Hello there! I was kind of in hiding last week. Well, I was still reading and commenting on your blogs, but I felt uninspired to post anything to mine. So I didn’t. But now I’m back!
Today, I took a photography class hosted by my museum. (We do all kinds of programs/classes/lectures and sometimes staff can sign up to take them at no charge. I think next up for me is a cooking class.) I know NOTHING about photography, and this was a real “digital cameras for dummies” class. Perfecto.
The class was really informative, so I wanted to share a few things I picked up that might help some of you out there too. You can do a Google search for some great articles about photography for food bloggers by “real” photographers, so I’m just going to throw out a few things that might help those like me who are newbies (oh and if I say something wrong, please correct me in the comments! I left my notes in the car so I’m doing this from memory):
- Don’t use the digital zoom on your camera. Just take your photo and crop it. That’s all the zoom does really, and you’ll get a blurry shot.
- Macro (the little flower) is best for close-up shots, but if you turn off the flash (which is best for food photography) for some reason it can increase your chances of blurriness. To help this, I’m going to buy a little tripod. Then I’m going to use the 2-second timer to set up my shot on the tripod, and the camera will take the shot with my hands no where nearby to mess it up
- There is not as big a difference between a D-SLR and a compact digital (“point-and-shoot”) camera as there used to be. For what most of us (non-pro food bloggers/photographers) want to do, a compact is fine. There are SO many different settings in today’s cameras. If you learn how to work the different settings, you can do a LOT (but, a D-SLR does more, of course!). Just crack open your manual and learn how to use it!
- Red-eye removal works by flashing twice. The first one constricts your subject’s pupils and that means no “devil eye” in the actual photo. And this works on animals too (I’m going to take a thousand pictures of my dog to test this out). Not a tip per se but I thought that was cool.
- There are all kinds of “rules” about what makes a good photo, but the best one is the one you want to take and like.
Question: Do you play around with the settings on your camera or do you just “point and shoot”? How did you learn how to take pictures? Any good resources or tips for me? I think today’s class sparked an interest that I didn’t have before. I like how it combines technical/science-type stuff with creativity (hey, kind of like blogging!). I think I am going to get new camera before Boston, but I’m going to have fun playing around with my Fuji FinePix A500.
(Um I’m watching/listening to an episode of Glee and the hot teacher is singing The Thong Song to the skinny redhead as she models a scary wedding dress. That totally distracted me. And now I’m back)
After my class, I met a friend for frozen yogurt (oatmeal-cookie flavor, amazing), stopped by Trader Joe’s, and came home. I was too tired to cook anything fancy so I made a super-fast stir-fry with cabbage, shallots, red bell pepper, carrots, and mini won-tons. (This is a salad plate, FYI. I wanted a light dinner since I had a rather indulgent snack.)
Topped with Sriracha and photographed in a bunch of different settings. Of course I don’t remember which is which, but I’m going to be PATEINT with myself as I learn.
All those were taken under the same lighting at nearly the same angle, so see how different the settings can make the final result! I can’t wait to experiment more.
I’m pretty tired, so I think I’m taking advantage of my quiet Saturday night and going to bed early. Tomorrow I’m planning on writing, exercising, and reading about exercising. After reading good things about The New Rules of Lifting for Women
I have more stuff to talk about, but it’ll have to wait until next time, friends! I hope you’re having a great weekend thus far.
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it is SO funny you should post this today because i was messing with my point and shoot settings earlier! how weird is that? anyway~ i am learning too and it is fun!
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I can’t wait to hear about that book!
As for taking pictures, I have found out the hard way that taking the picture and then cropping it is best. I used to try to mess with all the settings, which only got me more frustrated. Now I just point and shoot, then crop and edit, it works much better!
Have fun reading and writing about exercise today. Let us know how that book is!
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I’ve totally caught the photography bug too!! I want a mini tri-pod as well. I’m anti-flash, so I usually have to take a bunch of pictures until I get a non-blurry one. For some reason, the frame rate is slower when you take the flash off, that’s why you have to hold it really still. I think it’s to allow more time to let the light get through the lens. I’ve been playing around with frame speed and manual focus on my DSLR, although I should probably start experimenting with the ISO to fix photos that aren’t taken in natural light. So to sum, we’re huge nerds
Yay for NROL4W!!! You’ll love it. Even if you don’t follow the program, it will give you a great weight lifting base and some killer workouts to follow
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I’ve played around with my settings too. I still want a fancy cam though. Half my prob is that the lighting in my kitchen is awful. blech.
yay for NROL4W! It has some good advice! I made it 2/3′s of the way through before my body gave up on me. But I’ve learned some good shizz. Too bad I just hate exercise.
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either way..that meal looks awesome!! haha :
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interesting. what setting did you do for the last pic? that was my fave one.
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I loved your camera tips!! I’m always playing with mine trying to get a better picture. Maybe I should try a tripod cuz I’m always shaking around haha.
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I recently upgraded from a point and shoot to a nikon d60. Omg amazing! Photography bug doesn’t even begin to describe my new obsession!
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The camera photography tutorial at http://www.squidoo.com/digital_camera_photography_tutorial
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