Photography Basics

Photography is a passion for me. I know at some point of time, everyone wants to be able to take good pictures, whether you're a mom who wants to capture every precious moment of your baby's growth or just someone who wants to capture the beauty of nature. I would like to share some of the basics to help you improve your pictures. A photographer is always learning, there's always something new out there and room for improvement. And it's important to get your picture right at the click, which means: try not to rely on Photoshop to fix everything. Photoshop can't fix your focus and also has limits on white balance and exposure. So, practice, practice, practice!

EXPOSURE


Figure 1. Exposure

Exposure refers to the amount of light that is used in taking the picture. If the time exposed on a subject that is indoors is short, the subject may appeared under exposed. Overexposed means there is too much light and the subject may become washed out. Exposure could be adjusted by the speed of your camera - through ISO and shutter speed.

Keep in mind that you lose quality by increasing the ISO because the picture gets grainier. Generally ISO 100 and 200 are suitable for outdoor photography, ISO 400 and 800 for indoors. Obviously this depends on the lighting. If it is well lit indoors, then ISO 200 might work.

For fast shutter speed, you may get details but the picture could also be under exposed. For slower shutter speed, you may want to stabilize your shot with a tripod to get a clearer shot. For taking pictures of fast moving objects... like kids, you need a faster shutter speed to keep them in focus and you need light to keep them well exposed (hence many people prefer taking pictures of their kids outdoors).

APERTURE

Figure 2. Aperture

Aperture is the hole where light travels through, just like the the pupil in your eye. Aperture is measured by f stops. With a larger f number, objects in a wider range of distances can be in focus. Smaller f number is usually popular in portrait photography, it brings attention to the subject.

WHITE BALANCE

Figure 3. White balance

Look at the white in your picture, does it appear white to you? That's what white balance is about. You could use the AWB (auto white balance) function on your camera, but sometimes that does not work too well, say if you have yellow lighting. It is recommended to use custom white balance (when available), where you shoot something white and set that as the white reference in your camera. With every change of location, make sure to adjust your white balance accordingly.

FILL FLASH

Figure 4. Fill Flash for bright backgrounds

Many times we don't think about using our camera flash in broad daylight. But when the background is bright, the subject might be in the shadow. You could use the opportunity to create a silhouette (figure 5) or use fill flash (figure 4) to brighten your subject. Note that even in auto setting, your camera might not turn on the flash automatically because it is generally still bright.

Figure 5. Silhouette

Figure 6. Fill flash to reduce harsh shadows

Having direct light on your subject might not be the best solution either. In Figure 6, you can see the light creates harsh shadows on the face. Hence fill flash can help to reduce the shadows.

Figure 7. On camera flash

I personally am not a fan of on-camera flash because I don't like hard lighting and that it could wash out details if you are too close to the subject. So I worked around it by increasing my ISO and shutter speed. For the shot in Figure 7 without flash, I moved with the subject to reduce blurry focus.

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