On a SLR digital camera it should have a dial that turns the camera on manual, the “M” setting is when the photographer have complete control unless the camera has preset limitations that doesn’t allow it to do certain things.
In the “M” setting it should allow the user to change the shutter speed and the aperture, when taking a picture that one needs to stop all action or time in the picture, it should be shot at a speed of 125 and greater, depending on your subject, to give water it’s moving effect you would need to shoot the photo of 60 and less to create the effect, while changing these setting you will have to compensate the other settings such as aperture, aperture is the opening of the camera, which controls the amount of light the passes the shutter, by increasing the size more light will come into the camera, having the film more exposed.
The aperture is measured by f-stops the higher the f-stops the smaller the opening in which the light goes in, for example f-stop 2. 8 is bigger than 3. 2, the f-stop not only adjust the light coming through, but also the focal point of the image, and helps create a sense of depth in the photo. When taking a picture with depth one wants to see how far you are from the subject the closer the person the wider the aperture, hence a lower f-stop, when you take a picture of a subject far away one you should have a higher f-stop, a smaller aperture/opening.
By doing this it will help focus the picture to a certain point, or to focus as much as possible in the scene, to make a sharper image, so that the focusing in the lens can produce a photo with more depth, because it shortens/lengthen the focal area. In most cameras there is a presetting that is called depth of view mode, what that does is that it will chose the best setting to take a picture where everything is in focus.
Also in the mode dial, there should be a setting called Av, which is aperture priority, the camera will then adjust it’s setting around what the user set for the aperture, and how exposed the picture will be, this setting allows the photographer take a picture with the desired f-stop, without having the photographer adjust the shutter for a proper exposure.
There is also another setting called Tv, which is shutter priority, where the camera sets it’s own setting according to the shutter speed that the, user had set, this allows the user to set the desired shutter speed for different effects, while lightening the load of information the user has to take in. In many cameras the setting may have different names because this essay is based on a Canon camera. For most SLR cameras the lenses normal cost way more than the lens, because normal the camera breaks down faster than a normal lenses.
So if one decides to replace your old SLR oneyou shwouldd like to find a camera that is compatible with the lenses one already owns. When walking in to a camera shop it is better to walk in blind, ask a lot of questions, and let the salesman show you around, this will see if they know their stuff, did I mention ask a lot of questions’so how does one pick a good lens? In a normal 35mm film format, a 50mm lens would be the equivalent of what your eyes sees and is a 1:1 conversion, but on most digital SLR because of prices, and quality most of the digital SLR have a film conversion of 1.
3x/1. 6x and making a lower mm lens to be more telephoto than it would be than in a normal camera. When looking for a good camera lens one should first look at what kind of connection the camera uses to attach on to theiryour camera, hopefully they are compatible first, and then look for what effects or shots that theyyou want to take. There is no point in doing a portrait shot with a macro or wide angle lens, there are many different kinds of lenses they are ultra wide-angle zoom, standard zoom, telephoto, telephoto zoom, macro, tilt-angle lens, super telephoto etc.
Next see if the optics of the lens match the cost and also what you want to be doing with the lens, a 28-70mm lens could have more desirable things than another lens but one might lack. A couple features, such as a special lens coating, or floating aspherical lenses,that one might so you want to see if the lens meets what your expectation, there is nothing worse than getting ripped off of the price. Then of course what should also be a concern is the maximum f-stop of the lens that oneyou would like to get.
Aa 300mm with a 4 f-stop, is less desirable than a 300mm with a 2. 8 f-stop. After all these thing there are other options that will change ones’ mind, such as: Ultra-low Dispersion coating, Image stabilization, a USM motor for faster, and silent focusing. Of course what would the camera company do when one buys a camera? Of course they will advertise more accessories for their camera. Accessories that should catch their attention are a good flash, for low light conditions, because any good camera is limited by the amount of light in the scene.
Another accessory that is useful is a UV lens filter, because it acts as a lens protector because the exposed lens of a lens is very hard to replace when scratch, it is also useful to block out UV because since the normalyour eye doesn’t detect UV but the camera is so sensitive, it would detect it, and then transfer it to the picture so the picture doesn’t look as natural. A normal sized SLR camera might not seem very balance when taking a vertical picture, because of its rectangular shape, oneyou can buy a battery pack to compensate, and to add an extra shutter release button.
Photographic composition, what is pleasing to the eye. Some may say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When taking a picture there are several components in making a good picture, Exposure, colour, position of an object, the rule of thirds, the golden ratio/golden mean, textures, complexity, simplicity, depth of a picture, lines, and shapes. A good photographer will implement, one or more most of these rules, to a picture, to create a photo, which is pleasing to the eye. Exposure can easily set a mood for a picture. A dark picture can convey a sense of seriousness, sadness.
Generally it sets the atmosphere of a picture, a dark picture indoors, is not as appealing as a dark picture outdoors, why you might ask? It is because when you are normally outside there are much richer colours all around, but because of the sun most pictures get washed out by the intensity of the sun and we don’t get as much saturation, in most cases a darker picture outdoors will allow a silhouette of an object to pop out a bit more because, instead of the usual black for the subject, oneyou get to see more detail. An underexposed picture is easier to correct than an overexposed picture, because most of the colours get washed out.
