Week 2: Learning

I know almost nothing about photography, so this week I decided to explore. In my searching, I came across a website called Camera Jabber, and, in it, this picture of a highway that caught my attention. It's accompanying article, entitled "Best Camera Settings for Photographing Traffic Trails" in the "Photography Tips" section of the website, sheds some, pardon the pun, informative light on how best to photograph a trail of traffic. In the article, they describe how challenging this kind of night photography can be because of the mix of darkness (night time) and bright highlights (street lamps and head lights). They advise setting your camera to manual exposure mode, setting the aperture to f/8, the shutter speed to 30 seconds, the sensitivity to ISO 200, the white balance to tungsten, and shooting in raw file format. It was quite to the point, providing an answer to a potential photographer's question. Now, I have no idea what any of that means. But, I do know that I would love to be able to create a picture like that. Even more, I would love to learn HOW to create a picture like that, and I think the helpful hints and tips from this article are stepping stones in the right direction.

Link to photo and article: https://camerajabber.com/best-camera-settings-photographing-traffic-trails/  

Week 1: To Start

This is the Photo of the Day for August 23rd, 2017 on Outdoor Photographer taken by Theresa Ditson. As she details, "Havasu Falls" is one of several waterfalls the Havasu Creek in Arizona surges down. 

I chose this image as my first blog post because it reminds me of the thing I find most captivating about photography; it preserves the elements and characteristics of life outside of real time. As a music teacher, what I work towards every day is an end result that only truly functions in real time. Photography does not abide by those same bounds. Real time is necessary to capture beautiful images, but, afterwards, when that time has passed, the feelings and connections to those people, places, and things live on. It's a little bit of time that never goes away, whether it be a journey to a waterfall, a wedding day, or the last day of someone's life. Photography is innately wrapped in preservation, and I am quite excited to learn about it.

Link to photo and article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/photo-day-havasu-falls-theresa-ditson/