Can natural light also be outdoors? Or is this a challenge for indoor photos?

Here’s my answer:

I would consider natural light outdoors as daylight (not direct sunlight) as discussed in the June tutorial.  For this tutorial, I’d like to see you work on using indoor natural lighting. 

Thanks for your queston, Erin – can’t wait to see your results!  I’ll be back with our first August submission soon!

Cheers!

A reader left me a question in one of her comments, and it occured to me that others may have questions as well.  So each month, I will post a Q&A type of post to answer your questions regarding the assignment that month.  You can leave me your question in a comment or email me directly at sue (AT) canadianscrapbooker (DOT) com.

Here’s Sonia’s question:

How do you get a lower F setting? I could not get it lower then f/5.6.

The lowest f/ setting, or widest aperture, will depend on the lens speed.  If you are unsure of your lens speed, there are two easy ways to check: 

1) in manual mode, set your camera to manual or aperture priority, and dial down to the widest aperture – it will stop changing at the lowest number.  This is your lens speed.

or

2) look at your lens – there should be a bunch of numbers on the barrel or on the front rim, as shown below:

In the first photo, this is a 50mm fixed, or prime, lens, with a lens speed of f/1.4.  In the second photo, it is a lens with a varying focal length of 18-55mm.  As such it has a varying lens speed, depending on the focal length.  At the 18mm focal length, the lens speed is f/3.5 and at 55mm, it is f/5.6

Hope that answers your question, Sonia!

If you have any questions pertaining to this month’s assignment, or just in general, please ask! 

Cheers,