Photography Basics

Long time no see…

I’ve realised that the way this site is organised is starting to get a little confusing so I am going to do a little restructuring to make it easier to find what you are looking for.

Soon there will be sections for:

1. Camera Equipment

2. Camera Accessories

3. Software

4. Technique Basics

5.  FAQs

I need to make sure that I don’t break any links to the existing structure so it’s not a straight forward reshuffle, but it will make things a lot easier to find.

I have lots more content to add too now the weather has been kind enough to let me take some photos to demonstrate things I will be talking about, so photography basics will be waking up again after a short hibernation period (although hibernation is more for winter isn’t it…. ah well, you know what I mean).

Please feel free to ask questions too. I’m always looking for ideas to write about, so if you have any photography questions, send them in and I will do my best to answer them for you.

The best way to learn about photography, no matter what level you are at, is to take pictures.

Sometimes it can be hard to get inspiration and motivation to go out and take pictures, so a good way to get round that is to set yourself a challenge. It’s all about the planning to make sure you get the opportunities you need to meet the challenge.

So the first thing is to think of a theme for your challenge. It may simply be something like ‘the colour green’ or ’street signs’, or you may want to set yourself a slightly harder challenge like ‘urban wild life’. Just make sure it’s fairly realistic!

Once you have picked a theme, you need to plan a location which may take a little research. Try and pick somewhere you are familiar with too as this makes it easier to work out where you are going to get the best shots. Going to a completely new location may mean you spend more time trying to find the places to take pictures than actually taking pictures.

OK, you have the theme and you have the location, so just give it a go. If you are using digital you can take lots of pictures. Just look for interesting scenes, objects or lighting and take several shots Experiment with your camera too, exploring the various settings and see what results you get. Take the same scene with different settings to learn how they effect the picture.

Try and get at least 10 good shots from each challenge that you are proud of. This is also a good way to build up a portfolio too should you want to pursue a career in photography and it’s also a great way to start building up a stock image library too.

So here are 3 challenge ideas to get you going:

1 - Circles. You can do this in your own home, but try and be imaginative.

2 - Trees. Look for interesting shapes and textures.

3 - Reflections. You can get creative with mirrors, or maybe see what reflections you can see in puddles.

If you are just getting into photography with the hope that one day it will earn you a living, then you need to know it’s a hard business to get into, but with a little time and effort you can make money from photography.

There are a few ways that you may know of, and have ideas about, so here is an overview of three ways that photography can be used to generate income.

Wedding Photography

There will always be a need to capture that special moment at a wedding. Whether you are taking the formal posed shots or are wandering around trying to capture that candid moment of the bride or groom, or the guests. Wedding photography can be a good money maker, but you will have to sacrifice your weekends in most cases and if you shoot digital, time on the computer afterwards preparing the images. Different people want different things from a wedding photographer. They may want you around all day getting pictures of the preparation, the wedding and the reception. That’s a full day of taking pictures. Or they may simply want you at the ceremony to get those few memorable shots. They may want the formal, traditional style, or maybe the more candid style which is popular nowadays. Either way you will need the right equipment for the job.

Equipment is key. You need to know that you can rely on your equipment, and that you have backups should one part fail. The bride and groom are relying on you to get the pictures they want so there is the added pressure to deal with should something go wrong, or maybe the weather plays it’s part and prevents you from taking your pre planned shots.

If you want to get into wedding photography then a great way to learn the ropes is to help an established wedding photographer. Learn the best way to do things, the way to manage the guests in the time you have and learn how to make the best of given situations. Then you can branch out on your own once you have the equipment and the confidence to do a good job.

Stock Photography

There are many stock libraries you can submit your images to, which they will then sell and you get a percentage of the selling price. It is a very competitive area though, and digital has made it more so with more and more people submitting their work. Finding a niche is a good way to do well as well as search for the photos that aren’t in the library. You are more likely to make sales if you supply pictures on a theme which is not already flooded with thousands of examples.

Stock images have to meet strict standards for most image libraries so always check what they want before submitting your work.

Stock has the beauty that once you image is in the library it can get multiple sales over time, therefore making you money for doing nothing, once it’s there. The larger your collection of images in that library, the more money you can potentially make.

It’s well worth looking into though, and over time can earn some good money, but you are competing with a lot of people so make sure your images stand out from the rest.

