Learning Photography

Photography Lessons from Shadows Galore

www.shadowsgalore.com

Learning Photography

Table of Contents
Questions to ask before buying a Digital Camera ......................................................................................... 5 1. What is the sensor size?........................................................................................................................ 7 2. What is the sensor type? ...................................................................................................................... 8 3. How many Megapixels? What is the pixel size? ................................................................................... 8 4. What is the battery being used? ........................................................................................................... 9 5. What kind of zoom is there? ................................................................................................................. 9 6. What about the VR? .............................................................................................................................. 9 Photography Lessons 1: Understanding Light ............................................................................................ 10 Observe the Light .................................................................................................................................... 10 Understanding Exposure......................................................................................................................... 10 Types of Exposure ............................................................................................................................... 10 Types of Light .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Photography Lessons 2: Know your Camera .............................................................................................. 13 The Camera ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Aperture .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Shutter Speed ......................................................................................................................................... 14 Focal Length ............................................................................................................................................ 14 F- Stops.................................................................................................................................................... 15 ISO ........................................................................................................................................................... 15 Photography Lessons 3: Introducing Composition ..................................................................................... 17 Perspective.............................................................................................................................................. 17 Frame ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 Space ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Lines ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 Pattern .................................................................................................................................................... 18 Depth of Field.......................................................................................................................................... 19 Symmetry ................................................................................................................................................ 19 Color and Texture ................................................................................................................................... 19 Photography Lessons 4: Rules of Composition ........................................................................................... 20 Shadows Galore Page 2

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Rule of Thirds .......................................................................................................................................... 20 Rule of Golden Section............................................................................................................................ 20 Diagonal Rule .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Simplicity ................................................................................................................................................. 22 Leading Lines ........................................................................................................................................... 22 Photography Lessons 5: Camera Modes and their Usage .......................................................................... 23 Automatic Modes.................................................................................................................................... 24 Auto Mode .......................................................................................................................................... 24 Auto with Flash Off ............................................................................................................................. 24 Portrait Mode...................................................................................................................................... 24 Landscape Mode ................................................................................................................................. 24 Kid Mode ............................................................................................................................................. 24 Action Mode........................................................................................................................................ 24 Macro Mode ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Night Mode ......................................................................................................................................... 25 Semi Automatic Modes ........................................................................................................................... 25 Aperture Priority Mode....................................................................................................................... 25 Shutter Priority Mode ......................................................................................................................... 25 Program Mode .................................................................................................................................... 25 Manual Mode...................................................................................................................................... 25 Photography Lessons 6: Understanding the Camera Lens ......................................................................... 26 Based on construction ............................................................................................................................ 26 Prime Lenses ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Zoom Lenses ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Focal Length of a Lens ............................................................................................................................. 27 Wide Angle Lenses .............................................................................................................................. 27 Normal Lenses..................................................................................................................................... 28 Telephoto Lenses ................................................................................................................................ 28 Photography Lessons 7: Understanding Depth of Field.............................................................................. 29 Circle of Confusion .................................................................................................................................. 29 Controlling Depth of Field ....................................................................................................................... 29

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What will be considered a shallow depth of field? ............................................................................. 30 Putting Depth of Field into use ............................................................................................................... 30 Portrait Photography .......................................................................................................................... 30 Landscape Photography ...................................................................................................................... 30 Selective Sharpness............................................................................................................................. 31 Photography Lessons 8: Understanding Exposure ..................................................................................... 32 What is Exposure?................................................................................................................................... 32 Overexposure and Underexposure ......................................................................................................... 32 Exposure Control in modern Cameras .................................................................................................... 33 Shutter Speed...................................................................................................................................... 33 Aperture .............................................................................................................................................. 33 ISO ....................................................................................................................................................... 33 How to control Exposure by combining the various Parameters ? ........................................................ 33 Sunny 16 Rule...................................................................................................................................... 33 Automatic Exposure Control ................................................................................................................... 34 Metering ............................................................................................................................................. 34 Exposure Compensation ..................................................................................................................... 35 Photography in snow .......................................................................................................................... 35 Index............................................................................................................................................................ 36

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Introduction
This eBook, Learning Photography, is a collection of posts which I have written in my blog, Shadows Galore, intended to give the reader an introduction of the basics of DSLR photography. When I bought my first camera, a D3000 in 2011, I was clueless about how it worked and what was I going to do with it. Slowly and painstakingly, starting with the user manual of the camera and with a lot of help from the Internet, I taught myself on how to take photographs. But I still felt that this was not enough, that there were many gaps in my knowledge. It was then that I joined a Photography school in Chennai to learn this art properly. Today I cannot say that I am a good photographer, but I can claim that I have been an honest student of photography. Learning Photography is an explanation of various aspects of Photography, not as an Expert would see them, but as a not so bright learner has learnt them. There is no better joy in the world than acquiring knowledge and sharing with others. So here I am, sharing my learning with you. All I ask from you is to pay proper attention when you read this and do a lot of practice. There are a lot of people who have helped me become a decent photographer. Starting from my friends in college, Priyamvad and Abhimanyu who inspired me with their amazing talent, DD for being my first critic, Ken Rockwell, the folks at Digital Photography School and Cambridge in Colour, and my amazing teacher KL Raja Ponsing from Ambitions4Photography Academy, I am grateful for the knowledge you have given me. Special mention for my loving wife Ekta who has always encouraged and supported me. Thank you guys! A lot of photographs in this eBook are taken from the Internet, mostly from the public domain. I am grateful to the original uploaders of those photographs. This eBook is work in progress, will keep updating as I learn more. For any suggestions, please send me an email. - Puru 6-Jan-2013

