Reading Response

Using Your Digital Camera from Short Courses taught that when using the automatic setting, the camera has an autofocus.  Usually the viewfinder will have crosshairs or something similar and the part of the image that is covered with the crosshairs will be the sharpest in focus.  This allows the person taking the photo to really bring attention to the part of the scene that is most important. 

One thing that I have noticed is that the shutter button does not take the picture the first time it is pushed; the first time, when the button is pressed halfway down, it focuses the image, when pushed the rest of the way the camera takes the picture immediately.

The versatility that digital camera’s bring is amazing.  Shutter and aperture can be set for you or to create your own personal image you can set if for yourself.  There is the shutter-priority mode which lets you choose the shutter speed that you want and then the camera sets the aperture to five a good exposure.  The aperture-priority mode allows you to set the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed; then there is the manual mode where you select both the shutter speed and the aperture. 

The shutter controls light and motion; faster shutter speeds let less light in and create darker images, slower shutter speeds allow more light to enter and create lighter images.  Slower shutter speeds also blur moving objects or the whole image if the camera is moved.  The aperture controls light and depth of field; aperture changes the size of the opening that allows light to enter the camera through, the larger the opening the more light that is let in.  Aperture also affects the sharpness of the picture, the depth of field; which is the depth in a scene from foreground to background.  Smaller apertures increase depth of field and larger ones decrease the depth of field. 

To catch moving subjects so that they are not blurry position the camera so that the subject is moving toward or away from the camera and not parallel to it.  Subjects that are close to the camera are going to be blurred by the smallest movement.  When photographing at night place your camera on a tripod so that the camera will not blur the image if moved because of the long shutter speed.  Photographing the moon is best when it is near the horizon so that it can be captured with other objects such as buildings which make it appear bigger. 

Creating panoramas is a really cool feature that digital cameras offer.  You take a series of overlapping pictures which are then combined in a stitching program which should come with the camera.  To create a great panorama stand in the same position and rotate as you take the pictures; also keep the camera as level as possible and overlap the pictures by thirty to fifty percent.  Digital Cameras also offer a continuous mode; by just holding down the shutter button a series of pictures can be taken one after the other. 

A lot of the information presented in the Short Course I already knew or at least had a small knowledge of.  It was really great and helpful to learn more about how to capture a great image and to use all the settings on my camera affectively.  I’m really looking forward to testing what I learned and putting it all to use. 

 
Photo Album

 

My Picasa Web Album

My Photo Album inludes the photos from the field assignment as well as other photos that I have taken that I personally think are good shots but were not included in the slideshow.  The album is a place that I can put my photos to share with others. 

I really enjoy photography and it is a very serious hobby of mine; but the project was rather difficult.  I felt forced to find a great shot when I wasn't being inspired by anything that would give me those photos that were required for the project.  Though it was stressful, it was a more enjoyable project than the others we have done in the class and I would much rather do something like this again than anything else.  I do find it odd that we have to present our slideshows to the class and I feel that it could become monotonous watching short slideshows from everyone in the class.  One thing I would change would be to first have only you (the teacher) watch the slideshows and grade them and if there are a couple exceptionally good slideshows that really show the characteristics of good photos and that use PowerPoint well; then those few slideshows would be shown to the rest of the class. 


Messages

Shutter Speed                Aperture

As the shutter speed gets slower, the image gets lighter. The reason you don't usually see this effect in your images is because when you or the camera change the shutter speed, the camera changes the aperture to keep the exposure constant.

As the aperture number gets smaller (for example, from f/16 to f/11) the aperture opening gets larger and the image gets lighter. The reason you don't usually see this effect in your images is because when you or the camera change the aperture, the camera changes the shutter speed to keep the exposure constant.
Announcements

Canon PowerShot SD750 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) For my classroom I would choose the Canon PowerShot SD750 or one similar to it.  Canons are very reliable and it is relatively cheap at $166.95.  It has 7.4 megapixels which would allow our class to print some pretty good sized pictures.  Its max image resolution is 2304 X 3072 which will also give us versatility in size.  It uses a MultiMedia Card or a SD Memory Card and only weighs 4.5 pounds.  The classroom budget would determine how many cameras could be in the classroom but it would nice and very convenient and to have multiple cameras in the classroom.  When choosing a camera the make and price should be big factors in the final decision as well its capabilities.  

With cameras in the classrooms i would have the students use the cameras to create many projects such as visual dictionaries or a visual alphabet; they could also take pictures of each stage of a science project or a class field trip.  Another idea is to have students use the pictures they have taken for a project, such as the science project and put into a PowerPoint show.    

Some of Frank Macro’s tips were when focusing the camera to preset the magnification and then move around until the subject, in his can an insect, is in focus.  He also shoots on the smallest aperture setting so as to get greater depth of field and the shutter to allow not as much light in.  Using the Macro Flash allows him to control a lot of the light that is being put onto his subjects so that he doesn’t have to meter everything.