DSLR for Dummies- Exposure Compensation

I'm back with a DSLR post.  I am starting to take some photos on my own now.  It's pretty sweet.  I'm digging it.

Nate, however, is not.  The DSLR is his precious child and I'm pretty sure he cringes every time I touch it.   I had the camera approximately 10 feet from the table and he's like "Whoa, watch out for the lens."   10 feet.  Seriously.

I then asked Nate to solve this hypothetical situation for me.  If Ike, the DSLR, and I are tied down to train tracks and a train is rapidly approaching, in what order would he try to save us...

I'll keep you guessing on that one. 

Today I wanted to learn about something called exposure compensation.  Although I had no clue at the time that's what I wanted to learn about.

I tried to take a few photos of our office this past week-end (Fun posts next week. Get excited).  The photos kept turning out dark no matter what I did.  Nate informed me I needed to adjust the exposure compensation.  Who knew.

See that little button right there.



It’s really hard to take a close up of the top of your camera with your camera.  I need a second DSLR for that.  You know, when my money tree in the backyard grows to maturity. In the mean time, you get a camera phone shot.  What did we ever do before camera phones?   Oh yeah, we learned how to use DSLRs.

That button controls exposure compensation.  Exposure compensation helps you when you are in either aperture or shutter priority (aperture refresher here).  The camera will try to expose for what it thinks the best exposure is. Sometimes you will want a different part of the picture brighter or darker.  This button (in aperture mode) will change the shutter speed in order to get a brighter or darker image while keeping the same aperture.

For example...in the following photo the table is exposed properly.  The front side of the cow is darker than we would like...(The cow is an early birthday gift from a dear friend.  Isn't he perfect? Focus.)

No exposure compensation

I then dialed the exposure compensation to 0.7.  The front side of the cow is now brighter. Shutter speed longer.

 

Exposure compensation 0.7

Nate then had me dial to 1.7 to continue to see the change.  Shutter speed even longer.  Super bright.  I need shades.

Exposure compensation 1.7

I then dialed to -1.0.  Everything is darker.  Shutter speed was faster.

 

In summary, exposure compensation is an easy way to quickly change the brightness to get the correct exposure....because the camera isn't always going to get it right.  Bummer.

Any words of wisdom on exposure compensation?  What do you think is the solution to Nate's hypothetical train situation?   This is a test my darling readers.

Blogging Basics- Blog Header

I’m back with some blogging knowledge.  I like to pretend I know what I’m talking about.   For those of you that don’t care about blog headers, there are some cute Ike photos ahead.

First impressions on your blog are important. There are a lot of blogs out there.  You need to draw people in as soon as they click on your page.  One easy way to do this is by having a nice blog header. 

Do you need to spend $100 to have someone design one for you?  Nope.  You can DIY this one and use that $100 on something important.  Like paint.  Or fabric.  Or chocolate.

Today I’m going to show you how to make a header using Picnik.  Yes, the lovely free Picnik that is disappearing soon.  I’m actually in denial about the whole thing. I think it’s one big April Fool’s day joke.  I’m on to you Google. I have Photoshop Elements.  I’m just too lazy to use it.  Okay, I did use it on my current header but I also said a lot of swear words while making it.  I used Picnik for my first header.  And I made it without swear words.  Anyone remember this?…

Memories.

Now it’s time for you to make your very own photo header.

Step 1: Head on over to Picnik and find the collage option.  (It keeps moving on me.  Oh my, I’ll never be able to learn PSE.)

Step 2:  Pick one of the rectangular collage options.  I’ll choose the one with 4 photos.

Step 3: Upload the photos you want to use in your header, and drag and drop them in the frames where you want them.  You can mess around with all of those fun buttons on the left.  I think the proportions option is quite helpful.  You can also change the background color here as well.  Click “Done!” when complete.

Step 5:  Next you will want to include your blog name in your header.  Click on the "Text" button at the top of the page. Type your blog name in the box.  You can select the font, size, and color at this time as well.

I wanted my title to have different fonts so I just created multiple text boxes. 

Step 6:  Click “Save and Share” at the top when you are finished.

Step 7:  Change your file name and dimensions on this screen.  ~94% is good for most blog widths.  You may need to adjust this if yours looks a little off after uploading it to your blog.  Click the “Save Photo” button and save the file to your computer.

Step 8:  My advice now continues in Blogger.  I figure if you are taking advise from me you should be using a simple blog format like the lovely Blogger because I really should be giving layout advice.  Click design from your dashboard.  Next click the edit button next to the header.

Step 9: Next to "From your computer" click "browse”.  Locate the file you previously saved to your computer to upload the photo.  Once that is complete, make sure to select the button that says "Instead of title and description." Then click save. 

Step 10:  Enjoy your pretty new blog header that took less than 5 minutes to make.

Okay, you might want to spend more than 5 minutes on it.  The Furry Dog Blog doesn’t exist so I decided to not waste any more time than necessary on it.  I’m going to use that time to comb the  dog instead.  So furry.

Anyone find this helpful?  Who’s going to teach me PSE?  Any good April Fool’s Day jokes out there?  Who wants to brush my dog for me?

Unicorns/Gosling/Fail

Today I’d like to share with you a project fail.  The wounds are a little fresh but I think I can make it through this post.  I want you all to know that things aren’t always unicorns and rainbows in this little world of mine.  I just like to keep the blog a happy place.

But not today.

I have this problem of not being able to visualize things very well.  And it stinks when you like to pretend like you are good at decorating your house.

Take, for instance, this empty spot next to the fridge. (And yes, good bloggers take photos during the day but this blogger has to work during the day to pay for this lovely kitchen.  Feel the unicorns being sucked out of this post already?).…



I came up with the brilliant idea that a big ol’ chalkboard would be a perfect thing for the space.
This is where I usually rely on Nate’s wonderful vision to squander moronic plans like this.  Unfortunately he is currently working 767 hours per work (not a typo) and is an accounting zombie. No, seriously.  I’m so concerned I started doing cardio.

I instead relied on my good friend Ryan Gosling…

via Handmade Ryan Gosling

You really get me Mr. Gosling.  Full steam ahead.

I got my board and slathered it with chalkpaint.  I got ready to have Nate hang it.  And…it looked weird….



It actually looks a little better in the photo than it did in person.  In person it looks all cheap and weird. Totally made the kitchen all red neck.  Did I mention that it looked weird?   I even tried to rationalize that maybe if we trimmed it out it would look better.  Luckily Nate had rested enough on Sunday to let me know that there was no saving this project. Better luck next time, kid.

I’ll save that lovely little chalkboard though. I’m sure it will find a loving place to live in this home of ours.

Who’s glad they didn’t have to see another darn chalkboard?  Any big failures on your end lately?  Chalkboard successes?  Anyone else find those Ryan Gosling photos a lot funnier than one should?