October 1, 2009 - Well planned snapshots

1/40

f5.0

ISO 800

29mm

RAW

A little more simple of a shot today. I got this while my kids were browsing around for a book to buy at their school's book fair. But even with something that looks like a snapshot still has some thought and planning behind it.

Take this shot, for instance. I cheated a little by putting the camera in 'P' mode. This mode lets the camera make all the decisions but lets me influence them. In this instance my influences were setting the camera to ISO 800 and using the fluorescent white balance. The film speed gave it enough light to properly expose the shots without using a flash, while the white balance matched the lights in the library.

Now all I had to do was follow my kids around as they looked at books. But even there I used a specific technique. In this shot, I crouched down so the camera was on the same level as my kids. This simple change in angle of view really changes the whole feel of the photo because it is as if we are seeing the world from their perspective. It's subtle, but can have a powerful effect.

As to what I would change, I wish I had a little more shutter speed. The camera was fooled a little and overexposed the shot, but I was able to dial it back down using Adobe Camera Raw adn Photoshop Elements. If the camera hadn't been fooled, however, the shutter speed would have been a little faster and maybe I wouldn't have gotten the slight motion blur in Morgan's hands.

Oh, and one more thing — why in the world are they holding the book upside down?