Home Away

Nothing special, just a fun week.  Last friday, the Leadership Fellows Program had the opportunity to have a Christmas Party at Dr. Black's house right off campus. This picture means a lot to me, the people surrounding me have become my family away from home.  From left to right: Carly, Mecan (aka Pecan), Amanda, Me, and Steve.  At this party there was a room set up for "Awkward Family Photos" and Ironically we all ended up in the same photo. It is ironic to me because this family is weird and dysfunctional just as my own at home, as you can see by the picture.  Carly, is simply my best friend and girl friend. Mecan, is much like my brother: quite yet feisty. Amanda, is a lot like my sister: loud and spunky. Steve, is just a chill guy who I have become close friends with in INST 150.

Again, nothing special just a fun week before winding down to finals. :)

Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO

This past week has been a photographically action packed week for me.  Last Thursday October 20th, I went up to New York with Ryan Mewha, Austin Stover and Braden Gross to watch the Philadelphia Union play the New York Red Bulls.  Tuesday October 25th I watched our women's Field Hockey team defeat Delaware Valley College 6-1.  Later on Tuesday October 25th I went and photographed intramural soccer as well. All three events were interesting scenarios for photography, the Union game was at night under artificial light, while the Field Hockey game was in the evening with the sun setting right behind the trees; shadowing half the field while the other half was covered by the blaring sun.  Shooting the intramural sports was similar to the Union game because it was indoor under artificial light as well.

For most sports occasions you can get away with simply putting the camera on the sports or action setting.  For the Union game I started out on the action setting to see if I could get away with it, but given the lighting it made most of the shots slightly blurred. In this case, since the artificial light created a false sense of light, the action setting, operating on its normal settings, over compensated.  The action setting told the camera to let in too much light dulling down the quality of the photo.


In the picture on the left I was using the action setting, in which you can see that camera was not compensating for the artificial light.  In this case the the goalie is slightly blurred and the hue/saturation of the picture is very dull.  Where as in the picture on the right I switched the setting to manuel (which most cameras have) where you can see I set the ISO and Shutter speed higher.  In the first picture the shutter speed was open for 1/320th of a second but in the second picture I shortened the shutter speed ever so slightly to 1/500th of a second to let less light in which enriches the saturation and allows the image to be more crisp.  This also allows me to capture the player more stationary with out blur.  However, to compensate for letting less light in I also needed to heighten the ISO. What this does is it requires less light in order for the picture to develop.  This explains why I am able to let less light in but get a better exposure.

       ISO 2500  Shutter Speed:1/320 Aperture:f/5.6           ISO 3600 Shutter Speed:1/500 Aperture:f/5.6                                                                   

In the second scenario at the field hockey game it was much more difficult to find the happy medium to shoot because I was constantly moving from light to dark.  For this occasion I was again in the manual setting, but I put the ISO on auto so the camera would detect the amount of light needed to develop the photo. In the picture on the left the player is mostly shadowed by the trees on the back side of the field hockey field.  In both these pictures I chose a 7.1 aperture (also known as f-stop) given the lighting situation.  Generally f/8.0 is considered the middle of the aperture scale, usually used for normal sunny days.  The smaller the f-stop the more light that is let in, the higher the f-stop the amount of light lessens.  I chose 7.1 because in some cases there was an ample amount of light on the field, but in other cases there was less light.  I did not go lower than 7.1 because there was still an ample amount of day light in all the pictures.  In the picture on the right there are actually two things wrong.  First, the ISO is too high, since the player is in the sun the camera needs less light to develop the picture, but what happened was the camera picked up on the shade in the players behind her and the background over compensating which explains why the picture is slightly blurred.  Second, the Aperture is actually too low in this picture which allowed more light to come in, over exposing the picture and creating low quality.

ISO 2000 Shutter Speed:1/1000 Aperture:f/7.1         ISO 3200  Shutter Speed:1/1000 Aperture:f/7.1

Indoor sports are generally a hard activity to capture, at least in my experiences and from professionals I know. In picture on the right is actually taken correctly, correct ISO, shutter speed and aperture.  However, the picture on the right is the one I am pointing out.  In this case, the same environment as the photo on the right (actually the same game) the shutter speed is too low and the ISO is to high.  If the shutter speed was higher then the player would be more stationary and less blurred like the player on the right. In order to fix this the shutter speed would need to be quicker allowing the camera to capture the player and ball mid strike, but as the shutter speed goes up the light being let in decreases. Thus, by upping the shutter speed you would need to lower the ISO in order to amp up the amount of light needed to develop the picture.


