A Sunny Sunday Shutterbug Moment...

While making my morning coffee today, I glanced over at our dining room table to notice the gorgeous morning light streaming in on the small bouquet of flowers sitting there.  It was creating a natural spotlight on the beautiful pink gerbera daisy in the centre.  The light in these types of scenes always stops me in my tracks!! 

I also couldn’t help but think of how so many of the principals of our Step It Up, Shutterbug! course come into play for this one scene – White Balance, Metering Modes, Adjusting Aperture, Colour in Photography and Exposure Compensation.  Immediately I ran over to my desk and grabbed my camera to share the beauty of the moment with you all and let you know that you can learn about all of these topics this week!!  J

With my fancy-dancy dSLR, here’s how my camera interpreted the scene in Automatic Mode (“the green box”):

Automatic Mode

Can I just be honest here, my photo-loving people??  These are not the beautiful flowers I saw in that kiss of sunlight.  L  This is way too dark and this camera (or any camera, for that matter) can do so much better when I take control of a few of the settings and use my equipment to its fullest capabilities. 

So knowing what to do in this scenario, I turned the dial over to one of the semi-manual modes and adjusted a few settings that would account for that brighter area over the daisy and the window in the background, fix the slight bluish colour, and my focal area (because I wanted the attention on the centre of the flower, not the front edge of the petals).



Aperture Priority Mode

Ahh, that's much better exposure-wise.  But I used a small aperture here and you can see so much detail in the background (hello top of the electrical plug); my initial vision was that I was going for something a little more soft.

Yes!  That's it!

All I did was dial in a different aperture setting and voila!! It’s exactly what I was intending to achieve with my camera in this situation.  Creating a blurry background brings the viewer's attention in to the centre of the pretty bloom – what an improvement compared to the first two shots, isn’t it?? 

Okay, I hear you... this may all sound a little tricky to figure out on your own, but it’s not hard to achieve these results yourself with your dSLR.  Active kids, landscapes… you name it, we’ll help you get there with a combination of our illustrative examples and hands-on learning.  As we tell our students all of the time, it just takes a little practice and the desire to take better photographs.

Rhonda and I can’t wait to share this exciting information with the fine shutterbuggin’ folks already enrolled for this Wednesday evening’s class.  And don’t fret – there are still a few seats left!!  E-mail us at clicksgonewild@gmail.com for more information and registration details.

Wishing everyone a Fantastic Family Day Weekend,
~Gemma 

** If you are ready to take the your dSLR skills to the next level, a comprehensive half-day course on using Manual Mode is set for March.  We cover a lot of the same content as Shutterbug, plus more, and discuss composition and editing. **

Using Manual Mode In the Low Light of Winter

Picture this.  A woman purchased an entry-level SLR last September and proceeded to shoot on auto mode.  For the most part, the pictures from her new camera turned out okay and about 1/50 were fantastic.  She was pretty happy with her purchase, and could see a noticeable difference in the quality of her pictures since the upgrade, but she really wanted most of her pictures to be fantastic.  Fast forward five months, and she was ready to throw her camera out the window.  How could this beautiful new camera not be working properly?  It felt slow, wouldn't always grab focus, and every second picture was blurry.  The woman was at the height of frustration, as she had paid $700 for her new gear.

Sound familiar?

Photography is all about light.  Simply put, in September, there was more daylight, and the weather was nicer, so the woman took more pictures outside.  Then came along our Canadian Winter, the season of short days and the bitter cold that drives you indoors.  She began to feel frustrated when Auto Mode just wouldn't cut it in lower light.  There wasn't enough light for her camera to grab focus and her camera was slow to recycle on-board flash.  Because here's the deal - Auto Mode may take a decent picture outside the odd time, but you need to be able to control settings yourself, manually, to expose in indoor or lower-light situations.  

Tonight, while I was spending time with my children in their favourite evening hangout spot (the basement craft center), I took a few images to help illustrate the differences between Auto and Manual Modes.  Now think Winter evening, it is completely pitch dark outside, with no overhead lights.  But warm and cozy!  There were only two desk lamps shining on to their work area and collection of papers, stickers, and markers. 

Take a look at the first two images.  Which one do you think best illustrates what I likely saw on the table, the first or the second?  The second; you're right!  If you said the first, that's completely understandable, because you are so used to seeing hundreds of these flashy photos every day; they just seem bright and normal.  The first image was taken in Auto Mode, but that's not what the scene looked like.  :(  The second image would be much more likely to remind me of the evenings I sat down in the basement and made creations with my children.  You can expose properly with available light and avoid flash by learning how to shoot in Manual Mode.  In Auto Mode, the camera chooses all of your settings and you have to take what it gives you, even if the picture is not representative at all.         

Think of the possibilities with low-light photography.  Without your flash lighting everything up unrealistically and your camera choosing focus, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc., etc. for you, you can start to take pictures and have scenes look as they actually do.  (And I guarantee you that less people will run away from your camera when you stop firing flash in their eyes!  ;) )

And now this last image should be self-explanatory.

Once you learn how to shoot in Manual Mode, you will never want to give back control of the settings to your camera, because you are smarter than the $700 piece of equipment in your bag.  In fact, you are priceless.

