Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Cultivator

I set off through the countryside around sunset last week and came upon a cultivator outside a farmer's machine shed. "What beautiful silhouettes!", I thought.

So I jumped out of the car and started snapping away...or tried to anyway.
My camera was set on manual; ISO 800, SS 1/80, F5.6
but the light kept tricking the camera and wanted to focus on the sunset rather than the cultivator. I moved the camera focus to manual but didn't really know what to do from there. I tried adjusting the lens to focus but it doesn't seem to help. I'm still learning.

I think it's kind of hard to tell in some of these photos whether it's in focus or not but this one definitely isn't.


Any suggestions out there from those camera people who know what they are doing? How do I focus on manual in low light? Did I just need a tripod?


6 comments:

  1. Pretty! I am going to start playing with mine after my morning cleaning session!

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  2. Lana, I'm so glad you got your camera! Have fun with it.

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  3. Oh, that's beautiful. I wish I could tell you about light settings, but most of my pictures are taken with an iphone.

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  4. I don't know much about photography, but I think it looked like a beautiful sunset and the shots you took are very artistic.

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  5. Those are beautiful photos. Such a gorgeous sunset!

    This is what I know about focusing ones camera: Auto focus is done by contrast - if there is not enough contrast or enough lighting on the subject, the camera will struggle to focus. On manual, you should be able to get it to focus on whatever you want by looking through the viewfinder (make sure that the diopter is adjusted properly for your vision - this article might help: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2010/08/focus-and-the-diopter/) and rotating the ring or whatever on your lens to get the desired focus. I hope that's helpful! :)

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  6. @withoutadornment, that is very helpful..thanks a lot!!

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