This evenings meeting

Sorry this is a late announcement but there will be a photographer coming along (no surprise there considering...) but it is for an artical in the Hartlepool Mail about the Bridging the Gap event that some of the members exhibited for. If you do not wish to be a part of it not to worry!

Studio once again this evening please remember any equipment you need as I have none! but will do soon as my insurance has just said they will pay out for the claim!

See you at 6.30pm!

D

My Car Was Broken Into Last Night

Last night my car was broken into and all of my camera equipment was stolen. If anyone hears anything please contact me?

D

Studio Project

This evening has gone extremal well. We have started to meet at our new venue, St Marys Church Hall in Easington Village in the upstairs room which worked very well for our meeting. We set up the studio kit and well as using a light box, most of the members had not seen one before so it was a learning experience for them!

Andy, one of the members brought along his partner Denise, who kindly brought along a single rose display as she is a florist, after using this as a object to photograph they kindly gave it to me, it is now sitting proudly on my dinning table for all to see when they come in!

Next week we will focus a little more on portraiture, as well as there being hand outs on Shutter Speed, ISO, and F.Stops. There will be a small amount of information on each in regard to priority settings to use on a DSLR as well as Manual.

I have also promised to bring along some photography magazines so it can give our members the choice of which they may like to read as a few members mentioned that they did not know which one to buy.

After our studio session next week we will spend some time to talk about our own work and what we are up to, I will bring along my portfolio from University so everyone can have a look.

D

Our exhibiton

Hi all,
Just to tell you the exhibition is up and finished for the event tomorrow Bridging the Gap 2011.

We have done so well! I am so happy about the exhibition as it looks fantastic. Just a reminder that next week we are going to be at St Marys Church hall in Easington Village.

D

The Meeting Tomorrow Evening

Hi all,

The studio taster session is tomorrow evening!! Just to remind everyone!! It should be lots of fun, I will be there a little bit earlier as I will be setting up the studio as well as having all of the exhibition photographs in my car ready to put up after the taster session. You will be able to see all of your images as I will bring them into the Harry Bennett Room so you can have a look. The official opening will be on Sunday the 10th July and will be up for one month from that point. After that time you will receive all of the images within the mounts to keep for your own personal portfolio or if you wish to frame them for your own collection of art work.


Tomorrow evening you will also receive a hand out on studio photography so fingers crossed you will enjoy yourself as there should be a couple more people coming along.

D

The first project is nearly finished

Hi all,

Well everyone will be glad to here that the exhibition is nearly up and running! Today I have been and ordered all of the mounts which will be ready on Monday afternoon. I have sorted out all of the frames for everyone and will go to the printers tomorrow to have all of the images, by Tuesday evening everything should be up on the walls and looking beautiful!

I will additionally add the names of our members and the text they have submitted later in the week as I have so much to do within my own photography.

I have recently photographed a wedding, which was at the Ramside Hall, for a wonderful couple and I have promised that they will have all of their photographs by week commencing 4th July as well as taking a girl's prom photos where I travelled all the way to Consett, not previously knowing that it was an hour journey from myself but was a lovely drive, even though I was occasionally being told by the sat nav I was going the wrong way!!

I think I have also found a new venue for us to meet at which is a lot more affordable and more suited to our needs then the previous location, even though that was lovely! I feel as though myself and the other members would prefer somewhere that had a little bit more space and would be able to do more active things.

This week as the exhibition is complete and everyone has submitted there images we are going to do a Studio taster session. We will be using a portable studio kit and take portraits of one another, this will enable us to get used to the photography equipment, make us work together and be able to learn something new as each of us seem to know lots about different things within photography but this is something that we can all learn together.

We also have the possibility of a new member which is always lovely to here.

D

Meeting Tonight

The 3rd meeting is this evening and I am looking forward to it. Fingers crossed more of the members will be able to attend. 


I had promised to explain certain things about manual settings on SRLS.


Aperture

What does 'aperture' mean?

The term 'aperture' refers to the opening in the lens that lets light into the camera. Adjusting the aperture value changes the size (diameter) of the aperture, which will affect the amount of light that reaches the imaging sensor in the camera (the digital camera equivalent of film). Obviously, if you set a wide aperture a lot of light will be allowed to reach the sensor, whilst setting a small aperture reduces the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

You can change the aperture value in the following advanced modes:

1. Av (Aperture-priority AE) Mode - aperture can be changed and the camera will attempt to set the appropriate shutter speed to correctly expose the photo
2. P (Program AE) - turning the dial changes the shutter speed and aperture setting combination (as part of a program)
3. M (Manual Exposure) - where both shutter speed and aperture values can be set as desired

Measuring Aperture Size

Aperture size is represented using f-stops. A large f-stop represents a small aperture - the lens will have a small opening and not let much light through to the imaging sensor. A small f-stop represents a wide aperture - the lens will have a large opening and therefore let a lot of light through to the imaging sensor.

This is the case because f-stops represent the ratio between the diameter of the aperture and the focal length of the lens. As an example:

• if the aperture value is shown as f/4 this means that the aperture's diameter is 1/4 (25%) of the focal length of the lens
• if the aperture value is f/32, the aperture's diameter will be 1/32th of the focal length of the lens - a much smallerdiameter than the 1/4 size.
  
  
  Clearly if you set a wide aperture a lot of light will be allowed to reach the sensor, which in turn means that the camera can use a faster shutter speed in order to obtain the correct exposure. This is because the sensor only needs to be exposed for a shorter period of time before it will have received enough light to expose the photograph.
  Conversely, setting a smaller aperture reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor and means that a slower shutter speed must be used if the camera is to properly expose the picture - more time is needed to ensure enough light reaches the sensor.
  Therefore if you are in a dark environment and want to take a properly exposed photograph without using a flash and with the shortest possible shutter speed (to minimise/avoid camera shake) you should:
  1. Set the widest possible aperture (bearing in mind the affect on depth of field discussed below) and
  2. Select a higher ISO speed (bearing in mind the potential affect on quality discussed in the previous article).
  • I will blog soon about shutter speeds and ISO's, promise :)
  
  
  D