14 Ways To Significantly Improve Your Photography Today

© James Brandon | All Rights Reserved

       As photographers and artists, we all hit creative walls. We work and work to improve our skills, and we learn new things, and then it seems we hit a wall. Maybe our images start looking dull to us, like they are missing something. Sometimes I think we over complicate problems like this, searching for some magical trick out there that will give us the creative perspective we are looking for. If you are like me, you know that usually doesn’t work. Instead, here is a collection of tips you can go out and try today to improve your photography and creative eye. Pay no attention to the order, they are all completely random and spontaneous.

1. Visit an Art Museum | Fall in Love with Art

     I can’t stress enough the importance of art appreciation as a photography. If you want to get better at photography, become an admirer and student of the world of art. Visit a museum and spend the day studying the work of great artists. Better yet, take a pen and paper with you. When a painting or work of art grabs your attention, jot down why. Write down everything you love about it, and the reasoning behind it. If you find something you don’t care for, write that down too.

        Museums are abundant in most big cities. In fact, in a lot of cases, they are even free. If they aren’t free, there may still be ways to get in for free. For example, if you have a debit or credit card through Bank of America, you can get in free at over 100 museums nationwide.

2. Freshen Your Perspective

        Take a day and focus on perspective. Experiment with different camera angles that you may not have tried before. This tip is only limited by how far your willing to get out of your comfort zone. If your shooting a portrait session, bring a ladder with you. If you don’t have a ladder, climb a tree or find a perspective above your subjects head. Not only is this different, looking up is almost always flattering to your subjects features, especially if they are prone to double chins! If you are photographing flowers, consider shooting them from underneath. While this may get you dirty, I promise it will be rewarding. Play with the angle of the sun and capture the translucency of the flower as the sunlight pours through it. A fresh perspective can almost always give you that creative boost your looking for.

3. Take a Trip To Your Local Zoo

       Visiting a zoo is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer. Mainly, because I’m doing it simply for me. There is no pressure. I don’t have a client that wants a certain type of image, I don’t feel the need to create a certain look or feel to the photos. It’s just me, my camera and hundreds of exotic animals at my fingertips! Zoos are cheap, and most of them have one day a week where you can even get half off.

        Here’s a challenge: When you go, try and conceal the fact that the animals are at the zoo. That means I had to get creative with the way I framed my shots. This can be challenging at times, but it’s very rewarding. If there is a fence, an obviously fake looking rock or object, or if the surroundings just don’t click, don’t take the picture. Or, simply change your perspective until the framing works. This mindset will get your creative juices flowing, and I promise you will have a blast!

4. Minimize Your Possibilities

      That’s right, minimize. While being able to shoot thousands of images is nice, it can also dull your creative thought process. With seemingly unlimited images you can just click away, firing off shots left and right all day long. With this mentality, you’re sure to get a few keepers. Right?

     Consider this instead; next time you’re out taking pictures (and not for a client!), take the smallest memory card you have. One that will only allow you a very limited number of shots. And don’t take any other cards. Or, if you only have large capacity cards, just set a limit in your head of only taking 50 images the entire day.

     All of the sudden, there is a certain and definite brevity in the amount of images you can take. You can’t just walk around snapping pictures at everything you see. This will take you back to the limitations of film, and you will have to carefully consider each shot you take. The flip side of this is that (again) your creative juices will begin to flow, and you will be more alert and keen to what is going to make a good image.

5. Take Your Camera Everywhere

      In his book Visual Poetry, Chris Orwig states that, “Even without taking pictures, carrying a camera enhances life.” I couldn’t agree more. Carrying a camera is an instant way to put your senses on high alert. It causes you to look at the world as if your camera was always pressed to your eye. It gives you a reason to slow down, to take everything in, no matter where you are. Commit to carrying your camera with you everywhere, at least for a certain amount of time. Take pictures knowing full well that the world may never see them. Create photographs of everyday things, moments in time that normally wouldn’t require a photograph. The trick will be to see these subtle events in a new way, and to find a way to make them interesting. Even if you just use your camera phone, this tip is a solid way to improve your creative eye.

6. Always Be a Beginner

           The moment you adopt the mindset that you’re the best at something (or even the best in your circle), that’s the moment you become unteachable. Great photographers like Douglas Kirkland always keep the mindset of a beginner. I’ve met my share of people who think they know it all. You know the kind. You try and tell them something that you’ve learned, and they shoot you down, saying they already knew that. Or they refuse to except anything new because they aren’t willing to change their ways. I’m telling you, this is a death sentence to your creativity. Set aside your pride and be willing to learn from others, even if you feel you’re at the top of your game. If are at the top, be willing to learn from others who aren’t.

