Reculver

Went on a one-to-one photgraphy course this morning at Reculver on the North Kent coast organised as part of this year's birthday present. Very good it was too. I think I have a eye for a shot but confess to very little understanding of the technical side of taking good photographs.

However, this morning's session went a good way toward debunking some of the mysteries around photography and also served to show that the more you knew, the more there was to know. It wasn't the best sort of time to go photographing - the light was too flat making it challenging to say the least and the sky always in danger of being washed out.

We didn't end up taking lots of staggeringly good photographs but rather experimented with the camera to show the effect of different settings. I think I shall now keep the camera on Aperture Priority most of the time, only reverting to Shutter Speed Priority when needed. I'm off the P(rogrammable) Priority for the time being.

In addition to understanding more about aperture, ISO, depth of field and shutter speed and the relationship between these functions I was introduced to the 18% rule, the impact of focal length, manual focusing and the use of various filters.

I'll not remember all the terminology but this shot was taken on the camera's wide angle, ie the view you get when first switched on. It's on F8, ISO100 with manual exposure set on the towers but with a positive compensation of .3 (I think), with a blue graduated filter. This way - or so I'm told - enables the towers to be properly exposed while at the same time getting the interesting foreground in focus and composed.

I also had it confirmed what I'd always thought - that if a shot appears, take it. If you have more time, then think about what you're doing and adjust the camera accordingly and if you're doing something really important than go the whole hog with white balance and the like.

Now, to try and put some of the knowledge into perspective - I'll doubt if you'll notice the difference.