Kamera Klutz and the Common Man

These photos remind me of the works of Degas, the artist, who celebrated everyday life in many of his paintings.

The nice aspect of this photo session is that I was able to use a 200mm lens. I love the contrast of colors. It is also interesting that many of the men are watching the few that actually seem to be working.

Kamera Klutz and Making Photographs Outdoors

If you are planing an outdoor photo session. Some of the settings can be done before leaving the house--in a nice climate controlled environment where one can sit and refer to the manual as needed.

ISO 100-200
white balance---daylight
RAW plus large JPEG
Color   Adobe RGB 1998
lens
manual or auto mode

This leaves changing the shutter speed and aperture depending on the desired effect. Also the focal length can be changed as well as the focus-manual or auto.

Kamera Klutz and Attempts at Manual Focus

 

These two photos demonstrate differences in depth of field. The first one shows the background in clear focus and the foreground is blurred and the second shows the background blurred and the foreground in focus. The towers in the back  of the top photo were focused manually and therefore the focus is still a little off. The towers are not very crisp.

Kamera Klutz and Blurred Motion

To create the blurred motion effect, set the camera to a slow shutter speed and adjust the aperture to meter for the light setting. When using a slow shutter speed, a tripod is a must to prevent operator shake and blur.

Kamera Klutz and Blurred Motion



 

 

 

 

 

I could not help it; I had to crop. Can you imagine how many days the Kamera Klutz would have to hang out on a corner with a camera and tripod waiting for another shot like this.? Before I made any changes, I created a duplicate of the original and manipulated the copy. The original remains intact.

 

Kamera Klutz and the Gray Card

Digital cameras are calibrated to 18% gray. Metering with a gray card can help insure that the colors are pure and the exposure is optimal.

After metering, bracketing up and down one setting allows the photographer to pick the best exposure when viewing the photos on the computer.

Kamera Klutz and What Not To Wear!

No matter how cold, it is wise to wear coverings that do not contain a front zipper or buttons that can scratch the viewer on the back of the camera. It is a good idea, however, to wear something with pockets to hold the lens cover and gray card.