Your Camera Wants You To, Seriously!

Do you ever take a look around a photography blog and wish you could take dreamy pictures like they do? Here's a quick explanation about lighting from Bonnie who is the professional photographer behind the lens at Bonnie Loves Pictures Photography.
Let her show you the light...

Auto or manual settings...
What's the difference anyway?

—Photos and post by Bonnie of BonnieLovesPicturesPhotography and blog.

"My hubby works from noon to 10:00 pm. When he comes home at night, I’m usually on the computer editing pictures and our three-year-old son is asleep on our bed (I know, but it's the only place he’ll sleep, okay!) Usually I have the closet light on and it shines just enough light on my son stopping the whining about how dark it is in my room. Just so you know, when he doesn’t stop whining, I bribe him by telling him if he sleeps in his own room, I’ll buy him a HUGE Spiderman night light. —It never works, btw.

On this particular night, my son fell asleep with his Darth Vader costume on, INCLUDING the hard, plastic mask. My husband and I had a good laugh and then a picture of course!

• Exposure: 1/8 sec
• Aperture: f/1.4
• ISO speed: 1600
• Focal length: 50 mm

I have no idea why the only way he could sleep was with this costume on, but look, I’m tired, I’m busy, and if he wants to wear a costume to sleep, I'm all for it! This first picture is interesting because I was able to:

• control the amount of light entering my camera (aperture)
• determine how long my camera sensor was exposed to light (shutter speed)
  
• choose the camera sensor for the light available (ISO speed)

I was able to capture a shot that truly looks like it was taken in the dark, with just a little closet light shining on my son. Let me show you the exact picture, with my camera on Auto.



It looks like I hauled my bed outside in broad daylight, forced my poor child to lay on it and pretend to be asleep, all so I could take a picture for this blog post. I didn’t, I promise. I had my camera on Auto and the on-camera flash went off. Good thing my son didn’t wake up, I tell ya.

If you have a camera that came with a good sized manual in the box, you probably have a camera that has different settings and modes. If you already know this and do this on a regular basis, then let's get your photog on!

Now if you have a camera with these different settings, but you’ve never dared try them out or learn what your camera can do, I ask you to go and learn! Discover what beautiful things you and your camera can capture when the two of you know each other better.

Your camera wants you to, seriously.