Photography Basics

Digital cameras come with various modes that allow you to take more control of taking the picture. One mode which your camera may have is called Aperture Priority which is usually symbolised on the camera by an A or Av.

This mode allows you to control the aperture setting manually, but the camera will work out the suitable shutter speed to achieve, what the camera thinks, is a good exposure.

So what does controlling the aperture allow you to do, and why would you want to do it?

Aperture controls something known as Depth Of Field which is the area of the image that is in focus. The rule is that as the aperture number gets smaller, which means the hole is getting larger, there will be a smaller amount of the image in focus.

The following diagram is a fairly crude diagram which explains depth of field a little more.

The red line is the point where you are focussing the camera.

The grey area is the area of the scene in front of you that will appear to be in focus for a given aperture.

It should be noted that this is not an accurate diagram, it just demonstrates what happens when you change the aperture settings. It should also be noted that the change from in focus to out of focus is a gradual one.

So really, depth of field is the distance of that graduation from the point of focus.

Why is this useful?

Using a small depth of field is a great way to isolate the main object in the picture. Sports or wildlife photographers use this technique to blur out distracting backgrounds keeping the main focul point sharp. Using a wide aperture also allows a faster shutter speed to be used which again helps keep moving objects sharp.

Using a larger depth of field is good for landscape pictures, when you want the area close to you and the area far off in the distance to be in focus. Using a large depth of field means that you usually need to use longer shutter speeds which means that some form of support for the camera is required to keep the camera still which the shutter is open. You will rarely see a landscape photographer without a tripod.

If your lens allows you to screw on filters, get yourself a UV filter, or Skylight filter and put it on your lens and keep it there. You now have a lens guard. Buying a new filter is a lot easier and cheaper than buying a new lens if you manage to scratch it or you manage to damage it in some other way.

Aperture is the term used to describe what is simply the hole in the lens that light travels through to reach the camera’s sensor or film. This hole can be set at different sizes, and combined with shutter speed, you get the two main settings which control exposure. There is some maths involved to get the actual values, but to be honest, that doesn’t really matter. What’s more important is to know what aperture is, and what happens when you change it. Getting your head round aperture can be a bit of a hurdle, so hopefully this will help a little bit.

The first thing to get your head round is that the smaller the number the larger the hole. OK, that may sound a little odd but in this example f2.8 is the largest hole, and f22 is the smallest hole for the lens shown in the next photo.

Don’t worry about the ‘f’ either, there aren’t ‘g’ settings or ‘z’ settings, but it’s handy to know that when someone says “I used f8″, you know what they are referring to.

There are of course a range of settings in between the ones shown, and depending on what lens your camera has may effect what settings are available to use, but this should give you an idea of what is actually happening when you change the aperture setting on your camera. By making the hole smaller, you are reducing the amount of light that reaches the sensor or film in the time that the shutter is open. So from this you can start to see how shutter speed and aperture work together.

For example, if you are getting the perfect exposure with a shutter speed of 1 second and an aperture of f8, and then it gets a bit darker. You want to let more light in, so you can either keep the shutter open for longer, or make the hole bigger. Both will let more light in, but both have their own effects on the image, and it is these effects you should learn to understand.

Camera clubs are a bit like Marmite, you either like them or you don’t.

Camera clubs have a reputation as being a few grey haired old men talking about the pros and cons of a certain film, or comparing how big their lenses are.

However, camera clubs are NOT all like this, and they can be a great place for the beginner to learn and get advice, and even get some good second hand bargains frm ther members. The club will have lots of people who share the same interest in photography, there will be range of abilities, and there will be people who will willingly pass on their extensive experience.

The club will usually run competitions where the work gets critiqued by an experienced photographer from the club, or a guest judge, and this can be a great way to get feedback, good or bad, about your work. It can be daunting entering your work into a club competition, but it is well worth the effort. You may even find it does well!

Digital photography has helped, I think, widen the age range at camera clubs too. If you are lucky you may even see club members in their 20’s! Seriously though, with digital photography and digital darkrooms becoming more accessible, it attracts more people who, in the days of film, may not have been quite so interested.

I would recommend finding your nearest camera club and going along to see what you think. Give it a couple of visits before deciding if it’s for you or not, take a willing victim friend or realtive with you if you are a bit shy, but give it a go. It can be well worth the effort.

With digital photography becoming more accessible to the masses, and the level of technology that is available becoming cheaper all the time, for someone wanting to learn photography, digital is the best option over film because:

1. No more processing costs. With digital you can take as many pictures as you want. You don’t have to buy rolls of film, and you don’t have to send it away to be developed.

2. Instant results. As soon as you have taken the picture you can see the results. So now there is no waiting around to see if you got that important shot while the film is being developed.

3. Getting instant results gives you the chance to try again straight away if the picture didn’t turn out as you wanted. A major plus point for the beginner.

4. Although the initial purchase price may be quite high, once you have the kit there is very little extra expense, unless you start to get into it seriously.

5. Digital images give you a lot of flexibility to enhance or improve the image by using software on your computer. A lot of these enhancements can be done at the click of a button in most software applications so it is very easy to do.

6. Information on the camera settings for each shot gets embedded in the digital image file so you can see how different settings can effect the image. In the film days you would keep a log of your camera settings for each shot while you are learning. Now you get that log whenever you take a digital picture.

