Why Learn Digital Photography Basics?

Learning digital photography basics is a must if you have your own camera with you. The reason is quite simple. You cannot expect to learn the complex matters involving digital photography if you do not start with the roots, right? Besides, as an owner of such gadget, it would always be better to know and familiarize the different options as well as alternatives it can offer. There is no need to worry though as photography basics will not take so much of your time. As long as you know how to be patient and attentive, you can always get the lessons which may be taught to you.

First of all, photography roots must start with how to choose your camera, especially for those who are still planning yet. An SLR camera most of all allows an enthusiast to attain a variety of focal lengths and are great for taking pictures. But bear in mind that you also have to consider the price tags of these gadgets. Thus, a wise decision making plus certain criteria must be done to buy the right camera and then start with the photography basics. The following are the features you can use a criteria in choosing a camera.

Decide if you want to take pictures or videos as well. Before, camcorders are often used for this purpose. However, today, there are digital cameras that offer the same. You must have made up your mind on this matter already before you go to a camera store.
Always limit or keep in mind the budget that you have allotted for it. Necessarily, you wouldn't want to be obsessed with a camera which is beyond your capacity right?
You can actually buy the body of the camera in separation with the lenses. This can save you money.

Then comes the question as to why you need to learn digital photography roots. Basically, as the owner of the camera, you must know how to handle it. In one point, you need how to handle it in such a way that it will not be damaged or get broken. Keeping it clean and safe may sound a cliche but these are common digital photography basics which are taken for granted.

Learning digital photography roots will allow you to satisfy your passion too. If you really love taking pictures, then you will know that you still have more to explore in your digital camera. This can be a great source for your passion to grow into an investment or even a career. Obviously, once you have started with digital photography basics you can then advance to higher learning.

Digital photography basics will teach you many things. It will begin with how to operate your digital camera. This gives you the idea that once you have familiarized all the buttons and features of the gadget, you can use it with eyes closed. Then, digital photography basics will also teach you how to position your camera, how to adjust the lenses, which landscapes to be chosen as subjects and how light as well as darkness can be utilized.

How can you learn digital photography basics? A primary option would be to enroll in a formal lesson in digital schools. A second option would be to learn online and last resort can be one through self-help and a few reading materials concerning digital photography basics.

View the original article here

Stunning Photos Using Digital Photography Basics

As technology progresses, getting into various hobbies has become much easier for most of us and one of which is photography. With the recent release of digital cameras, photographers from around the globe have seen how much photography has evolved. We can see in the market how digital cameras are very easy to us as some are light-weight and most of them have automatic settings. It may be true that everyone can take photos but not everyone has the gift of taking beautiful pictures.

Because of the easy to use digital cameras, people tend to think that with just a click, you instantly become an expert. The truth is, just like in any hobby, knowing the basics is very important to come up with excellent quality shots. To be a good photographer, it is not necessary to get into schooling. But you need to know key points that you should keep in mind when you take pictures.

You always have to remember that focus is a very important part of photography. For point and shoot digital camera owners, they may think that the camera already has an automatic focus so there's no need to give attention to this but if you leave it all to the camera, you will only end up with fuzzy or blurred photos. In order to avoid this, take this tip. Press the capture button half way and keep the camera still so that you give the camera the hint that you want to place your focus on this particular object. When you feel that you have capture it completely press down and take note of how beautifully it will end up. Consider other factors as well such as the light and the distance of the subject.

You don't need to over-think things too much when you want to take beautiful photos. Of course, people would always want to try on new and unique ways when taking shots but always keep it simple. You will be able to observe that the most beautiful photos are those that have simple concepts yet surprisingly turn out to be interesting. Try practicing on taking candid shots of people, beautiful scenery and nature. More than the subject, the emotion is what's mostly noticed by people who look at the photo.

Another basic in digital photography is keeping off the flash. For those who are just starting digital photography, this is a very important reminder. The reason for this is because as a photographer, you may want to make use of natural lighting instead of relying on the flash not unless you will be taking photos in the dark. Set your camera on manual mode and learn to use natural light on the subject.

Last basic tip is to avoid using the zoom feature. Although zoom is specifically built to be used in a camera, you may want to refrain from using it if you want great quality photos. When you zoom on a certain subject, it lessens the clarity of the photo. If you happen to have a subject that's quite far from you, try to look for ways to get closer to it.

In photography and like everything else, the only way to be good at it is practice. You can also study the works of professional photographers and a research of your own so you can sharpen your skills.

Learn more about Digital Photography Basics and with lots of practice you will surely enjoy taking good shots. You can very much become an artist in Digital Photography.

