learning to shoot in manual

(Flowers in a dim bathroom with indirect natural light from one window. Unedited, shot in manual. I can't believe I took this!) 

Since moving to Chicago last August, I knew that as soon as I upgraded to a DSLR camera I would want to take a photography workshop with our talented and amazing wedding photographer Christy Tyler.

I'd been using my little Canon 7.1 megapixel Power Shot Digital Elph since 2008. While I HIGHLY recommend Power Shots if you're looking for a point and shoot (see great examples here, here, and here--its strengths are landscape shots in natural daylight), I was dying to get a "real camera" to expand my skills, although I figured it would take me another year or two to actually save up for one. Well, Ben surprised me with a Canon Rebel T3 on the morning after our wedding and let's just say that gift cemented the entire weekend as the best weekend ever!

So last Saturday I attended Christy's beginners photography workshop and in just 4 hours she'd taken us all from photography novices to shooting in manual! I'd been playing around with the semi-automatic settings (mainly Av and P) and had basically figured out depth of field, white balance, and exposure while taking millions of self portraits for my Etsy listings, but now I feel like I've unlocked a whole new level of control! With the manual setting it's easier to take the picture you want to capture, as opposed to taking a so-so shot and then editing the heck out of it (and sometimes losing detail) to make it brighter and clearer. It's also easy to take bright photos in dim, indoor settings!

Here is an extremely brief and abbrieviated summary of what I learned:

When you're in manual, the three main things you have to think about are aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.

• You set the aperture (depth of field or f/number) depending on how blurry you want the background to be. If you want to capture one object in focus with a blurry background, set a smaller f/number. If you want a landscape or group shot, set it higher. 
• The ISO controls the camera's light sensitivity. A lower ISO number is good for daylight and outdoor shots, and a higher ISO number is necessary for indoor shots or night time. 
• The shutter speed controls how much light enters the lens. A slower shutter speed makes your image brighter, and a faster shutter speed makes the image darker but allows you to shoot moving objects.

The settings you should try first are 1/125 shutter speed and ISO100 for outdoors, ISO400 for indoors. Use whatever f/stop you want depending on the depth of field of your shot (person vs. landscape) and adjust from there!

Now I'll devote the rest of the post to some of the photos I took during the workshop! I'll label them with the aperture (f/no.), ISO, and shutter speed I used for each one so you can see the difference it makes to have the correct settings to achieve the exposure or brightness level you want.
*All of the photos in this entire post were shot in manual and are unedited, straight from the camera! (Canon EOS Rebel T3 with basic kit 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens).

 Dark bathroom--this is what it looked like to the eye. Aperture F/4.0, ISO800, Shutter 1/60.

Dark bathroom, brighter picture! Aperture F/4.0, ISO3200, Shutter 1/60. 

So the only change I made was increasing the ISO from 800 to 3200.

Close up of the flowers in the dark bathroom. F/4.5, ISO3200, Shutter 1/100.

I made the flowers just a little brighter by lowering the shutter speed. F/4.5, ISO3200, Shutter 1/60.

Objects in front of a bright backlit window, very over-exposed i.e. too bright!! F/4.0, ISO 800, Shutter 1/80.

 Better exposure by increasing shutter speed! F/4.0, ISO 800, Shutter 1/250.

This is what the camera "thought" the exposure should be with an even faster shutter speed, but Christy said that if you have a bright backlight such as a window, you do have to overexpose the shot in order to make the subject bright enough. I think this is a bit too dark. F/4.0, ISO800, Shutter 1/500.

I lowered the ISO because the light was brighter for this close up, but it was too dark. F/4.0, ISO 400, Shutter 1/320.

Raised the ISO back up. Much better! F/4.0, ISO800, Shutter 1/320

 Even a bit brighter by slowing down the shutter. F/4.0, ISO400, Shutter 1/125.

Here's the room in front of the window. Way too dark! F/4.0, ISO400, Shutter 1/160. 

