Lesson Info
15. Too Little or Too Much Light
Lessons
Buttons, Dials and Switches: What This Course is All About
03:37 2Setting Up Your Camera
05:25 3JPEG or RAW
03:11 4Compression
01:38 5Menu Settings for JPEG Shooting
05:19 6Module 1 Summary
01:42 7Applying White Balance
03:41 8Using White Balance Creatively
01:19Auto White Balance
03:07 10Module 2 Summary
01:31 11Controlling Exposure
01:23 12F Numbers
03:06 13Lens, Aperture, and Shutter Speed
03:32 14Exposure Modes
01:48 15Too Little or Too Much Light
02:34 16Manual Exposure Mode
01:37 17Aperture Priority Exposure Mode
02:23 18Module 3 Summary
01:40 19ISO in Practice
01:16 20ISO and Noise
05:03 21An Acceptable ISO
01:23 22Module 4 Summary
01:29 23Metering Modes
03:06 24The Light Meter
02:11 25The Bucket Test
02:12 26How To Read Tonality
02:32 27Being Creative With Tone
01:14 28Exposure Compensation
01:35 29High Contrast Lighting
03:39 30Histogram
02:06 31Highlights Alert
01:32 32Never Underexpose
04:16 33Digital Exposure Mantra
01:25 34Module 5 Summary
02:57 35Focus Modes
01:23 36Autofocus
02:59 37Point of Focus
02:35 38Depth of Field
02:41 39Hyper-Focal Distance Focusing
02:51 40Focus Tracking
04:19 41Manual Focus
01:57 42Predictive Focus
01:03 43Summary
02:32 44Buying Lenses
05:00 45Summary
01:45 46Quality of Light
01:32 47Direction of Light
01:52 48No Such Thing as Good Light
02:00 49Final Word
02:52 50BONUS - In Conversation with Art Wolfe
07:11 51BONUS - The Source of Creativity
06:34Lesson Info
Too Little or Too Much Light
What do you want, my boy? And what you get to two different things. What my dad used to say. And he wasn't talking about photography, although he might well have been. Because when it comes to too much light or too little light exposure settings you want on the exposure settings you get aren't always the same thing. Now you can adjust. I s o putting it up when there's too little light taking it down. When there's too much, there's a limit to what I s Okun do. And when you reach those limits, well, then you just have to make a decision. This is my scene. My main subject is a waterfall. My foreground interested the ferns over here on the left hand side. Now what I really want to do is capture the detail of the water that tumbles over that waterfall. So my dominant variables shutter speed. I need a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement, but at the same time, I don't want these firms to be fuzzy, so I need depth of field. That means I also need a narrow aperture. The problem I have is ...
that my light meter is telling me. I don't have enough light toe have a far shutter speed on the narrow aperture. So what do I do? Well, I have a number of solutions. The 1st 1 is to pick my dominant variable now, because tumbling water is my main thing here. I'm going to choose a far shutter. Speed is my dominant variable. And this is the image I get now captured the detail in the water. But if you look on the left inside, those ferns are all out of focus on that fuzziness is really bothering me. So my second option is to change my dominant variable. I can choose aperture over shutter speed, depth of field, over details. And if I do that, this is a photograph I get Now here. What we can see is that I've now got depth of field from the firm's all the way through to the waterfall. Their sharpness from foreground to background for the water tumbling over the waterfall has now become more like a veil. And while that pictures really nice is not actually what I wanted Option three is I can change my composition. I can pick up my tripod, move around until I find an angle where depth of field is no longer important. Now we don't have to worry about lens. Aperture and Aiken set shutter speed to get the image I want of the fast tumbling water as it comes over the waterfall. But this is a trade off. If I'm not prepared to compromise. If I'm fixed on detail in the water, on depth of field, my only recourse is to come back on a better day when the light is right.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
mark jacobson
What a marvelous course! What a marvelous teacher! When I went to college, my father would always ask me about my professors, more than the courses themselves. He was passionate about learning and although too busy with earning an income to go beyond an undergrad degree, continued to read 50 books a year. I still remember how he'd get almost visibly excited when I'd tell him about some special professor who taught with such enthusiasm and, more than just passion, evident delight and joy in the subject. 'Ah they're the best, son. How wonderful you have such a teacher." Well, he passed away decades ago but if he were still around I'd get a kick out of telling him about Chris Weston, the 'Prof' of this course. He's one of the very special ones: a teacher who's loved and lived his vocation--his avocation--since he was a boy--and still is as excited about it now as he was then. The result: a course that seems to be more a labor of love--of pouring far more energy and thought into the details then one typically finds in these courses--than anything else. Bravo Chris! I'm already on to your next one.
user-6402bf
Chris is an amazing instructor who dissects theory giving amazing analogies that bring concepts to life. I have rarely been able to sit through most video course for more than a half-hour but watched this one from beginning to end. A good refresher course if you've been away from the camera for awhile or there are some concepts that still illude you. I highly recommend this course and look forward to watching his others. Thank you for the clarity and great explanations.
Sky Bergman
This was an amazing class. I have looked at a number of basic photography classes. This one was by far the best I have seen. Chris is an exceptional teacher. He breaks things down into digestible information and then inspires you to be creative. Thank you!