Shutter Games

After studying aperture in action, I wanted to play with shutter spped, but it took me a while to find the right moment. And then wouldn't ya know it, I didn't have my tripod. But we were at the park, and it was beautiful, and Monkey's orange hoodie was awesome against the late fall colors, so I ran with it.



Lesson #1: Bring the tripod. I'm considering tossing mine in the trunk on a semi-permanent basis. I sure wished I had it today! Not for everything, but it would have been nice for some.

Lesson #2: Mind the exposure. My camera tells me if the exposure is "right," but today it was telling lies, and a bunch of them are overexposed. Doesn't seem to have that problem with underexposing.

1/20th of a second. Just a touch of blur on Monkey, not too bad holding things steady. Exposure's not too shabby either, even though I hadn't realized the camera was telling stories just yet.




1/15th of a second. Composition's crummy. Swing pictures are SO difficult to compose! But there's potential, if I crop it right. Presuming that I can figure out how to make it look artistically blurry, rather than just out of focus.




1/8th second. In addition to the relatively long shutter speed, I was also moving the camera, tracking Monkey's movement. This one I just love so much about... but it's way overexposed. I'm going to try to photoshop it to correct that. Not the point of the exercise, but I want this picture!


Following motion works at quicker shutter speeds too (1/25), but it's not so dramatic. However, it's easier to get the subject in focus. And I like the shallow depth of field effect, where his feet are blurrier than his face. Of course, that's probably more that he was moving them right then, and less the photography.

Lesson #3: Angle makes a difference in the lens's perception of movement. These were both taken at 1/40th of a second, but there's a lot more blur in the one taken from the side. Though composition is much easier from the front.






Lesson #4: Freezing action will make it look inactive if it's not done right.


I like this one. It's at a pretty quick shutter: 1/30th. I like the tilted horizon. Composition is ok, though not anything special. Monkey's looking happy. But the sense of the moving swing is almost gone.

Gratuitous Cuteness:

Picking Back Up

Well, I've been wanting to get out and take some specific pictures for a long time now, and today I was finally able to do it. I put the camera in shutter-priority mode, and went to visit a fountain at one of our parks with my tripod. I've decided that I like the S-priority & A-priority modes better than the full manual, because the interface for adjusting them is a bit awkward, and it's very time consuming to do full manual. It'll be a feature to pay attention to when I'm buying my next camera.



It's a gorgeous day today, perfect early fall weather. That was part of why I wanted to go out today. That, and I knew they will be turning off the fountains sometime soon, and I wanted to get this project done. The very fast shutter speed froze the water; you can see droplets in a couple of places. The rainbow is a lovely bonus!



Here you can see better the droplets, with the very quick (1/1000) shutter.


1/800 of a second. Not a lot of difference, but you can see some in the center spray and the feet splashes to the far left, when compared to 1/1000.


1/640 of a second.


1/500 of a second. It's starting to be noticeably more like sheets of water at this point.


1/400 of a second.


1/320 of a second.


1/250 of a second.


1/200 of a second.


1/160 of a second. At this point, my batteries died. I still had just a couple of f-stops that I could have used, but the camera was done, and my "fresh" batteries were also dead. Bummer. In addition to not really finishing this, I also didn't get any pictures of the kids playing at the playground or in the fountain!

One thing that's interesting is that the little "icicles" of water running off the orangy part of the fountain get longer and longer the slower the shutter goes. I'm actually having a hard time deciding what I like best: 1/800 is very nice, but so are the last couple on the slowest shutter speeds. It's hard to say. I think I may do this again, but point the camera at some running kids and see what I can come up with there.

Gaining some Understanding

In the last paragraph of the introduction, the author comments that "For many readers, the material in this book will be brand new territory, while for others, the material may serve as an affirmation of what is already known (pg. 11)."  I'm deciding that I clearly fall in the first category.

When I got the book and flipped through the pages, I felt all inspired by the pages of dazzling picutres! Heck yes this is what I want my pictures to look like!! But, like Ritsumei, I've come to feel some frustration as well. Sure, this guy is professional and has been doing this photography thing for nearly 30 years, but come on! This is a How-To book! I read the first chapter, what's the hold up?