 I raised the ISO and lowered the shutter speed. Yay brightness! To get a sharper picture, I should have left the shutter speed higher (to protect against accidentally moving the camera while the shutter is open) raised the ISO even more to compensate for the higher/darker shutter speed, and maybe raised the f/number to lengthen the depth of field. F/4.0, ISO800, Shutter 1/30

 Christy let me play with her awesome and huge 100 mm macro lens! (Ben calls the "ring in flowers or nature" a classic Christy shot, haha). I was also focusing manually with this lens. A little too dark for my taste but I love the moodiness. F/4.0, ISO400, Shutter 1/125.

I brightened the shot by lowering the shutter speed since I was bracing my arms on the table and wasn't worried about camera shake. If I was holding the camera up, I would have tried raising the ISO too so I didn't have to make the shutter so slow. Gorgeous! I can't believe this is straight from the camera. I obviously need this lens.... F/4.0, ISO400, Shutter 1/25.

Christy turned the tables and let us practice photographing her for a change. Note the lower ISO number for outdoors, although I think I would have raised it a tiny bit to brighten the photo since we were in the shade: F/4.5, ISO100, Shutter 1/80.

Once I got home I had to keep testing out my new skills to make sure it wasn't just photography magic inside Christy's apartment that made us all so suddenly and mysteriously good with our cameras! Our apartment is extremely dim all the time since we only have one south facing window in a tiny breakfast nook, which is where I take all my Etsy photographs.

Here's what it actually looked like at 4 pm, minimal light left. Piles of magazines and fabric are typical.

F/4.0, ISO400, Shutter 1/125.

I like taking super bright and over-exposed product pictures for my shop, so I quadrupled the ISO. F/4.0, ISO1600, Shutter 1/100.

And here's a quick selfie I took for the shop! (Get the scarf here). F/4.0, ISO1600, Shutter 1/100.

Usually I have to edit the brightness and highlights on my product photos to get them as bright as I want, but I didn't have to adjust the exposure in this one at all! (This photo is straight from the camera, but for the listing photo I did minor touch ups and warmed the color temperature up to make the colors more true to life since the indirect late afternoon light here was blue-ish).

So there you have it! This is definitely not a "how to shoot in manual" guide since I am NOT professing to be even close to a photography expert, but if you've been attempting to play with manual I hope that I've helped you out a little bit! 

And if you're an amateur or professional photographer in the Chicago area looking to expand your knowledge and camera skills I definitely recommend registering for one of Christy's workshops!

lately

Lately I've been:

-Enjoying the sun we're getting! Despite still-freezing temperatures. Only one little corner of our apartment gets direct light, my sewing room/art studio/photography corner/kitchen table.

-Obsessed with lace. Adding lace trimmed floaty infinity scarves to the shop, keep an eye out for more colors and patterns this week!

-Baking this caramelized banana bread.

-Doing this workout, the best/hardest full body routine I've found on YouTube.

-Reading The Art of Fielding for book club. Highly recommend.

-Waiting to hear back about a job interview...eeep.

-Pinning lush bouquets, ambitious sewing projects, and bright, white living spaces.

-Looking forward to Ben's spring break in two weeks! I've barely seen him lately. Teachers work way too much.

What have you been up to this week?

DIY lace trimmed veil

(photo by Christy Tyler Photography)

As you can see by the colors of the leaves in that photo, this week's crafty tutorial is looooong overdue: my DIY lace trimmed veil!

Veils are ridiculously overpriced at bridal boutiques considering that tulle is less than $2 a yard, so I knew from the beginning of wedding planning that I wanted to make my own. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that it's easier than it looks!

Here are the three tutorials that I found most useful (thanks to my friend Laurie for sharing):

• Make your own wedding veil - good diagrams for tulle measurements
• Veil tutorial - good tutorial for sewing on a wide lace trim
• How To: DIY a Wedding Veil - good basic step by step

The first thing you need to do is choose a style and length. I knew I wanted a single layer (no "blusher" aka the part that goes over your face), fingertip length, and minimal poof-factor.

