Momtographie Week 6- Backlighting

Wow I can't believe that this is the last week of Momtographie Online. This week we were introduced to some settings that Beryl refers to as the Set it and Forget It settings.  They are Continuous shooting mode, Single point focus and Spot Metering.

I tend to take way too many pictures so now with Continuous shooting mode I have even more pictures to view and delete.  But the likelihood of getting that "perfect" shot has significantly increased.  Toddlers do not stay put so this is a handy setting.

Shooting in continuous mode produced this cute shot of Rachael that I probably would not have obtained otherwise.

My camera had been set to Single Point focus for quite some time based on a recommendation I had read about in the past, but I did not really understand it.  During this course I learned what those dots in my viewfinder were, and how to move the focus point.

Now Spot Metering was new.  My camera previously had been set to Matrix Metering before.  Why, again based on some recommendation that I had read.  I practiced Metering a lot this week.  I also was introduced to the Compose and Recompose technique which was very new to me as well. 

Toddlers do not stay still for very long so I turned to the furkids to assist me in practicing these new techniques.

This week we also had to complete a challenge.....Backlighting.  And what a challenge this was for me.  Mother Nature has not been very kind.  It has rained every day this week.  And when it was not raining it was still cloudy and miserable.  In Week One of Momtographie I had rain envy, well I'm so over it now.  Rachael's favorite song these days is "Rain, Rain go away"
 

Since taking this course, like Beryl predicted, I am looking for light everywhere.  So I have been very disappointed with the lack of opportunities to practice this week.  I live in Northern AB which is notorious for its long summer evenings.
 

I had my first chance Thursday evening but tonight (Friday) the sun actually came out this evening long enough for me to attempt this challenge.  With Rachael siting facing our living room window watching Barney (ok so TV can be good) I attempted this challenge.
 

I first took some pictures in Auto mode and the Rachael was very dark compared to the background.  I learned that when dealing with backlighting you have to exposed for the subject and not the background.  Using Spot Metering allowed me to expose for Rachael and not the well lit window.  Here are the results.

My first attempt

1/60, f 1.8, ISO 200.  Rachael is still dark here.  Next I should have decreased the shutter speed.  But instead I increased it .  Here is the result.

1/100, f 1.8, ISO 200.  The exposure is still not great as Rachael is still quite dark.

1/40, f 2.8, ISO 100.  I made too many adjustments here and the exposure is still not that great.

1/30, f 2.8, ISO 100.  I love this picture but the shutter speed is quite low.  In our FB page, Beryl said that if the shutter speed is slow when the meter is at zero that this indicates a need to bump up the ISO.  Something that I did not try.

1/60, f 2, ISO 200.

This assignment was challenging in many ways.  I definitely need more opportunities to practice this technique. 

Addendum June 17th, 2013.

Still determined to figure out and play around with backlighting.  Mother Nature was playing nice this morning so I was able to practice with my favorite subject.  Both pictures were taken with my 50mm lens on Manual mode.  Settings: 1/4000, f 2.8, ISO 1600

YAY!!!!!! I did it :).