Photographing an Event

I had the privilege to volunteer at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh as a photographer for the National History Day event. National History Day is an event for High School students who compete by presenting a historical topic in several categories such as performance, documentary, exhibit and more. Photographing kids is fun and photographing at such a beautiful venue as the history Center made it easy to get great images.

Things I learned:

1. Shoot with your back facing the window - the subject's face should be lit by the sunlight.

When you shoot with the subject's back facing a window that has a lot of light coming it,
it makes the subject too bright. See how washed out the kids look in the above image?

If your subject is facing the window, you can see their eye color and facial features more clearly and they are not overcome by light.

2. Shoot mostly with a large depth of field.

When I shot the registration in the morning, I had my macro focus on and I had my aperture at f/3.6. The images were neat and artistic, but I got a lot of blur. I would have liked to see more faces and have more crisp images. The top two are examples of one person as the focal point and the rest blurred. I like them, but I think for an event I will do this sparingly.


3. Shoot with a low shutter speed to get good candid shots.

When I shot the awards ceremony, I switched to a low shutter speed. This allowed me to catch some nice shots while people we moving very quickly. I also put my camera on burst mode because if I did not act fast, I would get blur or blinking and miss the shot completely.

4. Be assertive and explain who you are.

This was funny for me because I have a small point and shoot camera and I had to go up to people and ask to take their picture. I simply explained I was a volunteer photographer for the event and I asked politely if I could take pictures. I wore my badge, which made me look more legit. However, I was still quite shy. I shot photos all day. In the afternoon another volunteer came to help with the photography. He had a large DSLR with large lenses and all sorts of contraptions. He immediately went right up to a group of people with no hesitation and began clicking away. I laughed at my trepidation after watching him at work! Next time.

5. Have fun!

The kids were open to posing. next time, I will direct them where to stand. I also enjoyed catching them candidly laughing, talking, and just waiting. I spent time talking to them about their projects. I had a great time.

Beginning to Blog Week 5: Camera Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed

Oh, I have finally figured it out! Hooray! The image above is my first attempts to capture a moving subject- snow falling. Shutter speed changes the way a moving object is recorded by the camera.I had to adjust my ISO and Aperture to let in more light. I did not use a flash.

Fast Shutter Speed

Use a fast shutter speed to catch or to freeze moving subjects. Use a flash and adjust aperture and ISO in low light or the images will be too dark like the one above.

Luckily, we are having a snowy day and I am able to demonstrate the freezing (no pun intended) of snow falling by setting my shutter speed to 1/40000.


In the images below, I have the shutter speed set to 1/40000 - ISO 100 - Aperture f/5.6. I was trying to capture snow falling. In one of the images below I captured a spinning fan and a light bulb filament. Some still too dark, but I am learning!

Slow Shutter Speed

Low shutter speed makes objects that are moving look like they are in motion,  like a blurry trail of that moving image is recorded by the camera. The images below show the static objects in the restaurant in focus and the objects in motion are blurred. It looks like a fast paced environment, and it is!

Beginning to Blog Week 4: Camera Aperture

The picture above was taken with ISO 100 - Macro - f\3.3

The picture above was taken with ISO 100 - Macro - f\6.3

Guess what I got for Valentine's day? A mini tripod! Woot. I am so psyched to see if I can get some better
focus. That being said, we are going to look at aperture today.

Aperture and Depth of Field

Aperture can be compared to the pupil of the eye. The higher the aperture number (f/6.3), the smaller the pupil - letting in less light. The lower the aperture number (f/3.3), the bigger the pupil, letting in more light. Aperture also controls depth of field. Depth of field allows us to bring specific parts of the image into sharp focus. For example, the lower the f number (my point and shoot camera has the minimum at f/3.3) the lower the depth of field. This setting brings the closest object into focus and blur the background. The larger the f number (f/6.3) the higher the depth of field. This setting brings closest objects and background objects both into focus.

In the image above, notice how the background is blurred and the foreground is focused. This image was taken with aperture f/3.3.

In the image above, the background and foreground are both in focus. This image was taken with an aperture of f/6.3.

Here are some other pictures I have taken with high aperture and low aperture. I definitely see an improvement in the quality of my photos. I think my little point and shoot is pretty fun, but secretly I am feeling the need for a new camera!! And a couple thousand bucks! I have made a monster of myself. :) The incandescent light setting is on for some of these, hence the blue color.

Next week, we will talk about the scary, elusive shutter speed. :)