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Lauraloo83

Lauraloo83

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Name
Laura
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Hi all,

I'm following a 31 day programme to get me to understand photography and I'm at a topic of depth of field and arperture. It says the lens I have which I think goes to about f4 won't be as effective in this experiment. Now seen as I am on day 2 of being a budding brand new photographer I'm wondering at what point should I invest in Lee lens etc?

Thanks
Laura :)
 
Lee don't make lenses, not sure what you mean by that. If you are studying DOF, then you will probably be looking at getting out of focus backgrounds. F/4 can do this, but it won't be as effective as a lens with a wider aperture such as f/2.8.

Walk before you can run, use the kit you have and understand it before even contemplating buying anything else.
 
Sorry that was a typo I meant *a new. I was planning on working out how to use what I have as much as I can and asking Santa for a new one. Thanks for the response :)
 
Any lens with a selection of apertures will do for understanding aperture depth of field. To start pick a subject with a regular vertical paten. Iron railings wooden fence ect. use shutter priority tie a pice of cloth to one of the railing. Focus on this cloth at f4 then go through you apature range without refocusing. This will show you how much the depth of field changes with apature. Shoot at about 45Deg to your subject and about 15 feet fro it.
 
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I just read in another thread that you are only shooting manual. I understand you think this is the right way, to go in deep, but I think its the wrong way to learn.
I guess all you are doing is centering the exposure meter needle in the middle? If so, this absolutely no different than using A or S mode. The point of manual mode is that you override what the camera thinks is right. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as a bright light source, a very dark area in the frame which confuses the meter. The correct way to use manual mode is to say to yourself " I can see a large bright area which I know will throw the exposure meter off, and cause under exposure, so Im going to dial in a little more exposure to compensate". This only comes with experience. The same is true of A or S mode, except you are just adjusting the exposure slightly differently, the final outcome is the same.
If you are not sure about different apertures, which judging by this post you aren't fully yet, you can't possibly know what manual setting achieves which effect, so your photos are no different that using full auto mode, as you aren't inputting any creative control.
 
Perhaps you're correct I have little knowledge of photography but so far I think I'm doing well and I think I'm doing as well as I am because I've had to sink or swim. Despite your words of wisdom I think I'm going to continue on this route as I'm happy and feeling confident, each photograph I'm taking is making me think what I need to do to improve it and so I'm using ISO, arperture and shutter speed and distance to see what effects im having. Both indoors and outdoors, one photo I'm proud of so far is below, you may think it's rubbish though. I don't want to be put off track when I feel I'm doing ok. I'm doing an online course soon so I'm hoping to strengthen my knowledge even more so.
 
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you dont mention what camera you have so i can only go by my experience with canon, ( im sure nikon have the same ) , but for a very small budget you can get the "nifty fifty" 50mm f/1.8 lens for around £60.
this is a prime lens thats idel for portrait and general use on an aps-c crop sensor camera and being f/1.8 will give you extremely shallow DOF wide open.
a worthwhile lens to have in your kit bag for the money. ( im sure nikon do similar but no clue on cost and same for other brands too )
 
I agree with dean messenger: if you are curious, get the 50mm 1.8, it's very cheap and a great lens to experiment with. That was the first lens I bought too. I understand when people say walk before you can run, but when you are a beginner and first learning about DOF and lenses that can do 2.0 and the best what you have only does 4.0, the only thing you want to do is get a lens that will show you the difference and experiment! So I'd say go for it! Get the cheapy nifty fifty! When I bought it, I didn't need to buy another lens for a long long time.
 
Thank you so much guys it means a lot they you've taken your time to help me! I'll get that Len's next pay day! Thank you so much x
 
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