ISO 400, f32, 1/500, 70mm
Congratulations to AMY from a The Avery House. Amy’s name was drawn by my daughter Sunday evening, as the winner of her choice of an Eclectic Whatnot dSLR camera strap. Thanks to everyone who participated–wish I could offer you each one!
ISO 400, f/32, 1/500, 70mm
I’m working hard at trying to increase participation in Photo a la {M}ode. Many thanks to those of you who are sticking it out! I hope you are learning a bit and seeing a few more visitors from here on Wednesdays. Please continue to link back here and encourage your readers to participate. Having more folks link up just makes it more fun… I hope to have some more give-aways and maybe even some competitions, and I am determined to continue for 52 weeks total as I work to master my camera. I’ve already learned a lot and hope you have, too.
ISO 125, f/29, 1/100, 60mm
What do you think if we started using a theme to inspire you? I’m kinda torn on this. I like link carnivals that are open because it’s not so hard, and because it makes it easier to link to multiple carnivals, but I thought on weeks when I offer you a technique, it would be a good excuse to try to master that technique… What do you think?
ISO 125, f/29, 1/320, 60mm
This week, I’ve been playing with achieving starbursts, and I’m loving the affect. It’s actually not hard, and it’s shown me the value of shooting with a smaller aperture… Typically, I have my lenses wide open because I really like short depths of field. The number of flares you have in your starburst will depend on the number of blades in your lens. Here’s how you do it:
- Use the widest angle lens you have.
- Set your aperture to at least f18. You can still get a starburst with a wider aperture, but it won’t be as dramatic. As you begin to go much beyond f18, your image may begin to soften due to diffraction.
- Don’t point your lens directly into the sun as it could hurt your eyes and your lens. You may even want to wear sunglasses while composing your image.
- Partially block {about 2/3} the sun with a subject if shooting during the day.
- If shooting at night, use a tripod to prevent blur because your shutter speed will be so slow.
- Focus on your subject first to get your settings right before moving your lens toward the sun or light source. You can also use your hand to partially shield your lens from the sun.
- You can achieve more dramatic bursts when the sun is low in the sky, sunrise and sunset.
ISO 125, f/25, 1/160, 60mm
ISO 125, f/25, 1/160, 60mm
So while you are out there this week, try shooting some starbursts! You can use the sun, streetlights, reflections as possible light sources. Then next week, link up your starburst photo here. And, because I am SO not a stickler on these kinds of things, if you didn’t have time to, or didn’t like your results, or just plain didn’t want to, that’s ok, too. You can still link up your manual photo. Just include the settings and remember to link back to here!
ISO 125, f/22, 1/20, 60mm
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