Magazines and other Publications

Magazines, newspapers and other publications are always looking for images and this can be a great way to earn a bit of money as well as get your name known. If you are interested in a particular hobby, or other interest, find out what magazines are linked to that subject and submit your images to them.

I would suggest writing to the editor first to see what sort of images they want, what format they want them in and if they pay for the images used. Regular submissions of good subject matter will help get you noticed and if you are good with words you may want to submit articles to go along with them. You’d be surprised how many magazines are dying for content to fill their pages.

So there you go, three ways to make some money from photography. They each take time and commitment and you may not make a lot of money straight away, but over time as you pick up experience you will find ways to improve your work to suit the market and thus improve your chances of making more money.

Macro photography is a term used for close up photos. It is a term applied to most close up photos but should actually only be applied to photos which have a 1:1 or closer magnification.

Macro is a great area of photography as you can take macro shots where ever you are. Find small details of larger objects to create abstract looking images, or maybe you want to take pictures of creepy crawlies like spiders and beetles (my favourite subject) or maybe close ups of flowers.

However, you do need the right equipment to do it properly.

Depending on your budget and the type of camera you use, there are many ways to achieve a suitable magnification for close up images. The ideal solution is an SLR or dSLR with a dedicated macro lens. This lens will have the 1:1 capability built in and the lens will be good quality designed for this purpose. These lenses can be expensive though, costing several hundred pounds new, although there are a few bargains to be had via auction sites like ebay. Having the all in one solution reduces the hassle and you can concentrate on taking the picture.

An alternative to a dedicated macro lens is to use extension tubes. These go between the camera body and the lens on an SLR or dSLR, they don’t have any glass in them, but they allow you to focus a lot closer than the standard lens would normally. So let’s say you had a good quality 50mm lens, but it didn’t focus particularly close so you couldn’t use it for close up work. If you added 50mm of extension tubes between the body and the lens, effectively moving the lens 50mm further away from the sensor you would get a 1:1 magnification ratio and would be able to focus very close to the subject. You don’t want to add too much extension though as it can put extra strain on the lens and lens mount.

A cheaper way to achieve close up capability is to use the various diopters that are available to screw onto the front of your lens. These are like the filters you buy, such as UV filters or polarisers, but are designed to allow closer focus. You can also stack these, so maybe you want a +2 and a +4 to get really close up, or you could just use the +2 on it’s own. You have to remember though that each one you add to the front of the lens adds an extra piece of glass. Too many extra pieces of glass can have a detrimental effect to your image, so don’t go mad with them. It is a cheap option though, especially if you can find them in a camera shop’s bargain bin!

Another way to achieve good macro capability is to reverse one lens onto the front of another lens. So if you already have a decent 200mm lens and a decent 50mm lens, you could fix the 50mm onto the front of the 200mm with the filter threads facing each other to give a 4:1 magnification ratio which is very high, but the possibilities with this type of arrangement are very good as different combinations can be used to achieve different results. The adapters are cheap too.

So what if you don’t have an SLR or dSLR and can’t add anything in between the body and lens? Well the diopter route is an option and so is the reversing a lens route although you may have to be a bit creative with how to connect the lenses together. See if you camera has a macro mode too, usually a little yellow flower appears on the screen, as that can help you get closer. Several point and shoot cameras are great for macro, especially the Nikon Coolpix 4500 which I used for a while before upgrading to a dSLR.

When you are actually taking the close up shots you will need to keep the camera totally still, so a tripod or a beanbag is essential. You will also need to be patient, especially with insects as they are very quick, so get used to the settings which work best on your camera so you are able to get the shot quickly when you need to.

Depth of field is also going to be more obvious. Being that close up you will need to use a small aperture to make sure you get a suitably large area in focus, although you can also use aperture creatively to pick out one area.

With the facebook craze continuing to grow, I thought I’d start a group to work along with this site.

So, if you are a facebook member, then stop by and join the photography basics group, or if you aren’t a facebook member, get registered now and join a huge community.

If you are trying to take pictures of wildlife, the first thing to do is to sit down, out the way, quietly, and just watch the animal you want to take a picture of.

Getting used to how it behaves will let you get closer to it, and you might get a more spectacular image from it. I’ve used the example of a dragonfly before, but it is a great example.

