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.
No comments:
Post a Comment