Open University Course Week 2

[Rob MacKillop]

This week we 'focus' upon focal length and ISO settings, as well as the art of the crop tool. There is also some discussion of colour, and how we and the camera see it. Today I started messing around with ISO settings, rather than having it set on auto. Likewise the f-stops.

Here are two images which were experiments in the above.

The first has focal length of f/2, and ISO of 1000:


water1 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr

This one has f/14 and ISO 400:


water2 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr

More later...

 

[Pete Askew]

Might be useful to find a subject where you can keep the shutter speed constant and adjust the f-stop and correct the exposure by adjusting the ISO setting. With the moving water you lose some of the impact of the increased depth of field that the smaller aperture imparts on the blurred movement of the water that has resulted from you having to reduce the shutter speed. Does that make sense?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I see what you mean, Pete. Still trying to get a firm grip on all the tweaks...

 

[Paul Lange]

Sorry Rob, but do you mean F stop as in aperture and not focal length? It it was focal length you would be zooming in on objects.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Yes, I do, Paul. My mistake. The X100 has a fixed focal length, so I must have been thinking F stops. Well, this is a good reason to do this course, and to share my studies with the experienced photographers here - I need to develop the language, the technical language, to discuss photography properly. So, I'm happy for you to correct me, or question me when I say something questionable.

Cheers,
Rob