Before we start this thing, PULEEASE understand this project is not done to step on toes of members already doing the usual assignments. The concept had more of a learning element to it, rather than an inspirational one that the awesome weekly ones do.

Okay...the school bell has rung....take your seats everyone..


We are going to start off real easy here.   For my lessons, I'm am not going to put in a ton of theory, rather I want to share simple, things you can do today and see REAL differences in your photography. I do not pretend to know the theory behind many of the things I will share. I figure we will get that angle from the more experienced artists when they do their lessons here in the following weeks.

If you want the textbook/theory, simply post a question in each assignment's forum, and one of the members will be sure to answer it. Or even better, someone else (hint hint)  will write a short synopsis of the technical side of things.

For me? I am going to show entry level steps into some things you may not have tried on your camera. Once you learn the technique, it is your job to run with it !

If I do my job correctly, by the end of this assignment, you will have a new technique in your bag, and you will know where to to go to learn even more if the spirit moves you.
==============================================================


RULES:

1. These are SHARING and LEARNING assignments. NOT CRITIQUES.. There is a  difference. Contribute ONLY comments that will help the photographer improve. If you have a comment, you MUST include specifically what the photographer can do to improve on what they did.

2.  Praise is WELCOME !  Tell them what they did right, and saying "AWESOME" is not against the rules... BUT...don't just post.. "you rock" and move on. Say WHY they rock!!   Positive reinforcement is just as helpful as negative. Let the photographers know what they did RIGHT as well as wrong.  Sometimes we don't hear what we are already doing correctly, and that can cause confusion also.

3. NO RABBIT HOLES...
    A rabbit hole is when a post starts off talking about one thing, then ends up talking about what we are doing this weekend, or what color jeans you have.  Save that stuff for MPIX General Discussions.

4. Assignments go Wed to Wed. There are no deadlines per se.. Do your part when you have time. The post will remain on the board, but a new assignment should start each Wed.

5. No lurking... If you are looking at these, please comment !  If you are a beginner and "have nothing to add" you are wrong. If you look at an image, and wonder, "How did they get that shot !!!"  ASK THE PHOTOGRAPHER HOW THEY DID IT!   That is what this project is about. TO LEARN how to do things you don't already know how to do.

6. For the love of God people....have fun. This is a no stress, no negatives, open place to learn new things... Leave all baggage at the door.

==============================================================

Lesson #1  Using AV Mode on your Camera.  (See Examples 1,2 and 3 below).

Goal:    To figure out what that AV thing does on the dial.
            How to control Depth of Field (DOF) using AV mode.
            How to create "Butta" behind your subject. (That cool background out of focus look.. bokea if you will).

Materials:     Any camera that has Aperture Priority Mode in the manual settings.
                   Memory card, and batteries for said camera.
                   Lens with the LOWEST "F" number you have in your bag. F/2.8 would be great.

Time:        10 mins -10 hours depending on how much fun you are having.

Assignment:    You must submit 3 images of the same subject taken at different Aperture settings demonstrating that you understand how changing the settings in AV mode, will change the DOF and how it relates to your subject.

================================================================

Okay gang here we go... This assignment is done from a basic level on purpose. Beginners, should have no problem following this. Mid-Pro level, you cats can add on to the basic knowledge as you see fit as your contribution to this assignment. Also you could show us how you took this concept to the next level.


To get going here, I want to give a simple easy way to get started. (As seeing is believing.)

1.     Turn on camera. (because it works like crap if you don't). 

2.     Turn the program dial to AV mode (canon), A (nikon) or Aperture Priority mode.
    (Your camera may be different, check your manual if you are lost at this point. Or ask one of us.)

3.    Find a subject in a well lit area. (see that door at the front of your house? Try opening it and going outside).

4.     On your camera, while in Aperture Priority mode, turn the dial, so that you get the LOWEST number it will allow. That number will be     indicated by a "F-Number"  (eg... F1.8 or F2.8), on your screen/camera.

5.    Zoom in on your subject, but leave room to the side, top or bottom that also shows the background behind your subject  in the frame.

    (see my examples below for reference)     

6.     Take your shot.

7.     Now, do the happy dance... as you just took a picture without hurting yourself.

8.    Next, turn the dial to set the Aperture Priority setting to a HIGHER NUMBER around F/11 or more. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE !!

9.    Keep the focus point in the same place as the first shot. (your subject). Pretend you are doing the EXACT same thing you just did.

        THE ONLY DIFFERENCE is that you went from a LOW F Number, to a HIGH F number.

10.  Take the shot and do the happy dance again. Go back inside where it is safe, and import your two pictures into your computer.

============================================================================================================


If you did this correctly, you should see one picture (the first one with the LOW F number), with your subject in focus, and background blurred (out of focus). And the other image (the 2nd shot with the HIGH F number) should have your subject in focus, with the background MORE focused than it was in the 1st shot you took.


Quick point....  THE LOWER THE F STOP NUMBER, THE MORE BUTTA YOU GET IN THE BACKGROUND.   
F/4     = little butta
F/2.8    =melted butta
F/1.8    = movie popcorn butta
F/1.2    = Heart Attack amounts of butta

Your LENS will dictate how much butta you get, not your camera. It will be written on the lens how low you can go !

