Transcript
Welcome to the fifth episode of the Richard J Nieves Photograph podcast. I'm Richard J Nieves, portrait and wedding photographer and owner of Richard J Nieves Photography, located in the Bronx in New York City. When taking the picture you intend on making, there is a balance between the three legs of the exposure triangle we've previously discussed the aperture. shutter speed, and ISO that you must manage in order to make the photograph. Along with those, depending on your situation, you must have intent, imagination and adaptability. I'll share with you an example that'll hopefully help you visualize in your mind how best to use the exposure triangle in your photos.
Yesterday, my mother and my kids painted cookie sweaters and gingerbread men. I was there for moral support and to photograph them. My intent in this situation was to capture the love and fun shared between my kids and their grandmother. My imagination wasn't completely off, but instead I had to be present and see the moment as it is in order to find the nuggets of beauty and love to point my camera at. As I was shooting, I took note of my settings quickly before the activity began.
I knew I wanted both of my kids and my mom and focus, so I put my aperture at f/4 so the depth of field was a tad less shallow, but shallow enough that you wouldn't see my laundry behind the kids. When focusing on one of my kids had switched to an aperture of F 2.8, that allowed me to use depth of field to focus on one of my kids.
So you can know they were the subject and they were what you were supposed to be looking at. It also allowed me to see more of the cookie in focus for context while still removing the background distractions. My shutter speed had to be quick enough to capture my fast moving son paint his cookie, but slow enough to let enough light in to actually see what I'm photographing.
I kept it at and above a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. Usually with children. I shoot a bit faster, like 1/100th of a second to 1/250th of a second, but 1/50th worked for me because he wasn't moving too much. If I shot any faster, the images would be too dark and they wouldn't be salvageable in post-processing.
If I shot any slower, I'd have more light led onto my sensor, but my kids would be a blurring mess. For ISO, since I'm shooting my family and noise isn't really a big deal for me. I delegated my ISO controls to my camera, but instructed it not to go over ISO4000, that's the threshold for which I am comfortable with the noise produced by the high ISO count.
If my ISO was too low, like ISO 100 to 800, I wouldn't have been able to see anything in the photos because my sensor wouldn't have been sensitive enough for the output of my home lighting. I'll have the unedited photos on the blog posts for this episode, over at my blog, www.richardandphoto.com/blog.
Please follow me on Instagram @rich_photog . If you'd like to schedule your next portrait session or give us the honor of photographing your wedding, visit my website, www richardjnphoto.com or email Katherine@richardjandphoto.com where my partner will guide you along your journey with us.
Now don't forget to keep creating, stay humble and enjoy the journey.