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I recently needed a portrait lighting kit, and decided to try an entry level one. This is my Product Review – LimoStudio 600w Continuous Light Portrait Light Kit.
Continue reading Product Review – LimoStudio 600w Continuous Light Portrait Light Kit
When we first decide to get a little serious about taking pictures, it can get overwhelming looking at all the information and amazing photos on the internet. 
I’m here to tell you to stop thinking so much! Yes, there is a lot to learn, but you don’t have to wait, you start by taking photos, and work at getting better over time. To get you started, here are 7 tips for beginning photographers.
Continue reading 7 Tips For Beginning Photographers
Composition: Creating frames within frames – To create a uniform, balanced image, you need to decide what to include, or leave out and how to arrange the various elements for the desired result. What angle will you use? Will your elements be layered to create depth and meaning? One easy way photographers often use to create interest and draw us in, is to create a frame within a frame.
When we take photos, we try to find the best balance of the three sides of the exposure triangle: Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. Depending on what we want in our photo, there are reasons to choose one over the others, as being the most critical element. Which leads to the question, “why can’t it be simple?”
If you’ve followed the first three articles, which covered the details of the three legs (ISO, aperture and shutter speed), you know the basics. So now let’s pull it all together and get a jump-start in getting out of auto and using manual mode.
Shutter Speed -(affects light and motion) – To freeze motion, we need a fast shutter speed (at least 1/125), again letting in less light. If we want to blur the motion, we let more light in, with a slower shutter speed.
Aperture – (affects light and depth of field) We set our aperture to create the depth of field we want. Do I want everything in focus? Do I want just their eye to be in focus? The larger the depth of field I want, the less light that we let get to the sensor (bigger numbers), this requires me to either raise the ISO (more noise) or slow my shutter speed down (more blur). So, to capture a fantastic sunset, or fireworks, I need a tripod, so I can use a slow shutter speed, higher aperture and an ISO setting as low as possible (this is limited by my camera’s sensor, every new generation of camera seems to have better low light capabilities).
ISO – (affects quality with noise or grain) It controls the sensitivity to light. High ISO numbers help to get a photo in low levels of light. But with increasing ISO, we risk more noise, or grain – our goal is to keep the ISO number as low as possible. That gives us the best chance for better quality. Remember, higher ISO settings lead to more noise, and while some noise is acceptable, we want to avoid it whenever we can. So, keep it as close to ISO 100 as you can.
This is the dance we have to do. Move one element and re-balance the exposure by moving another one. Here are some guidelines to get you started:
Sports – We need fast shutter speeds, balanced with a good depth of field and moderate noise. So, pick your shutter speed for the effect, set your aperture for depth of field, and adjust the ISO to balance it all out. (Or set the ISO and balance with depth of field).
Landscape – EVERYONE says to shoot landscapes during the golden hour before/after sunrise/sunset. Pick the aperture for a deep depth of field, set the ISO for high quality (100), and use shutter speed to balance the others. (HINT: use a tripod to use slower shutter speeds (below 1/60 s) and avoid camera shake . Of course any movement in the photo will create blur if we go too slow (wind, animals, people).
Low light photography – I set my ISO higher, pick my aperture for depth of field and dial in my shutter speed for balance. If I can use a tripod, I can use a faster shutter and lower ISO.
These are all simple generalizations, but they give you the basic thought process you use to balance the exposure triangle. Once you have a good exposure, you can choose to change the settings for effect. Remember, if I move my aperture by a stop in one direction, then I need to move either the ISO, or the shutter speed, a stop in the opposite. If I do this, the exposure stays the same, but the depth of field, the noise, or the motion, are changed.
So in a landscape example (1/250 @ f11 and 400 ISO). Moving from 1/250 of a second, to 1/500, cuts the amount of light in half, so I need to either change my ISO from 400 to 200, OR, I can change my aperture from f11 to f8. Again, the exposure is the same, but I’ve stopped motion, shortened my depth of field and/or added some noise to the final image.
In the days of film, we picked our film speed (ISO) and could only adjust the shutter speed or the aperture to get our exposure. If I couldn’t get the shot with ISO 400 (pretty easy film to find), I didn’t get the shot. With modern digital cameras, we are able to capture things that were impossible in the past.
So, take some time, and play with this. Try your hand at sports, or motion photography. Try shooting fireworks or get up early and capture a sunrise. As much of a challenge as it can be to learn these things, your ability to create fantastic photos will be greatly improved.
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Related Posts:
ISO
Shutter Speed
Aperture
What is shutter speed and why are we even talking about it? Shutter speed is pretty simple to understand. The easiest explanation is how fast your shutter snaps open and shut (like blinking your eyes). It is how you control both the amount of light and how you capture motion in your photos.
The last variable, in controlling exposure, is ISO. ISO is a measurement of the sensitivity of the camera to light. At low ISO numbers (50 or 100), the sensor works less to gather the information. As conditions get darker, the sensor has to work harder, so we may want to adjust the ISO setting (bigger numbers). The problem with higher ISO numbers, is that the camera has to work harder, and we seeing noise, which looks like grain in film photography.
ISO 100 ISO 6400
Aperture is one of the more difficult concepts to grasp in photography. The numbers don’t seem to make sense, and it’s just messy.
Aperture is one of the three settings we adjust to get a good exposure. The other two are the shutter speed and ISO. Once you find your exposure, you can change any two of them to stay in balance, and get a different result in the photo, like changing your depth of field, or stopping the motion of a car whizzing by, or the swing of a baseball bat. But more about that later…
