I have owned a DSLR camera for the past 9 years. Wow, it’s crazy to think it has been that long. I started with a Canon 60d in 2011 and updated to the Canon 80d within the past 2 years. What I love about these cameras is they not only take super high quality photos, but they take crystal clear HD video too. These cameras can do so much and are so incredible, yet for the last nine years, I have almost always used automatic settings. For most people this is probably not a big deal, but to any photographer/videographer, this is like nails on a chalkboard.
In order to try to learn more about my camera and photography, I took a photo every day, with manual settings, in October. All of these photos are straight from the camera and have zero editing done in post. I spent more time lining up my photo, balancing the shot, adjusting the settings and finally snapping the photo. Throughout the month I discovered I enjoy macro-photography and close-ups more than anything else. I prefer when the there is a focus on the object in the foreground and the background is blurred. I also learned that unless you go out of your way to photograph something “special” each day, you end up taking a lot of photos of food, people and whatever else is around on a typical evening.
Before we get to the photos, I’ll cover some additional boring technical stuff, so, unless you are interested in camera specifics, you may want to scroll past the next paragraphs and get to the pictures.
My Hardware
Body: Canon 80d
Lenses Used:
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Standard Zoom Lens
Now that we know about the hardware I used, let’s break down the three main components of the camera settings.
Photography Components / Exposure
Shutter Speed: This is how long the “shutter” or little door stays open to expose light to the camera sensor. This is what makes the “camera clicking” noise. The quicker something is moving, the quicker you want your shutter to be. For example if you are in a moving vehicle, taking a photo of someone running or trying to get a shot of something moving quick, set your shutter as “high” as possible, 1/1000 1/500 or 1/250 of a second. If you are trying to get a shot of stars at night, or want to capture motion blur such as flames of a fire, set your shutter to a “lower” or “slower” speed. Perhaps 1, 2, or even up to 30 seconds. The longer the shutter is open, the more light is let in.
Aperture: The aperture is how large the hole is within the lens and how much light you are letting in, kind of like the pupil in our eye. This will also impact the depth of field which will give a picture that “focused” look on the object in the foreground, while the background is blurred. Also called the “F/stop,” the aperture is measured as f/1.8, f/3.5, and so on up to f/22 typically. The basic rule is that the higher your aperture is, f/3.5, the more light is let in, which allows for a greater depth of field. If the aperture is low, f/22, the hole is smaller and less light is let in, resulting in a smaller depth of field. If you are doing landscape photography or do not want any “blur” or depth of field in your image, use an f/stop equal to or greater than f/11 typically. This is a little confusing since f/3.5 seems small, but actually means a large aperture and the same with f/22 being a small aperture (hole), but a larger number.
ISO: The final component of a photo is the ISO. Once you have your aperture and shutter speed set, you can adjust your ISO. ISO 100 is going to give you your cleanest images. I always tried to shoot at ISO 100 when possible. The higher your ISO is, the more “grainy” and pixelated your image will become. This is called graininess or noise. A higher ISO also means that your image will be brighter and allow more light. My Canon 80d can go up to ISO 3200, 6400 and even higher for those extreme dark images! I had to adjust the ISO to be around 800 or 1600 for some of the darker photos I took.
Bonus: White Balance: When talking about photography basics, we cannot forget about the White Balance. White balance is a setting we change that will help our camera adjust the color balance of the photo so that anything that is white will appear “neutral white.” This changes the “color temperature” of your photos. DSLR’s today make it easy and have presets that you can adjust your white balance to. Options: Outside cloudy, outside daylight, inside fluorescent, inside tungsten and so forth. Set your white balance to the mood of your setting and you will become pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the photo’s colors! I forgot all about this option until about halfway into the month. Whoops!
Here is a little cheat sheet by Daniel Peter of Fotoblog Hamburg to help with camera exposure basics
On to the photos. Below is exactly one photo from each day of October, in order starting with day 1 and ending with day 31. (There is one day, October 24th with 2 photos from my cousins cross country race, Go Emma and Anna!) - Enjoy!
And there were all the the photos I took….but if you actually know me, I always overshare and can never seem to take just one photo, or edit out enough video… so take a peek at my “runner up” favorites pics from the month.
And that closes out the month of October! I hope you enjoyed my 31 days of photography. Which photos were your favorite? It was fun and quite the experience getting to know my camera. If you have a DSLR, or even just a phone, I suggest you take a deeper dive into the “ins and outs” of how it works. It will make you appreciate each photo you take and really make you analyze the scene, setting and composition, resulting in better pictures. Digital photography makes it super easy to learn these items as you essentially have endless film and attempts. Can you imagine the days of literal film, like non-digital photos, where you didn’t get to see the photos you took until much later after they were developed. I know it wasn’t even that long ago, but wow, mad props to those folks.
Quick FYI, I plan on taking another mini break in November from my daily challenges, as I will finish up my biking. See ya next time in December where I attempt to edit a video every day of the month.
Happy Photo Taking!
Josh