Upcoming Columns for 2013

Just a little update.  The August column will be centered around trying to help folks wrap their heads around the "holy trinity" of ISO, f-Stop (aka aperture), and shutter speed.  Even if you never plan on shooting in a manual or priority mode, knowing how those three work together to create an image is a good thing to know as it will help you understand factors that may be causing issues in your photos.

Li Mei is going to wear a nice red evening gown while sitting on a stool.  I will put a black backdrop behind her.  Lighting will be fixed with no flash.  She won't be changing poses, and the camera will be fixed.  I will then shoot a shot with standard automatic settings on the camera.  After that I will start adjusting ISO settings, aperture settings, and shutter speed settings around what the camera automatically selected, so you can see their effects on the photo and also see how sometimes you can pick better settings than the automatic settings on the camera.  I am debating whether to include white-balancing in this months's column as I think it may need to be a topic unto itself.  Therefore I will likely use the same white-balance setting in manual mode that the camera selected in automatic mode.  I will use the same shoot though to illustrate white-balance settings, so the pictures will blend into what we discussed the prior month.

As I have mentioned before, I am an amateur photographer.  I am still learning and likely always will be.  The point of my columns won't be to definitively show you how to take photos like a pro, but to give you an idea of how to achieve better results much as I am trying to learn to improve my shots.  I actually hope that the comments section of this blog will get input from better photographers than I on how to do something better than I do, or simply have people discuss with each other how to do a better job with a picture they took.  This will be a place for constructive criticism if you do post a picture, much as I expect to hear critiques about my column or my shots.  If you don't want to hear criticism or criticism discourages you, this won't be the place to post a photo.

I hope it will be an informative article.

This is my tentative plan for the months through the end of the year.

August - ISO, f-Stop, and Shutter Speed - What are they and how do they impact my pictures.

September - White Balance - How to get accurate colors in your photos, add warmth, or add coolness.

October - Basic Point and Shoot - How do I take good shots with my basic point and shoot camera or my phone.

November - Using a Hot Shoe Flash - How does one use a bounce flash, diffusers, color filters, and flash settings.

December - Imitating Art - I want to do an homage to a famous photo or some kind of artwork with my doll, but where do I start.