One of the performers we saw in action today at the 2011 Fremantle Street Arts Festival was Leapin' Louie, performing his comedy cowboy routines.

a tall unicycle and a burning whip....what could possibly go wrong?

cracking a burning whip

Here's a photo taken in Sydney in late 2009, capturing the lights of Luna Park after sunset. It was shot across the harbour from Blues Point.
I tried a few different exposures, and found about 10 seconds gave good results to capture the lights on the spinning ferris wheel, while still smoothing out the water.

Luna Park at night

Blues Point, Sydney, New South Wales
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @70mm, 10 sec, f/7.1, ISO100

This is the eighth article in a series on "understanding your camera" that I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.

In the previous article in this series, I discussed the various modes available on most cameras, from the fully automatic modes to the semi-automatic modes, creative modes, and manual mode.



There are plenty of people who believe you are not a photographer unless you always use manual mode.

For someone who is relatively new to a DSLR camera, the idea of using manual mode can be a bit daunting, especially when you are struggling to come to terms with the concepts of exposure, aperture, and you are still learning your way around the controls of your camera.

I don't have anything against the people who choose to use manual mode. However, I do have a problem with the people who insist manual mode is the only way to use a DSLR camera.



Modern digital cameras contain a lot of electronics that can make smarter and faster decisions about exposure than you can.
Rather than having to choose the ISO, aperture and shutter speed manually, let the camera take control of one or more of those parameters, while you set the parameter(s) that are important.

Let the camera do most of the work, and you can then adjust the exposure up or down a little, if required, using exposure compensation.
This will allow you to focus on actually taking the photo, the composition, and capturing the moment, rather than fiddling with the camera's controls to get the right exposure in manual mode. This is especially true for people who are still learning the controls on their DSLR camera, where adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO isn't second nature, and you haven't yet figured out how to do it blind-folded, with one arm behind your back.

I recently did my first newborn baby photoshoot, photographing Matt and Roz's new-born baby girl.
Zoe Madison was born on 11 February, and was just two weeks old when these photos were taken.

sleeping beauty

supporting hands