The aperture of a camera was the most confusing for me. I think this chart explains it well. I wish i had this cheat sheet with me when i started. I think it's still useful today.
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/03/17/free-f-stop-chart-master-your-aperture/

Every now and then i got through my photos and delete what i think i would never use. in the past year i have gathered 16000+ photos  out of which maybe 500 are keepers. Anyway while I was doing that I found this photo i took at my photography class that i took at the UW.  I thought id share.

1/100 sec f4.5 ISO 400

24mm

I came home from work today and decided to take a walk in the park behind my house.
I managed to get one or two keepers.

1/10sec f11 ISO 100
28mm

I converted it to black and white then changed the background color. The image below was a previous shot.

Two other keepers from this set.

Browsing the web today looking for interesting photography blogs i found something really cool. Actually a couple of things. One is called "Time is a Dimension" and one is Steel Wool Photography.

Time is a Dimension is a "Multi Photo" collage,  I really wouldn't call it a collage but more of a photomerge if you will. From looking at the pictures it looks like this is a really time consuming process, but the images can be really amazing. It seems it would take a whole day to capture this. It's a timelapse merge in one photo.
If i ever have extra time to kill i would certainly consider doing this.

Steel Wool photography seems super cool. I'm considering doing this here soon. I need to get some motivation and get out there and get the tools and do it. SOON.

Today i discovered my new addiction http://1x.com/photos. There are some amazing artist out there. Seeing their work it completely changes the way i look at my photos. If you guys didn't know about this website go ahead take a look and be amazed.  It's like http://500px.com/ only on steroids. :) Happy viewing !

Blurry Awesomeness

I was going through some of my photos that i took few weeks ago and i didn't get a chance to look at.
This one particular one was taken in Seattle from Dr Jose Rizal bridge. I was in a rush going home and trying to catch the sunset. Problem was i had a $39.99 tripod that was feeling every breeze. On top of that the traffic on the bridge was causing it to shake.   So here is a blurry photo i wish i could go back to retake but who knows when a sunset like that will come again.. Maybe next year.

Since then i upgraded my tripod to Manfrotto Mk294. A very nice tripod. I can't wait to test it out.

6.0 sec at f/22 ISO 100

18mm 

One other thing i learned recently is that, if you are using a tripod, it's good to turn off the IS if your lens has this feature. It could also be one of the cause of blurriness.

Sunset 10/22/13

Even though I said i would start on 50mm journey today I decided to stop by and get a picture of the sunset on the way home from work. This is the outcome.

1/160 sec at f/ 5.0 ISO 100 @ 18mm

Challenge #1

The sun and Seattle have said their goodbyes, which leaves me with a whole lot of time to kill. Having started to get more involved in this photography hobby, I decided to look myself up some challenges to improve my skill. I think i found just the right thing. The article "How to Challenge Yourself To Be A Better Photographer" if found on +Light Stalking , has provided the perfect challenge for me. 11 months ago I bought a Canon 50mm 1.8 II lens for $80 on Craigslist and i think it would be prefect for the challenge. I'll post here the results.


Click Here: How to Challenge Yourself To Be A Better Photographer