Course Material
Basic Photography TutorialŠ [Digital SLR]
By : Siddhartha Sarkar WeekendPhotographersKolkata
Day 1: Focus: • Auto Focus : Auto Focuses when the camera focused on the subject automatically and chooses one or more focus points. •
Manual Focus:
Is when the person has to focus on the subject but there’s a choice of choosing automatic focus points or manual focus points. Aperture: Aperture is referred to the lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens. The size of the diaphragm opening in a camera lens REGULATES amount of light passes through onto the film inside the camera the moment when the shutter curtain in camera opens during an exposure process. Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers or f-stops. i.e. those little numbers engraved on the lens barrel like f22 (f/22),16 (f/16), f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8 etc. Each of this value represents one time the amount of light either more or less in quantity. Meaning to say, f/16 will let in 1X the amount of light than a diaphragm opening of f/22 and so forth; while on the other hand, an aperture of f/4.0 will let in 1X lesser than that of f/2.8 etc. Shutter Speed: The "shutter speed" is the amount of time a gate called the shutter allows light to pass through the lens to the film or digital sensor. Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases in fraction of a second. The bigger the denominator the faster the shutter speed (i.e. 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30). Reference : http://imaging.nikon.com/history/basics/04/03.htm ISO ( International Standards Organization ) ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor in a digital camera. ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds but you get noisier shots.
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DAY 2 Exposure Triangle A combination of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO is an Exposure Triangle.
Depth of Field Depth of Field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the farthest object in a scene that appears acceptably sharp in an image. Larger the aperture, the greater is the blur effect. Composition Elements of a good composition (** There are no fixed rules in photography, but there are guidelines which can often help you to enhance the impact of your photos.)
1. Rule of Third 2. Symmetry & Patterns
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3. Texture 4. Depth of Field 5. Leading Lines 6. View Points 7. Balancing Element 8. Background 9. Framing 10. Cropping Rule of Thirds (ROT) In the rule of thirds, photos are divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and two lines horizontally making three columns, three rows, and nine sections in the images. Important compositional elements and leading lines are placed on or near the imaginary lines and where the lines intersect. When taking a photograph with the rule of thirds in mind, it’s always best to compose the photograph in the camera.
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The dots at the intersections are called “Golden Points”. The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines your photo becomes more balanced. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot. Symmetry and Patterns We are surrounded by symmetry and patterns, both natural and man-made. They can make for very eye-catching compositions, particularly in situations where they are not expected. Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal point to the scene. Texture Images a two dimensional thing yet with the clever use of ‘texture’ they can come alive and become almost three dimensional. Texture particularly comes into play when light hits objects at interesting angles. Depth of Field Because photography is a two-dimensional medium, we have to choose our composition carefully to convey the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene. You can create depth in a photo by including objects in the foreground, middle ground and background. Another useful composition technique is overlapping, where you deliberately partially obscure one object with another. The human eye naturally recognizes these layers and mentally separates them out, creating an image with more depth.
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Leading Lines When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along lines. By thinking about how you place lines in your composition, you can affect the way we view the image, pulling us into the picture, towards the subject, or on a journey "through" the scene. There are many different types of line - straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, radial etc - and each can be used to enhance our photo's composition. View Points / Point of View (POV) Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on. Balancing Element Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule of thirds, creates a more interesting photo, but it can leave a void in the scene which can make it feel empty. You should balance the "weight" of your subject by including another object of lesser importance to fill the space. Background How many times have you taken what you thought would be a great shot, only to find that the final image lacks impact because the subject blends into a busy background? Unlike the human eye a camera has a tendency to flatten the foreground and background, and this can often ruin an otherwise great photo. Thankfully this problem is usually easy to overcome at the time of shooting - look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and compose your shot so that it doesn't distract or detract from the subject.
Framing The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames, such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world. The result is a more focused image which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest. Cropping Often a photo will lack impact because the main subject is so small it becomes lost among the clutter of its surroundings. By cropping tight around the subject you eliminate the background "noise", ensuring the subject gets the viewer's undivided attention.
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Day 3 Metering On today’s digital cameras, users have the ability to choose and adjust the metering mode, or how the camera measures the brightness of the subject. Metering settings work by assessing the amount of light available for a photograph, and then adjusting the exposure accordingly. Sometimes, however, the camera isn’t intuitive enough to get the exposure right when using Program, Shutter Priority, or Aperture Priority modes. Fortunately, the photographer has the ability to make manual adjustments to the metering mode used by the camera. (Refer to your individual owner’s manual to learn how to change the settings on your camera.) Cameras generally allow the user to select between Matrix, Spot, CenterWeighted Average, metering modes. Evaluative Metering (on Canon cameras), or Evaluative/Matrix Metering (on Nikon cameras) – This is the “default” setting on most cameras. The camera sets the metering automatically to suit the scene and subject of the photograph. The entire scene within the camera’s viewfinder is utilized to assess the appropriate metering. This is the mode to use when you’re not sure which mode the scene will require. Partial Metering (on Canon cameras), or Spot Metering (on Nikon cameras) – This type of metering is helpful for photographing back-lit subjects. The metering is weighted according to the very center of the shot – a very small area of the frame. Use this mode when you have a very specific area of the photograph that you wish the exposure to be based upon. Center-Weighted Average Metering (on Canon cameras), or Center-Weighted Metering (on Nikon cameras) – This metering setting gives priority to the center portion of the photograph, but also takes the surrounding portions of the shot into consideration. Basically, this is somewhere in between Evaluative and Partial Metering. Use this setting when the subject is in the center of the photograph and exposed correctly, so that the subject is not affected by the exposure of the background.
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ISO
6 Questions to Ask to Help Choose the Right ISO Of course when photographing low light scenes there may be no other alternative so I’d suggest asking yourself some of the following questions when choosing what to set ISO at: • •
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Am I hand holding the camera? – when using a tripod you might be able to use a slower shutter speed which would allow you to lower your ISO. Is my subject moving? – if your subject is perfectly still (like when shooting a still life) and where you’re using a tripod you’ll be able to slow your shutter speed and lower ISO. Do I need a big Depth of Field? – If you don’t need a large depth of field you might be able to increase your aperture which allows more light into the camera and will allow you to lower ISO. Can I use some Artificial Light? – using a flash or even switching on a light can help to get more light into your camera – allowing you to decrease your ISO setting. Can I get away with Grain? – Sometimes a photo can actually look better with grain. Some photographers love the mood and atmosphere that a little noise can add and will bump up their ISO in the hope of getting it. How big will the image be enlarged? – The reason that noise is not able to be seen on your camera’s LCD is that it is very small. As a result the pixels in the picture are small also and the grain is unable to be seen. It is only when you enlarge the picture on a larger screen or in printing that it becomes noticeable. If you’re only ever going to use the shot in a small size you can probably get away with a higher ISO.
Warning: Also keep in mind that if you change ISO that you will need to get in the habit of checking what setting is selected at the start of every photo shoot. Many photographers have been disappointed at the end of a shoot to find that they’d forgotten to check what ISO setting they’d left their camera on in their last shoot. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re shooting at an ISO of 100 only to find you forgot to switch it back from 1600. To help with this always check your ISO setting before starting to shoot – but also try to always switch it back after a shoot.
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Day 4
Using Flash A flash is a device used in photography producing a flash of artificial light (typically 1/1000 to 1/200 of a second) at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light. Flash refers either to the flash of light itself or to the electronic flash unit discharging the light.
Non-Auto Settings for your flash When the auto-settings for your flash aren’t enough, you will need to handle the settings your self. Most cameras have a button that looks like a “lighting bolt” to customize your flash settings.
Notes about your flash Sometimes it is better to turn your flash ON while you are in bright daylight. This will help if your subject is in shadow due to the angle of the sum or to the object that may be blocking the light. This is called Fill Flash. Check your manual so see what your flash range is. Don’t take pictures at night when your subject(s) are out of your flash range. The flash of a digital camera takes up a LOT of battery power. If you are trying to conserve battery power try to turn off your flash. The slow sync flash enables one to just fill in with the light without burning the picture.
White Balance You might have noticed when examining shots after taking them that at times images can come out with an orange, blue, yellow etc look to them – despite the fact that to the naked eye the scene looked quite normal. The reason for this is that images different sources of light have a different ‘color’ (or temperature) to them. Fluorescent lighting adds a bluish cast to photos whereas tungsten (incandescent/bulbs) lights add a yellowish tinge to photos.
Preset White Balance Settings Here are some of the basic White Balance settings you’ll find on cameras:
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Auto – this is where the camera makes a best guess on a shot by shot basis. You’ll find it works in many situations but it’s worth venturing out of it for trickier lighting. Tungsten – this mode is usually symbolized with a little bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb lighting). It generally cools down the colors in photos. Fluorescent – this compensates for the ‘cool’ light of fluorescent light and will warm up your shots. Daylight/Sunny – not all cameras have this setting because it sets things as fairly ‘normal’ white balance settings. Cloudy – this setting generally warms things up a touch more than ‘daylight’ mode. Flash – the flash of a camera can be quite a cool light so in Flash WB mode you’ll find it warms up your shots a touch. Shade – the light in shade is generally cooler (bluer) than shooting in direct sunlight so this mode will warm things up a little.
Note : However you can manually set your desired white balance You can do this by buying yourself a white (or grey) card which is specifically designed for this task
The Histogram Histograms are a very useful tool that many cameras offer their users to help them get a quick summary of the tonal range present in any given image It is a simple graph that displays where all of the brightness levels contained in the scene are found, from the darkest to the brightest. These values are arrayed across the bottom of the graph from left (darkest) to right (brightest). The vertical axis (the height of points on the graph) shows how much of the image is found at any particular brightness level.
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Under exposed image histogram
Over Exposed image histogram
Balanced image histogram
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