This article is targeted more towards the amateur who might even be using a Point & Shoot camera but is not limited to them. If you are reading this and own a DSLR, you also may benefit from something I mention.
My opinion is that if you are just starting out and wanting to learn photography, you don’t need to have a DSLR camera. By learning the techniques and basis for good photography before you invest in a good camera will help you understand if you do (or don’t) want to pursue this.
So let’s begin with the basics!
1. Composition
Composition refers to the placement or arrangement of elements within your photograph. If you are setting up your own shot, you may be arranging elements to suit your needs (done often in studio photography). However, landscape photography and other photography where you aren’t in control of the elements poses the problem of not being able to just “move stuff around”. To accomplish this, you, as the photographer, are required to adjust yourself into a position that will better create a composition you are happy with. You may also need to change your lens depending on the type of shot that you are after.
To better understand composition, there are a number of rules that can be applied. I’ll discuss those below.
2. Rule of Thirds
This rule is probably one of the most important and most mentioned. If you haven’t already heard of this rule, now’s the time to brush up on its meaning and what it is.
The Rule of Thirds refers to a grid that can be imagined through the lens, or in some cases, your camera may allow you to turn on the rule of thirds so you can view it in your view finder. I suggest that if you are a beginner; turn this function on for a little while to get a good grasp and understanding of how it works. Eventually, you can turn it off and automatically imagine it in your mind while composing your photo.
3. White Space / Negative Space
Don’t let this use of “white” fool you. This only refers to the area of your photo that is not a major focus. Think of it more as a background that is included as a secondary or tertiary focus. Composing your photo, your task is to force the viewer to look at certain elements first, than second and so on. Your main object should be the focus and the viewer’s eye should be drawn quickly and automatically to that object. After they have seen that object, their eyes may wander unless your photo has secondary objects that should be seen next… and so on. Work on getting their attention using the Rule of Thirds and composing the photo in such a way as to draw the viewer’s eye to various locations in your photo.
White space, or negative space, gives the photo breathing room. This is also used in good design techniques. Having too much going on can confuse or annoy the viewer. There’s just too much to look at. Focus your photo to one focus with a possible secondary element. In many good photographs, there is a main focus with the background (or possibly foreground depending on how the photo was taken) being the second. Look at sunsets with silhouettes of trees or people… There are two main things to look at: the tree (often being the main focus) and the sunset. All of these bring in what photographers always need to think about; composition. Always compose your photo with these in mind.
4. White Balance
All Point & Shoot and DSRL cameras come with the function of changing white balance. This function needs to be changed often. Various light conditions will affect your photo and changing the white balance on your camera will help compensate for this. I have read that most cameras over $50 and some camera phones will have this function. If you haven’t begun experimenting with this function, I strongly suggest you begin!
Each setting under the white balance has its purpose. You’ll most likely see a combination or all of these light sources as your settings: Auto, Custom, Kelvin (most likely not on Point and Shoot), Tungsten, Fluorescent, Daylight, Flash, Cloudy and Shade. Your particular camera may or may not come with all of these. Check your camera to see what settings you have available. These are the most common (minus Kelvin).
There is a lot to explain regarding White Balance, it’s not a quick “read this” and you’ve got the idea. For this article, I’ll simply explain what I did above and now refer you to a website that I came across regarding this topic. It goes into good explanation on what this function does. Read what you can and try to soak up what you can. Continue to search the Internet for this and read up on it in your own camera’s manual.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm
5. ISO
ISO is a topic that could take a while to explain. However, I’m going to try and do it as simply as possible; to explain enough so that you can get started. ISO refers to the image sensor within your camera. “What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present” (photoxels.com). Changing your ISO allows you to take photos in different lighting situations. Don’t mistake this for the White Balance options you have available. ISO can be changed just as easily and will be found, most likely, within your menu. A good average, or what I’ve been told, is around the 200 range. The higher you go, the more you will start to see what is called as “noise”. Simply put, it will look more “grainy”. To best understand this function I would recommend that you set up your camera in one spot (if you have a tripod, use that as your stable position) and take one shot with an ISO of 200, one at 400, one at 800 and finally, max out your camera’s ISO setting. Import them onto your computer and check the differences between them. The lower you set your ISO, the clearer your photo. But this comes with a price. Changing your ISO will affect other settings on your camera. As you learn more about each function and the more you learn how to adjust them, you’ll begin to understand how they all inter-connect; more so ISO connecting with the exposure and shutter speed of your camera.
I’ll leave that for now on ISO, again, continue to research more in-depth articles on this topic to get a better understanding and continue practicing and experimenting with your own camera!
6. Shutter Speed / Exposure
Many Point & Shoot cameras won’t allow you to adjust the shutter speed of your camera. However, it is something that you should begin to understand. When you change your white balance to, say, the “Night” option, you are, in fact, changing your shutter speed, you just might not know it. Because there is low light in a night photo, the shutter is required to stay open a bit longer in order to allow more light in, thus brightening up your photo. Try taking a photo on the Daylight setting and then on the Night setting. Which is brighter?
Exposure, simply put, refers to the total amount of light that is allowed in. You’ll see this often as EV on cameras.
For DSLR cameras, we have the option of manually changing our shutter speed to create effects that we want. The very basic understanding of the shutter speed is this: The longer the shutter is open (the slower the speed) the more light is let in. The shorter is opened (or the quicker it opens and shuts) the less amount of light is let in. This affects each photo taken and allows you to take photos in bright lights or dark nights.
Good examples of this function can be found all over the web. I’m sure that you’ve seen photos where the lights on cars at night are long streams of white and red. Below are two examples of slow and fast shutter speeds.
Slow shutter.
Fast shutter.
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