How to take a photo.
Today, everyone has a
camera. It might be a camera phone, point and shoot pocket camera, or
a DSLR. I bet you have at least one of them.
Digital images are easier
and faster than film to make, edit, and share.
The basic principals
still apply just like they did a hundred plus years ago.
Photography is
all about capturing the light.
Here is a basic overview
Photography is also full
of rules. There are two main things when taking a photograph.
Composition: The artistic
part where you arrange your picture in the viewfinder to produce a
hopefully pleasing composition.
Exposure: This is the
mechanical part where you expose the light through the lens to your
camera and if you are lucky, capture the image.
If you are using an
'auto-everything' camera, your only control is the composition
photos. I can't tell you how to take a great picture, it comes down
to your ability to "see" the picture. There are rules and
techniques you can use to improve your shots.
There are 2 basic ways to
arrange your composition.
Physically move objects
and or tell people to move.
Move your feet. The most
effective way to arrange your composition is to change your
viewpoint.
You do not want to end up
with photographs that have areas of wasted space around the edge and
people with things growing out of their heads. Make sure your subject
fills the frame. The best way to do this is to move your feet closer.
Before you press that
shutter, look round the frame and behind your subject. Make sure that
you don't have space full of nothing interesting.
The most popular rule in
photography is the Rule Of Thirds. Image lines are drawn dividing the
image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Place important
elements of your composition where these lines intersect. Using the
Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced images.
Exposure is how much
light reached the digital sensor or film. The tricky part is knowing
how much light you need and how to control the amount of light.
Using the light meter,
built into the camera, and the aperture and shutter controls on your
camera. You control the exposure by allowing light to pass through
the aperture for a given amount of time(shutter speed).
Of the various controls
on your camera the aperture and shutter controls are the ones which
will give control over the finished photo. It is important to
understand what they are for and how they affect each other. The
shutter controls movement, which can be subject movement or camera
shake, and the aperture controls how much of the image will be in
sharp focus. The area of sharpness is known as the depth of field.
The aperture is just a
hole and the size can be varied to allow more or less light to pass
through. The size of apertures are in f-numbers.
An aperture range
f 1.4; f 2; f 2.8; f
4; f5.6; f 8; f 11; f 16; f 22; f 32
A shutter speed range
1sec; 1/2sec; 1/4sec;
1/8th; 1/ 15th; 1/30th; 1/60th; 1/125th;
1/250th; 1/500th;
1/1000th; 1/2000th
Shutter speeds are
expressed in seconds or fractions of a second.
Minimum recommended
shutter speeds for hand held photography.
24mm 1/30th
28mm 1/30th
50mm 1/60th
70mm 1/60th
90mm 1/125th
135mm 1/125th
200mm 1/250th
300mm 1/250th
The use of aperture and
shutter is juggling one with the other. If you want a lot of depth of
field you will have to select a small aperture. Then you will have to
select a shutter speed that will
give you the correct
exposure, and be fast enough to freeze movement and be fast enough to
prevent camera shake.
If your light meter tells
you to set your camera to f-8 at 1/125th of a second. You can decide
that you want to change it.
Here are a range of
shutter and aperture combinations which will all result in the same
exposure.
f-32 1/8th of a second
f-22 1/15th of a second
f-16 1/30th of a second
f-11 1/60th of a second
f-8 1/125th of a second
f-5.6 1/250th of a second
f-4 1/500th of a second
f-2.8 1/1000th of a second
f-2 1/2000th of a second
If you want to capture
fast movement you will have to select a fast shutter speed. Then you
will have to select an aperture which will give you the correct
exposure and be small enough provide sufficient depth of field.
One other important part
of exposure is ISO or used to be the film speed.
With today’s digital
sensors, ISO is basically adjusting the sensors sensitivity to light.
You want to keep this as
low as possible to reduce noise in the photo.
It is your third item to
balance in the exposure of your image.
Now that you are
completely confused. You could take a photography course or read lots
of online tutorials. Most importantly, get out there and shoot.
Practice, practice, practice.
If you have a camera that
has manual settings, use them. Practice with them. See how hey change
the look of your photo. Anyone can take a photo. Knowing how to shoot
can make your good image become a great image.
Happy shooting.
Note: Before you show
anyone hundreds of photos or a 2 hour slide show, edit your images.
Delete all the doubles, duds, and the out of focus. Only show people
the good stuff. Pro's shoot a lot of duds too; they just don't show
them to anyone.
While not a complete list,
here are some of the top sites for images:
Share Smart Phone
Photos Online:
Free images:
Free Online Image
Editing:
Pro Photo Editing:
Image Editing:
Online Image Sharing:
Buy Prints And Gifts
Online:
Nice write up, Christiaan.
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