Pioneer Woman Photography - Ree Drummond

What is Metering?

Ree Drummond — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:24:11 +0000

I will try my hardest to explain what I mean by metering.

I think this will be hard for some to understand and way too easy for others.

So here goes nothing!

Your camera has a little meter inside of it. It measures the light that is coming in through the lens.

You do not need to do anything to make your meter work properly if you are shooting on automatic.

If you feel daring and want to learn to shoot on manual, then you need to learn what is happening and how to control the aperture and shutter speed.

As you know, the aperture determines how wide the little blades will open when you take a picture.

Small numbers have a big opening and will let in a lot of light.

Big numbers will only open the shutter a little bit. Letting in less light.

Next, your camera has to know how long to hold its shutter open to properly expose your picture.

These two things work together.

Let’s say I am taking a picture of some leaves. I want the leaves to be in focus but I want the background to be blurry.

I go ahead and set my aperture to 1.6.

Exposure/Shutterspeed: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/1.6
ISO Speed: 400

Now I have to set my shutter speed because I am shooting in manual.

In my camera is a ‘0′ and many little dashes that look a bit like a number line. When I look inside my camera this little ‘number line’ is at the bottom. I can also see more information along bottom of the picture such as shutter speed, f-stop, ISO and number of pictures left on the card.

I think this information is in a different place on a Canon.

(You can let us know in the comments where this is, please.)

Now, this is one of the hard parts to explain because we all have such different cameras.

You must line up your number line to match even with the zero.

This is done by moving a dial on the back of your camera. I move this button with my thumb.

(It is called the Main command dial on my Nikon.)

On my camera, left of the zero is slower shutter speeds and right of the zero is faster shutter speeds. To learn how this works, experiment with your camera.

(I have learned with my camera that I need to be a little bit left of the zero to expose properly.)

Each click to the left on my dial drops my shutter speed slower and slower. This means your shutter is going to stay open longer, letting in more light.

The only tricky part of leaving your shutter open longer and longer is there is a point where you will start to notice blur from movement.

If it is super bright outside, you will be moving your dial to the right causing your shutter to open and close faster, letting in less light.

Now, remember that this light meter is reading the light that is coming into your camera. My camera has three types of metering modes; Matrix, Center Weighted and Spot.

(You can look these up in your manuals)

I use Matrix and Spot.

Matrix meters the whole area you are pointing the camera at. Spot has a little beam that meters just what the center of the camera is pointing at.

I use spot metering a lot with portraits, especially when taking a back lit shot. My aim is to have a perfectly exposed face and if the background is not perfectly exposed, I am not too worried about it.

(Spot metering on her cheek.)

Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/1.4
ISO Speed: 640

See where it says exposure? That is the shutter speed. Don’t ask my why my ISO is on 640. Just being a dork.

The matrix mode is best for landscapes. Remember how I said I pointed at the sky and metered off the sky and then I pointed at the trees and metered off the trees. This just means I pointed the camera at the sky, looked in and moved my main command dial to be even with the zero and I took the picture.

(These were taken only a minute apart. It’s all a matter of shutterspeed/exposure)

When I said I metered off of the tree, this meant that I pointed the camera at the tree, looked into the camera and moved my main command dial to be even with the zero and I took the picture.

Because the sky was dark a different amount of light was coming into the camera thus the shutter speed was different than when I metered off of the tree.

They are partners in crime: Aperture and Shutterspeed. A mechanical teeter tooter….and wonderful balancing act.

All taking place inside your camera.

Our wonderful digital cameras can do all of this for you.

But if you want more control, you can be in charge of every little thing you do with your camera.

It’s a challenge but it is fun to be in charge and gives you creative control….and if that’s something you are interested in, why not give it a try?

Exposure/Shutterspeed: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Speed: 800

(In this picture, I metered the sky.)

(Who’s that girl?)

I sure hope this is clear to a few of you and I have not confused you. I wish you could all come over to my house and I would show you how this works.

That would be so much easier, wouldn’t it?

Encourage one another,
Donna

Shutterfly Photo Book Contest!

Ree Drummond — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:27:04 +0000

Contest Time!

This’ll be a fun one.

