Photography

I’ve been busy since getting a Canon EOS 700D. It’s been an interesting experience, in learning how all of this works:

• The holy quadrangle of exposure:
  • ISO
  • aperture
  • shutter speed
  • lighting
• Compressing space with high-power zooms and long-exposure times.
• Composition theory, areas of interest and guiding the eye.

How this fits together to get what you want is the perennial struggle for making visually interesting results. YouTube has a ridiculous number of DSLR tutorial videos. One of my favourites was learning the science behind lenses, aperture and how it all works.

If you’ve wanted to dabble your feet in photography, it’s not that difficult. The tech is readily available – and hackers have given us ways of unlocking what is possible with modern cameras and the ability to adapt and reuse older, cheap lenses. It’s possible to do it on a budget, if you’re prepared to put some work into it.

When you don’t quite get what you want, digital manipulation of colour, exposure, contrast and selective work to accentuate and refine – these have never been more readily available, quick or so powerful and easy to use. Compared with the Adobe suite, the open source movement has a lot to catch up on with these imaging tools.

Mastery is what separates the professionals from the rest of us – able to use their huge experience and composition chutzpah at will. Lucky accidents happen often enough for the rest of us, if you shoot loads of pictures and sift appropriately.

Here’s my current selection of lucky accidents. You won’t see the many gigabytes of crap I’ve shot.