View the original article here

Photography Exposure Basics

It's good from time to time to review the basics of how a camera works and the adjustments you have at your disposal. So many people go around taking pictures with their cameras set on automatic. Modern digital cameras do a fantastic job in point-and-shoot mode, but there is a whole world of creative opportunity for those who take a few minutes to explore the features.

There's even a formula that describes the whole process: H=Et. Where H is the luminous exposure, E is the image-plane luminance and t is the exposure time in seconds. Perhaps a more practical explanation might help.

Aperture, Exposure, ISO

Think of those three elements as three legs on a stool. When all three are working in harmony, you have solid support. If one of them is a little off, it throws the whole stool out of whack. By balancing these three components in different ways, you can achieve remarkably different results in your photographs.

ISO

Formerly called ASA, represents the light sensitivity of the recording media. Whether it's film or a digital imaging chip, the trade off here is image quality. Regardless of the recording media, the less light the image capture device needs, the more artifacts in the resulting picture.

In modern digital cameras that degradation of image quality comes from the camera's on board computer trying to fill in and adjust an image with less than optimal lighting. To compensate for low light the camera increases the sensitivity of the imaging chip, introducing a whole host of visual artifacts collectively known as "noise."

The more light, the lower ISO the camera can select. The camera's computer is designed to select the ISO that will yield the clearest possible image for the available light. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 percent below full daylight, your camera's imaging chip will be operating at maximum efficiency. To get the proper amount of light, your camera can select a higher ISO or trigger the on-board flash.

Aperture or f-stop

The second exposure control for photo lighting is your aperture. The aperture sits between your lens and imaging surface. This works the opposite of ISO. The smaller the number, called an f-stop, the more light is getting through the lens.

When you hear photographers talking about a "fast" lens, they mean a lens that has the ability to select very low f-stops.

What changes is the focusing depth of field (DoF). At lower f-stops, your camera has a narrower depth of field. At higher f-stops your camera has a very wide DoF. So if you want the background in focus, think higher f-stops (which are smaller openings) and if you want to throw the background out of focus, think lower f-stops (wider openings).

Shutter Speed

The shutter on most modern SLR's is actually more like plates that leave the imaging surface exposed briefly, sometimes called "curtains." The leading surface moving out of the way is sometimes called the "first curtain" and the trailing "second curtain" cuts the light off to the imaging chip.

That's why most flash units have specific sync speed. At very fast shutter speeds there's not enough time between the first and second curtains for the flash to fire without one of the curtains being in the way. It also explains the feature some flash units have labeled 1st or 2nd curtain sync. You can select to have the flash fire in sync at the opening of the shutter, or just before it closes.

The shutter priority feature of your camera lets you choose the shutter speed. Faster to freeze objects moving fast, and slower speeds to create motion blur.

Experiment with the different modes your camera offers. You'll find the range of possibilities quite exciting.

You'll learn even more with Proud Photography - one of the best online photography schools available today at http://www.proudphotography.com/

View the original article here

Photography Basics: Understanding Shutter Speed

To release yourself from the ball and chain of the automatic mode and truly gain control over your camera, you'll need to understand some basic concepts of photography. In this article, we talk about one crucial element of photography, time.

It's all about the timing

Have you seen one of those pictures where you could see the motion blur of a dancer, or one where they "stop" the flight of a bird. This is achieved by varying the shutter speed of your camera. A slow shutter speed will allow you to show the motion blur of your subject (eg. speeding train) and a faster shutter speed works quite the opposite, it freezes that motion.

When you want to imply movement in your pictures, you select a slower shutter speed. Speed it up when you want to freeze motion.

To change the timing of your shutter speed, switch your camera to the shutter priority mode. This is indicated by either Tv (for Canon cameras), or simply T (for Nikon and Sony users). When you switch into this mode, it means that your camera, once again, goes into semi-automatic. You select the time you want, your camera determines the size of the aperture so that it will make a good exposure based on your scene.

Depending on your camera, as you turn the dial or push the left-right buttons, notice that there's this number that changes. It will marked either by 1/a number, eg. 1/200, or a number", eg. 2". 1/200 means the aperture will open, wait for 1/200 of a second and then closed--pretty fast, where 2" means it will open for 2 seconds. So 1/200 is a faster shutter speed than 2", as it takes less time for your camera to take the shot.

Note: Depending on your camera and lens you use, the slowest and fastest shutter speed can go from 1/8000 all the way to whatever time you specify.

