Manual Madness

When we were assigned this exercise in class, I was a bit worried. Although I am an outgoing person, I definitely did not want to have to ask strangers if I could take their picture. As it turns out, approaching strangers was the EASIEST part of the project. Who knew using a camera on manual settings could be so hard? I’m pretty sure every time I adjusted the camera the shot turned out the exact opposite of what I wanted. Let me tell you, I will forever bow down to the person who invented the automatic settings on cameras, because manual mode is definitely not my forté.

FULL SHOT: To the right you can see my favorite full shot out of my camera roll for this project. Although it was initially hard to white balance everything and get the lighting right (I was not entirely successful), I love that this photo is bright and sharp. The subject was very excited to have her picture taken, and is a good representation of the typical Elon student walking down Williamson Ave on a cloudy, brisk day. (F Stop: 3.5, Shutter Speed: 1/400, ISO: 400).

WIDE SHOT: This photo is definitely my least favorite out of the three that I chose to submit for this exercise, but I chose it because it was more interesting than the shots I had of people reading books in the library or walking on campus. The subject is rolling silverware during his shift at Pandora’s Pies. I love the colors, the lines, and the fact that the photo truly shows the subject’s environment (his place of work). The lighting inside the restaurant was very tricky because there are a lot of different types of light sources coming from all different directions, and I was unable to successfully adjust my settings to make the image brighter and clearer no matter how hard I tried! It was definitely a challenging moment for me, and I guess that is why I decided to include it as part of my submission for this exercise. (F Stop: 3.5, Shutter Speed:1/50  ISO: 800)

CLOSE UP: For my closeup shot, I chose to include another photo of a Pandora’s Pies employee. The subject was a little nervous that I was taking her photo, so I did not have a lot of time to adjust the camera once I started shooting. Again, I struggled with the lighting in this shot, but I think it is far more successful than my wide shot. The colors are warm, and I love the way the natural light coming through the window to her left illuminates her face and how everything else sort of fades into the background. By far, this photo is my favorite out of the 100+ I took for this exercise, which is why I chose use it. (F Stop: 4.5, Shutter Speed: 1/125, IS0: 400)