============================================================================================================

At this point, you may start having some questions about WHY this works, or HOW can I can control how much DOF is shown.  I am sure many of your questions/issues will be answered as we work through this assignment.

The point of today's lesson is simply to get you to start playing with that AV setting.  Practice taking three shots with a low/middle/high F number.

***Biggest thing to remember****

The Higher the F number, the more of the photo that will be in focus.

========================================================================================================
       
"I already know all this stuff !  GIMME MORE !!"    okay fine... start here...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture#In_photography

========================================================================================================

Your Asssigment !   GO MAKE SOME BUTTA !!!  AND HAVE FUN


Upload three images you took of the same subject, showing the difference that the F number change made to the image. Make NO changes OTHER THAN the F number setting.  You can include comments about problems you had, and questions you encountered as you went through this assignment. Someone will be able to help you with your questions as we go !


My example below, was shot at F/1.8, F/9.0 and F/20. No other changes were made on the camera in any way.
 

Okay gang.. get out there and get to work !

 Next week's lesson will be done by PattyG, on how to host 70 people without breaking any major appliances.

Gtrman

#1 F/1.8

 F/9.0

F/20

oh oh (raising hand in the back of the class) is this class open for everyone?  and would we post our assigments in this thread, AND since it is Tuesday and this is only a test run do you want us to post our assignments here today if we would happen to get it done??

Mr. Gtrman -

This was a fantastic lesson. I look forward to handing in some homework soon. I wish all teachers were as funny and as cool back in the day, I might have actually learned something then...

I look forward to meeting the rest of the staff.

Thank you!

Curious about your focal length???  They are so tack sharp and I seem to have issues with that.... I will be contributing my assignment later :)  This is an awesome thread/idea too!  Thank you!!

going over to the tutorials SECTION, Hope to see u all there!

jen

Darn it...I'm always in the wrong classroom the first day of school...

Good One Ken!  Here is my contribution:

F1.8

F10.0

F22.0  Please ignore the dandelions in the background!!

Marti

okay my questions first since this is school ;-)  i couldn't get any lower than my 5.6 (obviously the lens' fault, lol) so should i reshoot with my only other lens (kit lens) or will this work?  as you can see in the last shot, the wind is just a blowing here today so had to shoot my squirtter frog (isn't he ugly?)

Karrie:

okay my questions first since this is school ;-)  i couldn't get any lower than my 5.6 (obviously the lens' fault, lol) so should i reshoot with my only other lens (kit lens) or will this work?  as you can see in the last shot, the wind is just a blowing here today so had to shoot my squirtter frog (isn't he ugly?)

 

 

 

Sure it will work with what you have.

But your images brought up an excellent example of what can go wrong shooting in AV...Look at your last shot at f40...what is wrong with it? That's right, your subject is blurry. Why did that happen?...because your shutter speed dropped to 1/3 of a sec...much too low to hand hold. So sometimes when we shoot AV, we must correct other things to make the adjustment we want possible. In this case, you should have upped your ISO so that the camera would respond better to less light coming through the lens at f40. Up your ISO, keep it still at f40 and then keep going till you get an acceptable shutter speed of at least 1/60th of a second.

*Edit*, I just look and saw that you weer shooting with a 300mm Lens, so just bear in mind the hand holding rules of a shutter speed of the reciprocal of your focal length. So with a 300mm lens , you want a 1/300 or faster shutter speed IF, you are hand holding that lens 

Yepper Moose i know what you are saying and believe it or not had it on a tripod....i was under the assumption we weren't allowed to change anything BUT the SS....wasn't sure if i could change the iso or not ;-)  i will go redo this, THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Karrie:

Yepper Moose i know what you are saying and believe it or not had it on a tripod....i was under the assumption we weren't allowed to change anything BUT the SS....wasn't sure if i could change the iso or not ;-)  i will go redo this, THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Just goes to show how little movement it takes to get camera shake blur at 300mm or better...even on a tripod. 

And yeah, I think you assumed the correct thing about not changing anything. but I think THIS was a valuable part of the lesson 

Moose:

But your images brought up an excellent example of what can go wrong shooting in AV...Look at your last shot at f40...what is wrong with it? That's right, your subject is blurry. Why did that happen?...because your shutter speed dropped to 1/3 of a sec...much too low to hand hold. So sometimes when we shoot AV, we must correct other things to make the adjustment we want possible. In this case, you should have upped your ISO so that the camera would respond better to less light coming through the lens at f40. Up your ISO, keep it still at f40 and then keep going till you get an acceptable shutter speed of at least 1/60th of a second

Moose is absolutely right...

I think that's one of the most important parts of this lesson... Sure, you can get great butta with a good aperture, but there are drawbacks to it also. With each adjustment (aperture, SS, ISO, etc) there is a 'side effect' to pay attention to. Its knowing what you can and can't get away with that makes it easy to make quick, manual adjustments on the fly while in the middle of a shoot...! 

Dan

 One thing to realize is that the closer your subject is to the camera, the faster the focus "falloff" is. Here's some examples:

f1.4, near object:

 f1.4, middle object:

 f8, near object: