The Photography Starter

The Photography Starter Carry That Camera pg. 16 Exposure and Your Photography pg. 4

Learn With An Impact The 365 Day Photo Challenge

Issue 1: March 2020

Editor’s Note

Hello and welcome to the first publication of The Photography Starter. The purpose of this publication is to help beginner photographers learn the fundamentals and good habit building exercises for photography. My name is Elijah Fisher and I am the Lead Editor for The Photography Starter.

I have been taking photos for five years with my DSLR and before that I had been taking them for quite a few years as the family photographer, since the age of ten. I am by no means a professional photographer, but hopefully the information that I am able to present here will help you to take your first steps as a photographer or help you hone your skill if you have already begun your journey. Best of luck and enjoy reading!

-Elijah Fisher

Table of Contents

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Exposure and Your Photography

By Elijah Fisher

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How to have Fun While Learning Photography By Elijah Fisher

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Loading Dock Productions

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Photo Gallery

By Elijah Fisher

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The 365 Day Photo Challenge

By Elijah Fisher

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Carry that Camera

By Elijah Fisher

Exposure and Your Photography Written by Elijah Fisher Photos by Elijah Fisher

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n this article we are going to go over the exposure triangle. I want to preface this by saying that the exposure triangle is a concept that is meant to help people understand that there are three aspects to a properly exposed image and to get an idea of what those aspects do for the photograph. For instance, ISO, which measures the sensitivity of the image sensor, is not free extra exposure; there is a down fall which is digital noise. I will explain more about this later.

There are three-dimensional ways that you can use the three different parts of photography and have a system where you can plot points and show the brightness of a given image using the aperture, ISO, and shutter. This can get complicated and although it is outside the scope of this article, you might want to learn more after this introduction. For this article, though, we will discuss it on beginner terms from a triangular perspective.

First, let’s go with the aperture. The aperture is like the iris of a human eye. It constricts and expands to let in more or less light. The part of the camera that contains the aperture is located in the lens. Whenever you switch lenses on a system that allows you to switch lenses, you will use different apertures. Some lenses have an aperture of f4, some have f2.8. Lenses that do not zoom, prime lenses, can be bought with apertures all the way down to f1.4, or even f1.2. Some zoom lenses that are bought with the camera have a variable aperture. The aperture changes size as you zoom in. This a common option; more expensive lenses do not change like this. A common aperture for a kit lens is f3.5 to f5.6.

There are many different examples of the exposure triangle. I choose some simplier images to help you understand what each of the sides of the triangle does. If you want to find triangles that have more or less detail and information on them just look it up online; you will find many Interestingly, the smaller the number the more great examples. light the lens lets into the camera; f2.8 is bright-

er than an f4 lens. This is critical to remember sible when taking pictures of small objects. as it can get confusing when you are trying to remember the three different parts of exposure. Beverly Torres, a distinguished macro-photographer from Unique Views says, “Using a large apThe impact that this has is that the wider open erture is what can get the entire flower or bug in the lens, the smaller the number the f-stop and focus when you are very close to your subject.� the more light that is let into the lens. We already went over how this would brighten your expo- Aperture does play a large role in macro-phosure. When light floods into the lens it is not as tography, larger than in normal portrait or event focused. The area of your photograph that is the photography. focused will be sharp. But areas in front of and behind your focal plane will be much blurrier than Shutter speed, on the other hand, is a little bit if you used an aperture that is more closed, like simpler. The shutter is a part of the camera that f8 or f16. This causes the light to have to move through the lens in a more direct path, hitting the sensor in a more focused pattern. This can be used artistically to have a more focused shot, causing more background blur.

The general consensus is that you would shoot with your lens as wide open as possible most of the time. You normally only shoot with a tighter aperture.

This causes the light to have to move through the lens in a more direct path hitting the sensor in a more focused pattern. This allows for artistic leeway to have a more focused shot or to create more background blur. The general consensus is that you shoot with the lens as wide open as possible most of the time.

