Last week’s photography class assignment for “In-Camera Processing” required a cooperative human subject. Today, when I drove up to Williams to meet my brother Arthur and to pick up Mady the Golden Retriever for another ten day stay, I decided to take advantage of my brother’s charm, good looks, and general “nice guy-ness” and prevailed upon him to be my cooperative human subject for this assignment. I forgot he is also my big brother and the “big-brotherness” trumped any charm, good looks, and general “nice guy-ness” he might otherwise have exhibited. While we ate lunch at a picnic table across from Granzella’s in Williams (he did buy my lunch) I switched from RAW to JPEG, as required by the assignment, and cycled through the various in-camera picture styles, taking one or two shots at each setting while Arthur made it impossible for me to capture any reasonably civil photographs. These two shots, both taken in the “vivid” setting, most exemplify what it was like to grow up as this guy’s little sister.
In the first shot, I metered on the water bottle so the exposure of Arthur is dark (and out of focus as I used a wide aperture and shallow depth of field); since I was using Aperture Priority the shutter speed varies depending on what the primary focus is and I forgot to use my recently set exposure lock button to lock in better exposure. The second shot is better exposed than the first but the “vivid” in-camera setting made the colors too vivid and the skin tones too red. I have already returned my camera to RAW. I’d rather apply these kinds of effects in post processing, not while worrying about exposure and focus. However, nothing can be done with the subject’s expression.
Focal Length 72mm
ISO 100
Aperture Priority
f/5.6
1/160
WB – Shade
SOOC
Focal Length 72mm
ISO 100
Aperture Priority
f/5.6
1/60
WB – Shade
SOOC