ISO 2000 Shutter Speed:1/200 Aperture:f/6.3         ISO 2000 Shutter Speed:1/200 Aperture:f/6.3

Patience is a Virtue

Patience is indeed a virtue, one that I never really had much of.  In Romans 8:25 it says, "But if we look forward something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently." Yes believe it or not I did take this picture.  Something you would imagine would take much more patience that I have.

Patience is a key element to taking photographs, it is ironic again that I find my self indulged in photography with the amount of patience, or lack there of, that I possess.  Before actually bringing out my camera to take pictures of this storm, I remember standing in silence, listening to the sounds of the storm and the distant rain, enjoying the storm God provided.  As I stood and listened I prayed to God that He would out of all things just give me patience to endure the trial and errors of shooting, giving me just one good picture.  As I began to shoot I took about 100 pictures toying with the aperture (amount of light let in by the lens), the shutter speed (how long the shutter is open which is directly related to the aperture) and the ISO (film speed or the films sensitivity to light which determines how the photo develops).  As you can imagine I remained patience and kept shooting.  Just kidding... I wanted to rip my hair out, I hadn't even gotten the shooting settings right yet and the storm was a rollin' and the rain was coming even closer. I continued to pray that God would give me patience again and again so that I could remain calm and continue to shoot.

Once I got the film settings right I thought I was set, but then I struggled getting the focal point right.  Since it was so dark the lens had no point of subject to focus on.  Making me even more frustrated as the storm grew even closer, I had to set a manual focal point using the "Manual Selection" option on my camera. In reality it isn's all that hard, nor does it consume to much time, but when the odds are against you (even though I knew God was on my side) it makes the conditions even more tense.

Finally everything was set I shot about 200 more pictures or so and called it quits.  The storm really got violent at this point and the rain was eminent as several rain drops spat out of the sky. I got back in my car and drove home figuring I got several good shots.  When I got back to my house I began panning my 300+ photos feeling disappointment one after the other as I viewed blank screen after blank screen or just houses or trees silhouetted by the after light of the lightning.  In the midst of all 300 picture there was one, the one you see about. And as I looked at this picture I remember feeling this sense of achievement as I remembered that all I asked God for was one good shot, one picture that I could use as a testimony to His glory.  As always God provided, not in my own time or my own demands, but in his own.

A Wee Bit O' Advertising

Sorry, but for this week's post nothing spectacular.  My job this week was to create an advertisement for my blog, one that would advertise my blog across campus.  The object of this ad is to prompt people around campus to check out and enjoy my blog on photos. SO if you are a daily blog reader don't be surprised to start seeing these around campus, and feel free to tell your friends!! Thanks :) 

Welcome

Here we go!

My name is Howie Fischer, I am a freshman at Eastern University and an intended Psychology Major.  Since I was in about 7th grade I have been interested in photography, always testing the water when I got the chance, messing with my families equipment, etc. I started out with a cheap, AND I MEAN CHEAP, no name digital camera from a vending machine in Okinawa, Japan, however this did not really do much for me.  In ninth grade, my brother was a senior at my school and was in AP Photography, with great intentions to go to the Savannah School of Arts and Design on a scholarship for photography.  I guess you could say my brother was my role model.  Anyway, I would always sneak into his room when he was out and about and go around and take pictures.  Summer going into my Junior year my parents bought me a Canon PowerShot model for my upcoming trip to Philmont Scout Reservation in Cimarron, New Mexico.  That was short lived... I lost it that coming winter skiing.  After that I though I would never get a camera again! :( My parents had also made it clear that they would probably never buy me one as well.  However, by the grace of God, my parents bought me a Canon Rebel T2i for christmas this past year (2010).  Since then most of the pictures you see on this blog have been taken with the Rebel.

In taking photographs I intend to reach out to Christians and non-Christians alike, in hopes of showing people some of the unseen wonders of God's beautiful creation.  By the grace of God I present this blog for all to see God's Beauty

Enjoy and God Bless :)

OBX