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Learning Photography

Photography by nature is spiritual, considering it comes from the darkness to show the light. - Kevin Russo

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Learning Photography Questions to ask before buying a Digital Camera

1. What is the sensor size?
Surprisingly, this happens to be the most important question. The camera sensor has been standardized with the olden days films which used to be of 35mm x 24mm. In plain language, the bigger size of the sensor enables more of the image to be formed and thus enhances the quality of the image. However, very few cameras are of the 35 mm format as of now and most of them come with what is called a cropped sensor. For example the high end DSLRs have sensors with 28.7mm x 19.1mm, the entry levels are 24mm x 16mm and most of the digital cameras are 8.8mm x 6.6mm.

Camera Sensor Size Comparison

Cropping Illustration

Let us see what difference a sensor makes. The sensor actually affects the crop factor of the lens. The crop factor is the sensors diagonal size compared to the 35 mm format. In case of DSLRs like D3000, the crop factor comes to 1.5x, i.e.; a photograph will be cropped 1.5 times when compared to a 35mm lens. So an 18mm on D3000 is actually 181.5= 24mm, the widest angle one can get. This brings the feeling of zoom as well as results in the discarding of details on the sides. The smaller the sensor size, the higher is the cropping and lesser is the ability of the camera to capture the whole picture. This is why the point and shoots are able to provide very high zooms like 20x and so on at the cost of the image area. I am not saying that smaller sensors are bad, but one must know what their size is. Be ready to squirm if it is too small, size matters in photography too!

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2. What is the sensor type?
After the sensor size, it is again the sensor. You need to know what the sensor type is. In todays times, broadly two types of sensors are available in the market: CCD and CMOS. CCDCharged Coupled Device is used in most point and shoots and a few DSLRs. Although they capture good quality images, the power consumption of cameras with CCD sensors is high and the overall price is also on the higher side. On the other hand, the CMOS- Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor sensors are bigger than the CCD ones and hence able to capture more light. The image quality is better on account of them being more sensitive, power consumption is lower and the costs tend to be lower. So based on the pros and cons of both, you must be able to decide which one do you want for your camera.

3. How many Megapixels? What is the pixel size?

The Megapixel hype is the biggest farce that has ever been created in the Camera industry IMHO. Do you want to take photographs of poster size? If not then why do you need cameras with obscenely high megapixels? Instead of asking about how many megapixels the camera has you should instead ask what the pixel size is. Each pixel is a semiconductor material that absorbs the photon and generates electron. Going by common sense, at any given time, the number of photons captured by the pixel should increase as the pixel size increases. Hence the signal to noise ratio in a camera is directly related to the size of the pixel. In laymans term bigger is better. Have a look at the following illustration.

Small vs Large Pixels

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4. What is the battery being used?
If you have to take my advice, never ever go for the cameras that come with AA alkaline batteries. They suck big time! Always go for cameras which come with either Lion or at least the Ni-Cad batteries. These cameras will cost a bit more for the same configuration, but believe me they are value for money.

5. What kind of zoom is there?

Digital zoom was the second biggest farce by the Camera making companies which fortunately did not take them a long way. Digital zoom is nothing but magnification of the image electronically, resulting in loss of details and thus useless. So discount any digital zoom and concentrate only on the Optical zoom. You must be able to relate the zoom with the sensor size and see if it all looks ok, as even a high zoom rating with a tiny sensor is not a good news. For DSLRs you need not bother with this.

6. What about the VR?

For the cameras which come with VR- Vibration Reduction, you should be interested to know the ratings. The relationship between Vibration and Focal length is as follows: For any given focal length, a hand held camera must be at a shutter speed which is the inverse of the focal length. For example, with a focal length of 50mm, the minimum shutter speed to avoid camera shake has to be 1/50 sec. So what does a VR do? Notwithstanding what the lens makers say, a good VR mechanism decreases the effective shutter speed for any given focal length by two stops. So for a 50mm focal length it now comes down to 1/12.5 sec. This is what you should be looking for. If the VR ratings are inferior to the 2 stop concept, be ready to discount it and negotiate. So this is all I have to say now for buying a digital camera. Happy shopping!

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Photography Lessons 1: Understanding Light
Contrary to the general perception, it is not the Camera but the Light which needs to be understood as the first prerequisite for taking good photographs. Light is perhaps the most vital element of photography as it is the primary component needed to make photographs. This makes understanding light the first lesson in photography.

Observe the Light

It goes without saying that you must be able to observe light and how will it affect the photograph. You need to know whether enough light is coming on the subject and whether it will be the correct amount and correct form of light that you want in your picture. Start observing different forms of lights and see how they affect the way the subjects look. You can also notice how light changes throughout the day and how do the same subjects appear different at different times of the day.

Understanding Exposure
Exposure is the degree to which the film or sensor of the camera allows the light to come on it. Exposure depends on various factors like the Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO settings of the camera. To measure the exposure quantitatively, you can look at it on the Light meter available in the camera where neutral denotes the apparently correct amount by which the photograph will be exposed. However, as you understand light better and get creative, you will need to manipulate the exposure to suit the way you want to make the photograph.

