Entry 7 - Portraiture

Two more pics today. One which turned out very neat - with the whole background motion-blurred - and another with a simply awesome composition.

I know what your thinking: your wondering how I took this picture, aren't you? A poorly planned portrait will usually turn out the opposite way, with the subject blurred and the background relatively crisp. I wish I could give you a long winded scientific explanation of why this picture turned out as it did, but how this picture came to being is as much a mystery to me as to you. Almost. I can tell you my guess: This picture was taken with flash on, usually not recommended, but in this shot it served my purpose. I quickly moved my hand downward while pressing the shutter button, and that is how a predecessor of this frame came about. On seeing the results, I experimented more.
Since I was moving my hand fast downward when I took the picture, the background is blurred. The only part of the picture which isn't blurry, is the subject, the part of the picture which the flash was projected onto.

Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Shutter Speed: 1/25th of a second (note that if the shutter speed was faster, the background wouldn't be      blurred, and you lose the effect)
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 18mm

Sorry for the extra long entry. That last pic took a bit of explaining.

Don't try this at home. We had a particularly straight length of road, we could see cars coming from far off.

Camera: Canon XS
Shutter: 1/500th sec
Aperture: f/14 (if it was much lower I couldn't have had the trees/horizon of road be in focus)
ISO: 1600 (though I recommend much lower)
Focal Length: 18mm

Entry 6 - Nearing Apocalypse

If picture editing was a sin, I am certainly a sinner on this one. I took this picture yesterday as a storm rolled in on may while I hiked in a nearby park. Although it was a neat picture to begin with, a heightening in shadows and saturation (I used Picasa 3) takes this picture on a near apocalyptic turn.


Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 18mm
ISO: 200

Entry 4-5 - Hare Krishna

Today I'll review two photos - one taken with my 1000D and the other with a simple Canon point-and-shoot.

I took this photo with my Canon EOS Rebel XS of the Hare Krishna Rathayatra cart in Jacksonville, FL. Shortly afterward I found my camera out of batteries and could not take and more pictures of the parade.

Aperture:	f/20
Focal Length:	55mm
ISO:	800
Shutter:	1/800 sec
Camera:	Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS

This is one of my favorite pictures I have ever took - and considering I took it with a Canon A495, that's saying something. This picture was taken of the Samadhis (grave) of two Swamis (monks) in Bengal, India. I believe I took it with a 15 second shutter, though the information below doesn't seem to line up.

Aperture:	f/3
Focal Length:	6.6mm
ISO:	80
Shutter:	1/0 sec
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A495

Entry 3 - Trees

Two falling trees caused this pile up in the sky.

Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 18mm
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS

Entry 2 - Marigold

This was one of the first pictures I took with my new Canon EOS Rebel XS. It has brilliant depth of field, even though I used the kit lens and have not yet purchased a macro lens.

Aperture:	f/10
Focal Length:	51mm
ISO:	800
Shutter:	1/200 sec
Camera:	Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS

Entry 1 - Deities

This picture was taken with the light metered to the deity of Lord Balarama's purple turban, making his face look extra bright and effulgent. This feature of the picture was made possible by the "Spot" light metering mode on the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS I took it with.

Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 60mm
ISO: 800
Shutter: 1/12 sec
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX 130 IS