Chapter 3 Assignments
The challenges for Chapter 3 are meant to make sure you are getting more comfortable with the shooting modes and with how exposure works. The lessons from this chapter permeate the rest of the book, so go back and reread it if you have to. As you get more comfortable with the Creative zone, you won’t want to head back to the Basic zone, because you will want the control that is needed to shoot more advanced scenes and take your photography to the next level.
Knowing the Basic zone inside and out
While you probably won’t want to use these modes too often, it is important to make sure you understand how they work. If you are brand new to photography, start off using CA mode and experiment with the settings. As you take more and more photos, you should begin to understand why your images look the way they do (especially after reviewing the images and the settings used).
Starting off with Program mode
Set your camera on Program mode and start shooting. Become familiar with the adjustments you can make to your exposure by turning the Main dial. While you’re shooting, make sure you keep an eye on your ISO.
Learning to control time with Tv mode
Find some moving subjects and then set your camera to Tv mode. Ask someone to ride a bike back and forth, or just photograph cars as they go by. Start with a slow shutter speed of around 1/30 of a second, and then start shooting with faster and faster shutter speeds. Keep shooting until you can freeze the action. Now find something that isn’t moving, like a flower. Set your shutter speed to something fast (like 1/500 of a second), and then work your way down. Don’t brace the camera on a steady surface. Just try to shoot as slowly as possible, down to about 1/4 of a second. The point is to see how well you can handhold your camera before you start introducing camera shake into the image, making it appear soft and somewhat unfocused.
Controlling depth of field with Av mode
The key with Av mode is depth of field. Set up three items at different distances from you. Chess pieces work great for this. Now focus on the middle item and set your camera to the largest aperture that your lens allows (remember that a large aperture means a small number, like f/2.8). Now, while still focusing on the middle subject, start shooting with ever-smaller apertures until you are at the smallest f-stop for your lens. Now move closer to the subjects and repeat. Lastly, move away from your subjects and repeat one last time. Get a feel for how each aperture setting affects your depth of field, and try to understand the role that subject-to-camera distance plays in the strength of depth of field.
Share your results with the book’s Flickr group!
Join the group here: flickr.com/groups/canon6dfromsnapshotstogreatshots