Supplies I used:

• 2 yards of 108" wide ivory tulle from JoAnn's (I bought way more than that and it ended up trying to eat me when I unrolled it...you actually don't need that much tulle!)
• wide metal bridal comb from JoAnn's (use a coupon)
• needle and white thread
• rotary cutter and cutting board, or fabric scissors
• approx. 3-4 yards of wide Alencon lace trim from Etsy 

Here's a close up of the gorgeous lace I got. I lucked out with an amazing per-yard deal, so of course I bought the entire roll. Still deciding what to do with the leftovers...

Sidenote: I was afraid the lace would clash with my dress since the lace is extremely yellowed ivory, my dress was a different ivory, and the lace trim on the dress was white, but it looked fine! You don't have to matchy-match everything.
(That may have sounded type-A but just wait until you're planning a wedding. The subtle differences between white and ivory take on SUCH MEANING and it's scary.)

Step 1: Cut your tulle in the size and shape you want. 

This was the most difficult step for me, because I accidentally bought WAY too much tulle.

I ended up with a half circle shape, 60" along the straight edge by 45" to the widest point (the dimensions are labeled in white in the picture, kind of camouflaged by my floral rug). To cut the shape, the tulle was folded along the 45" line and I cut an arc through the double layers to make sure both sides were even. Then I shaped the top and sides until the curves lay the way I wanted when I draped the tulle from my head.

-If you want a double layered veil, you'll cut a circle or oval shape and sew your comb in the center.

-Refer to the links I shared above to see the lengths you need to reach a certain look. Fintertip veils are 40-45" long.

-Tulle is cheap, so don't be afraid to do some trial-and-error guessing! Cut a shape, drape it over your head, trim if it's not laying in the right way. This one was my second attempt!

Step 2: With your tulle laying on a flat surface such as a clean floor, pin your lace around the edges.
You might have to cut slits or darts in the lace to curve it around the corners.

Step 3: Thread your needle and sew the lace on!
In the above picture you can see that I lined the lace up so that the edge of the tulle came almost to the bottom of the lace trim. I didn't use any fancy stitch, just loosely tacked the lace on. And yes, it takes a long time...turn on a movie! Originally I was going to sew on the top AND bottom of the trim for extra stability but let's face it, that would have been way too much effort. You can apparently buy clear thread so your stitches don't show at all, but I was sick of buying just "one more thing" for the wedding. White thread isn't noticeable, even on ivory lace.

Step 4: Gather the top of your veil by sewing a strip of large straight stitches in the middle of the flat edge
(see awesome illustrated diagram above Step 1 for where the comb goes)
I gathered about a 10" strip because I wanted my veil to lay flat. If you want a poofy veil, gather more of the edge and you can even cut it wider than 60".
You want the length of the gather to equal the width of your comb.

 Step 5: Sew your comb onto the gathered edge.
Orient the veil so that the RIGHT side (side with the lace edge) is FACING the inner curved side of the comb. (So in the above picture, the right side is laying face down on the surface, spread out behind the comb). This way, you can flip the veil over the comb so the veil covers the sewn part before you stick it in your hair, and the lace will be facing outwards. Kind of confusing, but it makes sense when you're playing with it.
To sew on the comb, I just wrapped the thread around and around to make sure it was secured.

And that's it!
  

Here's the final product right after I finished it. Notice how the bottom part (45" from comb to bottom) actually goes BELOW my fingertips. Also, the lace was pretty heavy and dragged the veil down. If you're going for the poofy ethereal look you should use more layers of tulle, gather more of it, and edge it with ribbon, lighter weight lace (like Chantilly) or save yourself some effort and don't edge it at all! Tulle won't fray.

So if you're looking for ways to trim costs while wedding planning I highly recommend trying to make your own veil or headpiece. It's relatively quick as far as DIY projects go (I made mine in one afternoon) and no one will be able to tell if it's not perfect! Plus you will have created a beautiful family heirloom that can be passed down to future brides!

I'll close this post with a few more action shots of our wedding. Wearing a veil definitely made me feel like a little girl playing dress-up, it was kind of surreal and weird.

Also, looking at these photos makes me really miss seeing leaves on the trees...

(c/o Christy Tyler Photography)

(c/o Christy Tyler Photography)

(c/o Christy Tyler Photography)

Do you think you'd attempt making your own veil?