Monday class:

At the beginning, we were separated into groups to experience the usage of zebra line. In the last class during Robin’s demonstration, our group once asked questions about this function and we had a further understanding in this class. Zebra line is a way to help adjust the exposure. Once it is turned on, the screen will show slashes at over-exposed parts according to the number we set. Then, it will be easier to judge the exposure by changing viewfinder into black and white mode, examining the zebra line and of course observing every detail in the scene. Robin explained that zebra line is usually set as 70% for EX3 camera but still could be changed depends on different lighting. To have a more intuitive knowledge of the relationship between exposure and aperture, we turned on the phone flashlight and operated the ring to see its movement. We stood in front of the lens and looked inside, the aperture seemed so small like a little insect, opening and healing to control the amount of light. This practical exercise explained the basic operation principles more specifically.

Friday class:

The EX3 camera is placed in the front of the classroom again, which means we will explore the technical world further. This class’s illustration is about the relationship between Focal Length, Field of View and Depth of Field. Fortunately, I’ve learned the related knowledge in last semester’s photography elective and still remembered most of it. Now, our learning content changes from still image to video, so the shutter speed and ISO won’t interrupt anymore, which makes the rule easier. However, we still encountered some problems during the class practice. The aim of this practice is to get the greatest and the shallowest depth of field under the premise of correct exposure. We filmed at the cafe area next to the classroom and it was darker than the sunlight outside. Aria was sitting in front of the french window, so passengers could become the reference to reveal the shallow DoF. I placed the camera close to the wall to get the longest focal length (55 mm). When adjusting the aperture, I found the reflective glass and passengers who wore light tops were very over-exposed for the widest aperture. To ensure the proper exposure, I finally turned F number to 5.6 and kept the Gain as low. I thought the shallow DoF was revealed clearly that passengers were mostly blurred but Aria was in the focus.