Types of Exposure

Underexposed simply means that not enough light present outside is reaching the camera film or sensor. So the photograph will come darker than what it looks to the actual light, the dark tones will become darker and the blacks will have prominence. Underexposed photos may make beautiful silhouettes especially when capturing sunsets and sunrises, however if the Exposure is too less, it will cause loss of detail due to blacked out regions. Deliberately underexposed photographs can be very creative!
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Optimally Exposed is the situation when the photograph is exposed in such a way that the light in the photograph is exactly same as the light on the subject. This makes the photograph technically correct and is usually what we get in the Auto Mode of a camera. However, being optimum makes us only technically correct, not necessarily beautiful. So we need to be fairly creative in order to graduate from optimally exposed to beautifully exposed. The key to this again is by observing light. Overexposed is the time when the light coming on the film or sensor is much more than what was actually falling on the subject and getting reflected towards the camera. This leads to the washed out effect which the prominence of whites and can again lead to loss of detail. However, photographs can be deliberately overexposed in a controlled manner to create wonderful effects. The skill to do this comes very handy especially when taking portraits and photographs of children, flowers etc.

Under-Optimal-Over Exposure

Types of Light
Direct Light is the readily available light available from natural and artificial sources like the sun, streetlight, flash light etc, which falls on the subject and is reflected back to the camera. Both the amount and the direction of light falling on the subject are very important. If the amount of light cannot be controlled, care must be taken to control the direction as it significantly affects the way the subject looks and comes in the photographs. The light may come directly from the front or from an angle or the subject may even be back-lit, every angle will present a different story of the subject. Defused Light is non-directional, flat and fairly neutral. An example can be the sunlight on an overcast day when the clouds take away most of the strength of the sunlight. Defused light gives an excellent opportunity to photograph people as there is an overall softness visible
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because of the light itself being soft. This brings out the best of facial expressions and features in the people. When the sunlight is too harsh, it can be diffused using shades etc. In the coming advanced sections, we will go through different kind of light conditions, angles etc and how to best utilize them for the photography, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this post and the related content.

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Photography Lessons 2: Know your Camera
Now coming to the popular perception; yes, knowing the camera is indeed one of the most important thing you should do to take good photographs. So lets get started with the camera and the various facets to help us understand how pictures come as they do.

The Camera
According to Wikipedia, a camera is a device which takes and stores photographs. Starting with the simple pin hole camera in 1700s, this much loved device of ours has come a long way indeed. Today most of the photography has shifted to Digital Cameras with the DSLR sales showing a good growth rate. All cameras work in a similar fashion with just minor changes in the mechanism. Light falls on the subject and is reflected. This reflected light then passes through the camera lens and hits the film or sensor, thus making an imprint of the subject as it is seen by the camera. This image is then saved either in the film or the memory card and is ready to use after post processing (not needed in Digital Cameras). Not going into the details of a camera, which can be found in the user manuals which came with your camera, in this article we will concentrate more on the following: Aperture, Shutter Speed, Focal Length and ISO. We will handle them one by one.

Aperture

Think of your camera as a Human Eye, how does an eye see an image? Light comes through the eye lens, passes through pupil and falls on the retina. The pupil and iris change their shape according to the light available outside so as to create the right image of the object in front. When the light is abundant outside, the pupil contracts and lets only the required amount of light to get inside, similarly when there is not enough light around, the pupil dilates in order to
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allow as much light in as possible so as to render the a normal image. This pupil is the human form of the Aperture whose primary task is to control the amount of light which is coming inside the camera. So for a fixed Shutter speed (we are coming to that), you need to control the Aperture so as to control the light coming in. Usually in a camera, the aperture is defined by f stops (f1.4, f1.8, f2.8 .. f22) denoting various stops of the aperture. One more important aspect of Aperture is Depth of Field which needs an article dedicated to itself.

Shutter Speed
Shutter is like the door of the camera which decides for how much time the light (yes it is still all about light) is allowed to come inside. Think of the Shutter as the eye lids, the longer they keep open, the more will be the eye exposed to light. In case of the Sutter Speed, the faster it is the lesser will be the time available for the light to hit the sensor / film. This is how Shutter speed determines the light coming to the camera sensor. Shutter speeds in a camera vary from 30 second to 1/4000 of a second, Bulb mode being an extra addition to most cameras. Fast shutter speeds are used to capture subjects in motion, like a moving car. Slow shutter speeds are used in low light scenarios when it is required that light continues to come inside the camera for an extended period of time. Slow shutter speeds can also create an impression of blur. Coming to the Bulb Mode, it is like controlling the duration for which shutter has to be left open. An example will be Night photography, where shutter speed can be as high as 45 min to 1 hour. So one click opens the shutter and another closes it after desired duration. Using a remote release is very important if you are taking a photograph in this mode.

Focal Length
Focal length is the distance of the lens from the film/sensor. The focal length of a lens determines the magnification at which it creates an image of a distant subject. It is here that the zoom lenses come into picture, although they are clearly outperformed by their telephoto cousins. Focal length of a camera is usually specified in millimeters, a general camera kit lens will come typically in the range of 18-55mm. A lens with the focal length equal to the diagonal of the film/sensor size is known as the normal focal length. Normal focal length for a 35 mm sensor is
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usually 50mm. The lesser you go from the normal ie, 24mm, 18mm and so on, the morewide angled your photograph becomes. The higher you go from the normal, ie, 105mm, 200mm, 400mm, the more will be telephoto ability, in a progressive crop however.