You normally only shoot with a tighter aperture if your scene is extremely bright and you cannot adjust with the shutter speed or you are looking for a wider field of view. Macro-photographers often use larger apertures to get as much detail and focus as pos-

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physically moves in front of the sensor to allow light to hit it and be digitally processed. The shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, indicating how long the sensor is exposed to the light through the lens. Shutter speeds can range from manual exposure of up to 30 seconds to 1/4000 or even 1/8000 of a second.

As you might expect, because this is a bit more straightforward, the longer the shutter is open the more light hits the lens. In its entirety, it is easier to understand than exposure.

The way this affects the exposure triangle is that the longer the shutter is open the more blur you will see in your image. This is not the same type of blur that you would see because of aperture; this is motion blur that is either caused by your subject moving or the camera itself moving.

The faster the shutter speed the more the motion will be frozen. For most purposes 1/500 of a second will freeze motion almost entirely.

Below 1/60 of a second you will begin not to be able to see a person’s features as they are walking fast or running in your frame. This is also the point where hand vibration becomes an issue.

A good rule of thumb is to always have your shutter speed at twice the focal length of your

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lens. If you are shooting a 50 mm prime then you want shutter speed to be at 1/100 of a second. If you are shooting a 200 mm lens then you want your shutter speed at 1/400 of a second.

This is a rule that can be broken however, you might have a steady hand or a camera or lens with image stabilization. A good image stabilization system can help make a difference to this rule.

In general, a sharper image via shutter speed is good; an option to be able to bump your shutter speed up is usually appreciated. This makes it so that shutter speed is often the way to darken

an extra bright image. Usually, you want to keep your lens fully open to get as much depth of field as possible, so shutter speed is the obvious answer for this.

Shutter speed is easier to understand and utilize than aperture is- but it is no less important. If you are further interested or want to see some examples look it up online and see what you find.

individual pixel is able to read out more accurately. Although this does not make too much sense for most beginners who are learning about the exposure triangle to worry about, if you are buying your first camera and you know you are going to be shooting a lot of night time or low light photography, such as at a wedding venue, then you might want to consider getting a camera that has good reviews for use in low-light.

ISO is possibly the easiest to understand. ISO is the digital sensitivity of the sensor. I am not sure what happens scientifically, but when you boost ISO the sensor becomes more sensitive and it heats up. Heating up can cause some of the sensors to get misreadings and a pixel will come out a different color, often in the red or purple spectrum. This always happens to a degree, even when shooting at a lower ISO. But when you raise ISO past 1000, or higher for some cameras with better sensors, you will begin to see a larger amount of ISO- to the point where the image can become unusable in most cases. So if you have not realized it yet, the lower the ISO the less sensitive the sensor is and the less light it takes in. Conversely, the higher the ISO the more sensitive it is and the more light it takes in.

Steve Morris, a photography instructor from Tampa Photography Group says, “There are many different aspects to consider when buying a camera, but that should not stop you from using the one that you have, even if it is your phone.”

Finally, the only way to really apply what you learned here, and in other places, is to practice.

Do not be afraid of taking pictures without knowing exactly what you are doing. That is how

There are ways to negate a higher ISO sensitivity problem. First of all, with any camera you can run it through software that will try to digitally erase the sensitivity noise, which works to a degree. We can also take away some of the detail in the image. Some cameras even have an ability I learned. I bought a DSLR without knowing to process the image in this way when it outputs what the exposure triangle does. Looking back, a jpeg. it was a huge learning experience and I still use that camera as my main camera and use it to its The second way to deal with this, and some- maximum capacity all the time. thing to consider, is that some cameras, especially ones with larger full-frame sensors, are more Giles Hooper, Lead Photographer at Grace sensitive. They can use a higher ISO and have Family Church says, “You need to shoot all the cleaner images because they are designed so that time so you can continue to gain experience in the sensor does not heat up as quickly, so each photography.”

How to Have Fun While Learning Photography Written by Elijah Fisher Photos by Shelly Bogard

If

you are reading this magazine, I am sure you are interested in learning about photography. Here are a couple of steps you can take as you begin, in order to help move you forward and learn to your fullest capacity while having fun.

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phone’s camera and make your experience even better.

Although you may not necessarily be working with ISO shutter speed and an aperture, you still have an exposure slider of some sort and the ability to zoom in and out, even if it is just a digital zoom. Knowing you have these abilities in your pocket are an extremely valu-

easier ways of gaining information about photography.

Not only do you have people who give you information, they can also show you how to use the equipment that you have in the most effective way. This covers two bases: it helps you learn the basics and learn the equipment that you are dealing with or looking to purchase later. There is no harm in learning how a more advanced camera works compared to your phone, especially if it is one that you are thinking about purchasing in the future.

Once you know the basics and how to use your equipment the next thing you want to do is set a few learning goals. Setting a First, understanding the bagoal helps you to not only have sics, such as the exposure milestones to achieve but also triangle and the bato see how far you have sic functions of your come as you move particular camera or forward. Obviously, in phone app, will go a photography, a goal long way toward your would probably involve enjoyability during the taking pictures of some first couple of months. sort. It is a good idea I personally bought to keep these pictures a camera that was to look back at later. much more advanced One of the most comthan I was at that earmon types of goals ly stage. It worked out you can set is to see well; it is still the cama type of photograph era I use today, but for or photography style a number of years it and decide to try and was much more camtake some pictures in era than I could ever use. able asset to learning photog- that style. This does not just raphy. I feel that I would have mean in composition but also On the same note, you do not learned much differently if I had in editing. A lot that goes into need an amazing camera to grown up with a smartphone, a photograph is done after begin photography. You can rather than an actual camera. it is taken. Duplicate photos use your phone and the apps that can be edited numerous that it comes with. In addition Either way, with a full camera ways are a good way to learn to that, there are apps that you or a phone, you need to learn different parts of your editing can download and buy that the basics. Watching videos software. Other types of goals will add to the abilities of your is often one of the funner and would be to learn how to take

effective panoramas with your iPhone or figure out how to use the bulb exposure mode on the DSLR. In essence, you can have both a style goal, where you are shooting to get a certain look out of your camera, or a new piece of equipment goal. Either goal works and helps you further your skills.

Giles Hooper, Grace Family Church’s Lead Photographer says., “What distinguishes good photographers and realy great photographers is how they put that extra into their photography.

Goals are an amazing way to push yourself to the next level.”

When you are setting and learning these goals make

sure that you are not forcing yourself to do things that you do not want to do. If you are here you have probably concluded that photography is fun for you and it is something you want to learn how to do on a more advanced level. So setting goals for yourself that push you and are hard is certainly a good idea in order to improve but at the same time you need to make sure that you are not setting goals or pushing yourself in a detrimental way. As soon as you start getting tired of photography and are not looking forward to it you should try and find some goals that are funner to attain.

Take a day off to go downtown and shoot some photographs.

Unique Views’ photographer Beverly Torres states, “To get those unique photos your creative and fun side has to shine through. Having a great time getting those fantastic shots comes from a relaxed state.”

There are a lot of different things you can do to help photography stay a fun activity for yourself and others. Learning photography is like everything else. It will take hard work and dedication, but you should enjoy what you are doing, especially if you are not trying to become a professional photographer. It should be something you enjoy and look forward to doing on a daily basis.

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365 Days By E

Elijah Fisher

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The 365 Day Photo Challenge Written by Elijah Fisher Photos by Elijah Fisher

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days. A whole year. Some of you may have heard of the 365 Day Photo Challenge. If not, I’ll explain. It is exactly what it sounds like; you take a photograph a day for 365 days. Some people do it for longer, other people for less, and others with different variations.

We will get into some variations a little bit later.

The entire point of this challenge is to develop your photography skills. A better way to think of it is as an exercise where there are multiple ways it can help develop your skill. One way it can help you is with building proficiency with your chosen camera. Or it can help you develop a habit of taking pictures. When you go further, it can help you choose to target different areas of your photography where you want to improve quality. It can target both quantity and quality, depending on the way you use the challenge.

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In 2018, I chose to do the photo challenge.

In full disclosure, I did not finish; when I started my fall semester in college I ended up quitting. In October I ended up not posting frequently enough as per my restrictions on the challenge and that

led to me feeling discouraged and quitting about the beginning of December. I still feel that I had a whole lot of experience gained from the challenge in all areas of photography and all the areas that I mentioned you can gain skills from the challenge.

First of all, I would say it gets you into the routine of using your camera. It helps you develop a habit of looking for photographs and seeing what people and environments around you are photogenic and photographic. This is one of the ways that I improved the most during my year.

Secondly, I would say you become much more competent and familiar with the equipment that you are using. It is always fun to know your camera and be able to get a shot quicker because you understand your dials and how they relate to the science behind photography. This does not just apply to having a physical camera; you can learn the controls on your phone a lot better by taking a bunch of pictures over and over again. You might say that you take plenty of pictures on your phone already, but it is different when you are try-

ing to take professional quality photographic content. You learn to relate the controls better to the exposure triangle, and other theory based algorithms, as you are taking pictures rather than just snapping a picture or changing your exposure a little bit. You become much more aware of the controls behind your camera.

Giles Hooper, a frre-lance photographer for 25 years and Lead Photographer for Grace Family Church, said, “Once you learn manual on your camera you open up a lot of new possibilities. You are able to dial-in to exactly what you want to see but it reand know what the camera thinks you want to see.“ ally makes sense when Once you start the challenge you will see ex- you think about it. actly how this plays into your photography.

I can guarantee you will see a difference in “It’s the act of continualthe way that you use your equipment, wheth- ly posting photos that gives you enough push er it be a DSLR, a mirrorless, or a phone. to put quality and commitment into your picThe first month will feel extremely monoto- tures,” says Corey Pate, a Flickr photographer. nous and tedious, and you will probably be up late finishing your pictures. But you will see You are committing to take a picture a day for a improvement as you go. It will not seem as te- year, so it makes sense that you would be able to dious and you will be able to see a lot of differ- have an incentive for taking the pictures. Posting ent opportunities for photographs around you. them somewhere really helps to make the chalSomething that did not seem photo worthy be- lenge more valuable. Not only does it help enforce fore will be seen with a different perspective that you need to post everyday, but it also gives you and you will be able to find a good way to use an incentive to have good, quality photographs. it as a photo of the day. Being able to look at You do not have to post to your main social something and see it in a different light shows media account; I posted to Flickr where only a that you are changing your perspective on what few people followed me and I was able to post can be photographed. This helps later on when in relative privacy. The difference is that they you are taking pictures professionally and you were public pictures and I got other photograare, say, taking a picture of a group of people phers to like my photographs, and some even and you are able to see an interesting back- followed me because I was taking the challenge. ground. You will be able to see different back- Find communities that help support you in your grounds in different ways once you practice using 365 Day Challenge. On Flickr there are many your eye to see different angles and perspectives. groups that have 365 Day Challenges that you can join and post your pictures to and see other peoAnother very important perspective of the chal- ple’s challenges as well. This is a great way to get lenge is to post your pictures somewhere public- the most out of shooting the 365 Day Challenge. ly. This might seem like an interesting thought,

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Overall, I feel that the challenge, in general, is designed to stretch you as a photographer. Doing it properly will boost you in a very good way, even though, at times, it can get somewhat stressful. On that note, you should always remember that it is just a challenge and you can miss a day or two, or even more, and not impact the challenge’s usefulness to you. It is a lot of fun to be able to say, at the end of the year, you took 365 photos in 365 days. Sadly, that is something that I cannot do, yet. Once I finish school I am probably going to try the challenge again, and this time try to complete it properly.

I am looking forward to the time when I can do this because of the gains I saw in the photography while I took the challenge last year.

“Eli’s photography changed while he was doing the challenge in 2018,” said Mark Fisher, his father. “It’s neat seeing something make such an improvement to someone’s trade.”

I would say that I am the photographer I am now only because of the challenge and will be further behind in my ability if I do not challenge myself in the future.

Hopefully, some of this information has helped you. Maybe I have even convinced you to take the 365 Day Challenge. If so, do it right now because there is no better time to start. It is fun to start it on January 1st, but there is no reason to wait.

If you choose to accept the challenge, hopefully, you will see gains in your photography as the year passes. Have fun shooting!

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Carry that Camera!

Written by Elijah Fisher Photos by Elijah Fisher

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arrying a camera with you is extremely beneficial in many ways and has many nuances that help you advance in areas you want to improve. There are numerous things you can do in order to learn your camera better and improve your composition.

Composition can be accomplished with only your phone where as, hauling around your DSLR to learn how to use it better can sometimes take up a good amount of space and time.

Carrying your camera around is similar to the 365 Day Challenge, although it can be different. I highly encourage you to post the pictures that you take while carrying your camera and to make sure that you have a goal of taking some pictures. Otherwise, what is the point of carrying a camera with you? Obviously, the biggest difference between the 365 Day Challenge and committing to carry your camera around is that you are not committing to take a picture every single day. On

the other hand, the reason you are taking your main camera with you, or purposing to use your cell phone, is to get better the same way you would with the 365 Day Challenge.

So while there are some differences, there are important similarities as well.

Purposing to carry your camera and post some pictures is often useful if you are extremely busy and do not have the time to organize and edit pictures.

There are two separate types of benefits you gain from carrying your camera with you. First, if you carry a DSLR or a physical camera, other than a

phone, you begin to learn that system really well. Not only will you learn from using it when you take it out, you will also feel a stronger pull to become familiar with and really learn the camera because you carry it with you all the time. What is the point of carrying a camera that you do not know how to use thoroughly?

Tim Searfoss, the Director of Photography at Grace Family Church says, “Practicing composition with any available equipment on a consistent basis is really helpful if you’re trying to learn the basics of photography or study as a more advanced student.”

Secondly, if you are using your phone you can learn a lot of composition techniques and tricks along the way. Having a phone makes it so you do have a camera with you at all times and are able to capture images whenever you want to. This helps you to further train your eye Along the lines of the first point, if you for when you have opportunities to carry a DSLR or a physical camera shoot with your DSLR or other camera. you will also learn to use your phone to take better pictures. Additionally, you will also learn composition if you carry a real camera with you as well. There are similarities to both of the benefits that you gain.

When I first began carrying my camera for the 365 Day Challenge it had a huge impact on

the way I photographed things and looked at the environment around me. I learned a lot of environmental viewing habits and began to see the area around me in a different light.

It really helped me later when I began doing live, concert videography where seeing images and shots really quickly is very important. I went through my own, unique developmental steps when I carried a camera with me all the time. Each person will have their own sequence of events and learning experiences that carrying a camera or being purposeful with your phone will help them with.

According to Pastor Heredes Ribeiro in charge of Video Production at Grace Family Church, “Knowing the basics of your camera and how to study the area around you is really important. It’s one thing I really like to see in people who come and work for the church in the Creative and Video Departments.”

A lot of what you learn as you carry

a camera purposefully are skills that benefit you if you get a job in any area where you deal with cameras. Personally, I would attribute my abilities with video camera equipment in a live video setting to the fact that I have carried a camera with me almost all the time for the last three years.

Unlike the 365 Day Challenge, where the only thing you lose is a couple of minutes taking a picture and posting it, carrying a camera with you can be quite a big deal. Since I have carried one in my school backpack for almost 3 years I am familiar with the extra work required. However, the rewards of capturing a beautiful photo are worth it. So far, we have only talked about the benefits you gain skill-wise but it is also really fun having your camera with you to take professional, quality pictures whenever you see something of interest. Going forward, consider giving it a try. The benefits, in my opinion, do outweigh the cons and can, over time, help you gain experience and also get some really unique shots.

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PhotograpH by Shelly Bogard