South Dakota...

It's scenes like this that are why I love living in South Dakota.

I haven't had access to our hard drive with allll our photos on it this week so I haven't updated in a week! This is a photo that I took while I was in my car, Gage was driving. I fixed it up a bit in photoshop ;) I'm not even going to bother writing down the EXIF information on this one haha.

My random thoughts and...a cute baby!

I've been studying photography and looking at other photographer's work for about a year now and I can honestly say that about 15% of these photographers are named Rick. What is up with that??

Anyhoo....

Here is the photo for today.

Zoe's Best Friend, Kjersten!

Mel's Plant

Mel's Plant

July 21, 2008 | ISO 1600 | f/11 | 1/400 sec.

Wall of Rock

"Wall of Rock"
September 2006

I decided to post an older photo today! I wanted to remember the vastness of the enormous rock cliffs in Zion National Park and this photo definitely captured some of it. I didn't have any control over the exposure because this was taken with a point and shoot digital camera (my old Olympus) back in 2006. I shot this while we were on our honeymoon during our stay in Zion National Park! I can't wait to go back there with my DSLR! I think I just may go nuts.

A Warm Winter's Day

The last day of January we were blessed with a beautiful warm day in the 50s! It was a perfect day for taking photos and thankfully it occurred on the day I was going to be taking Engagement photos of my cousin and her fiance. I got some shots of them on a bridge and this was the scene from the bridge.

"A Warm Winter's Day"
1/31/09 | ISO 800 | 1/4000 sec | f/8

Will

This is Zoe's friend Will! A few weeks ago he and Kjersten came over for a fun-filled play date. He is one day younger than Zoe and about 6 lbs heavier!

01/18/09 | Nikon D-40 | 1/100 sec. | F-stop 5.6 | ISO 800

Zoe's 1st New Years Eve

This is one of my favorite recent photos taken of my little Zoe. I just love her curiosity. This photo was taken at Grandma and Grandpa Herrmann's on New Years Eve.

"Zoe's 1st New Years Eve"
12/31/2008 | ISO 400 | 1/4 sec. | F-stop: 3.5

Zoe - 11 Months

I can't believe she is already 11 months old! I still think of her as being 7 or 8 months old. My little baby is growing up too fast! Here is a photo of Zoe taken a few days ago when she was sick with a cold. I was a bad Photographer Mommy this month and did not get any decent close up photos of her. This is the best one I could find.

2/8/2009 | ISO 400 | 1/13 sec | f/5.6

Understanding ISOs

I have been working on Photo composition for years, that is what sparked my interest in photography. Then about two years ago when I signed up for this Photography Diploma program I decided it was time to learn all the technicalities of Photography - something I wasn't too interested in but knew I had to learn if I ever wanted to take better photos. Now here I am, two years later, and on a learning scale of 1-10, beginning at 0 when I started, I'd say I've probably gone up about 3 notches. Not too impressive, but it's better than nothing! For the longest time I could not grasp the correlation of aperture and shutter speeds, no matter how many times my husband tried to explain it to me, no matter how many times I read about it in my textbooks, no matter how many websites I looked at on the subject... it just did not click (no pun intended...haha)

As for the ISO - I've known about the ISO (International Organization of Standardization) for years. Ever since I was in my early teens and began taking photos with Film. I also learned about the ISO in my photography schooling, but with my lack of understanding of aperture (f-stops) and shutter speeds it all wasn't quite fitting together for me. It wasn't until about two months ago that I began to understand the correlation between the three settings. I didn't know that I could change the ISO settings on my camera until about 6 months ago! I am amazed that you can record images with different ISO settings all on the same memory card! Back in the days of Film, you would have to physically change the roll of film if you wanted to use a different ISO, now with digital cameras you can change it with just a couple buttons.

Ever since I was about 14 or 15 years old, my basic understanding of the ISO was this: 400 is good and should be used for pretty much everything, 800 is better for photos with a lot of movement. I figured that meant that anything lower than ISO 400 was lower quality. I remember seeing some ISO 100 Film in the store and thinking, "Why would anyone want to buy that?" Now I understand what the ISO is and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the different speeds.

Basic Info about the ISO:

• ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of the photographic negative materials. Since Digial cameras are built with ISO equivalent using image sensors rather than film. My Nikon D40 has the following ISO settings: Auto (100), 200, 400, 800, 1600, and H1.
• You obtain the highest quality photo by using the lowest ISO setting possible on your camera.

ISO 50 and lower - Best used for very bright scenes such as a sunny day on a white sandy beach.