F- Stops
F-stop is the focal length of the lens divided by its diameter. For example, for a 200mm lens with a diameter of 50 mm, the F stop will be f/4 Lenses are marked with a series of F-stops, each one letting in half as much light as the previous one. The light-gathering ability of a lens is determined by its area, and f-stops are determined by diameter. The series of f-stops 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32 are powers of the square root of 2. Do not fear the mathematics; the knowledge will come only with practice.

ISO

ISO Comparison. The Images are digitally altered and only illustrative

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If you had been there in the film days, you may have seen films rolls with different ISO ratings. ISO used to be the light sensitivity of the film, the amount to which the film will react when light falls on it. Fast-forward to today, ISO denotes the light sensitivity of a camera sensor. Going by an example- In a basic DSLR, the ISO will vary from 100 to 3200. At 100, the sensor will be least sensitive to light and the pictures will come darker at the same lens and shutter settings when compared to the ISO being higher, say 400. When the light is low, the ISO needs to be increased so as to enable the camera to capture the picture. Sounds good, but here comes the catch. As the sensor gets more sensitive, it will capture more and more noise and hence at higher ISO (800 and above) you will see specks of light in the photograph which will effectively reduce the picture quality. So if the picture quality has to be maintained, the ISO should be kept low. Having said that, its always better to have a poor photograph than none at all, especially for the proverbial Kodak Moments! So we dealt with the basic technical aspects of a Camera in brief, we will be revisiting the other technical stuff like metering, white balance, flash etc in our coming articles, but for now it is time to move on to something which is more important. So in the next episode, let us talk about Composition. Meanwhile, you are free to give your opinions and throw questions.

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Photography Lessons 3: Introducing Composition
Now we come to the next important aspect of Photography- Composition. Composition is the placing of the visual entities within the frame. In other words, it is the rearrangement of all the subjects so as to accentuate the ascetics of photography. We need to decide what has to be included in the picture and what is best left out. Through various elements and techniques of compositions, we basically try to treat the eye of the viewer as the customer and guide it towards the product, ie, the photograph in the way we want to. To the uninitiated, this may sound a bit mind-boggling, but believe me, the easy things in life are often not the most interesting. Let us look at the Elements of Composition

Perspective
Perspective is perhaps the most important part of composition and the single most important factor which makes a good photograph stand out from the mediocre ones. Perspective is the way in which the photographer looks at the subject, be it the angle, distance, altitude or something else which you can think of. So the first step in Composition is getting your perspective right.

The picture given here is the only one from my own collections, taken of the Lighthouse in Mahabalipuram. This was an unusual angle to take a photograph of a lighthouse and produced beautiful results as far as the effect of direct sunlight (it was nearly 35 degrees out there) on the stone as well as the camera is concerned. Similarly you can try out different perspectives for the same photograph. This is where creativity comes into picture. Try to experiment with angles, distance etc and see if it makes a difference to how the photographs are made.

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Frame
Frame is the total area of the photograph, i.e., the space in front of the camera which comes in the photograph. To make good photographs, it is necessary to frame it properly and make sure that there are no unwanted elements in the frame. Its a good idea to fill the frame as too much leftover empty space diminishes the strength of the photograph. Balancing is also important in Framing, too many elements on one side will make it look unbalanced (try imagining a group photograph with all tall guys on one side). Position the elements so that they compliment and balance each other.

Space
Space is where your photograph lives and breathes. While you fill the frame, you must also consider leaving enough space so that it doesnt look all cramped. So between filling the frame and allowing the space, be ready to do a tight rope walking, and also feel free to abandon one for the other just for the sake of creativity. One important concept related to this is of Negative Space, on which we will discuss later.

Lines
Lines have the ability to draw the gaze of the viewer to a particular point in the photograph. Lines contribute to both mood and linear perspective, giving the illusion of depth. Oblique lines convey a sense of movement and angular lines generally convey a sense of dynamism and possibly tension. Lines can also contribute to organization by dividing it into compartments. The different kinds of lines are Straight Lines (Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal, Converging and Diverging) and Curved Lines.

Pattern
Mother Nature is an amazingly systematic designer. If you watch closely, you will be able to see patterns in almost everything. Careful capture of these patterns can lead to remarkable photographs. All you need is an eye for spotting them and placing them aptly inside the frame.

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Depth of Field
Depth of Field is the degree of isolation of the foreground from the background. It actually requires an entire chapter to itself; therefore for now, we will stop by announcing that it is one of the most important elements of photography, especially portrait photography.

Symmetry
Symmetry is a double edged sword. It can either accentuate the effect of a photograph or diminish it, depending on how it has been used. So use it carefully! If you plan to make a photograph with a strong symmetry, make sure you have an equally strong point of focus. If the symmetry is leading to nowhere, the eye is just lost and the photograph becomes flat and unimpressive. Here you can see how beautifully symmetry has been integrated into the pictures with the whole setup leading us literally to the top.

Color and Texture

Color and Texture are the last but not the least game changers in my list of Composition elements. The brightness, contrast and vibrancy of colors and how are they placed in the photograph can alter the whole effect. Choose the right colors and textures to suit the mood of the photograph. So this was a brief introduction of Composition, I hope it helps more than confuses. To make things clearer we will discuss the different Rules of Composition in coming articles.

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Photography Lessons 4: Rules of Composition
Photography is a form of art and many believe that art should not have any rules. But being the logical human beings that we are, we have managed to create some rules in photography as well. If you cringe at calling them rules, you may call them the best Practices in Photography. Many of these rules (enough of cringing!) are about Composition. These rules of composition are mostly based on the observation of the human gaze, how it looks at the photograph and where it comes to a rest, what are the things that appeal to it more and so on. These rules are not Commandments and can be modified or broken for the sake of creativity. Lets know some of them.