If you come across a dragonfly basking in the sun and scare it off, just stop, stay quiet and chances are the dragonfly will return to the same point, so you can line yourself up ready for the shot.

For birds (the feathered variety) watch for where they perch. They are likely to be using the same perch over and over again so just sit and watch them and see where they go before trying to get the shot.

Patience is the key here. Don’t expect to just walk up to something, take the picture and walk off, you might have to sit and wait for half an hour or longer until the subject becomes comfortable with you, then you’ll find it easier to get the picture you intended.

I will be covering shooting (photographically, not bulletty) wildlife in more detail in the future, but I just found a good post by Chris Garrett from the DSLRBlog called Wildlife Photography Tips For Beginners. It’s got some good advice for going from taking pictures of your pets or creatures in your garden to getting out and taking some proper wildlife.

Wildlife photography is so varied and can cover anything from taking pictures of butterflies to buffaloes. Some of it requires some specialist equipment like long fast lenses but if you can get close to the animals without scaring them off then the more basic lenses can be fine.

Knowing the animals behavior is key too, and that can only be learnt by watching them from a distance. For instance dragonflies will usually return to the same spot if they get scared off, so it’s just a case of being patient, quiet and still and should get the shot.

Ever since I started photography, it’s given me a greater appreciation for wildlife which is no bad thing. So take a peek at Chris’ DSLRBlog and pick up some good tips.

Another of the techniques I mentioned in my composition overview is a simple composition technique which works quite well and that is to give the subject of the image space to look into.

If you are taking pictures of people or animals and they are not looking directly at the camera, give them the space to look into. If you have them looking straight out of the frame, meaning the space is behind them, generally this image won’t be a pleasing composition to most people.

For instance, this pigeon in the first image is looking out of the frame, all the space is behind the bird and the image doesn’t really work.

In the next image the pigeon is place to the right of the image and has space to look into making it a more pleasing image to most people.

It’s not just for people and animals. Anything that has movement in a particular direction should have space in the image to move into, rather than be moving out of the image. Motor sports is a good example of this. Of course, this is just another composition guideline, and sometimes the image can work if you break the ‘rules’.

Tripods will ensure that your picture is free from camera shake, giving you a much sharper picture. Of course this depends on whether the tripod is sturdy and you get the focus correct.

Tripods can be quite cheap, but you will find the the cheap ones are fairly flimsy when extended to any height. It is well worth spending a bit on a good tripod as it is one of the accessories that will work with any camera and it can have a positive effect on your images.

Along with your tripod you will need a good head. Not the one on top of your shoulders, the head is the bit that connects your camera to the tripod and allows you to pivot the camera and secure it in place. Again a good quality head, whether it’s a ball and socket or pan and tilt head will be a big benefit to your photography. The last thing you want is to set your camera up for the perfect shot only to find the head slipping just as you are about to press the shutter.

There are alternatives to using a tripod, a beanbag placed on a wall or rock or some other solid object can support your camera just as well as a tripod and can be a little easier to carry, although it will still be fairly heavy. Beanbags are great for getting set up quickly as you can just chuck it on the floor, on a rock or wherever, plonk your camera down on it and start taking pictures. Tripods take a little longer to set up.

When you want to transfer your images from your camera to your computer, how do you do it?

A lot of people will get the USB cable out and connect their camera to their computer to transfer their files. This is not only fiddley to do, but it means you have to have your camera on while you transfer the files, thus using up the battery. OK, for transferring one or two files it won’t drain the battery too much but if you’ve got a full 2Gb card then the camera might be there for a while.

The alternative to connecting your camera is to get a really handy accessory, the card reader. Card readers allow to just remove your memory card from your camera and put it in the card reader, the card reader is connected to your computer by a USB connection and allows fast transfer of your images to your computer without having to connect your camera.

There are currently a range of memory card types available, these are SD Cards, SDHC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMedia (MMC), xD-Picture Card, SmartMedia and Memory Stick PRO DUO. These cards are all different sizes so it can make sense to buy a card reader that will work with most, if not all, of them. The multi card reader is a really handy accessory to have, and are relatively cheap compared all the other accessories you can get for digital photography. You can leave the card reader connected to your computer so it’s simple to just download your images.

Just remember to put your memory card back in your camera!