It is a chilly morning in Orillia and I am happy to be inside with a fire roaring.
One of the requests at our first meeting was for me to post the guidelines and requirements for the new monthly challenge. But first, as a refresher, here is a link to a good tutorial on the Exposure Triangle from the internet.
As I mentioned during the meeting, on a bright sunny day the triangle is mostly irrelevant as you can choose whatever speed or aperture that meets your creative needs and adjust the other for a perfect exposure without making any sacrifices. In a darker environment such as a church or sports facility, you have decisions and sacrifices to make. You have to choose the most important criteria for the image (depth of field or stop motion) and adjust the other along with the ISO for a proper exposure. In a low light environment, you will have to make sacrifices.
So the assignment for you is to make an image inside your home. You can thank me for not making you go outside. The challenge is that you cannot use flash or direct sunlight and can only use the ceiling, table or floor lamps that are in the home. Ideally, the image should be taken when it is dark outside but if you take it during the day, please close any curtains or drapes. Also, do not use the “green” or “auto” settings on your camera as the camera has already passed the course and knows what to do. The other good news is that you can take a picture of anything that you want. It can be a still life, macro, portrait or your goldfish. Anything. The challenge for people new to photography is to get a usable image and to see what trade-offs you had to make. For the advanced photographer, this is your chance to let your creative juices flow and create something wondrous for the rest of us to enjoy. You can submit up to three images and I would suggest that you look at three different subjects. Or, you can do variations on a theme. Anything.
At the next meeting you will have an opportunity to explain your image and obstacles faced, keeping in mind the three questions discussed:
1) How did you take the image? Angle? Camera settings?
2) What drew you or what was your thought process?
3) What would you like to see improved?
If you are not comfortable discussing your image at the meeting, please include answers to these questions with your image so that the moderator can present them.
The website should be ready to accept your images shortly so you can start shooting now.
Any questions?
Good luck and I can’t wait to see what everyone produces.
Aris
PS If you are using an iPad or something completely automatic then this lesson does not apply but you can still shoot anything in your house that you want.