Rule of Thirds
This is perhaps the most famous rules of photography. It states that if you divide the frame into 9 equal parts, the most important element should be placed on those lines with the even more important among them (like the eyes in a portrait) at the intersection. The photograph on the left consists of a landscape with a lighthouse being the prime element. If you divide the photograph into 9 parts, you will find that the lighthouse falls in the leftmost one-third lying approximately on the left vertical line.

Rule of Golden Section

This rule was discovered by famous painter Leonardo da Vinci, although it had been put into practice by ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks in arts and architecture. He found that if a frame is divided into 9 unequal parts with the middle portion smaller than the ones on the sides, the eyes of the viewers will rest most at the intersections of the lines. So if the important elements of the pictures are placed at those intersections, they will be accentuating the beauty and harmony of the picture. This rule has percolated into photography as well.

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Let us have a look at the picture given above. The frame has been divided into 9 parts as suggested and one of the most important visible element of the photograph, the cottage lies on the intersection of the top horizontal and left vertical line. Although this photograph was not taking this rule into consideration, it can help in understanding the rule itself.

Diagonal Rule
The Diagonal Rule states the following: Divide one side of the frame into two parts, and then divide both halves further into three parts. The adjacent side is divided such that the lines connecting the resultant points form a diagonal frame. The important elements should be placed along these diagonals.

Diagonal Rule Consider the photograph shown above. Both the sides were first divided into two parts, and then each side was divided into three equal parts. Lines were drawn connecting the points as shown in the illustration. You can notice that the photograph was taken in such a way that the prime elements of the photograph, the white boat and the Ship building yard fall on this diagonal frame, thus accentuating their importance.

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Simplicity
Simplicity in one phrase means Cut the crap. In your frame, leave only what you want the viewer to see. Make the background less cluttered, remove unnecessary distractions and have few important elements. Very Simple! Have a look at the photograph on the right. It is so simple, no unnecessary things hogging the background. If this millipede-ball had been lying in grass along with some pebbles, worms etc; would it have been so beautiful?

Leading Lines
When a viewer looks into a photograph, his eyes are drawn by the lines automatically. Therefore, use the lines in your photographs judiciously. They can be used to give an additional depth of field and perspective. Let the user travel through those lines to where you want him to go. It is more fun that way.

Leading Lines The photograph above is a rough explanation of this rule. The spiral lines in this staircase of a lighthouse guide you all the way to the bottom giving an immense depth to the photograph and giving a sense of going along the staircase. So this was a brief insight into some important rules of Composition. In the next few lessons, we will deal more with these. Let me know if you liked this article or if you feel something was just not right. Together we will keep learning and sharing.
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Photography Lessons 5: Camera Modes and their Usage
DSLRs come with different modes, some auto and some semi auto with one Manual mode. I will try to explain the different camera modes and their popular usage here based on my experience with a Nikon DSLR. However, not much difference exists in case of other brands. Let us look at the way Nikon and Cannon denote their camera modes: Nikon Cannon

Auto: Auto (Green) Auto w/o Flash: Flash sign crossed Portrait: Lady Landscape: Mountain Kid: Child Action: Man running Marco: Flower Night: Person with star Aperture Priority: A Shutter Priority: S Program: P Manual: M

Auto: Green Auto w/o Flash: Flash crossed Portrait: Lady Landscape: Mountain Macro: Flower Action: Man running Night: Person with star Aperture Priority: Av Shutter (Time) Priority: Tv Program Mode: P Manual: M

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Automatic Modes
Auto Mode

As evident by the name, it is the fully automatic mode. This is the easiest of all the modes and the quickest when it comes to getting the optimum image. But, Optimum does not necessarily mean good. Here, the camera does all the thinking and all you do is just point and shoot. So, although this mode gives nice photographs usually, you need to move beyond it in due course of time.
Auto with Flash Off

This is another variation of the Auto mode with the only difference is that the Flash is turned off in this case. This mode is useful for the situations where use of a flash is not desirable (we will get down to the use of inbuilt flash sometime later). My advice is, if you want to go Auto and want natural looking colors, better keep your hands steady, stick to this mode and give rest to your flash.
Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode makes the camera select a large aperture, thus creating a shallow Depth of Field. This blurs the backgrounds and makes the person in the foreground of the picture appear more prominent. A few tips, have a single point of interest, keep the focal length of the lens above 50mm, move closer to the subject and try to capture the head and shoulder. Use flash if its a bright sunny day and the person is wearing a hat or something which casts a shade on his/her face.
Landscape Mode

The opposite of the Portrait Mode is the Landscape mode. In this mode, the aperture is smaller thus increasing the Depth of Field. This gives ample sharpness to the background as well as the foreground which is desired for landscape photography. This mode is ideal for multiple points of interests spread over a wide frame; consider using wide lenses and a tripod for better photographs.
Kid Mode

This mode is useful for taking photographs of children. The colors come vibrant and their skins look livelier, thus making it look all goody good. That is all this mode is about.
Action Mode

This Mode is used to freeze the subjects in motion. The shutter speed is pumped up and the camera tries to freeze the motion with the help of this. It can be used for photographing vehicles, sports persons, naughty kids and animals in the wild while minimizing blur.

