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"Cooper River Bridge"

Email me at Mattfrancisphotography@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing professional quality prints of this photo or any found on this blog.

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Opera at USC's production of "Martha"

Photographing Opera at USC's production of "Martha" tonight! Photos to come!

'Boardwalk.'

This photo was taken on Kiawah Island.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

More Kiawah Island photos

These photos were taken last summer on Kiawah Island.

More Saluda Photos

Here are a few more photos from Saluda Shoals.

To achieve the sketched effect of the photo I sharpened the photo which adds a thin black line around every line in the photo.  I use this effect in a much less drastic way very often; however, I felt that it brought this particular photo to life.

saluda shoals

"Fountain."

This photo was taken at Riverbanks Zoo.  I slowed the shutter speed to achieve the "blurring" effect seen in the photo.   

"Bird."

This photo was taken on Kiawah Island last summer.

Saluda River

 These two photos were taken in the Saluda River.  I used a standard exposure setting for these photos nothing special here!!

Night Photos

Believe it or not, this picture was taken was taken at 8:52 pm.  No photoshop trickery here.  These photos are straight out of the camera.

At first glance it may look like this photo was taken during the day; however, upon closer inspection one can see that there are stars in the photo! In fact one of the photos captured a shooting star!

Since it was 9:00 p.m. when the photo was taken it was obviously dark.  To achieve the "day-time" look of the photo I left my shutter-speed open for 30 seconds allowing any available light to be picked up by the camera.  To "paint with light" I simply had my father point a flashlight at the camera and "write" in the air.

"Blue Heron"

The camera settings are as follows: Shutter Speed: 1/60, Aperture: f/5.6, ISO 400

To achieve the blurring effect I lowered my shutter speed and "tracked" the bird as it flew through the air.  This will keep the subject in focus and sharp while leaving the background out of focus and blurred.

Matt Francis Photography framed print

The Long and Winding Road

The camera settings for this photo are as follows: Shutter Speed: 1/50, Aperture: f/11, ISO: 100

This photo was taken in upstate South Carolina.  Since a photo will often blur when taken with a Shutter Speed of 1/50 (considered long), I used a tripod to steady the camera.  To prevent the photo from being overexposed (too bright) I had to increase the f-stop (which closes the aperture letting less light in).  Increasing the f-stop will also make the photo appear sharper.  The ISO setting used in this photo is typical when shooting in daylight.

Here is the photo after desaturation and sharpening:

Camera Settings and "Lingo"

There are several terms which I would like to define.

Exposure: Simply defined exposure is the "brightness" of the photo.  This is changed by the Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO.

-Shutter Speed: The time a camera's light sensor is exposed to light.  This changes the exposure of the photo.  This is measured in seconds. i.e. 1/250, 25 15.  The faster the shutter speed the darker or less exposed the photo will be.

-Aperture: The size of the opening in a camera's lens, measured in "f stops." i.e. 3.5, 8, 29  The larger the "f stop" the smaller the opening.  This also determines the exposure. (Aperture is also a photo editing/cataloging software, produced by Apple Computer) 

- ISO: The camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number the higher the exposure will be.  As the ISO number is increased the photos may become grainy.

White Balance: Simply defined white balance is how the camera sees the color white.  Changing this will change the tint of the picture.

In the next few posts I will show you how these different settings effect the photos.

  

Heron.

This photo was taken on Kiawah Island last summer.   The camera settings used for this photo are as follows: Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS, Lens: EF75-300mm f/4-5.6, Focal length: 200mm, ISO 400, Aperture: f/8, Shutter Speed, 1/200. The desaturation was preformed in Aperture.

Hello World.