The myFUNcamera workshop in La Jolla last weekend was great! Jan 27th | filed in: Photography tips

Sunday was the first myFUNcamera workshop for 2009.

We spent the first hour or so talking all about camera settings,
working with all of our cameras and leaning how to use those settings
that USED TO BE so intimidating -- not any more!

Two of the topics were f-stop and ISO.
The f-stop (or aperture) is how big or small the lens opens up to take the picture.
When you lower your f-stop #, you let more light in, and you'll also get more background blur.
When you lower your ISO, the camera doesn't suck up as much light.
If you raise your ISO, your camera will suck up more light like a sponge,
which is great for indoor pictures or very cloudy days, but not good for sunny skies
with a low f-stop #.

I had everyone practice with their cameras to see what happens
when you change those settings. Look at what Mandy discovered:

Setting the camera to ISO 100 using f/2.8 worked really well.
(we were working in Av mode, letting the camera choose the shutter speed)


Then Mandy raised the ISO to 1250, keeping the camera at f/2.8.
Raising the ISO was telling the camera to absorb much more light,
but she had that low f#, letting in a TON of light, so the picture gets
really washed out with TOO MUCH light:


To fix that, she could go back to ISO 100 and f/2.8,
but if she doesn't want the blur that comes along with f/2.8,
she could raise that f/# to shrink the lens opening,
letting less light onto her ISO 1250 "light sponge" setting.
Here's what happened when she went up to f/22:


If she had used f/22 at ISO 100, she wouldn't have that ISO 1250 "light sponge" any more,
so the camera would choose a much slower shutter speed to get the light it needs.
That may be OK, but she could end up with motion blur.
Using that ISO 1250 "light sponge" lets her get the light she needs at f/22 with a quick shutter,
even though f/22 lets in very little light.

After our lesson & all that button-pushing, we headed off to the beach
to practice practice practice and learn more about the settings I like to use
when I'm taking pictures at the beach.

The day was GORGEOUS! There were big white puffy clouds,
which gave us the added bonus of being able to take pictures in
FULL SUN and in CLOUDY conditions during the same class.
I couldn't have asked for a better sky for teaching everyone what to do in different situations!

The sun would come out, and we'd work on how to shoot in full sun.
Then a few minutes later, clouds would hide the sun, and POOF -- the light TOTALLY changed.
We could look at what happened with the light and how to adjust
in order to get great pictures under a cloudy sky.

Katie & Aaron brought their adorable son, James, to model for us.


Here's a shot that Mandy got during "tossing" practice:


Here are some shots of Katie & James when we were practicing really looking at the LIGHT.
The sun was hidden behind clouds for these pictures,
so choosing the right shooting angle was really important,
even though you wouldn't think it would make a big difference:



And, of course, we practiced the "sandy feet" picture:


Roxanne brought 3 models, too!
We got to practice with her two kids
and her gorgeous "neice" (her best friend's daughter) Marney:



After exhausting ourselves at the beach,
we headed to Chipotle for a yumee lunch and plenty of fun chit-chat.
The day was really fun! I love these mornings!

If you're on the fence about coming to the February 21st workshop,
there are just a few spots left.
You can get info HERE.

Rock on!!
~Carey