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Macro Mode

This mode is used for photographing subjects up close, like flowers, insects, miniatures etc. The depth of field becomes shallow and the camera allows you to go up close to the subject (subject to the minimum focal length of the lens). Focusing is a bit tricky and the use of a tripod is advised. However if you want real macro images, you may need to buy macro lenses, macro rings or macro adapters depending on how much are you willing to spend.
Night Mode

Perhaps the most interesting among the Automatic Modes is the Night mode, used mainly for taking photographs in the dark. It uses the flash in the slow shutter sync mode, in which the flash fires at the end of the taking of photograph. While the foreground is illuminated by the flash, the background gets it due with the help of long shutter speed. So you will not get those black backgrounds with washed out faces which otherwise come in the Auto flash modes. It is very useful for taking portraits. Use of a tripod strongly recommended.

Semi Automatic Modes

Aperture Priority Mode

In this mode you select the aperture and the camera decides the other settings as per your selection to render a balanced photograph. Aperture priority mode is useful when you are capturing stationary subjects with varying depth of field. Choosing a large aperture means the amount of light coming to the sensor will be more and hence Camera will increase the Shutter speed. The opposite will happen in the case of a lower aperture. I have found Aperture priority mode particularly useful in travel photography when the only thing I need to check is the depth of field, shallow for people and deep for landscapes etc. Know more about Depth of Field here.
Shutter Priority Mode

In this mode, you choose the shutter speed and let the camera decide everything else. This mode is used when trying to capture subjects with varying speeds or the inclusion of a deliberate blur in the photograph. Thus Shutter Priority Mode comes handy in capturing both the high speed situations as well as the other situations like a dance or a waterfall.
Program Mode

This is one confusing mode! It is very similar to the Auto Mode but supposedly gives you some control over some of the features (again, depends on the type of camera you are using). Frankly speaking I have never tried it and cant think of a situation where it can be useful.
Manual Mode

Manual Mode is the big daddy of all the camera modes. You have full control over all the camera settings and it is you who thinks and decides how a given photograph should come up. However, Manual Mode is like Test Cricket, although the best but not the most fun thing. You cannot go on changing the settings for each shot especially if you are a travel/sports/war/wedding etc photographer.
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Photography Lessons 6: Understanding the Camera Lens
The Camera Lens is actually a complicated yet excellently precise device. It consists of optical lens elements, lens motors, aperture and Vibration Reduction mechanism all working in a beautiful synchronization (the shutter used to be a part in older camera lenses, but has been moved to just in front of the sensor in the new models). Out of these, the optical lens elements and the aperture are the ones which actually do the photography action, other mechanism work as support groups. Since by now you are already familiar with Aperture, we will discuss more about it in Depth of Field. For now lets talk about the lens elements. All camera lenses comprise of several optical elements. These optical elements are lenses arranged in such a way that they direct the path of light to recreate the image as accurately as possible. Needless to say, the longer the focal length, the more will the number of optical elements.

Based on construction, the two main categories of lenses are:

Prime Lenses

Prime Lenses have fixed focal length and in most cases a variable aperture. As such, you do not get a zooming capability with them and there is a lot of nimble foot work required to get the right composition. The main characteristics of Prime Lenses are: They are sharper and often faster, thus bettering the image quality and the overall experience Are smaller and lighter Have maximum aperture thus a better Depth of Field Are lighter and smaller Are less versatile

Zoom Lenses

Zoom lenses are lenses with variable focal lengths. Their zooming capability enables taking photographs of a subject at different magnification without the need to move or change lens. The qualities of Zoom lenses are:
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Versatile and cover a bigger range of focal lenses Ideal for travel photography when changing lenses is cumbersome Easier to achieve a variety of compositions The image quality is not as great as the prime lens and the aberrations are more

Focal Length of a Lens

The focal length of a lens influences angle of view and the magnification of the image. Based on the focal length, lenses can be characterized into the following categories: Wide Angle Lenses Extreme Wide Angle: Less than 21 mm Wide Angle: 21-35 mm Normal Lenses: 35-70 mm Medium Telephoto: 70-135 mm Telephoto: 135-300 mm Ultra Telephoto: 300+ mm

Telephoto Lenses

Wide Angle Lenses

A lens is considered wide angled if its focal length is less than 35mm (or equiv). In a wide angle lens, the image encompasses a wide angle of view and has generally close minimum focusing distance. In a wide angled view, both the relative size and relative distance are exaggerated when comparing the near and far objects. Due to this, the nearer objects look disproportionately large and far away ones look very tiny, thus placing more emphasis on the foreground. This can produce weird photographs in Portraits with disproportionate features. Wide angle lenses are thus best suitable for landscapes and architecture (though they make parallel lines appear converging) and should not be used in people photography (unless there is an overflow of creative juices).

Photograph of a Street taken at Wide Angle

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Normal Lenses

As mentioned, all lenses between 35-70 mm come under the category of normal lenses. These lenses give a normal view without much distortion and are better suited for taking photographs which need to stay close to dimensional accuracy. Normal lenses are good for Regular Street and people photography. 50-70mm is the recommended range for portrait photography.
Telephoto Lenses

The telephoto range starts from 70 mm upwards. These lenses provide magnification to the image and also impart shallowness to the photograph. As a result, the images taken by telephotos are somewhat flatter when compared to other ranges. Telephoto lenses are used to take distant images as well as in situations like there are specific requirements like normalization of relative size, crowd density, close cropping etc. They are ideal for wildlife, candid portraits and some landscape. However the higher are Telephoto lenses are prohibitively expensive.

