July 19, 2010
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Weekly Photo Challenge, “Time”
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the Weekly Photo Challenge
It runs for one full week from Friday mornings to late Thursday nights.The challenge beginning July 16, 2010 is:“Time”
suggested by: ZimboThinking of “time” as exposure, and it’s importance, in photographing a subject because it’s shutter time that determines how much light gets into the camera to expose the subject properly or improperly.
My photos
I am always impressed with night photos, taken without flash, especially those of city lights. I take a lot of night photos to practice for the opportunity to take city scapes of my own, in the darker hours. To take any good night photo a basic understanding of the camera shutter and how it works is what is important. Anyway, this is a tutorial of sorts regarding “Time” / exposure.
1- I decided to work with a single candle and a bit of decorative backdrop. I did a small arrangement in my livingroom, lit the candle and turned off all lights. To simplify, I tried to keep all settings the same except for the length of the “time” exposure. For the photos, I opened the aperture dial all the way, the +2 set my iso at 800 but could have gone one more stop to 1600 which I avoid if possible because of pixelation. The only thing left is to play with dialing up the length of time for the shutter to remain open. The longer it’s open the more light is gathered for a photo. Also I like to use Tv or Time Exposure rather than Av Aperture value because it makes more sense to me. So, the info on this photo read like this:
f3/5. Exposure time 1/1000 of a second, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm
2- f3/5. Exposure time 1/500 of a second, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm – Everything the same on this photo except for increasing the time the shutter is open, for more light.
3- f3/5. Exposure time 1/90 of a second, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm
4- f3/5. Exposure time 1/30 of a second, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm
5- f3/5. Exposure time 1/10 of a second, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm
6- f4/5, Exposure time 20 seconds, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 28mm
I must have changed the focus on this one as the fstop is different. Anywy, to take photos like these, unless you are as steady as a rock, you need a tripod or table when you get to multiple seconds. I used a table for all of the above. As the time is increased, you get more precise color and definition. At the point where you have what you prefer in your photo it’s ready to use for ?? I like the color and definition but have lost the flame seen in the first image.
7- When you have Time exposure figured out for your use, you can go from an image like this one.
f4/5, Exposure time 1/500 sec, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 75mm (1/500 is much too fast if you want to get the bloom of the fireworks)
8- and this
f4/5, Exposure time 1/500 sec, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 75mm (what 1/500 does is stop the motion of the fireworks. This one had a lot of promise but the bloom was lost because of the speed)
9- To images like this.
f5/6, Exposure time 1/8 sec, iso-800, Exposure Bias +2, Focal Length 100mm (Here you get the bloom and blossom because the speed is slowed to catch the rise and fall of the fireworks)
This was taken on the 4th of July, 2010 (this year) at King’s Island Amusement Park. We went especially to take photos of the fireworks. Earlier in the day we took parade photos and enjoyed the near perfect day. I had a good day, a great “time”.Thanks for your visits to my page and taking your “time” to comment.
Comments (14)
Nice timing. Love the candle as it threw more light with each exposure. I played with timing and light during 4th of July too. Missed many wonderful colors due to my inexperienced timing. Ah! Yes. Such is life. hahaha
Very nice!!
Ah good old manual settings… not much of that is in use since the advent of digital, but I respect those who can take the time to make it a part of their routine. I don’t get as technical as I did in college, but even if you use auto settings you still have to know what you are doing to get the best shots.
This takes a lot of patience, not my strongest trait! I must tackle it one day though as so many good photo opportunities get missed in low light. Thanks for taking the time to explain this!
Good job Becca , in changing the speed of the shutter for the candle . I confess I prefer the 1 and 2 : flame sharper and a lot of mystery in this light shining in the dark.
At the opposite for the firework I believe I prefer the low exposure time because it expresses well what we feel when we see a firework ; the light is generous and somptuous , a kind of lightfall.
Love
Michel
@Jaynebug - I do a lot of practice shots to test the light if light is available. A no light situation can be hard so I go for a fast shutter and then a slow one if I know there will be repeats. If your camera can’t catch any light, it’s near hopeless even with a flash but if you can manufacture some light to direct on a subject say with a flashlight or headlights, it opens possibilities. Headlights have helped me more than once.
@guestbrief - Always nice to see your visit. Thanks for always showing up to peek at my photos.
@sir_spamalot - A fooler, my settings, I’m all digital but barely ever use auto settings. I prefer to do the settings myself and my daughter might just kill me if I didn’t do the learning end. Daughter’s are like that sometimes.
@Zimbo - Hoping I did help someone with my post. It’s always maddening when you have a shot you want and the camera won’t find it’s focus and flash if flash is used or take the pic at all because of settings that won’t work. My daughter told me to do it this way, use the auto settings and see what they tell you and go from there. Duplicate the auto settings in manuel and play. The best thing for me is practice in low light settings so I might be ready the next time I really want to catch a photo. Thanks for the fun of this challenge. Becca
@fauquet - Hi Michel, You are always my cheerleader giving me ideas as well as opinions. Helpful always, your comments and punctual, not like me who is always weeks behind. I hope you discovered all my late comments, your last three posts.
Wishing I knew how to put a smile face on here when none are available other than 
You always leave a heart and I can never figure out how you do it. I’m not too smart in way too many areas. 
Excellent results here Becca. Very educational for the rest of us who are not quite so skilled but would like to be. I found the variations of light in ratio to the exposures quite fascinating. I would imagine the use of a tripod is somewhat essential. Interesting and informative Post – Thanks. ~ Tim
@PhotoGraphics - Headlights! Great tip!
@tim_beddard - I took a photo with a 30 second shutter release and it was a mess. Interesting but a mess. Longer time spans definitely need a tripod. Thanks for the comment Tim.
@Jaynebug - We spent Christmas last year in Virginia and naturally took some drives. The parks in the area have swamps in them. My photos of the swamps were all done with headlight lighting or I couldn’t have taken them at all. It would have been zip for the swamps at night. They came out nicely with a definite look of night but lit.
Brilliant for the challenge Becca, love the candles.
Great bunch of photos and you really caught every moment that I could see. Time is me at the start of a week and me at the end of the week wondering where the heck it went and what did I do with the time?
to you and hubby
Thank you, Becca, for the sending via e.mail of the video You Tube with the Norwegian band . It was impressing .
Love
Michel
@fauquet -
Great job with your exposures, Mom. You can play around with longer exposures for those low-light conditions by putting your camera on something solid, rather than hand holding. But these are wonderful. Good job. Halie
Hi Becca!
Those photos are wonderful! When I played with candles (no, I didn’t ended up burned…)I put the camera over a pile of books =) only recently I bought a tripod (that is a monkey tripod). What I realized then is that keeping iso 100 and then working wit speed and aperture make better pictures. It’s a great fun but requires much organization…
Thank you so much for sharing!
Isabel