I have been a photographer for a long time and thought I knew it all. One of the best secrets I learned in Digital SLR Photography was about 7 years ago. My daughter, Brittany decided to enter a pageant. I was excited for her so we went through all the steps of pageant training, buying the dress and shoes. Then the big day arrived. First, she had her hair done and then her make-up. She looked absolutely gorgeous and I was nervously counting the minutes before she dazzled the judges with her rehearsed pageant walk. I was prepared with a front-row seat and camera in hand. Next, her name was announced and I clicked away as most proud moms would do.
Although she did not earn a crown this time, I was still extremely proud of her. My biggest disappointment came when I saw how crappy the photos came out. Brittany was over-exposed! What could have happened? I used aperture priority, boosted my ISO so I could hand-hold my camera, and made sure my shutter speed was faster than 1/30 second. I dug into this a little deeper and realized I had forgotten to change the metering mode from evaluative to spot metering mode.
Now that I know what to do I photographed another pageant and had great results. And then I became the official pageant photographer.
For more information on DSLR photography check out the online course.
To view my portrait photography site visit Lightscapes Portrait Studio.
To view my fine are photography site visit Mary Buck Photography.