7. Pick a Color, Any Color

     Pick a color and create a portfolio around that color. If you have time, do this with several colors. Go out and create images that obviously and predominately focus on a single color. If you choose blue, consider subjects where this color is evident. Focus on pictures by water, or the sky. Go out past sunset and into the realm of “nautical twilight,” when the setting sun casts shades of deep blues across the sky and earth. Find textured walls that are painted in different colors and shades of blue. If you choose yellow, scout out a field of sunflowers. Shoot subjects straight into the sun, bathing the frame in golden sunlight. You can make the color even more obvious in post processing by applying filters of your chosen color over the image.

8. Shadow an Admired Photographer

        For the most part photographers are nice, generous, and giving people. Sure, there are plenty out there who won’t give the time of day to a photographer looking for a mentor, but who wants to shadow or even follow the work of someone like that? Find a photographer that inspires you and form a relationship with them. Offer to take them out to lunch. If you’re lucky, you will be able to learn from that person, and maybe even shadow them. Ask to hold lights for them during their photo shoots, or just carry around their gear. You will learn a lot just observing how they interact with their clients. If they shoot landscapes, the same applies. Offer to carry their gear as they scour the places they photograph. Invite them out for a photo walk and offer to buy dinner, or even a drink afterward. Becoming a great photographer is a tough road to take by yourself, having a mentor can make the difference between success and failure.

9. Discover the Golden Ratio

      Also known as the Golden Mean, Divine Proportion, the Fibonacci Rule, the Rule of Phi, etc. The Golden Ratio is a common ratio discovered by Leonardo Fibonacci and found throughout nature, architecture, and art. The ratio is believed to make things appealing to the human eye. In nature, it is also believed to be the most energy efficient form of design among living things. There is some debate around it, but it is very interesting. The Golden Ratio is basically the “Rule of Thirds” on steroids. If you have a few minutes, visit YouTube and watch this very interesting (albeit sort of creepy) video of the Golden Ratio. Becoming knowledgeable on topics like the Golden Ratio can drastically increase your chances of creating images that attract viewers attention.

10. Find a setting, stick with it

     If there is a setting on your camera you are unfamiliar with, go to your camera and dial over to that setting. Now, commit to yourself that you won’t take your camera off that setting until you are fully comfortable with it. If you are only comfortable with automatic, I wouldn’t suggest going straight to manual. But certainly get out of the automatic settings and into the creative ones. You should view the automatic settings on your cameras as poison to your creativity and photographic skill. These settings take away your say in how the image will look, just short of composing the frame and pressing the shutter. Start out with either Av (Aperture Value) or Tv (Time Value) or P (Program) mode. Dedicate at least an entire day to shooting under just that one setting. If you need help, there is always a wealth of information on this site, but the most readily available resource is your cameras manual. Most photographers don’t realize how much they can learn by simply reading the manuals that came with their cameras. I’ve been known to even read my manual on plane rides. What better time than when you have nothing else to do? Once you get one setting down, move to the next one, and work your way up to the infamous “Manual” setting.

11. Consider the Difference Between Inspiration and Creativity

      There are a number of articles on the web similar to this one, giving a list of ways to get better at photography. Almost all of those lists will tell you to go online and troll the work of other photographers for inspiration. While this may be a good idea in moderation, I’m tempted to take the side of staying away from it. How are you going to develop your own style by mimicking the work of others? How are you going to exercise your creative juices when you get all your ideas off the coat tails of other artists? Owen Shifflett of Viget.com wrote an incredibly interesting (and incredibly popular) blog post called “Consumption: How Inspiration Killed, Then Ate, Creativity,” and I think any photographer or artist, new or seasoned, should read this article.

       If you’re preparing for a portrait session of a family, avoid hopping online to scavenge other photographers sites for posing ideas and post processing looks. Where is the uniqueness in that? With the age of the internet, any bit of information is available at our finger tips within seconds. When we immerse ourselves in the work of other photographers, we end up ripping off our own creativity. Instead, sit down with a pencil and paper and start brainstorming. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to take some time, but what if out of all that, you came up with something completely unique? Something completely yours? After all, how do you think all these other poses came to be? What about all the filters, actions, and presets in your post processing? Think about it, and act on it.

