Take Picture Easy Ma!

Totally flat out!. Why are you so tired? Take picture very easy ma. Who said so? It looks simple but to take good pictures takes time to plan. In You Are Special, there were rehearsals where you can get familiar with the sequence and the lighting conditions and there is always a second or third show to go back and shoot those you missed or wants a retake. Not for Mothers' Day. You only got one chance. Missed it and it is gone.

To plan a shoot, some questions I usually ask - what theme do I want to capture?. What is the mood of the event and what's the program like? Who is coming and what is expected. Photography is a know-how. There are ISO (in digital camera - sensitivity), focal lens, speed, aperture, F stop, EV .................

ISO, the smaller the number, the finer the image
Aperture, the opening of the lens to let light in
Speed, how fast the shutter is open to allow light in
Lens, from wide angle to telephoto or a combination - zoom lens

In short, on a fixed ISO, there is a fixed amount of light to make an image. This amount of light is based on the aperture and speed. So it is a combination of ISO, Speed and Aperture. From here you create the image you want. Different setting of ISO, Aperture and Speed have it's pro and cons.

There are more, spot metering or overall, natural balance or white balanced to environment..........

Today's compact digital cameras comes with 'brain' inside the firmware and it takes the 'thinking' out of the user. Just point and shoot. But if you understand photography, you can get a lot of mileage out of your digital cameras. Read your manual and go to the library and get some books on this subject. It will change the way you take pictures. You will be amazed.

SLR are much fun though.

Cheese