Photography 101: Decided to give a tiny bit of my input

The Shishpanik · 11-05-2006, 02:32 PM

Since there was a thread about how "difficult" is photography, I decided to try to add some input myself, and hopefully people can add on to this and i'll edit this post as i go on. Photography is a blend of a lot of different skills and can be thought of as a coordination of using these skills and your input of creativity. I'll try to explain.

The most important (arguably) aspect of photography is composition. This is how you "compose" the picture, i.e. what angle, how far away, how close, what position you are trying to capture. It is how you "compose" the pic.

When taking any shot, it is advisable to use the rule of thirds. Don't place objects in the dead center of a shot, but rather on the left third or right third. This makes the shot much more attractive, and actually places more emphasis on the object or person you are trying to shoot.

Second is focus. It is important to focus your object the way you would like. Many people choose to do depth of field shots (which mean one object is in focus while the objects behind it (or even in front) are kind of blurred out to create a sense of depth. This is important in photography because it can make whatever youre trying to take a photo of "stand out".

This is a good example of depth of field (DOF) for short.

Thirdly, but certainly as important as the other two is lighting. How light or dark your picture comes out is reflective of the outside lighting, shadows, and camera settings. Here, the only two things you really can do is set your camera and flashes (if you have external flashes) and work out your composition to compensate for the amount of light there is. You can do this by using two settings.
Aperture - the amount of light the lens allows in (sometimes known as f-stop). A larger aperture stop means that the lens is opened wider to allow more light in. Usually, you're camera can do this automatically if you have it on a setting, but my camera (and most other cameras) you can set the aperture manually and there will be indication (either blinking light or sound) on where to set your shutter speed on.
Shutter speed - how much time the camera allows for the film to be exposed. Shutter speed is measure in fractions of a second or seconds. The longer the shutter speed, e.g. two seconds, one minute, or even longer, the more light is let in to a picture, and this is how some people with stationary cameras are able to capture lightning or "write things" with lights in the air. With a longer shutter speed usually comes lower aperture, so that an appropriate amount of light can be taken in. Here is an example of a "long" shutter speed shot with low aperture;

Notice how the slow shutter speed creates the image of fast motion; many photographers for racing or action sports use slow shutter speed to create the illusion of something going very fast.

However, in those types of situations, alot of photographers choose to use a quick shutter speed (for example, 1/250th of a second) to capture many details. For example

Notice how even though the skateboarding can be moving quickly, he is absolutely "frozen".

Another thing we can control when it comes to amount of light let in is the type of film we use (or in a digital camera, what ISO we use). ISO is a standard in photography of measuring a film's sensitivity to light. Using a low ISO film means that the film is less sensitive to light, but, is much more pixelated and develops a usually more clear picture. Higher ISO film exhibits more sensitivity to light, but the sacrifice is graininess (which, if used properly, can look good in and of itself). The most common ISO's range from 100-800. I can't find a comparison photo right now of different ISO's, but I will edit my post when i recall more about my photoG days.

Happy photo-taking!

**marc-o-lishuz** · 11-05-2006, 02:38 PM

sweet!!! rep'd!

JonLee · 11-05-2006, 09:58 PM

OMG thank you so much for this info. I'll definately be keeping up with this thread as you update.

CivicWithNav · 11-05-2006, 10:25 PM

i like it

***CaliGuy*** · 11-05-2006, 10:33 PM

Very nice write-up!!! I cant wait to get a nice dSLR cam when I get my bonus in March...

The Shishpanik · 11-05-2006, 11:21 PM

Can a mod sticky this? Any more advice from other photographers is certainly welcome.

