Project365: January’s Best & Worst
Month one of Project365 was revealing. I’ve found that carrying my camera around every day can be a hassle, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished I had a camera and not had one. That should never happen again.
First and foremost, my new lenses – and especially the fast 50 mm – finally helped to demystify the application of aperture. Because aperture is the denominator of a fraction, a larger number is actually a smaller hole and a lower depth of field, and while those simple complexities should have been easy to commit to memory, I struggled with it.
The super-low depth of field available at f/1.8 on the 50 mm – and the ability to shoot in available light with decent shutter speeds – gave me a touchstone to start playing with aperture, and I quickly discovered that aperture priority is my favorite setting on the DSLR wheel. I’ve evened learned to adjust shutter speed indirectly through aperture.
Some other things I’ve noticed:
I find myself shooting at the extremes: all the way open most commonly. I think that’s a crutch – and I still need to get a good feel for how aperture impacts depth of field. That will be my goal for February.
I also found that, while the vast majority of my photos are centered around people, for some reason the shots I pick for Project365 are inanimate. I think that’s because you don’t have to ask an apple to pose – and getting the human shot on the fly is a little tricky.
Anyway, my favorite three images and the worst one from the first month of Project365
First, the good
#3 – This shouldn’t have been on the list. Which is to say, it was the end of the day and I was desperate. So I used dinner as an excuse. It’s a simple subject – and an even simpler composition. I think that’s why it works. No one looks at spaghetti carefully just out of the strainer. It’s what you might call a study.
#2 – The spiral staircase is about as cliché as you can get, but I think this shot toys with that a little because of its asymmetry. The Capitol Building has essentially been under construction for 200 years, and as a result it has a lot of different architects and a lot of different visions. As a result, the building’s design can be jumbled. In this case, the spiral starts rectangular and becomes a triangle for an inexplicable reason. I like this because the lines draw the eye inward, and then defies expectations.
#1 – This shot, my favorite of the month, is a perfect example of an image that wouldn’t exist if I didn’t have my camera with me at all times. It was a late night at the office, and I was walking to the train station through an empty Capitol. As I glanced down this dark hallway, I saw two restoration artists meticulously working in the glow of a spotlight at the end of the hall. The image had weight and gravity – and I had the presence of mind to adjust the exposure compensation to correct for the huge variation between light and dark.
And the worst photo of the month goes to a lazy rainy day when I didn’t want to go outside and get wet. So shot quickly from the protection of my deck. The composition is lazy, the light is off and the image is forgettable. Blah.