Exercise: Controlling Motion and Freezing Time

The best way to learn a new concept is by trying it out first-hand. So grab your camera and put into practise what we have learned so far.

Tools needed:
A camera, peferably a dSlrYour subject, eg. A piece of tissue you have lying aroundFan. To create motion.Optional: A tripod, or mini-tripod that comes free with most purchases

Setup

Go to your camera settings, and change the AF point to the one in the centre if you have not.
Set your camera to shutter priority mode, and dial to a shutter speed of 1/50Hold your tissue paper in front of the fanFocus on the tissue and take the pictureNext, without shifting your camera around much increase the speed to 1/300. Focus on roughly the same spot and take the picture.Save both your images onto your computer

Notice how on the first image, you captured the tissue flapping around and it's all a blur, whilst on the second image, it's as if the tissue didn't move.

If you've followed through, congratulations! You've just learned how to freeze time. Shooting pictures with shutter priority is great fun! Tell your friends to jump whilst you take a picture, or show the speed of your running nephew.

Summary
Shutter Speed controls the time it takes for your images to be exposedThe slower the speed, the more time you allow your subject to show in your picturesUse the shutter priority mode when you want to imply motion--think flying birds, running kids, or when you want to freeze a fast moving object--think aeroplanes, people jumping.

Take a look at some examples over at Singapore Photography.

View the original article here

Photography Basics: Understanding Aperture

What Happens When You Click

To better understand what aperture is, we must first know how a camera works. Your camera is essentially a light-capturing device; light gets bounced off an object and is reflected into the camera. Light-sensitive materials in the camera then picks it up and saves it either as a digital image (JPEG, RAW), or onto traditional film. It works the same way as our eye does!

Size of the Hole

As you can see, the aperture of a camera works just like the iris of your eye. It controls the amount of light entering your camera, the bigger the hole, the greater amount of light, and the smaller it gets, less light comes through.

To change the size of the aperture, switch your camera to the aperture priority mode. This is indicated by either Av (for Canon cameras), or simply A (for Nikon and Sony users). When you switch into this mode, it just means that your camera goes into semi-automatic. You select the size you want, your clever camera does the rest.

Depending on your camera, as you turn the dial or push the left-right buttons, notice that the f-number changes as well. This f-number indicates the size of the aperture you'll be using. The bigger the f-number (eg. f16), the smaller the hole, the smaller the number is (eg. f3.5), the bigger the hole.

Note: The smallest and largest f-number can vary depending on the lens you have on your camera. It can go from f1 all the way to f22.

Take a bit of time to let this sink in as it works inversely on how we think about numbers and size, but with practise it will be second nature to you.

So what does this change of size do?

As it turns out, the size of this hole--aperture, also affects the amount of focus you can have with your pictures.

This amount of focus is called depth of field. When you have just the subject in focus and the background blurred out, we have a shallow depth of field. When both the subject and the background is in focus, it's called a deep depth of field.

Exercise: Controlling Depth of Field

The best way to learn a new concept is by trying it out first-hand. So grab your camera and put into practise what we have learned so far.

Tools needed:
A camera, peferably a dSlrYour subject, eg. Pencils you have lying aroundOptional: A tripod, or mini-tripod that comes free with most purchases

Setup

By default your camera will look at the scene and try to determine where to focus using its "clever brain." As we want control over where to focus on, we need to change some settings. We want to tell the camera where to focus, rather then let it choose for us.

Go to your camera settings, and change the AF point to the one in the centre.

Set your camera to aperture priority mode, and dial to the smallest number you can get (eg. f3.5)Focus on the pencil nearest to you by half-pressing the shutter button. Once it's in focused, press down fully to take the pictureNext, without shifting your camera around much--this is where the mini-tripod comes in handy if you have one, increase the f-number to f8. Focus on the same pencil and take the picture.Lastly, dial to f16 and take your picture.Save all your 3 images onto your computer

Notice how on the first image, the pencil you've focused on is sharp, but the pencils behind it is blurred out. Look at the second and third image. Notice how the pencils behind it starts to become sharper as we increase the f-number (f3.5 > f8 > f16).

If you've followed our exercise, congratulations! You've just moved out of the automatic mode and start to gain more control on your photographs.

Summary

Aperture controls the amount of light coming into your cameraThe smaller the f-number, the bigger the "hole," the bigger the f-number, the smaller it getsVarying the size also controls the depth of field, the amount of focus we can have on our pictures

Taking better images starts from taking control over your camera. Learning what aperture is and how it can improve your photography is a good start. But nothing beats taking what you've learned and applying it.

Take a look at some examples over at Singapore Photography.

View the original article here