Lesson Two Discussion - Read First (before lesson)

Hi there, everyone.  First, thanks to all for continuing on the journey to better photos.  It was great to see the photos from last week's assignment, and I was thrilled to hear that many of you genuinely feel that you learned something and advanced your photography skills just from a five-page lesson and a video or two.  I hope you're excited to continue on with this week's lesson.

This week's lesson is in two parts.  The first part, ISO and Shutter Speed, complete the other two components of the Exposure Triangle, the third being aperture.  These three elements make up exposure and each setting influences the other two for achieving perfect balance -- a large part of the key to great photography.  And along with the first part of the lesson, here is another Adorama Digital Photography One-on-One video that ties in nicely:

Exposure: ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture

There are just two photos to post for this week's assignment (very manageable) but I hope you will be practicing what you learn in this lesson outside of the assignment as well.  The shutter speed lesson is a great opportunity to get your kids to run around while you take their pictures, or perhaps go on a family outing to a sporting event to give it a try.  Or I will be glad to send my 3-year-old son over to run around for you, LOL, the point being that shutter speed is about movement.  

The second part of this week's lesson, But Wait, There's More! talks about using your camera's exposure meter for nailing proper exposure and walks you through how to do it.  For me, understanding how to properly use my camera's exposure meter  was one of the most challenging things to learn about achieving proper exposure.  And I'll note that I did it the hard way, without the help of this lesson to explain it all in an understandable form!  I don't recommend that, especially since these lessons explain it so nicely.

I wasn't able to find an Adorama video covering the in-camera light meter (they do have one using an external light meter if you're interested) but I did find this one, In-Camera Light Metering and it comes closest to what is covered in the second part of the lesson.  It's not quite as polished as the Adorama series, but it still relays useful information.  But before you click, note that at approximately 4:45 into the video, the background changes and the host goes to a different lesson about metering modes.  We will cover that soon in an upcoming lesson, so feel free to stop if you want to wait until we cover it in our series, or watch it if you're interested.  I think using the in-camera meter must be a hard subject to explain because I didn't have much luck finding videos or articles on it (compared to other topics), but after watching about a dozen videos attempting to explain it, this was the best link I could come up with.  If anyone knows of something better, please share with the rest of us!   

Both the written lesson and the Adorama video refer to the book, "Understanding Exposure"  by Brian Peterson.  It is widely available at bookstores and for pretty cheap at Amazon.com.  It is also partially available on Google books here.  [In case you haven't used Google Books before, it is online books that are available for FREE!  The downside is that they are missing random pages so that you will be encouraged to buy the book on your own to have all of the information.]  The book is also available around the Web in PDF format, but I'm not going to post links.   You're on your own with that, as I try to keep my piracy to a minimum so I can sleep at night.  :-)  I have the book and I refer to it as I continue to learn.  It's one of the more highly recommended photography books for new DSLR users.  Of note, a revised edition is expected to be released towards the end of summer, so it may be worth waiting, as this one is ever-so-slightly outdated with the advances in DSLR cameras.  If you can get by with the information on Google books, I'd probably wait to purchase the revised edition.  Perhaps it can be found at the library as well -- if anyone knows, kindly report back on that!

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Here is this week's extra credit -- more information if you're interested, but you can skip it if you're not:  

If you are so inclined, this is some additional reading on ISO.  Even if you don't read these two articles, take a look at the pictures.  They show examples of grain in photos with higher ISO levels.

• ISO Explained - a brief but useful article about ISO that includes photos showing the grain that appears at higher ISO settings.  
• How to Determine Your Camera's ISO Tipping Point - newer cameras handle digital "noise" (grain) much better than older models.  While some handle noise well at 1600 ISO, others are problematic above 400 ISO.  Take a look at how to determine where your camera falls in this equation.

And here is some additional reading on metering:

• Light Metering - this is another article covering much of the same material, just in the event that you would like a different take on it.  I think the PDF of our 12-week class is much easier to follow and will suffice for most of our needs, but in the event that you're a glutton for punishment...
• EV Compensation - and this one is for those in the class that may already know how to use their camera's light meter but want to take it to the next level.  This is big-league information that probably very few photographers know, just to make sure you don't get bored!  :-)

As always, I can't wait to see your pictures and to discuss this further with you.  Please post any questions, comments, links, etc.  Have a great week everyone!  

Random bits of useless information -- ISO stands for "International Organization for Standardization."  It pretty much means that there was a standard agreed upon and the various camera makers adhere to these standards so the ISO settings are consistent from one manufacturer to the next.

Please check Google Documents for the actual lesson.  Here is a link.  Note it won't work unless you have accepted the invitation that was sent to you.