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Photography Lessons 7: Understanding Depth of Field
Now we come to a topic we have been promising to discuss for a very long time- Depth of Field. It is the range of distance in the photograph which appears in focus, ie, reasonably sharp. The Depth of field depends on several factors like aperture, focusing distance, the type of lens being used etc.

Circle of Confusion
Circle of confusion is an important concept if Depth of Field is to be understood properly. There is no precise point of transition where the Depth of Field changes, the process being gradual, the circle of confusion defines the limit to which the subject needs to be unsharpened in order to be considered blur. The subject is said to be lying beyond the depth of field if it is no longer, or as a corollary, objects lying outside the depth of field will not appear sharp to the eyes. As you see in the diagram on above, only the image of Subject of focus falls on the Focal plane and is hence detected sharp by the sensor. The far and near objects lie before and beyond the focal plane and hence, are not sharp.

Controlling Depth of Field

Aperture and Focal length are the two prime factors which decide how large the circle of confusion is and how much is the depth of field. The two rules will thus translate into: 1. The larger the aperture, the shallower is the depth of field 2. The longer the focal length close focusing on the subject, the shallower is the depth of field To get the desired results, these two rules need to juggle together in a balanced manner. The depth of field also depends on the distance of the subject from the camera and the distance of the background from the object. To simplify, the nearer is the subject from the camera and the farther is the background from the subject, the shallower is the depth of field. In case of a shallow depth of field, only a limited focal plane will be in focus and all other will be out of focus.

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What will be considered a shallow depth of field?

F1.4, F1.8, F2.8, F3.5 .. F5.6 is the range of F stops in which you may hope to achieve a shallow depth of field, the shallowest at F1.4 and increasing henceforth. As you increase the F stops after this point, the depth of field will keep increasing.

Putting Depth of Field into use

Portrait Photography

Now lets see what Depth of field is all about. Have you seen portraits where the subject is in sharp contrast with the out of focus blurred? Thats where the shallow depth of field has been put to practice. Usually photographers tend to keep it shallow to accentuate the beauty of the portraits. In the photograph at the left, the depth of field was very shallow as the Aperture was set to 2.8. As a result we can see that only the face of the subject, which is much closer to the camera, comes sharp and the background is almost illegible. Not many people will dislike such portraits unless the background was really important.
Landscape Photography

However, we cannot say the same about Landscape photography. How would you feel when you see a landscape photograph in which only the trees in foreground are in focus, and the valley beyond and the mountain in the background are just a mishmash of blurred hues? I wont feel very happy with it. So if you want a clear tree, a clear valley and a clear mountain, the depth of field has to be deep enough to allow all that, unless you are trying to be creative. So what do you do? Lower the Aperture and then shoot. But again, creativity may be very demanding at times.

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Selective Sharpness

Sometimes its not just the background and foreground, it may happen that you may want to keep only a part of the frame with a ranged focal plane in focus and blur the rest. This is what people do sometimes in Macro photography. In that case you will need to have a point focus and that object and increase the aperture to create a shallow depth of field to get that effect. As the photograph in the left shows, both the foreground and the background are blurred and only the middle is what lays on the focal plane, hence the effect. So thats all for Depth of Field for now, I will be updating this article time and now. To see Depth of Field at work, you can click at this Flickr link. To know more about Depth of Field, click here.

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Photography Lessons 8: Understanding Exposure

What is Exposure?
Exposure is the amount of light that is falling on the sensor or film of a camera during the time the shutter remains open. Exposure is measured in Lux Second. From this definition it is apparent that Exposure has two principle factors light and duration. Since light depends on the aperture, we can also conclude that aperture and shutter speed are two primary parameters in a Camera which define the exposure of a photograph. We will use this information later in the article.

Overexposure and Underexposure

A photograph is called Overexposed when the amount of light which fell on the sensor/ film was more than optimal. An overexposed photograph has a washed out look and there is an excess of white. Due to this, there is a loss of detail in relatively more lighted sections of the photograph. On the other hand, if the amount of light is not enough, the photograph is darker than necessary. The black regions are prominent and there is a loss of detail in the darkened sections of the photograph. At this juncture, I would like to clarify that, photography being more a creative activity; there cannot be an optimal exposure. Photographers experiment with different levels of exposure to create the photographs they have visualized. One may only try to preserve as much of the detail while fulfilling the creative and ascetic goal of creating the photograph.

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Exposure Control in modern Cameras
Shutter Speed

Shutter speed determines the amount of time by which the shutter of the camera will remain open to allow light inside. Thus the longer or slower is the shutter speed, more is the amount of light coming in and hence higher is the exposure.
Aperture

Aperture determines to which the eye of the camera opens up. Hence the amount of light striking the sensor is directly proportional to the degree to which the aperture is open. Aperture is measured in F stops, F/1.4, F/1.8, F/2.4 denoting an aperture wide open and F/11, F/22 being very slightly open.
ISO

Like the photo-films in the past, modern cameras have the ability to control the sensitivity of the sensor towards light. Hence, if the ISO is low, the camera sensor is less sensitive and thus needs more light to create the image of the same exposure that a higher ISO will created with lesser light. ISO is measured as ISO100, 200, 400 and so on, 100 being least sensitive and the higher being more sensitive.

How to control Exposure by combining the various Parameters?

