Week One DLS Exercise: manual focus

For those of you not in the workshops and looking to feel inspired, you are welcome to play along. Those of you in the workshops, as promised, here is your challenge for this week. Rest assured, the exercises never take more than 1/2 an hour to complete, but most people have so much fun they keep going anyways...

We are going to practice using our camera to understand the Law of Reciprocity as we make our way down the FAST list between now and the next workshop, starting with F - focus. Over the next 4 weeks if you practice lots, you will be surprised at how good you get at guesstimating your settings. Frustrated? Feeling like cheating by setting your camera to an auto-mode? Remember that the meta data embedded in each file can't be erased or altered. So really, the only person you're cheating is yourself.

Your challenge this week is manual focus. Set your camera to M(anual) F(ocus), in M(anual) mode. Select 5 similar or same objects and set them in a row along a flat surface. Make sure you pick someplace that has good natural light. For example, you may want to make a row of apples on your coffee table, set up some stones on your windowsill, or put a set of Little People on your kitchen counter. As long as you've got good daylight, be as creative as you like.

Once you have your still life setup, put your ISO to 400, your aperture to 3.5, and adjust your shutter speed accordingly to get an exposure you like. Get as close to your still life as you can. Your first picture should be taken from the minimum focusing distance. (If you forget what that is, remember bringing your hand towards your face until you can't focus anymore and remember the lens works the same as your eyes in that regard...) Position yourself so that you can see all the objects, either slightly above or to one side. (If you have your objects on a glass surface you could even try shooting from below!) Manually focus on your first object and take a picture. Then manually focus on your second object and take a picture. Repeat for your third, fourth, and fifth. Upload these to your blog and either post the link in the comments here or send it to me via email to h dot walls at shaw dot ca.

Get creative, have fun! Looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!!!