11-05-2006, 02:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
The Shishpanik Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: College park, MD Posts: 2,045 Fear the Turtle! iTrader: 1 / 100%	Photography 101: Decided to give a tiny bit of my input Since there was a thread about how "difficult" is photography, I decided to try to add some input myself, and hopefully people can add on to this and i'll edit this post as i go on. Photography is a blend of a lot of different skills and can be thought of as a coordination of using these skills and your input of creativity. I'll try to explain. The most important (arguably) aspect of photography is composition. This is how you "compose" the picture, i.e. what angle, how far away, how close, what position you are trying to capture. It is how you "compose" the pic. When taking any shot, it is advisable to use the rule of thirds. Don't place objects in the dead center of a shot, but rather on the left third or right third. This makes the shot much more attractive, and actually places more emphasis on the object or person you are trying to shoot. Second is focus. It is important to focus your object the way you would like. Many people choose to do depth of field shots (which mean one object is in focus while the objects behind it (or even in front) are kind of blurred out to create a sense of depth. This is important in photography because it can make whatever youre trying to take a photo of "stand out". This is a good example of depth of field (DOF) for short. Thirdly, but certainly as important as the other two is lighting. How light or dark your picture comes out is reflective of the outside lighting, shadows, and camera settings. Here, the only two things you really can do is set your camera and flashes (if you have external flashes) and work out your composition to compensate for the amount of light there is. You can do this by using two settings. Aperture - the amount of light the lens allows in (sometimes known as f-stop). A larger aperture stop means that the lens is opened wider to allow more light in. Usually, you're camera can do this automatically if you have it on a setting, but my camera (and most other cameras) you can set the aperture manually and there will be indication (either blinking light or sound) on where to set your shutter speed on. Shutter speed - how much time the camera allows for the film to be exposed. Shutter speed is measure in fractions of a second or seconds. The longer the shutter speed, e.g. two seconds, one minute, or even longer, the more light is let in to a picture, and this is how some people with stationary cameras are able to capture lightning or "write things" with lights in the air. With a longer shutter speed usually comes lower aperture, so that an appropriate amount of light can be taken in. Here is an example of a "long" shutter speed shot with low aperture; Notice how the slow shutter speed creates the image of fast motion; many photographers for racing or action sports use slow shutter speed to create the illusion of something going very fast. However, in those types of situations, alot of photographers choose to use a quick shutter speed (for example, 1/250th of a second) to capture many details. For example Notice how even though the skateboarding can be moving quickly, he is absolutely "frozen". Another thing we can control when it comes to amount of light let in is the type of film we use (or in a digital camera, what ISO we use). ISO is a standard in photography of measuring a film's sensitivity to light. Using a low ISO film means that the film is less sensitive to light, but, is much more pixelated and develops a usually more clear picture. Higher ISO film exhibits more sensitivity to light, but the sacrifice is graininess (which, if used properly, can look good in and of itself). The most common ISO's range from 100-800. I can't find a comparison photo right now of different ISO's, but I will edit my post when i recall more about my photoG days. Happy photo-taking!

11-05-2006, 02:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
marc-o-lishuz FRSH PRNZ OF BL AIR Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC Age: 26 Posts: 23,397 Marc iTrader: 2 / 100%	sweet!!! rep'd! __________________ forum rules / whistler06 / whistler07 / harrison08 / flickr

11-05-2006, 10:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
*CaliGuy* VIP Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: SoCal Age: 30 Posts: 10,520 J. M. back by popular demand! iTrader: 4 / 100%	Very nice write-up!!! I cant wait to get a nice dSLR cam when I get my bonus in March... __________________ Visit my city! Free vagin for every resident (in direct contrast to the other cities that only provide free Fleshlites!) http://eat-mykhram.myminicity.com/

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11-05-2006, 09:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
JonLee Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: SoCal Age: 19 Posts: 335 iTrader: 0 / 0%	OMG thank you so much for this info. I'll definately be keeping up with this thread as you update.

11-05-2006, 10:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
CivicWithNav Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Woodstock MD Posts: 2,575 iTrader: 13 / 100%	i like it

11-05-2006, 11:21 PM	#6 (permalink)
The Shishpanik Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: College park, MD Posts: 2,045 Fear the Turtle! iTrader: 1 / 100%	Can a mod sticky this? Any more advice from other photographers is certainly welcome.