Small Adjustments Can Yeild Big Differences

0713_Sicily_175ISO 200, 35mm, f/13, 17 sec

Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, and all the other settings inside your camera can make the same scene look dramatically different.  Combining these camera settings in different ways can have a big impact on your image.  Then, once you introduce composition to the mix you’re left with an infinite number of photographs you can pull from one single scene.

Instead of providing you with an infinite amount of photographs to look through I put two shots together with slightly different settings and composition.  The first shot has a slightly slower shutter speed, which was compensated for by adjusting the aperture, which gives the photograph a softer, more relaxing look.  The composition is obviously different as well, the horizon being three-quarters of the way up the image putting the emphasis on the water and coast.

The photograph below has used a faster shutter speed, which was also compensated by adjusting the aperture, giving the photograph a sharper and more active look.  The composition is much different as well, the horizon is about one-quarter of the way up the scene and people on kayaks are paddling around.

The tripod was not moved and no lenses were changed (though you could) and two fairly different images were captured.  Next time you are out and about think about challenging yourself to squeeze as many good photographs out of a single scene as possible, you’ll never know what you might miss if you don’t.

0713_Sicily_163ISO 200, 35mm, f/11, 1/4 sec

Some quick tips for making adjustments to get some different shots:

1.)  Adjust the shutter speed to a slower setting to get the icy water look, you may have to close your aperture a bit (larger f/ number) to block some of the light so you don’t over expose your image.

2.)  Blur the background of an image (the blurred background is called bokeh and you can learn about it here) by opening your aperture (lower f/ number).

3.)  Freeze time by using a faster shutter speed, you may have to open your aperture (smaller f/ number) to let more light in so you don’t under expose.

5.)  Move your camera slightly to capture more or less of the sky or ground.  If the sky is colorful you may want to make it the majority of the scene to emphasize the beauty.

6.)  Pan to the right or left slightly to see which is more visually pleasing.

7.)  Adjust your white balance, especially at sunrise and sunset, to see which setting captures the best color.

8.)  Experiment!


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