Heh.. turns out that before I could really do the simple exercises outlined in Chapter 1, I needed to become better acquainted with my camera. So, I went back and re-reread the applicable parts of the manual. And, though I originally thought I might get through this book without taking notes, I've since decided that they might actually come in handy :)  (my notebook is ever so much more handy a reference than always looking up the full manual online).

Happily, between the explanations from our book and the examples and commentary from the manual, I'm actually beginning to feel like I might be able to (eventually) master these manual settings! Hooray!

As it turns out, my camera doesn't seem to be capable of going completely manual in the way the exercise wants. I can play with the aperture, and I can play with the shutter speed, but I can't do both simultaneously. So, I set the aperture to F5.6 and the camera would automatically adjust the shutter speed to what worked. Since the ISO on the automatic setting was 100, I just left it there for all the pictures on this round.

Here is what the automatic setting does:

This one I adjusted the aperture to F5.6 and the shutter speed was 20.

While my camera doesn't allow me to tweak the shutter speed while I pick aperture settings, it does have an extra gizmo called "Exposure Compensation" that I can play with; the manual gives some hints as to what settings to use (EV). So, the adjusted picture was a little dark for my taste, so I adjusted the EV to +1 1/3 and this is what it looked like:

All this tweaking definitely does take longer, it may be some time before I use it to capture spontaneous things... but the hope is that eventually this knowledge will lodge itself in my brain well enough that I'll get quicker and know what the "right" exposure should be.

Still, in the meantime, this is way fun!

Understanding Exposure

Hurray for new books! I'm very excited about this book, though I'm finding the process of learning the manual controls is still frustrating. Not that I want much; just instant perfection! For some odd reason, my pictures didn't immediately look like the photographer-author's the instant I opened the book! Ah, well. I guess that I'll have to learn it a bit at a time, just like everyone else. (I need some smileys to add a winking one here. Forums have spoiled me, and ;p just isn't as cool as it once was.)

So, here's my picture, the one that's officially the "Setting and Using Your Camera on Manual Exposure (page 15)" picture. Only, I didn't use the aperture he suggested (f5.6) because my camera's meter said it didn't work. I used f3.5, with a shutter of 1/800, ISO 80. One thing I've come to suspect since starting to read this book is that I don't have a lot of aperture options. But that's OK. I'm still going to learn to use them to the best they've got for me!



First thoughts about manual mode: this takes longer than my programmable-auto setting. And it's hard to make it work inside. Hopefully, both of those things are problems that will go away with some practice.

Finally Finished It!

Hehehe... so it's only four months behind schedule (besides, I think we decided not to officially finish with our book club anyway), but I have FINALLY finished David McCullough's 1776. Yay!

It was a little rougher read than I expected; I had a rough time keeping track of who was who and what they were doing where. However, I do think the author did an excellent job juggling all the different peoples' stories and actions while keeping the story moving. (if i'd been more familiar with the people involved before, keeping tabs wouldn't have been nearly as tough as it was) But in addition to that challenge, previous to reading this, I had no real notion of how difficult a struggle it was for those early Americans. As I kept reading, things seemed more and more hopeless and I found myself commenting to my husband, repeatedly, that it's hard to believe the Americans actually won the war!

In the final page of his book, Mr. McCullough sums it up quite nicely:

The war was a longer, far more arduous, and more painful struggle than later generations would understand or sufficiently appreciate. By the time it ended, it had taken the lives of an estimated 25,000 Americans, or roughly 1 percent of the population. In percentage of lives lost, it was the most costly war in American history, except for the Civil War.

The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too they would never forget.

Especially for those who had been with Washington and who knew what a close call it was at the beginning-- how often circumstance, storms, contrary winds, the oddities or strengths of individual character had made the difference -- the outcome seemed little short of a miracle.

And while I don't come away from this book an immediate Revolutionary War Scholar, I am definitely more familiar with the major players: Washington, General Howe, Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene. Also, that painting of Washington crossing the Delaware River has greater significance for me now. And, undoubtedly, I have greater appreciation for the beginnings of this country and all those who struggled to make it happen. And that was exactly what I had hoped to gain from reading this book.

All that being said, this one is definitely worth a re-read.

A Little Off Topic...

So, I admit I've been a little lax in my reading of the 1776.. but I have been reading more in the Eleanor Roosevelt biography and I came upon some stuff I thought was interesting and that I'd share.