ISO 100, ISO 200 - The Standard ISO used for clean, clear, colorful images for most situations and subjects.

ISO 400 - This is actually considered to be a high ISO and it should normally be used when indoors or in poor lighting. The lower the light, the higher ISO you should use.

ISO 800 and higher - Used for low lighting. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor/film will be to the light, which means you are more likely to have a grainy picture.


Our Wedding Pictures - After our Wedding I took one look at the pictures and all I saw was...darkness. Each and every photo was dark, some were so dark you couldn't even make out who was in the photo. I had to go through and fix each one in Photoshop (over 300!) Up until this week I didn't know that every digital picture stores EXIF information that tells you what all the settings were on the camera for that particular exposure. I just went to see what ISO my photographer used in the very low lit church and just as I suspected... ISO 100. :) The shutter speeds and apertures were also a little odd. If you are ever in search of a good deal on Wedding photos, make sure your photographer has at least some knowledge of ISO, shutter speeds, and aperture.

The Joy of Digital Photography

Penn Foster Career School sent me this book titled The Joy of Digital Photography by Jeff Wignall. I was to read through the entire book and take two exams regarding this book. I completed this a few weeks ago.

I was just doing some research on ISOs. I typed something along the lines of "ISO speeds" into google and came across another blog called Photo Tip of the Day. I read through the post and decided to "follow" the blog. Later I realized that the blog I was reading was one by the author of the book I had just read! What a strange coincidence!

The Joy of Digital Photography is an excellent book with quite a bit of useful information. I highly recommend it. Subscribe to the blog too! Even if you're not a "photographer". It's a great way to learn how to take better photos.

Building Reflections

This building was one I took to use for my 1st Graded Project, however it didn't really fulfill the requirements for the assignment and I chose a different building (see a couple posts below). I love the photo though and hopefully one day I'll be able to use this photo for something.

"Building Reflections"
07/28/2008 | ISO 200 | 1/800 sec. | f/4.2

Flowers in July

We're in the middle of Winter now and I am in need of a reminder of what Spring and Summer will bring...

"Flowers In July"
07/27/2008 -- Nikon D40 -- 1/160 sec, F-stop 6.1

Graded Project #1

I have been working on my Photography Diploma for over a year now. This is a home study program in which Penn Foster Career School mails you all the material you need to learn, then you take your exams online. I've finally come to a point where they want me to mail in a couple projects for them to grade in person. My first project is actually just two photographs, but these two photographs have taken me months to take.

Assignment #1: A Photograph of a Building


With a new baby in March 2008, I had my hands full for a long time. I didn't get out much to take photos. There were a few times where my husband and I drove around searching for buildings to photograph to suit the assignment's requirements, but we were not very successful. Finally, I gave in and decided on the Falls Park Cafe, a landmark building in the city of Sioux Falls. While it is a beautiful building, it is not entirely what I was hoping to find. It works though, and at this point I just need to finish the project!


Assignment #2: A Photograph of a Person

This assignment was to take a photo of a woman in a pretty outdoor setting. This photo is to be used in a magazine that is talking about a woman's role in environmental problems. Sound simple enough, right? Normally this would not be a problem for me, however... I live in Sioux Falls, SD. For the past couple months we've been lucky to have temperatures go higher than 10 degrees. Couple that with my lack of available friends to model for me, I found myself in a bit of a pickle. Thankfully, on Jan 31st I took Engagement Photos for my husband's cousin Monique and her fiance Nick. She let me take a few shots of just her and here we have it!

Welcome!

My name is Shaina Herrmann.

Photography is my creative outlet. I am married, live in Sioux Falls, SD, and I have a beautiful daughter named Zoe. My husband and I grew up in San Diego, CA and moved here immediately following our Wedding in September 2006.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a place for me to post about all my photographing adventures and about all the new things I learn in the world of Digial Photography. I have loved photography as long as I can remember and I look forward to learning more over the years as I study the art of photography.

My Photography:

• I am currently using a Nikon D40 DSLR camera. My husband and I bought this camera in August 2007 just before my best friend's Wedding. Now, a year and a half later I am still learning how to use it!
• I love photography because I have a facination with God's beautiful creations.
• I enjoy taking both landscape and portrait photography.
• I am currently studying Photography through Penn Foster Career School to earn a Diploma in Photography.
• My photography goals: To provide beautiful photos for anyone who wants them, to have my own in-home photo studio, to be a Wedding photographer, and to charge the least amount possible, if anything at all.

-Shaina