in all, you can tell what the picture was in those shots. I think aligning the aperture to the light meter needle is a good guide for shots outdoors. All of the shots take outdoors in good sunlight came out better than those at a lower F-stop. While depth of field looks amazing, the color and definition just didn't pop-up like the matching aperture light meter combo. As for indoor shots, that I could have learned to lower the F-stop and lower shutter speed. HOWEVER, once I change shutter speed at low-light settings, then I need a tripod because it is going to blur. I seem to be having issues on telling whether something is in focus or not. The infinity focus is tough to check. High F-Stop must require slower shutter speed. That means tripod or something stable. I need to be weary of indoor lighting. My room is yellowish and the right filter will do the job. Maybe a yellow filter. I should get these pictures digitized that next time I go to costco. 3rd roll will commence soon, lets hope I improve.

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Lessons from Irvine

Mmmm... Breakfast

The entirety of this post will be on the critique of select photos I've taken on my trip to Irvine. I won't improve unless I am constantly critical of my work as there is always something new to learn and to get better at. Of course, I should also compliment myself on at least one thing.

As for the Breakfast picture above, I enjoy it, but I am noticing that I am going bokeh crazy and I am too much of a sucker for these one subject photos. Case in point, the focus is only on a select area, the fruits in the bowl. You can't quite see what is in the other bowl(egg whites with spinach). This, of course, goes hand in hand with my want to use the F1.8 of my 35mm lens. I should really set it to maybe F4 or lower in order to keep more things in focus. Have to counteract that change with a lower shutter speed though. One thing I love about this picture is the vivid setting I used to make the colors of the fruits pop out.


This one was a combination of issues. What I wanted to do was to take a picture of the stairs but have everything straight and aligned so that the lines would be straight going vertically and horizontally. Two problems arise. One, I dont think I was well enough positioned to take this shot, plus I should have used the 18-55mm lens to shoot a wider picture. Two, I've been reading that lenses themselves have distortion as a wider picture is taken. Also, the colors are a little plain. I do like that I am taking shots of buildings though and learning more.


This was taken near SST and I just saw these little berries on the trees from the walkway of the building. I really wanted to get the detail of the berries and so I used the F1.8 again and upped the vividness. The effect is strange because it make the picture look kind of retro, like out of a picture in the 70's with their crazy vintage colors. Maybe I am crazy too though. I should probably move the aperture to at least F3 or something to get some of the other stuff in focus next time.


The path towards the Art-Humanities bridge. I love that you can feel the bridge shake as people walk on it. I was trying to get a people shot as class just got out and I figured this would be a good photo-op. The bottom of the picture suffers again from user displacement/lens distortion. Those line patterns are killing me. Also, the bit of the tree on the top right is a little distracting. I wonder what would happen if i cropped that out? Aside from that, I wish I could have gotten a little bit more detail from the sky. The people are cool though with their frozen movements(hehe, cool, frozen... hehe).


I really like how the admin building looks so retro. Just look that those chairs and the lines. Then again, it could actually be retro just because the way the building looks has just never been changed... Aside from that, the issue of user alignment is questionable. I really should have tilted a little more clockwise and crop out the excess stuff on the right side(other chairs, maybe bust as well) so that the focus would be on the three chairs. I need to work on what I am trying to take a picture of instead of saying, "Oh this looks cool" *snap*.


I actually got this picture the way I wanted it. My focus was on Abdu on the left and I think the blurriness of the others deter you from seeing anyone else as the main subject. The colors on the darker colors is nice like the greyness of Oscar's jacket and the blueness of Abdu's jeans. I could stand to do some more daring shots though. However, it would be nice if the D40 has more than 3 focus point choices. But I am sure there are creative ways to get around that.



I had problems with taking this picture. I was using my new flash and my idiocy told me to use the indoor light white balance setting. The result usually makes a bluish tint as can be seen if you hover your mouse over the picture. I used photoshop's auto fixes to try and recover this picture as much as I could, but a good amount of the blue is there to stay. I didn't have the opportunity to take another picture because I asked for one previously and that was a blurry failure. Being a serious photographer must be tough stuff as being able to get that one or two chance shots is important as you may never get another.


I really enjoy how the colors pop out of this picture. I'm going crazy on the bokeh again. Nikki almost looks like she was photoshopped into this picture.


My attempt at being artsy fartsy... and Irvine being too bright. It was a bright morning and I had my shutter speed at 1/4000 and again F1.8 on my 35mm. I enjoy this picture, but at the same time, I notice that it is completely overexposed. It feels more like a still from an amateur film which is either good or bad. I love the matching colors of Jazz and Em.


This was a random shot. I was using my flash and used the beige menu as a bounce flash as otherwise the lanes would be completely dark. This is one of the more successful shots. The subject of the this picture is in a really awkward position in terms of photo placement. I should crop this picture so that he becomes the center of the photo or something. Also, there is a spec on the lens or something as there is a circular translucent-ish circle spot of the top left near the ceiling. Got to keep the lens clean when drinking =P. What I enjoyed about this shot was the lines. It makes everything seem zoomed towards whatever the subject is doing which is cool. This is completely by chance of course.


The amazing Jazz. This came out pretty well. I just wished there was more of a color contrast between her jacket and her seat. She is totally the main subject of this photo and I dunno. There just something about the spaces of this photo. It's interesting but I can't put my finger on what I like about it besides the cool person.


Sometimes, the subject becomes more mesmerizing than the picture itself. Beauty is in nature, not in photos.

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