MomShots

I know this is totally common knowledge to most of the world and I would totally have known this if I’d read it in my manual.  I keep saying I’m going to read my manual but what happens is I read a little bit and then get side tracked by experimenting with whatever it is I just read.  So I guess when I say that I’m reading my manual it is a process; not something I am going to just sit down and read in an afternoon.

What is it you ask?  

I discovered how to use the light meter in my camera!  I discovered where it is and what it means to me.  Part of that discovery is due to a post I read on Pioneer Woman’s site.  I read her article and realized that I needed to figure out my light meter so I just started experimenting.  I guess prior to this I hadn’t even really thought about a light meter.  I think I thought that using a light meter was too advanced for my current skill level so I really hadn’t given it any thought.  However, now it is my new best friend!

The thing about the light meter is that it totally helps me pick the correct shutter speed for whatever aperture I have the camera on.  I know, some of you are reading this and saying, “Well, duh!”  Others are reading this and thinking, “What the heck is a light meter?”

For those of you in the latter group, the light meter measures the light where you are focusing and tells you if it will be too bright or too dim for the current settings.  So then you can either make your aperture or f/stop smaller or larger or you can speed up or slow down your shutter speed.  

I really like to shoot with my camera in Manual mode.  That means I control all those settings, however I don’t always get the exposure correct on the first, second and sometimes third or fourth try.  I have really felt like it has been a bit of a guessing game.  So this discovery is actually pretty major for me.  If I read my light meter and make the corrections the exposure will be correct with little to no guessing from me.  That’s exciting!!!  

So this morning I took my two oldest sons to my little town’s annual hot air ballon festival.  It was so much fun!  We had a blast running from balloon to balloon and watching them fill up and take off.  After most of the balloons had left, they were giving rides on one that was tethered to the ground.  We stood in line and got our little turn.  It was a blast.  We all enjoyed it so much.

I took a ton of photos of the balloons and just a couple Momshots of my boys.  I’m kind of sad I didn’t take more Momshots.  Really I only took two and I bombed both shots.  They are really busy, bad shadows, etc.  Just not good shots but the whole time I was practicing with using my light meter.  It made such a difference.  I am actually really impressed.  None of my photos were badly over exposed or under exposed.  They all look great! 

Yay!  I feel like I have just taken a small step on the photography ladder of knowledge. 

So to sum it up; My Momshot Tip of the Day is to use your light meter.  If you don’t know where your light meter is look it up in your manual.  You’ll thank yourself.