Saturday evening I was able to get out and practice. With family being sick and several summer activities, it has been hard to squeeze it in. Although it was HOT, I really enjoyed getting some evening shots. In the summer time, 6pm – 9pm is the best lighting time and even when the sun has set, you still have some beautiful light.
The first shot I captured with my 50mm lens was more in town. My settings were IS0 320, f11 and shutter 1/1600. I could of lowered my ISO so that I didn’t have to have a fast shutter. Shooting with a prime lens like the 50mm, I really didn’t need to worry about hand shakes. Then I drove over to a baseball field (City of Colleges) to get some great images. On my next engagement session, I am going to suggest having the session at a baseball park, so fun!
I slap on my 70-200 lens and shot the third image at ISO 320, f11 and shutter 1/2000. Now I will say that if you don’t have a VR on a zoom lens, I would recommend shooting sunsets over 1/600 of a sec. for the shutter speed. This will help with the shakes, of course, using a tripod is the better option. But I left my behind so I pump it high.
My last shot looks like maybe it was 7:30 or 8pm. It is actually 8:30pm. Sun was down, storm clouds were rolling in, what a great opportunity for shooting with low shutter speed. The image looks well lit because of the the long shutter speed. I went back and grab my tripod and using the 50 mm, I shot at ISO 100, f22, and shutter at 13 seconds. You might ask why such a low ISO and high fstop? Well, I wanted to capture the light on the concrete and bricks of the building. See how the light shines on the bricks? Notice the circle light on the concrete. So, I needed a long exposure to achieve that. Also, notice the star on the lamp closes to me, I achieved that by having a small aperture. I could have lowered the aperture to f8 or 11 and still drag out the shutter around a second or two and got the exposure but I like the star affect. With such a small aperture setting and being on a tripod, why are the tree leaves blurry? Well, it was windy and since the shutter drag out for 13secs., it capture that movement. I think it adds just another touch to picture. Enjoy!