In an indoor picture the user might want to have the picture more exposed, than an outdoor picture, because of indoor lighting tends not to wash out as much colour, but can accentuate some certain colours because of the different spectral signatures of man made lighting. When taking a picture, a good picture would either have, complementary colours, or have opposing colours for contrast. Having different hues of the same colours give depth, and attitude, while the saturation of colours will give richness to a photo, a good photographer will make use of colours, hues, and saturation, to get the perfect picture.
Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and many of these points can be subjected to criticism, I have taken the time to look over past pictures to show complementary, and contrasting colour. In this picture there is a group of complementary colours, as you one can see in the colour wheel, the colours are right beside each other therefore complimenting each other, in this type of photography the picture looks more calm and subtitle, there is not enough “pop” in the picture compared to a contrasting picture.
For this picture there is more of a “pop” effect given by a contrast of colours. This photo has more personality, seems to bite at the audience, the purple, is the opposite of green, in a RYB colour scale. Also in the picture there is some complimentary colours to round off some of its sharp edges so to speak. The positioning of an object or the balance of a picture is very critical in a picture. In order to provide an appealing picture, the photgrapher willyou have to balance out the important things in the picture to captivate an audience.
If a photograph were too one sided the viewer would be expecting something be there but since there is none, the picture seems incomplete. But having every thing in the middle is not appealing to a person, which leads to the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds splits the picture horizontally and vertically in thirds, and making nine sections. Where the lines that separate the nine sections, meet is known as the power points. Placing subjects in the power points of lines would increase its importance in a picture. The power points/lines are useful to make an insignificant object, more significant.
The rule of thirds is not always used because in certain occasion it will be better to center the subject, but it is usually use subconsciously. What is beauty’some may say it is the Fibonacci Series 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, and 377. The ratio for the Fibonacci Series is 1. 618, it is found in nature very often such as a nautilus shell, and the spiral arrangement in sunflower seeds. It has been noted that the ratio is also found in the human body, such as the ratio of your forearm and upper arm, also the length of your legs to your abdomen.
In the golden mean is similar to the rule of third but instead of splitting the photo in to nine equal sections it divides it into it first splits it into nine unequal sections then splitting it with four lines, to use the golden mean is like to use the rule of thirds placing objects of importance in the intersecting areas the 4 secondary lines are used to align other lines to it, such as the line of a street. When taking a photo it is also useful to observe the textures in the photo to create an interesting photo, textures can greatly create depth of a photo.
A good example of a good texture is a split piece wood, if shot in at an angle can give good results. The best way of utilizing textures is in black and white photography, because of instead of having colour that emphasizes the saturation or that hues, which can be distracting, black and white emphasizes the textures. In most pictures complexity can be overwhelming, if used in a wrong way, because there might be things in the photo, which could distracts the viewer from the main point of the picture, especially if the picture has more than one subject of interest.
Complexity can work both ways, it allows the viewer to be mesmerized instead of just letting a viewer skim past the photo, and a good example of this is machinery where there are a lot of gears. The thing that occurs in photo, which are complex, and not too distracting, all have the trait that the picture has components, which are mutually the same. Simplicity is very important in a picture because it allows the picture to convey the message much more effectively because of the lack in distractions.
In simplicity it is best to leave things by them selves instead of bring the whole scene in your picture, say if there is a chapel, and there is also a parking lot, with a telephone booth, it is better to just take a picture of the chapel, and leave the other component for other pictures. The depth of a picture is important to a picture because it adds dimension to a photo instead of having the photo look 2D. You can create depth in many ways having a large aperture that would narrow the amount of the picture that will be focused, by manipulating the things in focus, it will make a more 3D look in the picture.
By having a foreground, a midground, and a background, it will make a picture with more depth than just having one or leaving out one of these categories. Lines are just lines until you actually bend them and move them a straight and vertical line is too plain and too normal, but if you bend them, then the sky is the limit. A “S” curve is pleasant to the eye and combining a “S” curve with it starting from one side and leading away from the picture, is quite a combination. Usually curved lines are much preferred than straight lines, and having lines leading off to the side is also a good thing to have.
Shapes are just lines which are closed, to form a shape. The rule of the lines also applies to shapes, lines that have curves, is better than straight lines. Shapes can be more constructive than lines because of the shapes have more than one way of looking at it. In the modern age of digital cameras, the skill involved in taking a good picture has decreased. But I hope that this essay might have given you an insight to the expansive world of photography.
There is a growing number of people that is starting to use a S.L. R. camera because the age of digital camera, letting people take photo without having consequences which was involved in film such as developing and the cost of buying film and developing. This essay was meant to teach you about a camera and how to become a better photographer, but not to go out and buy a new camera, the camera you have now should beis sufficient, it’s much better to spend more time, and money with your family, a camera is only a camera, it’s who that takes the picture that counts.
