The Basics Of Professional Photography

One of the most important difference of a photograph you will remember and one that you forget is its composition. Composition is the art of knowing where to place elements of a scene in the frame. When a photographer "sees" a scene, he has decided how to compose the scene.

For a picture to be remembered, there must be something in it to be remembered. Every picture usually requires some kind focal point. The focal point is the main subject of a photo. It can be a bridge, a dog, yourself, a group, etc. A focal draws the eye to a place where it can settle upon.

So where do I place the focal point? Firstly, I want to tell you that, I don't care what anybody says to you, there are no rules in photography. The rules of thirds, is a SUGGESTION. There are pictures that does not follow this rule and still very successful.

The rules of thirds suggests that when you picture a scene, divide the scene into thirds. Meaning there are 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines cutting across the frame to create nine equal size rectangles. The focal point should then be on one of the four intersections of those line.

Perhaps a more important tip to better composition is your perspective. Be creative and see things in different angle. Squat, climb, lie or even jump to get different perspective of everyday life. If shooting human, you can ask your subjects to do the same. You might find the person you are so close to everyday never looked that beautiful.

When you are composing, you need to decide what is more important and leave out the less important one. For example, you need to decide is the foreground more interesting than the background? Give more focus to one than the other.

You can also use a sense of scale to your advantage. Make a flower look as tall as a tree by placing the tree in the background and shooting the flower from down up.

Another thing you can do is to guide the eye to your focal point by using lines. Horizontal line divide up the scene. The horizontal line can be a fence separating a field, or a road transversing across the scene.

Open your mind to different possibilities. There is only one rule: There is no rules.



A tightly cropped photo can work without the rule of thirds. Picture By Doug Sahlin Photography.

The depth of field describes the amount of a scene behind and in front of the focusing point that appears sharp in an image. The depth of field makes the subject stand out in a frame by rendering the background, or foreground out of focus.

There are three factors that can affect the depth of field. the focal length of the lens you are using, aperture and the focusing distance.

The single biggest factor that affects the depth of field is the aperture. The general in aperture setting is that the wider the aperture, the less depth is produced. Therefore, f/3.5 is shallower than f/20.

The lens focal length is also an important factor. A 28mm lens has a much greater depth than a 300mm one.

The focusing distance is the last factor. The depth of field rises as the distance of focusing is farther. In other words, if your focusing point is far from your camera, more depth of field will be achieved.

So when to use shallow and when to maximize depth of field? Generally, you would want to use a shallow depth of field when taking portraits or animals. Maximizing the depth of field works well with landscape, where you want to record as much of the scene as possible.

A very important tip on depth of field: In most cases, depth of field extends almost twice as far behind than in front. On close distance like macro, however, it is almost equal.


A shallow depth of field makes the subject stands out of the background. Photo By Andross.

Shutter speed is determines how long your shutter stays open. A fast shutter speed means your shutter stays open less and therefore less light can reach the sensor. It is perhaps the most important factor in determining your photo's exposure. But there are also other uses of it that can be used creatively.

Almost any camera today offers a range of shutter speeds to choose from. Determining the shutter speed, together with aperture determines the exposure.

But getting the correct exposure is not just the problem. What if you want to capture a fast action? You need a fast shutter speed to "freeze" the moment. What if you want to convey speed and movement? You can use a slow shutter speed to blur the actions.

So the real problem is, what do you do in a situation where you want to capture a fast action and it's dark? Like a concert... In this case what you can do is to increase your ISO rating to the highest.

Another use of shutter speed manipulation is panning. Panning is used to depict motion by blurring the background. This requires a relatively slow shutter speed and follow the moving subject before and during the exposure. This is to make the subject sharp but the background blur. Remember: practice makes perfect.

Important tips on shutter speed: Always bracket your exposure. A slow shutter requires you to support you camera using a tripod because any movement can blur your picture. Varying shutter speed will affect your aperture. A fast shutter speed usually means wide aperture, thus a shallow depth of field. Therefore take care where you focus your camera on.



Panning allows for the background to be blur but the subject in focus. Photo By http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/05/08/25/

ISO stands for international standard organization. It is the rating given to the speed of film, indicating how sensitive a particular film is to light.

Therefore, film with lower ISO is less sensitive to light and is called slow. While, film with high ISO is more sensitive to light and is called fast.

Since a fast film sensitive to light, it better to use them in low-light conditions and the opposite is true. In a bright condition, it is better to use a slow film.

In digital cameras, ISO can be adjusted easily to the level you desire.

However, higher ISO creates "grains" and the higher the ISO is, the more noticeable the "grains" become. These "grains" are called noise in digital cameras and it can cause a problem in the shadow area when printing.

Noise doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. I often add noise to my photos for artistic purposes. If you can use it properly, it can really be a boon. Noise is often use to portray an "old" or "ancient" feeling to an image.

ISO is used not only for its grains, it is used to improve your exposure when certain conditions do not permit an optimal shutter speed or aperture to be used. For example, when you are in a concert, the condition is dark and the performer is moving. Therefore you cannot use a fast shutter speed because the image will appear dark but you also cannot use slow shutter speed because the performer will appear blurry. You adjust for the widest aperture but still to no avail. ISO can then be pushed as high as possible to help capture more light with a faster shutter speed in the hope of capturing a well lit image with a razor sharp performer.



High ISO can be used to produce noise. Photo By http://www.flickr.com/photos/belliebottom/