7.  Film has a shelf life, memory cards don’t. As film get’s older it degrades and may give you unexpected results. A memory card, if looked after, will last a lot longer than a roll of film will.

8.  Digital images can be easily displayed to the world via web sites. It’s possible to take a picture and upload it to a web site within seconds if you have the right equipment. Press and sports photographers see this as a huge benefit.

9.  Digital files can be easily stored. You no longer need to have boxes of photos or slides tucked away in a cupboard. Now you can save hundreds of photos into one CD, or even more onto a DVD.

10. Film comes as one particular type, such as ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800 or ISO 1600. This limits you to the conditions in which you can take pictures. With digital you can change the settings from one picture to the next giving you greater flexibility.

Here’s an image that illustrates what Under Exposed images, correctly Exposed images and Over Exposed images look like.

Shutter speed is a setting on your camera which controls the length of time the shutter is open, allowing light through the lens to the sensor inside your camera. Shutter speeds can go from very small fractions of a second, to several seconds long on most cameras.

So why would you want to change it?

On a very bright day when there is a lot of light, if you allow the shutter to be open for too long then too much light will get to the sensor. When this happens you end up with pictures that are very pale and almost all white. This is known as being Over Exposed.

Let’s say, for a simplified example, that to get a perfectly exposed image on a bright sunny day, ignoring all the other camera settings, that you need the shutter to open for half a second. This half a second allows just the right amount of light through to the sensor to get a well exposed imaged.

Now, as the day goes by and you get to the evening, there isn’t as much light about. So if you took a picture and your shutter speed was still set at half a second you would end up with a very dark image, or an Under Exposed image. This is because not enough light got through to the cameras sensor in that half a second. So in order to compensate against lower levels of light, you would need to keep the shutter open for longer.

You can see an example of under and over exposed images here.

This may seem straight forward enough, but the longer the shutter is open, the more chance there is of ending up with a blurred image. The slightest of movements while the shutter is open will register as a blurred effect. Sometimes this can be the desired effect, but most of the time you want a sharp image. Using a tripod, sitting the camera on a solid object like a wall or the floor or holding the camera against a solid object like a big tree or wall can help reduce the chances of getting blurry images.

Most digital cameras will have a fully automatic setting where it decides what settings are best, so all you have to worry about is pointing the camera in the right direction and pressing the button. This may be the mode you use all the time, but it’s well worth experimenting with these settings yourself to see what effect they have. Once you start to understand these settings and what they can do to your image you will open up a whole new range of photographic opportunities and much more creative and pleasing photos.

Before you press the shutter release button (take the picture) stop and look at what you can see through the view finder or what you can see on the screen on your camera.

Are there any distracting objects in view?

Are there any bright areas of the image that will distract the eye of the person looking at your image, away from the main point of focus?

Is everything in focus?

Could the picture be improved by moving a little?

Training yourself to stop and think for a few seconds can help you produce much more pleasing images.

Always take 2 or 3 shots of your subject from different angles or positions.

As taking digital pictures is essentially free, it’s worth experimenting as much as possible. So if you see something that you think will make a good picture, try taking several pictures of it. Move closer in, or further away. Choose different angles, maybe a lower or higher viewpoint.

This will help you learn more about composition, one of the most important things to learn in photography.

If you are considering buying a new digital camera, or you just want to know what types of digital camera are available then hopefully this will help you.

First there are the Compact Cameras which are the smaller (as the name compact suggests), pocket or handbag sized camera that are very popular as they usually come at the lower end of the price range. These cameras usually have everything built into them including some form of zoom lens, a flash and a screen to view what you are taking a picture of. There will also be two or three buttons and maybe a dial to enable you to access the settings of the camera.

Next comes what is known as the Bridge Camera. These are usually larger and their shape is a lot more like what you would expect from a camera. The zoom lens is still built in, but you are likely to get a larger zoom range than on a compact camera. The flash may still be built in, but it maybe a popup type flash and you may get the facility to connect a separate flashgun to the camera too. There are likely to be more buttons and dials and the amount of options you will find in the menu system will be more than you are likely to find in a compact camera as bridge camera are generally more advanced than a compact would be. Why is it called a bridge camera? Well, simply, it’s because it bridges the gap between a compact camera and a Digital SLR camera.

Finally we have the Digital SLR, or DSLR as it’s commonly known. SLR stand for Single Lens Reflex. With the compact cameras and bridge cameras you may have a view finder or digital display, you cannot actually look through the lens and see exactly what the camera is seeing. With a view finder on a compact camera it may be an offset viewfinder that will give you an idea of where you are pointing but won’t be 100% accurate as it’s slightly offset from the lens. A bridge camera may have a digital viewfinder but it’s still not a direct view through the lens. An SLR uses a mirror to allow you to look directly through the lens. This is not so important right now, but will be explained in more detail in another post.

One major difference of the SLR is that the lens is detachable and you can buy a whole range of lenses to suit your particular photography interest and choose the most appropriate one for the conditions at the time. This is where photography can get more expensive as buying good quality lenses isn’t cheap, and quite often the lens will cost a lot more than the camera did.

The SLR, or DSLR, will give you the maximum amount of control for your images. They may seem very daunting at first, but with just a little knowledge and some experimentation you can soon make the most of the options this set up gives you.

There are other types of cameras, such as Medium Format and Large Format cameras, but they tend to be used by the experienced and pro photographers and are more of a speciality piece of kit.