First, let me show you this:

Pioneer Woman “Faces” Photobook Sharing Page on Shutterfly

It’s a sharing page I created on Shutterfly.com, where I shared a photobook I created this morning. The photo book is filled with my favorite FACES—shots of my children over the past three or four years, shots of cowboys, my husband, dogs, birds, and cows. Faces are what I love best, after all, and it was the best theme I could imagine for a photo book contest!

Here’s a peek at one of the spreads (click on the spread to see the whole book!)

I love faces.

I loved making this photo book.

And I’m having a contest!

DETAILS

This week, I invite you to create a “Faces” photobook on Shutterfly (totally free), then upload it to my Pioneer Woman “Faces” Photobook Sharing Page. I’ll be reviewing each and every photo book myself, and will be awarding some great prizes!

HOW-TO

1. Sign up for a Shutterfly account (absolutely free, of course) if you don’t already have one.

2. Click here to select the size of Photo Book you’d like to create.

3. Click “Go Get Pictures” to create an album and load the photos you want.

4. Follow the steps to complete the photo book—the instructions really walk you through it. They’re very intuitive!

5. Once your photo book is completed, go to my Pioneer Woman “Faces” Photobook Sharing Page and share your photo book there.

6. Next Monday, November 9, I will announce one (1) grand prize winner and twenty (20) runners-up. I will also be awarding several “Honorable Mention” prizes.

THE PRIZES

Grand Prize – One winner will be awarded the following package:

1 Digital Camera
2 7×9 Photo Books
25 Greeting Cards
25 Stationary Cards
1 Calendar

Runner-Up Prizes – Twenty winners will be awarded the following package:

2 7×9 Photo Books
25 Greeting Cards
25 Stationary Cards
1 Calendar

Honorable Mentions – SURPRISE!

In addition to Shutterfly’s prizes, I’ll be awarding ten Honorable Mentions for fun, wacky categories.

This’ll be fun!

And I’m sorry, but I have to show you another spread:

Look at that baby on the left!

I can’t believe how much he’s changed.

__________________________

Thank you, Shutterfly, for sponsoring such a great contest!

Rounded Corner Winners

Ree Drummond — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:02 +0000

“Winner” is a relative term. There’s no way I could possibly honor all the wonderful submissions for the Rounded Corner assignment!

So I’ll just do a hail Mary, select three that made me swoon, and hope you all realize how much I’ve loved looking at your beautiful photos.

Group 1 Winner: Emily O. I can’t explain why I love this photo so much. It’s just so evocative; reminds me of another decade. Makes me feel like I’m there.

Group 2 Winner: IslandGirl. The color…everything. I love it.

Group 3 Winner: Superdewa. I got chills. They’re multiplyin’.

Congratulations, Winners! You each win a $150 gift card to B & H Photo. Enjoy your mini shopping spree! Contact prizes@thepioneerwoman.com to claim your loot.

THANK YOU to everyone for sharing your beautiful creations.

I love them all. They inspire me.

Rounded: Group Three

Ree Drummond — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:04:48 +0000

Here’s Group Three of the Rounded Edge assignment.

I’ll announce the winners tonight!

By Stephanie Haller. Now THIS is a wedding shot.

By Kendy74. Wow.

By J Guidry. So sweet.

By Sarah Skeen. I always love Sarah’s shots.

By Keli_h. Ooooh. Macro!

By Rachel E. Crawford. This is extremely neato.

By Keli H. Oh, how I love this. I love morning.

By Nina Brand. So fun!

By Tami Wilson Photo. Why do I love Superman t-shirts?

By Yarn Attacks. Magical!

By Superdewa. Glorious!

By Snooko. Oh, how I love these colors!

Sorry about all the exclamation marks.

By Chic Paupette. Absolutely beautiful.

__________________________

Will announce winners late tonight. It’s going to be tough!

Ooops. Another exclamation mark.

Round edges excite me.

Tomorrow

Ree Drummond — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:15:09 +0000

By Caroline Beth.

I received so many rounded edge photos in the PW Photography Assignments pool, it’s taken me longer to review all of them. Because I’ll be awarding prizes, I want to be sure to eyeball each and every one, so I’ve postponed posting the third group—and the winners—until Wednesday morning. This will give me the time I need to finish reviewing, and to select the lovely winners.

