I am getting more confident in using our DSLR camera, however I could never find the time to sit down and read about how to control all those manual settings. So when I saw that my favourite photography studio, Les Petits Filous, was running an English-language photography course, I jumped at the opportunity. I learnt a lot, and had lots of practise taking photos of ‘boring’ subjects under different conditions, in order to start to understand the different ways one can control the light that enters the camera.
We learned how altering the white balance can change the temperature of the light:

Canon EOS 50D
Sigma 18-250mm f3.5-6.3
31mm ISO 800 f/4.5 1/200
We learned how to change the aperture to adjust the depth-of-field:

Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
50mm ISO 400 f/1.4 1/8000; 50mm ISO 400 f/22 1/20
We learned to over- or under-expose to emphasise different components of the frame in high contrast situations:

Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
50mm ISO 400 f/1.6 1/8000; 50mm ISO 400 f/22 1/640
We also practised changing our composition and orientation in order to take more a flattering portrait:
Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
50mm ISO 100 f/4.5 1/500; 50mm ISO 100 f/3.2 1/500
Today I grabbed my camera to see if I could practise some of the skills that I had learnt. It was certainly difficult to keep one eye on the exposure levels, one eye on a boisterous toddler, a thumb on the aperture, and an index finger on the shutter speed. I must admit that I was very tempted to turn that dial back to ‘auto’, but I persisted in my efforts, and in amongst many blurry, over-exposed, and fuzzy shots, I managed to capture these two moments:








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