Hi and welcome to Episode 133 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. Definitely no Google in this episode.
Here is the answery bit
- Try autobracketing and put the photos together in whatever editing software you use, or
- Deliberately underexpose and overexpose photos (and see what you get)
- Take the same photo with different apertures (but the correct exposure)
- Take the same photo with different shutter speeds (but the correct exposure)
- Try a long exposure
Yes, these are all related to taking photos but vary how you take the photos using different camera settings.
Keep your photography developing – see what I did there. Yes back in the day when I was a whippersnapper I used to take the film to a shop and get the photos developed. That or I developed them at home. Badly.
I also wanted to mention these two as well, but they did not fit in.
- Take a photo of something you have never taken a photo of before
- Give black and white a go
Ones for another time I guess. See this is a never-ending thing, this podcast. Every time I write an episode another 2 or 3 new episodes appear like a rabbit out of a hat!
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
A tripod will help here, but if you don’t have one just do these things anyway.
Right, back to those five things.
1 Try autobracketing and put the photos together in whatever editing software you use
This is what I do for my architectural, real estate and construction photography. This is how I work. Why do I do this?
Simple. If I take a photo of a room, the window, the light bit, will be overexposed. The shadows in the room will be too dark, underexposed. But the bits in the middle will be fine. So I take three photos, one for the light bits, one for the dark bits, plus the one I was going to take anyway. And I merge them together in Lightroom.
In Lightroom, this is called HDR Merge. Say that you use HDR and you are opening yourself up to all sorts of criticism. But say that you take photos using auto-bracketing and you sound like a knowledgeable photographer.
They are exactly the same. Auto-bracketing is the same as HDR.
Give it a go. See how you get on. I give you the room example to explain what I am talking about. You do not have to take a photo of a window of course.
No – try it, see how you get on. And let me know.
2 Deliberately underexpose and overexpose photos (and see what you get)
Play around with exposure. Take photos with the correct exposure, then take the same photo but changing the aperture or shutter to deliberately underexpose the photo. And then do the same but overexpose the photo. Try 2 stops, and then try 4.
And look at what you have got. This will help you learn about exposure. The 4 stop ones are probably rubbish, but there may be something there that you can use.
And the two stop photos will show you what the camera can capture 2 stops either side of the correct exposure. And yes, this is what you are doing when you auto-bracket.
And that is the point. When you take a photo with the correct exposure you are missing stuff beyond what you have captured in the lights and the darks. And with these photos, you can see what that stuff is.
3 Take the same photo with different apertures (but the correct exposure)
More playing with the camera. Start wide open, at whatever the maximum aperture is. That is the largest opening, you can’t see the aperture when you take a photo, so this is letting the maximum amount of light in. Take a photo, then work through the aperture scale, until you are at the minimum aperture, which is the smallest opening, letting the least light in. I know there will be some fiddling around with the shutter speed and ISO to get the exposure correct, but it is worth it.
And see what you get. Look at the photos, and compare them. What is sharp and what is not sharp?
4 Take the same photo with different shutter speeds (but the correct exposure).
Start with the correct exposure and an average shutter speed, say 1/125th second. Then go up the shutter speed scale using faster and faster shutter speeds. And then go the other, way, using slower and slower shutter speeds. And if you don’t have a tripod try to keep as still as you can, and see when photos start to get blurry.
And again, look at what you get.
5 Try a long exposure
If you don’t have a tripod then just put your camera on a wall, table, whatever. Just get your camera set somewhere where it will not move. I have used all sorts to make sure my camera doesn’t move, including pebbles on the beach, and sticks and twigs in the forest. All that matters is that your camera is not moving.
Use the self-timer built into the camera and take a photo with the longest shutter speed that you can get the correct exposure for.
Can’t get a long enough exposure? Check out next week’s episode where I tell you about sunglasses for camera lenses.
As to what you are taking photos of? Well just take photos of stuff that you like to take photos of and see what you get.
The talky bit
The point of this is to experiment with your camera and the various settings that you can change. So try all these things, and you will see what happens when you get the exposure wrong, what you don’t get but also what you do get that you wouldn’t have got with a correct exposure. If that makes sense?
And also you will begin to see what changing the aperture and shutter speed do
I prefer to learn about this stuff with photos that I have taken, that I can analyse myself. This is an excellent way to develop your photography skills. And that is what this is all about. Yes, it really is, by using different, and in many cases incorrect camera settings.
It doesn’t cost anything, and you can do this whenever and wherever you like, with whatever subjects you like.
And it proves that not having a tripod does not have to be a barrier, there are other ways….
So have a go and see what happens when you try these things.
Oh yes, did you try any of the things I suggested in episode 110? If you did let me know how you got on. A few of the things that I raised there had a similar theme.
- Get out more and take photos
- Learn composition
- Learn your camera properly
- Learn how to use your camera
- Take time to take photos
- Get out more but take fewer photos
- Less is more
- Get a critique
- Really look at your photos and learn what you have done
- Enjoy photography
All good stuff. And this is what photography is all about – getting out and taking photos. Trying new things, Seeing what you can create.
What do I do?
Well, I have done all this good stuff myself over many years, and still have a play from time to time. This helped me understand what was going on. So give this little lot a go.
Next episode
Yes, a very specific gear-related question, which came out of one of the points in this episode. More seamless progression of subject matters.
If you have a photography question you would like me to answer, in plain English, in less than 10 minutes (ish), without the irrelevant details, just head over to PhotographyExplainedPodcast.com/start. You can also find out more about me and my podcast, and also ways to help me.
I would love to hear from you, even if you just want to say hi.
This episode was powered by, wait for it, a chicken and mayo roll, and a cheese and pickle soft white roll, oddly paired up with a bag of smoky bacon crisps. No, I know. It didn’t work. But they were nicely washed down with an ice-cold Diet Pepsi, sat here in my rather warm, homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time.
Take care, stay safe
Cheers from me Rick”
Right – that was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. And anything else on my mind. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
