Photo 365: 1.19.11-1.25.11

Last week, Jen requested that I post things about the pictures along with them. Things like how I took them and my camera settings. So I will attempt to do this with some of them although I might not do this for all of them. My original plan was to just post them without words but I think this will actually help me with my goal this year to be bold. If I explain some of the pictures, then it will force me to become a little bit more personal. Also, I don’t feel like an expert in photography so sharing that part with you makes me a bit nervous as well. I know there are way more people out there more qualified than I. But again, I’m trying to be bold :) Without further ado, here are some pictures from this week:

1.20.11
50mm, 200 ISO, f/2.8, 1/80

The hardest part in self portraits is focusing the camera so that I, as the subject, am sharp. Because it’s not always easy, not all of them are in focus :) For this one, I focused on a branch that was sticking out and then when I set the timer, I stood right in front of that branch and then back a bit hoping I would be in focus. I’m sure if this was a close up it would be really obvious that it’s not tack sharp :)

1.21.11
50mm, 100 ISO, f/2.8, 1/200

Oh how I love spray paint. I figured I should document it! For this one I used my remote shutter and just let it focus on the can and then I took it. Pretty easy.

1.22.11
50mm, 800 ISO, f/2.8, 1/60

Does anyone love to be in bed as much as I do? I get excited to go to sleep and I don’t like getting up. Especially in the winter when it’s all nice and cozy. Part of this project is just documenting life so I wanted a shot in one of my favorite places. For this photo, I set the camera on the bed with my lens can under the lens to prop it up a bit. Then I let it focus on me (it’s just an arm’s length away) and I clicked it.

1.23.11
50mm, 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/40

The great thing about using a tripod is you can have slow shutter speeds! Again, I’m documenting life here. Me with my favorite person doing something we do often on a Sunday afternoon, watching a movie. You can see that Jason is in focus on this one and I’m not. I set the camera up on the tripod and focused on him and then ran into the frame. I could have bumped my aperture up a bit so that I would have been in focus too but I would have had to bump up my ISO too and I didn’t want the picture to get too noisy. So I just left it at f/2.8.

1.24.11
50mm, 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/50

More life happening here. Scrapbooking is also one of those things I love. This time I focused on the table where my hands were going to be and then I ran into the frame using the timer. I specifically wanted my hands to be in focus so that’s why I did it that way.

1.25.11
50mm, 800 ISO, f/1.4, 1/80

When I took this photo it was dark. I needed more light so I bumped my aperture down as low as I could. Due to the limitations of my specific camera, I really didn’t want to set my ISO at 1600 because it would have made the photo so noisy. I didn’t use a tripod for this one. I just stretched my legs out in front of me against a wall and hand held it while I focused on my feet and then recomposed.

You’ll notice that I almost always use my 50mm. That’s because it’s the only good lens I have! Plus it allows to me to let in more light by being able to go down so low in my aperture when I’m taking shots inside. Occasionally I will use my kit lens but only if it’s an emergency and I need a wide angle :)

Now I need your opinions. Do you like Photo 365 better when it was wordless? Or do you like a bit of narration? Was this too much narration? Please give me feedback if you have some, because I’m doing this for you :)