So, a while back, Ritsumei, you and our Cousin were having a discussion on Facebook about politics and parties and party loyalty. Now, at the time, I didn't really have much to add to things, so I didn't. But a few days later, while reading about ER, I came across her views on the subject. It was too late to post on Facebook ('cuz I couldn't find the thread) but then I thought that this would be a good place to post it:

As she was originally sorting out her political opinions, ER felt that party loyalty was very important. However, as she became more involved politically (especially in getting women exercise their newly won sufferage), she departed from that philosophy and

"argued that voters of "the modern stamps" no longer adhere slavishly to their party's candidates. Although she agreed that women should enroll in the party that best represented their principles, issues of personal integrity, vision superior qualification should determine a person's vote: "Small minded people will tell you that but for party regularity in all things party organization would not exist, and that party government is necessary to our National institutions. This argument has ... been refuted a thousand times." Better government depends on "individual nominees." If our partisans "appear to us unworthy, then we have an even higher duty ... America must come first, not party (Eleanor Roosevelt Vol. 1; B.W.Cook, pg. 303-304)."

Bracketing the Month

I see that the last post was on the first day of October. Today is the last day of October, so we'll have neatly bracketed the month. Hey, it's getting done, right? At the end of the year we'll be better informed than we were in the beginning. Hurray for setting goals!

So. Just to recap. Boston has fallen and the British fled. The Continental Army got some sweet spoils from the deal: much of what they need, except for arms and gunpowder. I find it somewhat amazing that they were so very short on that stuff. I mean, I knew that Valley Forge was bad; I'd heard that they were short on gunpowder. I had No.Idea.Whatsoever that when they said they were short on these supplies it meant that Washington had so little to work with that he had to conceal their lack from even his own officers! Wow. That's a shortage.

So, on to chapter 4, right? Right.

Washington sounds a little bit like a dandy again, escorted by two regiments with instruction that none should turn out "except those dressed in uniforms," all "washed, both face and hands clean, their beards shaved, their hair combed and powdered." (Page 116) I suppose though, that this is still pretty much the same. Those who get to be escort to the important folks dress their best and are often also selected from the ranks of the best soldiers. Still, it seems odd to read the descriptions.

Spirits are high as the army moves with all possible speed to New York. There is a certain amount of overconfidence:

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No one knew how many British there might be, yet few let that bother them. And enthusiastic new recruit from the Connecticut ranks, a farm boy named Joseph Plumb Martin, would recall, "I never spent a thought about numbers. The Americans were invincible in my opinion." As another soldier remembered, there was scarcely a militia man who did not think himself equal to two or three of the British. (Page 117)

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I think it was the year that Grandpa died, so around Thanksgiving when I was in 4th grade... uh, 1988. I had just learned to play chess, and played our cousin David, who was only a year or two older than me, though I remember him being "much older." I beat him soundly. This puzzled me, because I regularly lost to my Dad and knew that I wasn't that good of a player. So I asked Dad why it was that I won. Dad said it was because David was overconfident, so he wasn't careful; he made foolish mistakes. I rather suspect that there is some of that going on with both the British and the Colonists at this point in the war. The British don't take the Colonists seriously, so they get beaten soundly and driven out of their cozy spot in Boston. The Colonists read too much into their victory and are all sorts of cocky as they head for New York. Reading about this, it seems clear that John Adams knew this war was going to drag out. Likely others did too, but in general both sides seem to think they can lick the other at their leisure and no big deal. This causes some tactical errors on both sides of the fight.

It also places the Continental Army at an even greater disadvantage than they were already:

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New York was not at all like Boston, geographically, strategically, and in other ways. At Boston, Washington had known exactly where the enemy was, and who they were, and what was needed to contain them. At Boston the British had been largely at his mercy, and especially once winter set in. Here, with their overwhelming naval might and absolute control of the waters, they could strike at will and from almost any direction. The time and place of battle would be entirely their choice, and this was the worry overriding all others. (Page 117)

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At Boston, where the comparatively few Loyalists of Massachusetts had either fled the country or were bottled up with the British, there had never been a serious threat from "internal foes" ... In New York the atmosphere was entirely different. The city remained divided and tense. Loyalist, or Tory, sentiment, while less conspicuous than it had been, was widespread... two-thirds of the property in New York belonged to Tories. (Page 118)

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At Boston, washington had benefited greatly from a steady supply of valuable intelligence coming out of the besieged town, while Howe had known little or nothing of Washington's strengths or intentions. Here, with so much of the population still loyal to the king, the situation was the reverse. (Page 119)

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This situation called for careful, cautious strategy in much the same way my chess game with an older cousin did. It looks like some of the leadership appreciated this, but the whole army? Not so much.

