Splashing Around

Splashing Around
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Splashing Around
I was running out of time to come up with a shot for the Autumn themed monthly photo competition at work . The recent storms and rain have brought most of the foliage down off the trees. There is one nice bit left in Windsor great Park but when I went up there on Saturday it was raining so the camera stayed firmly in the bag... I've learned my lesson about getting it wet (see my star trails photo).

I thought I would take advantage of the rain and the puddles by having some fun with my kids. Dress them up in bright clothes and welies and try to get some frozen water and refelction action going on as they jump up and down in puddles. Half an hour and lots of fun later this was the best shot of the bunch and I have my entry to the autumn competition.

Canon EOS 40D, EFS 17-55mm IS USM, 580EXII strobe.

20mm. 1/250 sec, f/8 +1EV flash. Manual exposire mode to ensure the low lighting di not lead to a slow shutter speed and blur. Using manual means that camera uses the flash to expose the subject vs using ambient to expose for the background with the subject "filled" with flash. Slightly cropped plus boosted exposure, blacks, clarity, saturation and sharpening in lightroom.

I'm helping to set up a photography group at work and it's great to see that there is so much interest ranging from complete beginners to seasoned experts. There will be a range of themed monthly competitions and regular seminars, tutorials etc. It's the subject of this first tutorial that I'm blogging about today. I've always suspected I was a bit of a geek when it comes to gear and kowing how to use it but this was confirmed on Wednesday lunchtime when I took a few fellow Canon DSLR owners "under my wing" for some basic training on their camera. I take my own level of knowledge forgranted and was very pelased to be able to share some basic information with the group that they just didn't know and were very grateful for. This was as simple as focus screen adjustment using the dioptre dial. Focus point selection using the quick slect wheel. SHutter half press to focus and recompose. (I know... I was amazed they didn't know how to use this either... does noone read the manual ?) They were basically using their expensive DSLr's as point and shoots and not venturing off the green "auto" function. We went into the basics of aperture and shutter speed and how to control DOF using aperture. I think shutter speeds was also a n insight for them too and made them realise why they were getting blured shots in low light. Basically theu were expecting this "majic" expensice DSLR to do everything for them without understanding the how and what limitations it has. In all we made good progress, I enjoyed teaching and they took a lot away and have some new skills to practice. Next time I think I'll use the camera tethered to a lap top so that we can get input from the group on how to change settings for a particular situation or effect, change them, and see the results straight away on the screen.