1.10.11

No, she did not have a grape popsicle or a purple marker makeover from Harper :)

We're treating a stubborn case of thrush with Gentian Violet so she'll be a bit purple (and likely wearing the same couple of outfits since the stuff stains) for the next few days. 

Starting off WEEK TWO of 12 Weeks to Better Photos. This week deals with combining ISO, Shutter Speed & Aperture. I did a little practice with SS & Aperture last week too. This lesson is in two parts, I'm doing part one today and will do part two later this week. 

I had a huge A ha! Or duh! Realization in the world of photography last night. I had found a really good setting for my camera while using my external flash in our living room - ISO 400, SS of 1 1/160 or 1/200, and f/2.8. My histograms looked good, pictures had nice exposure, etc. 

Then I started reading Understanding Exposure (great book if you're looking to learn more about photography, by the way!) and the author was talking about metering and using your meter. So I start to practice with that and on my usual settings, it's telling me that I'm WAY underexposing. So I adjust and it has me dropping my SS all the way down to 1/10 or lower - which for those of you who take pictures with a DSLR on manual, know that speeds that low require a tripod and obviously that's not practical for chasing around kids while taking pictures :) So I knew I had to be missing SOMETHING. Then I finally asked on a photography forum I post on and my friend clarified that you can't meter while using an external flash. Big.Fat.DUH! Thanks again B :) 

SO with this new realization that my settings were just fine as I was using them with the external flash. I ran into the bathroom (best lighting for non-flash pictures in our condo) and started practicing using the meter without my external flash and it totally clicked. I was taking pictures of the shampoo bottle to practice I was so excited. Anyway, here are a couple pictures I took w/o flash using proper metering (and then adjusting in LR for various things). And yes, I know it's January 10th and Christmas has been over for like 16 days or something. It'll come down eventually :-D

Anyway, just had to share. 

Oh and I also started using my external flash on manual mode as well. I really like manual modes, I find it way more enjoyable to have control of what I'm doing to get the best possible result for what I'm wanting :)