New York

The difference in tone, between this chapter and the previous chapter, was very striking. In Boston the American troops had had great luck and blessing with their successes. They won Dorchester Heights, and spirits were buoyed up as they headed out to their next place of battle. In New York, not so much.

As Chapter 4 begins, the American Troops had begun their march from Massachusetts to Rhode Island, through Connecticut and into New York; speed was of the essence and energy was high - high enough to prevail over any doubts or worries the soldiers might have had about what awaited them in New York.

Despite fears to the contrary, the American troops were in New York well before the British arrived. However, things in New York were markedly different than things had been in Boston. In Boston, Washington had the information and, predominantly, the upper hand. Now, the tables were turned and George Washington was "gravely, realistically apprehensive about the magnitude of the enemy force en route. He fretted over when their ships might appear, and how, with no naval strength, to defend a city bounded by navigable rivers on two sides and a harbor of a size sufficient to accommodate the largest fleet imaginable (pg. 117)." Yet, the prevailing attitude of Congress, and the army leaders, was that New York had "vast importance (pg. 118)", and they must make a stand.

Further complicating things, Washington's troops were still disheveled and unruly. Also, there continue to be a lack of understanding of the importance of hygiene and the proper disposal of human waste. Consequently, many of the soldiers got very sick. In addition to hygiene issues, New York offered a brothel district that introduced its own set of problems.

As Washington and his committee began their plans to fortify the city, they opted to build Forts to fortify the area. Inspired by Ritsumei's previous use of maps to help her understand, I also sought out some GoogleMap goodness to help me get a better picture of where these Forts were.

It was decided that if "New York was the key to the continent, then Long Island was the Key to New York, and the key to the defense of Long Island was Brooklyn Heights (pg. 127)." So, the first Fort they completed was Fort Stirling, right along the water:

View Larger Map

Along with Fort Stirling (A), three other forts were underway, to create a line of defense to "check their drive for the river (pg. 127)."

There was Fort Putnam(B):

View Larger Map

Fort Greene (C):

View Larger Map

and Fort Box (D):

View Larger Map
**locations approximate**

On page 135, we read that on July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to "dissolve the connection" with Great Britain and the news reached New York on July 6th.

The timing seemed a little odd to me, what's this about July 2nd, what?? Well, apparently, the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th, giving an explanation of the legal separation that was announced two days earlier, thus making it more officially official.

In the last section of Chapter 4, there was an interesting interview that George Washington had with a British messenger.

On July 13th, General Howe sent a letter addressed to "Mr. Washington". He was sent away with the message that there was "no person in [their] army with that address (pg. 144)." Three days later, the messenger returned again, this time the letter was addressed to "George Washington, Esq., etc. etc." Again, it was refused. The following day, via a new messenger, a letter arrived again, and this time Washington, and his council, met with him.

I was fascinated by this interaction; even when Washington had admitted the messenger, he refused to accept the letter:

"The use of "etc., etc." implied everything that ought to follow", the messenger said. "It so does," said Washington, "and anything."

It's clear that Washington understood the importance of protocol and keeping up images; if they were every to be taken seriously, or have a chance at success, it must be all or nothing. It goes on to say, "A letter addressed to a person in a position of public responsibility ought to indicate that sation, Washington said, otherwise it would appear mere private correspondence. He would not accept such a letter."

One last thought I had on this chapter: Near the end, it talks about some movements of British ships. Then, almost as an offhand comment, the author says, "If anyone among the American command saw the return of the two enemy ships from upriver as a sign of trouble, there is no record of it (pg. 153)." Is that foreshadowing of disastrous events to come?

Coming

Turns out I don't have anything to say about the rest of chapter 3. So I read chapter 4, and I expect that I'll post something about it soon.

Schedule Tweak

I updated the reading schedule this afternoon, since clearly we're not going to be finished by the end of July! I've got some busy-ness going on this week & the week of the 21st, so I did 2 weeks for the next two chapters if that's OK with you. Let me know if it needs to be tweaked some more.