Back to the Bike

I know I said I would not post these exercises with the lenses and the bike but I am such a visual learner and I have to do it for my sake.

Today my plans were to use the 200mm lens - telephoto type lens - and do the exercises as before. I have to admit it was SO COLD with the wind chill that I could only stand to stay outside with taking photos standing up! Brrrr!

It required more photos than before because with a 200mm lens, I had to stand WAY BACK to get the entire bike in the photo with space all around the bike in the beginning photo.

I had my camera with the flash off and on automatic mode again and just took 5 steps closer with every photo.

As you can see, when I get closer, it's more difficult to photo the entire bike in a frame.

Here I am 15 steps away and you can see how the telephoto lens works that far away.

Here I am 10 steps away and can barely get parts of the bike in the frame. I read that a telephoto lens is a good lens to use for portraits because you can stand far away and get close portraits without the subject knowing you're photographing plus there is less distortion that far away. If you want distortion (for a humorous look), use a short lens and get close.

Now I'm 5 steps away and the camera is really having a tough time focusing on sections of the bike because the lens is bringing the photo of the bike so close.

Now I am standing right next to the bike and cannot get the camera to focus. I have everything on automatic. I'm not using anything manually to keep all conditions the same except for the lens. I finally got the camera to focus on the grass through the spikes on the front wheel. Can you see the blurred spikes in the picture?

With these exercises, Bryan Peterson, in his book, suggests that you do this same exercise standing, on your knees and on your stomach for all lens lengths possible with your camera. I have a Pentax DSLR camera with two lens - an 18 to 55mm lens and an 80 to 320mm lens. I love my camera and it really does have a lot of good features. This is only the beginning in learning my camera and what it will do. I have a long way to go! But, again, it's fun! NOTE: I never got on my knees or my stomach in this exercise with the 200mm lens. It was just too cold. But I will continue and get it done little by little.