Embrace the Winter and the low light.  Clicks Gone Wild's next Magic of Manual Mode course is coming up in just over a month.  What are you doing in the afternoon on Sunday, March 3rd?  We'll be teaching, discussing, demonstrating, and watching the light-bulb moments for participants in our advanced course, as they learn Manual Mode for the first time or take the course as an opportunity to fill the missing gaps.  We hope to see you!  Send us an email to register for this course.  

Now, to draw a cartoon or two and consider finishing the basement ceiling and installing some overhead lighting.  :)

Rhonda

Going with the flow - 2013 Clicks Public Course Schedule

Photographers go with the flow; they are adaptable - to different lighting situations, the weather, people and their personalities, creative energy - really, eveything.  And now it's time to go with the flow with Clicks!

The past two years have been ones of amazing growth for Clicks Gone Wild.  We went from one beginner course to four concise and amazing courses leveled by skill.  We were able to grow due to demand by our students.  We have traveled all over and taught hundreds of people how to use their digital cameras and take better everyday photographs, and loved every minute of it!

Up until now, we have taught in three ways - public courses, Clicks In Your Home (home gatherings with friends) and private tutoring sessions.  Throughout 2012, we noted that the majority of our students were those who were part of an enthusiastic group at a Clicks In Your Home workshop or those who wanted one-on-one instruction with their camera.  It became clear that most people wanted to schedule courses at times that worked seamlessly with their already-busy schedules, which is completely understandable.

Meanwhile, the demand for private tutoring, both day and evening skyrocketed, as did requests from groups of people who wanted to learn together.  That is why, for the remainder of 2013, we have decided to focus our instructing energies soley on Clicks In Your Home and private tutoring, while we both juggle the demands of our custom photography businesses, other work, and of course, our families.  We are listening to you and going with the flow!

There is one last round of public courses for 2013, and they begin next week.  If you have been thinking about joining a group of other photography-enthusiasts in a public setting (either as a new student or as alumni who wants a refresher of our beginner and intermediate courses), this will be your last chance this year to register for public courses.  All of our courses require pre-registration, and we would be happy to help you.  Just send us a note here.

We look forward to another amazing year of learning with you!!

2013 Public Course Dates

(The following courses all begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Richard John Meeting Room in Arnprior.)

Focus on the Features - January 23

Focus on the Frame - February 7

Step it Up, Shutterbug - February 20

The Magic of Manual Mode - March 3 @ 12:30 p.m.

 

Photographing Everyday Moments With Your Children

Recently, we launched a contest over at Ottawa Valley Moms for a $50 gift certificate to any of our public courses.  We are so pleased to see so many moms and grandmas entering the contest and saying hello on our facebook page!  We love MOMS!!  And it is no secret that Gemma and I both love to photograph our children and adventures as "mom".  So today, I have put together a few tips and tricks to share with all you shutter-happy mommies out there!

1.  Let go of the notion that the only perfect picture of your child is the one where they are staring straight into the camera with a big smile.  While these are beautiful, if they are the only images we capture,  we miss all the other quieter or normal moments.  (Did I say quiet?  I meant LOUD!  And yes, photograph the louder moments too.)

2.  Take your camera out on a regular day, not just special days like Kindergarten graduation and hockey championships.  I want to remember how I really spent time with my children.

3.  Get down at a child's level to photograph them.  Although shooting from above can result in a neat image, when you crouch or lie down, you start to see the world as a little one sees it, and trust me, it makes for beautiful images!

4.  Take pictures of your children doing things they love to do.  Their happiness will show through in the images (and they will love to look at them too).

5.  Get in there and get close-ups of the details.  A picture of the details on their favourite toy or dress, the way they hold their hands at their sides, or a page of a favourite book they are reading, are sure to become  treasured memories for both you and them.

I'm sharing some images from one of the last really warm days of Fall.  Together, they capture the spirit of a 15-minute morning bike ride and explore.

Rhonda

Stop! Or these mamas will shoot!!

( C'mon, you knew it was only a matter of time before we used that line!)  But I couldn't resist. Check it out:

  

These four wonderful ladies are armed and dangerous after taking our Magic of Manual Mode course on Sunday afternoon.  That's right - these fancy cameras are being used as we speak to their fullest capabilities (and that makes Rhonda and I ecstatic!!).  They can freeze a running child's expression with ease.  They understand how to blur backgrounds with the simple turn of a dial and were rocking it all out during our practice time!! 

We have already seen a few examples of the improvements they've made in their photographs since we taught the course and are so proud!  

You're going down, Auto Mode! 

~Gemma

Magic is in the crisp air!

And so is fall.  The colours all across the Valley are so vibrant and inspiring!

If you would love to create some of your own autumn artwork and own a dSLR, we have just the course for you! 

Our most advanced class, The Magic of Manual Mode, is running on Sunday, October 14, beginning at 12:30.  This is is going to be another information-packed afternoon of learning, hands-on instruction and a complete booklet of reference notes to take home. 

If you're tired of producing images that are only worthy of the delete button, then we want to encourage you to use your fancy camera to its fullest potential by learning how to use M on your dial to create your masterpiece.   You will spend five hours with two professional photographers who present it all with visual illustrations in and easy-to-understand manner.  We walk you through the exposure triangle, metering, metering modes, white balance and even talk about photographing in various lighting situations plus share basic editing techniques!

We have a couple of seats left in the October class and won't be offering Magic again in a public format until 2013.  If you are interested, please send us a note by e-mail or message us on our Facebook page. 

The photo magicians are standing by...

Gemma