The photos are just stunning!

Your Rounded Edges: Take 2

Ree Drummond — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:36:36 +0000

Here’s Group 2 of your rounded edge submissions.

These are so wonderful.

By Lissa. Total sweetness.

By Bowbenie. Oh my gosh. I’m dying.

By So Darn Happy. Love it.

By Tolep8nt. This is called “He Asked Me.” Sweet.

By Tiffany Bradford. Something’s in the air!

By Deborah Tynan. I love the composition and colors.

By IslandGirl. Goodness gracious. How perfect.

By IslandGirl. The color!

By JFox3977. What a sweet photo.

By Lvjen. Holy…holy…holy. Look at that dog’s expression.

By Yarn Attacks. Sweet beyond compare.

By Tina Nottingham. So interesting!

By Devon. This is so gorgeous. I love the wooden chair.

By Shineylewis. Shineylewis, I love your photos.

By Chris Kryzanek. Oh, how I love this.

By Nilspferdmama. Gorgeous!

By Shineylewis again. Oh my.

By Katiov. What a beautiful girl. Perfection!

By hermink. Somebody help me. I can’t handle this one.

By Stuff N Things. I just can’t get enough of these “Circa 1975″ shots. Love the colors.

By Tearese. Sweetie pie! Love the tights.

And finally:

By Mbachinski. Oooooh. Love this one.

Thank you, everyone! I just love sitting down and flipping through all of your wonderful submissions.

More photos Monday morning, then winners Monday night!

Your Rounded Edges: Take 1!

Ree Drummond — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:27:46 +0000

I’m loving your rounded edges.

Here’s Take 1! I’ll post more tomorrow and Monday, and will award little prizes Monday evening.

By CRT. So beautiful.

By Sarah Skeen. It’s hard to imagine this with square corners, isn’t it?

By Bridget Reed. What a beautiful bird shot!

By Tis Unnatural. Wow. How interesting!

By Kathleen Read. I love this. Very evocative.

By Miz Booshay, of course. Darling Katie!

By Emily O. Oh my gosh. I’m in love with this. So late sixties!

By Autumn Fields. This is just spectacular.

By Katbinchina. This is exceedingly cool.

By Kelly Rose. I love the post processing on this. Great color, and a great moment.

By Nslods. Oh, man. Bowling shoes. Love it.

By KellyRose. Lovely. Just lovely.

By Bridget Reed again. Ethereal and gorgeous.

By Katbinchina. Oh my. I’m showing this to my dad.

By Kelly Rose. Mmmm. I love the shaded border, too. Beautiful!

By Sam I Am. What a shot! Sam, your carousel shots are amazing.

By Sara Kiavo. Oh, what a little peanut…and such a beautiful shot.

By Stephanie Haller. I’m in awe of this one. It just makes me happy.

By Smoochie Mom. Love it!

By Janet Catriona.

By Brittney Miller. Magical!

And finally:

By Luvintempest.

Thank you, everyone! They’re gorgeous.

How To Make Rounded Edges on Your Photos

Ree Drummond — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:20 +0000

Disclaimer: I am well aware that this is likely not the very best method for creating the rounded-edge look on photos.

But it’s the method I use.

I don’t round the edges of my photos too often, but I always love the results when I see other people do it. It gives that older, seventies, other-era look to your shots—an instant injection of personality!

Here’s how I do it. Please jump in and give your own tips and tricks!

1. Open the photo in Photoshop.

2. Select the Rounded Rectangle tool over on the left side.

3. Drag the Rounded Rectangle tool across the entire photo. This will cover up the whole photo with the foreground color (in this case, black.)

You can see here that the edges are rounded…but I don’t think they’re rounded enough.

4. So up at the top, you’ll want to increase the radius. I bumped it up to 50. It was 10 up above. We’ll see how 50 looks.

So here, I redragged the Rounded Rectangle tool across the photo.

This is much better. You can definitely see the rounded edges here. Notice the photo underneath is showing through.

5. Now, select the Magic Wand tool.

6. And this is very important: make sure all three of these boxes are selected.

7. Click anywhere on the black part of the image. This will select the black rounded rectangle—notice the dotted lines surrounding it.

