Photography Course Basics

The technical side of photography is not difficult to grasp; anyone who wants to learn can do so. For a basic understanding of the camera and photography there are only four areas that you must understand to move forward. These are:

1. ISO
2. Shutter Speed
3. Aperture
4. Lighting

The first 3 are associated with the camera you are using and the last is what we use to create a photograph with, light. Once you have these concepts under control, you are ready to explore the next stages in your photography.

With these four areas, it does not matter whether you are using film or digital, the concepts remain the same. Digital cameras are the same as film cameras; the media is the only difference.

In addition, when you understand these concepts, you can take your camera setting off automatic and switch to manual. This will give you the control you want and need.

1. ISO

ISO is an acronym for International Standards Organization. It was previously known as ASA, or American Standards Association. It applies to both digital and film cameras.

Again, if you have your camera on automatic, the camera may select the ISO for a given situation, and provide you with a less than satisfactory image.

Getting your exposure correct is vital to making better looking photographs. The solution is to get the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings working together smoothly. Once you this under control and start working in manual, you will not want to give back control to the camera. Having said that, there may be times where you want to give control back to the camera. An example is for fast moving events, where you don't have the time to set the camera manually for each shot.

The aperture and shutter speed alone are not responsible for how your photograph is achieved. Light sensitivity of the digital sensor or film is also considered. Both digital and film cameras have a setting which allows you to adjust the ISO. ISO is a measure of how sensitive the recording medium - film or sensor - will be to light. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive it will be to light. Conversely, the lower the ISO number, the less sensitive the sensor, and more light is needed to render your photograph.

The problem at high ISO settings, where only a small amount of light is required by film or sensor, is that a level of noise or grain is introduced into the image. For film the effect is called grain, and gives the appearance of dots which make up the picture. For digital sensors, it is called noise and it can give the appearance like the noise on a TV screen that has little or no reception. While film grain has been used to great visual effect by many photographers, the noise recorded by high ISO settings in digital cameras is a disturbing effect of the medium.

The ISO is indicated by a set of numbers, which for most film and digital cameras, double with each increment in the setting. The camera normally has 100; 200; 400; 800; 1600. Some film cameras go well beyond this to as low as 6 ISO and as high as 6400 ISO. These numbers designate that with each increment or decrement, half or double the amount of light is needed to achieve the same exposure. This is also true of shutter and aperture, so you can see how they all work together. Change one function, and it is necessary to change another to achieve the same exposure.

For example, if you wish to have a long shutter speed to blur the effect of water in a waterfall, you need to slow down the shutter speed. This means you need to compensate for the additional light by stopping down the aperture to correct the exposure. The effect of stopping down the aperture also has its ramifications; it will give greater depth of field (se aperture). This may or may not be desirable in this example. It is something that you must consider though.

2. SHUTTER SPEED

This is all about controlling the length of time the camera's shutter remains open. This is a key area that will improve your photos and allow you visual control well beyond just deciding what your exposure will be.

Shutter speed is one of the three basic controls used to ensure that the correct amount of light is recorded by the camera. This control will result in how light or dark the photograph will be.

The shutter is a set of metallic blades, which is normally situated between the camera's sensor or film plane and the lens.

When a photo is taken, the shutter opens and allows the light traveling through the lens to reach the sensor or film. The period of time for which it remains open is referred to as the shutter speed.

This speed is variable and by lengthening or shortening it, the photographer can change the image dramatically by changing light intensity.

The longer the shutter remains open, the more light is transmitted through the lens. If it is very bright and sunny day, you would normally use a very short shutter speed, and in low light, a much longer shutter speed. But this is not always ideal.

Most modern cameras can automatically adjust this speed, but it is a powerful camera function and is best manipulated by the photographer.

By determining how long the shutter remains open, we are in effect also deciding how much the reality in front of the lens will change while the sensor or film remains active. This allows us to introduce an element of blur into the photograph, and a touch of blur well used, can add visual depth and a sense of movement that is not achievable through any other means.

Using the shutter manually can turn an automatic average photo into an expressive stunning photo.

3. APERTURE

The camera's aperture is similar in principle to the shutter. It also controls the amount of light that hits the sensor or film. The aperture also allows the photographer to change how much of a scene will be in focus.

With all cameras, aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens of the camera through which light can pass. The size of this aperture is adjustable in nearly all the lenses that fit digital cameras. Even the cheap amateur digital cameras have a manual setting allowing you to change aperture and shutter. By adjusting the size of the aperture, the photographer can ensure that the correct amount of light reaches the sensor or film during any exposure.

Aperture is also one of the three functions used to provide a correctly exposed image. The others are the length of the exposure, the shutter speed, and the light sensitivity of the sensor or film, the ISO.

The aperture can be adjusted either manually or, in most cameras, automatically by the camera. When the diameter of the aperture is changed, a set of blades inside the lens close down or open up to allow more or less light through the lens.

When you are making the aperture smaller, this is referred to as stopping down' while making the aperture larger is called stopping up.

The aperture is more than just a tool used to adjust the size of the opening in a lens and setting exposure. The aperture is perhaps the strongest tool your camera will offer you.


Depth of Field

The aperture affects another element of your photograph when you change the size of the aperture diameter. When it is opened up, and more light passes through the lens, the area which appears in focus becomes smaller.
Conversely, when it is closed down, and less light passes through the lens, the area which appears in focus becomes greater.

If you are taking a photograph of a group of people you may focus the lens on the first person. Other people are distributed deeper in the subject area.. If you set the lens at a large aperture the people behind will not be in focus.

If you use a smaller aperture, the people behind will be in focus. This is the critical concept of depth of field, and changes the outcome of your photograph. Open aperture for less depth of filed, close aperture for more depth of field.

The composition and strength of detail in your photograph is controlled by aperture. By instinctively deciding how much of the photograph is in focus, you can control exactly which details show up, and which do not. This allows you to have much more control over the outcome of your photography.

By using both shutter speed and aperture together, provides you with a combination of powerful tools to make your photography more expressive and controlled. When your camera is set on automatic, the camera is controlling the outcome of the photograph, not you. By putting your camera on manual, you will be taking back control.


4. LIGHTING

The subject of light in photography is a vast area and you can spend days, months and even years learning about its characteristics and its use in photography. There are two broad areas that we are concerned with, natural and flash. This is what the sun provides us with and what we use in the studio or the flash that comes with your camera.

Understanding light is vital to making your photographs work well. Whether you use the drama of hard light to emphasize form or use soft light to make a portrait more attractive will have significant consequences for your photographs.

Photography is all about light, some people cite photography as painting with light. You must understand light, so you can manipulate it with the above camera tools to improve your photography.

This does of course mean that getting the lighting right is the single most important feature of taking a good photograph and experienced photographers will tell you that to achieve a good looking image you require good light.

Using bland, uninteresting midday light is not going to flatter your landscape photograph. Choosing to photograph in the evening or at sunrise will raise the drama and impact level of your photograph.

What is good light? What is bad light? What is it that makes a photograph look stunning and another just ordinary?

The answer depends largely on the subject matter and your environment Are you in the studio or inside, or are you in the natural environment and you have to control the light the sun provides you with. All these questions need to be asked and provide an answer in order for your photograph to work well.

This article in its brevity cannot tell you in a page or two how to achieve great photographs by light your subject this way or that. The subject of light must be explored at a relative deep level. If you wish to take the step from average photographs, the above camera controls will help you immensely. But if you want to take the next step in creative photography, study light in detail.

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