chapter 2 assignment (aperture priority for short depth of field)

[agnieszka]

Hello,
I've had the book for a while, and really like it, but before I only tried some new ideas for composition - only now really getting into trying out new things with my camera settings (Nikon 70). My husband and I take tons of pictures, but almost always on automatic mode (or 'night' or 'sport' sometimes). After reading the first two chapters, I tried Aperture Priority mode for the first time. I love the blurred backgrounds that I'm getting sometimes, as I always thought they look so great with portraits, but had no idea how to get them.

On all of these pictures I set aperture to F/5.6. ISO was left at my usual 200. I don't touch shutter speed for now but the camera set it at 1/80 for my daughter's portrait, and 1/100 - 1/60 for the ones with her and my husband. Now 1/60 seems quite slow I think, so the 'kissing' pic seems a bit blurry - though what to do if I want this aperture but a bit faster speed? Change ISO? Not zoom in so much?

Because I was sitting quite far, I zoomed in a lot (200mm)  - I think I remember reading that for portraits around 100-135mm is better - though I'm not sure why? is it only because with 200mm it is harder to keep more in focus?

Anyway, I've noticed that when I use Aperture mode, almost all the pictures - including these ones - come quite saturated, a bit too reddish or yellowish or maybe it is just too much light reflected on faces - on all of these, I actually had to lower saturation and temperature in my iPhoto application (just a bit, -5 or so) - but I haven't found anything written about it, why it can be so - is it just with Nikon 70? What is confusing is that when I used Portrait mode on the same day, the camera actually also used F/5.6, and shutter speed and ISO were the same as well as focal length, but the pictures in this mode looked different, not that reddish and bright, much greyer and dull - I wonder why? The Nikon manual says that Portrait mode doesn't use sharpening or something like that, but I think nothing about colours looking different... I wonder if anyone has noticed the same issue?

I also wondered why my daughter's eyes came out so black in the portrait - she has very dark brown eyes, and here they look so black.

Would be great to hear some comments and advice - thanks a lot!

agnieszka

[Sarah]

These are ADORABLE!  It's hard for me to see the issues you're talking about because they are such small files.  I wish this board let us post larger images.  Anyway, I have found that my colors and exposure are ALL messed up with I use Tv or Av modes.  I have no idea why.  Maybe it's a white balance issue?  I don't get why I don't have the same issues if I use Auto or Manual in the same circumstances and same settings, though.  (I'm shooting a Canon 40D).

[ejb]

Nice pics, the blur in the background turned out very well, which really makes your daughter stand out (especially in the first picture). Although I have a Nikon D70 as well, can't help you yet with your questions (I have a feeling the pictues I take indoor often are a bit blueish, but it is easily solved with a photosoftware afterwards). But maybe in the future we can help eachother out as to having the same camera.

[elaine]

can you set the white balance manually as well as aperture? I love the depth of field on the first one its a beautiful photo

[NewMemories]

I *love* the first one!  The others are great too, but I love the first one!

is your white balance set?

You should be able to set your shutter speed faster.  I have a Nikon D90 and a D300 and they both have dials to turn that changes the shutter speed.  But doing that lets in more or less light (depending whether you go faster or slower) so it will change the final outcome as well.

[agnieszka]

thank you so much to everyone for your helpful comments!

I will try to explore the white balance issue now, as Sarah, elaine and NewMemories said - I don't know anything about it yet, but seems that it would be very useful to learn about it, especially that you all mentioned it.. for now I only tried changing aperture...

That's so interesting, ejb, that your pictures indoor turn out bluish, even though we have the same camera, since mine only turn out reddish... but hopefully it will get all better when I learn about white balance

thanks again!

[ejb]

I haven't adjusted the white balance yet either. But maybe my indoor pictures turn out bluish because I have an UV-filter on my lens??? Not sure though...

[NewMemories]

UV filters aren't supposed to change anything.  Maybe you have different types of bulbs indoors?

[JFlash]

[quote author=ejb link=topic=58.msg330#msg330 date=1295696488]
I haven't adjusted the white balance yet either. But maybe my indoor pictures turn out bluish because I have an UV-filter on my lens??? Not sure though...
[/quote]Hi I was also having my indoor pictures turning out blueish.I changed the white balance from tungsten to cloudy ,it seem to fix things(guess most of the light was coming inthe windows)

[ejb]

[quote author=JFlash link=topic=58.msg336#msg336 date=1295724992]
[quote author=ejb link=topic=58.msg330#msg330 date=1295696488]
I haven't adjusted the white balance yet either. But maybe my indoor pictures turn out bluish because I have an UV-filter on my lens??? Not sure though...
[/quote]Hi I was also having my indoor pictures turning out blueish.I changed the white balance from tungsten to cloudy ,it seem to fix things(guess most of the light was coming inthe windows)
[/quote]
Just did that today too and they already seem much better indeed!

[Evie]

I love the second picture! It's beautiful and tell the story