8. Now go to “Select”, then “Inverse”.

This will invert the selection so that everything BUT the black area is selected. So basically, now the edges of the photo are selected.

9. Look over to the right at the Layers palette. Click once on the bottom/background layer so that it’s highlighted.

10. Click “Delete.” When you click delete, it will delete the edges of the background photo!

11. Now, if you’re printing or posting this on white paper or a white background, these white corners won’t be problematic; they’ll be invisible.

12. But if you want to get rid of the white, you can select the Magic Eraser Tool and just click once on each of the white corners. The transparent background will show through.

And there ya go.

And…there ya go! I think I could have improved the radius here so the edges were truly round and a little smoother…but you can play.

Again, I’d love for you who have more experience with rounded edges to jump in and refine my instructions. We’d all love the hear!

_______________________________________

PHOTO ASSIGNMENT: Post your rounded edge photos on the Pioneer Woman Photography Assignments Group on Flickr.

I’ll post your submissions Friday, Saturday, and Monday…then I’ll award some prizes Monday night.

Looking forward to seeing how rounded edges transform your images!

Love,
Pioneer Woman

Random Ramblings of a Photography Lover

Ree Drummond — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:44:00 +0000

By Miz Booshay

I want to share this screenshot of my Bridge with you.

My workflow begins with Bridge.

Bridge is a part of Photoshop.

It is the place when I view my uploaded pictures.

When I click on a picture, it opens up in Photoshop. When I am done editing, it stays in its little dated photo folder in Bridge.

When I am clever, I rename the folder so I don’t have to search and guess.

The second thing I wanted to show and share is….

This is a typical upload. There is one for every single day of the year.
It is not intentional to have a folder filled with pictures for every single day of the year.

It just happens because I love to take pictures and I love to learn.
I want to improve and I know of no better way then taking pictures.

See those amazing orange trees? I had driven by those blaze orange trees for a week and wanted to try to capture some of their beauty.

Here, in the interest of full disclosure, is the first picture I snapped.

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Isn’t it awful? I knew instantly what I had done wrong. I metered the sky. The sky is nicely exposed and moody. But heavens! I lost the colorful tree.

So I tried again and metered off of the tree.

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

There! That is much different and lighter.

Straight out of camera, the sky is still a bit too light but I can at least work with it now.

While I love beautiful landscapes, I am very much a beginner.

It takes time and practice to figure it all out.

In this picture I cropped it a little bit and boosted it with an action and then I clicked on Curves.

And then I did something I have never done before.

I clicked on the Auto button in Curves. And I liked it. Just enough. Not too much.

Now, I could work on the sky and try to make it better, but guess what? I don’t like the composition on this picture enough to fuss with it any more, so I just move on.

And even though I will never print it and you guys are the only ones to ever see it besides me….

I learned something new (Curves>Auto) and that makes my day!

And then because I can not NOT take a picture of Katie.

I took a whole bunch.

And she took one of me.

Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/1.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Back in the car, I turned and snapped this.

And when I got home, I threw it into my card reader and Bridge opened it up and I edited it in Photoshop with a boost and an Auto Curve and a crop.

And I was happy because this is what I wanted to remember about this day in October on the way home from school with Katie.

What a beautiful world!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Winners

Ree Drummond — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:32:01 +0000

This was difficult. Impossible.

I still can’t get over the gorgeousness of your textured photo submissions. They’re so creative, exceedingly artistic, and beyond words. Thank you so much for sharing.

Here are links to the entries I narrowed down. If you missed these, please spend some time looking at them—they’re absolutely beautiful and will make your day.

Textures, Group 1

Textures, Group 2

Textures, Group 3

And, while it was very subjective, here are the three winners from each group. Each winner will receive a $150 gift card from B & H Photo & Video.

Group 1 Winner

By Carolyn B. I just couldn’t not (couldn’t not?) choose this one. The textured turned it into something even more wonderful than the original.

Group 2 Winner

By The Momarazzi Chronicles. There’s just something about this one—so visually interesting.

Group 3 Winner

By Worlds Apart. I just love this; it’s stunning.

Great job winners…and everyone else.

Let me know if you like this submission-feature-prize aspect to PW Photography.

I loved looking through the photos that came in.

Next Assignment: Thursday morning