We can achieve the desired exposure by combining the above three parameters in different ways. Let us consider the following as an illustration:
Sunny 16 Rule

On a bright sunny day, an approximately correct exposure can be obtained by keeping the shutter speed at 1/100 s, aperture at F/16 and ISO at 100; or a shutter speed of 1/1600 s, aperture at F/16 and ISO 200. Note how the shutter speed needs to be raised when the ISO is raised to make the sensor more sensitive to light. If the shutter speed is not raised along with the ISO, the light will continue to fall on the now more sensitive sensor than what is required. Similarly, if the shutter speed is constant and the ISO is raised, we would need to reduce the aperture and reduce the amount of light entering the camera to account for a more sensitive sensor. If the ISO is held constant and the shutter speed is increased, the aperture needs to be opened further so that more amount of light enters the camera and falls on the sensor even if it is for a reduced period.

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A time tested way to get approximately correct exposure for a normal photograph is to set the Shutter speed to the reciprocal of ISO number under the following conditions:
Aperture Lighting Conditions Shadow Detail

f/22 f/16 f/11 f/8 f/5.6 f/4 Add One Stop

Snow/Sand Sunny Slight Overcast Overcast Heavy Overcast Open Shade/Sunset Backlighting

Dark with sharp edges Distinct Soft around edges Barely visible No shadows No shadows n/a

Automatic Exposure Control

Modern cameras provide Automatic and Semiautomatic Exposure controls in the Auto and Aperture Priority/Shutter Priority (or Av/Tv) modes respectively. So if you are working on an Auto or Semi Auto mode, the camera takes care of almost all the Exposure related stuff, almost. A camera is just a machine it doesnt make the photograph, you do. And the final outcome which comes out from an auto mode may not be the one you had in mind when you pressed the shutter. Therefore, there are still some ways to make adjustments even when you are in an auto mode.
Metering

Metering is the way in which Camera measures the light available and determines the exposure. Cameras today come with different metering settings to enable the camera estimate the exposure required as per the surroundings and user selection. Metering is of many types, as named below. Image Courtesy: www.photoble.com Spot Metering: Measures only a small area, usually 1-5% of the frame. Is normally centered but can be user adjusted. Used in high contrasts. Partial Metering: Measures a bigger area than Spot Metering, about 10% of the frame. Center Weighted Metering: Measures between 60 to 80% of the sensitivity towards the central part of the frame less at the edges. Average Metering: Takes an average of the light available across the frame and thus determines the exposure.

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Exposure Compensation

Exposure Compensation is a feature in modern DSLRs which allows the user to tweak the exposure when the camera is in an auto or semi auto mode. Hence, even if the camera is calculating the exposure by itself, the user can still control it to some degree. Negative exposure compensation will make the photograph darker than it would have been with a camera on auto mode with zero compensation. Positive exposure compensation, on the other hand, makes the photograph brighter. Exposure compensation is used when there are chances that the camera may not be calculate the correct exposure by itself and needs adjustment.

Exposure Compensation

Photography in snow

An example of a scenario where exposure compensation is required is when you are taking photographs in snow. Since there is white all around, the camera light meter mistakes it for more light and left to itself, underexposes the photograph. So if you take a photograph of snow in automatic mode, the photograph will be darker. Therefore, the exposure compensation needs to be pushed up a few stops (ex +.7) to take the correctly exposed photograph. So this is what I could think about Exposure in Photography. Do let me know if it has come out well, I will keep updating this article as I learn more.

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Index
A
AA alkaline batteries, 7 Action, 3, 23, 24 Aperture, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 23, 26, 27, 30, 31, 35, 37 Auto Mode, 3, 9, 24, 26 ISO, 2, 4, 8, 12, 15, 35, 37

K
Kid Mode, 3, 24

B
battery, 2, 7 Bulb Mode, 13

L
Landscape, 3, 4, 23, 24, 31 Leonardo da Vinci, 20 Light, 2, 8, 10, 12 Lines, 2, 3, 18, 21, 22

C
camera, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38 Camera, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 23, 26, 27, 33, 37 CCD, 6 Circle of Confusion, 4, 30 CMOS, 6 Color, 3, 19 Composition, 2, 3, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22 crop factor, 5

M
Macro Mode, 3, 26 Megapixel, 6 Metering, 4, 37, 38 Modes, 3, 23, 24, 26

D
Depth of Field, 2, 3, 4, 13, 18, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 Diagonal Rule, 3, 21 Digital zoom, 7 DSLR, 12, 15, 23 Ni-Cad batteries, 7 Night Mode, 3, 26 Normal Lenses, 3, 28, 29

O
Optical zoom, 7

E
Exposure, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 33, 35, 37, 38

P
Pattern, 2, 18 Perspective, 2, 17 photograph, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38 Portrait, 3, 4, 23, 24, 31 Prime Lenses, 3, 28

F
F- Stops, 2, 14 focal length, 7, 13, 14, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30 Frame, 2, 17

H R
harmony, 20 Rule of Golden Section, 3, 20 Rule of Thirds, 3, 20

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S
sensor, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 26, 27, 30, 33, 35 shutter speed, 7, 13, 24, 26, 33, 35 signal to noise ratio, 6 Simplicity, 3, 22 Space, 2, 17 Sunny 16 Rule, 4, 35 Symmetry, 2, 19 Vibration Reduction, 7, 27 VR, 2, 7

W
Wide Angle Lenses, 3, 28

T
telephoto, 14, 29 Telephoto Lenses, 3, 28, 29 Texture, 3, 19 zoom, 2, 5, 7, 13 Zoom Lenses, 3, 28

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