To submitt a photo for a photo challenge. Just send your images to admin@petphotographysecrets.com.

Anyone can participate!

Good Luck and Happy Photography!

Colby GW

“Many lost animals “found” me over the course of last several years and many of them found home either in my house or at my friends’. Chi-Chi came to me as the only survivor of one bad man killing off her family and she became my angel that follows me everywhere. She was only three weeks or so of age and was so tiny. Now she is 5 yrs old and still less than 8 lbs. I believe that she is one of the most beautiful and “photogenic” kittens around. “

I truly believe that Tereza’s image is an unquestionably award winning shot! Great Job!

Congratulations to Noemi for this wonderful capture! To me this image holds a lot of expression and character! Great Job.. keep up the good work!

To answer this question is rather difficult considering the fact that every camera is different along with a photographers preference. If one were to ask my advice I would say to go with your instinct. Write down on a piece of paper what the “safe” settings are n your camera and then go to town. Play with your camera and your settings and take lots of shots. You WILL NOT break your camera by changing the adjustments, and if you ever feel that you’ve gone to far in the wrong direction than you have your piece of paper with the written settings to fall back on.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment! That’s all I can say… find what is interesting to you and be unique in the way you approach your images. I think you’ll be extremely impressed with your results.

That being said… it still doesn’t answer your questions on Shutter and Aperture.

This is a really great explanation about Shutter and Aperture that I found while doing a little bit of research. I found this article on PhotoHead.com. PhotoHead.com is a great resource is reading up on some of the latest information available regarding Digital Photography.

Controlling Exposure
In order for an image to be captured on film, it must be exposed to light. The camera has two settings that control light, and they work very similar to the human eye.

The Shutter:

«« Canon Rebel 35mm shutter in closed position.
The shutter blocks all light from exposing the film UNTIL you press the button. Then it quickly opens and closes, giving the film a brief flash of light.

You can control the length of time the shutter remains open by setting the SHUTTER SPEED.

Longer shutter speeds = more light
shorter shutter speeds = less light

The Aperture:

Before light reaches film, it must pass through an opening called an “Aperture”. The aperture is like a pupil. You can control the aperture by setting the “Aperture Opening”, also known as an F-Stop.

brightness is reduced as light passes through an aperture.
Smaller F-stops numbers = larger openings

larger openings = more light

Shutter Speed:
Determines HOW LONG the shutter stays open.

The longer exposures ( like 1 second ) give much more light to the film than a 1/1000 of a second exposure. So even though the number may look bigger, don’t be deceived!

Examples:

A half second exposure is ONE STOP darker than a one second exposure.

A 1/125 exposure is TWO STOPS brighter than a 1/500 exposure.

A 1/1000 exposure is THREE STOPS darker than a 1/125 exposure.

« Every step in this table
represents a ONE STOP change in light.

Apreture Settings (F-Stops):

Like the pupil in a human eye, the aperture on a camera controls light.

It does so by closing up to restrict light, and opening up to let it through.

Examples:

moving from f16 to f8 is:
TWO STOPS brighter.

moving from f5.6 to f8 is:
ONE STOP darker

moving from f4 to f2.8 is:
ONE STOP brighter

Every step in this table »
represents a ONE STOP change in light.

Balancing Shutter and Aperture:
Exposure is about different combinations of shutter and f-stop settings. These combinations can drastically affect the finished picture. For example, the following three pictures have been given an equal amount of light, but the f-stop and shutter combinations make each one unique.

Why is the background all blurred in the right picture, and sharpest in the left ? Because if the exposure is made with a wide aperture ( like f2.8 ), then objects farther away from the subject are thrown farther out of focus. This effect is referred to as “depth of field”

So.. if the aperture is small (like f22) then objects in the background (and foreground ) will appear sharper. However, since more light was required to make the exposure on the left ( 1/4 Second ) the subjects became blurred from MOTION. At 1/250th of a second, the shutter is fast enough to freeze motion.

Take a stop, Give a stop…
Since f-stop and shutter are both measured in stops, keeping balance is easy. If you take away 2 stops from the aperture, you can give 2 stops back with the shutter and end up with the same exposure level.

” this is a member of our family her name is lucy she is a terrier X and 3 years old we got her from the animal shelter on the island.”

Rebecca has done a wonderful job of looking at her pup in a unique way and captering her personality. Great Job Rebecca… well done!