12. Find something you’re not comfortable shooting, and go after it

        Getting better at anything involves getting out of your comfort zone. If all you do is photograph families and seniors, go out and shoot landscapes one weekend. All of the sudden, your images are going to require completely new camera settings. No more people to pose, no more assistants to hold your flash, no more backdrops or props, no more shallow depth of field or fast shutter speed requirements. Now you have to think about your subject in a complete new way. A landscape doesn’t listen to you. You can’t tell it to move the left or right, or use a flash to reveal a bit more light in a certain area. For the most part, landscapes require deep depth of fields, slower shutter speeds, tripods, and a whole new eye for composition and lighting. If you spend time photographing things your not used to, I promise you will come away with new ideas for what you are comfortable shooting. And a deeper understanding of your camera too.

13. Use a Tripod

      So far (according to the latest poll here at DPS), somewhere around 70% of readers use a tripod less than 50% of the time. Personally, I know very few photographers who carry a tripod around with them. And you almost never see it with amateurs.

      Something interesting happens when you attach your camera to a tripod. Suddenly, everything slows down. There’s no more snapping photos left and right and quickly filling up memory cards. When you use a tripod, you really have to take the time to compose your image. This mainly happens because you can no longer move the camera around freely. You now have to adjust the tripod to be level with the horizon. You have to move it left or right manually to adjust the position of your subject. Just by doing this, you have to actually slow down and really think about your image.

  Go out and take 10 images hand held, then immediately take 10 more on a tripod. See which set comes out better. I’m willing to bet it will be the latter.

14. Join a Local Photography Club

       One of the best things you can do as a photographer is network with other photographers. Sure, networking online is a great tool and shouldn’t be overlooked, but having face to face interaction with like minded people is so much better! There are plenty of ways to seek out local photographers. You can join the local PPA division in your city, or just google photography clubs in your area. One of the best clubs I ever joined was a local photography group through Meetup.com. This group has a wealth of very talented photographers and they hold around 4-6 events every month! Whether it’s just doing a photo walk around the city, or getting a VIP pass to the local sports stadiums, these groups are a blast to be a part of!

Conclusion

There you have it, 14 ideas you can implement immediately into your photography. Of course you can’t do all of these at once, but any time you feel you need a boost, be sure to check back here. If you have more ideas and/or tips, I’d love to here from you. If these tips have helped you in any way, I’d love to hear from you as well. Be sure to leave a comment below or send me a tweet (@jamesdbrandon) and let me know your thoughts. Be sure to suggest this page to any other photographers you may know. Thanks and happy shooting!

Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/14-ways-to-significantly-improve-your-photography-today#ixzz2An7vYzZ7

Photo Basics #5: Capture clear photos

In the previous installment of this photography basics series, I taught about composition.  In this installment, I’ll teach you all about focus and why your photos may not be as sharp as you’d like them to be.

This morning, I got an email from one of the students in my online beginner photography class who said she spent $2,000 on an expensive camera and another $1,500 on a high-end lens.  Still, her pictures don’t look as sharp as she would like them to, and wondered why that is.  I have to admit that I get this type of question SOO OFTEN that I dedicated an entire WEEK of training in my beginner class to teaching about how to get crystal clear and sharp photos.

It is not uncommon for photographers to think that something must be wrong with their equipment if the photos don’t come out sharp, but most of the time I find that the reason is simply a product of mistakes the photographer makes when shooting.  You can avoid those issues by understanding how to properly focus your camera.

The #1 focusing mistake of beginning photographers

The #1 mistake I see from beginning photographers in terms of getting clear pictures, is that they aren’t being precise with their focus.  I often ask students where they are focusing, and I get answers like, “On the model’s face.”  The fact of the matter is that “the face” is far too large of an area to focus on for intimate portraits.  Allow me to explain why…

Suppose you’re taking a portrait of someone.  Now that you’ve learned how to use shallow depth-of-field from the second article in this series, you want to use it all the time in your portraits to get a creamy background behind the subject.  This means you’re usually shooting your portraits at f/2.8 or a similar low aperture.  Suppose, also, that you’re using a 100mm lens and standing 7 feet (2.1 meters) from the subject.  Did you know that, with these settings, that only 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) of the photo sharp?  That means that, if you focus on the person’s cheek, their eyes and nose will be partially blurry.

So if you want your photos to come out crystal clear and sharp, you need to focus PRECISELY, and make sure you have enough depth-of-field to make the subject come out sharp.  When shooting portraits, you will almost always focus on the person’s eye, since that is where the viewer of the photo will look first.  For landscape photographers, check out this article on where to focus in landscape photography.

How to focus on one spot

When you were shooting in automatic mode on your camera, the camera would automatically find the subject and focus for you.  Now that you’re shooting manually, it’s time to take control of your focus as well.

Your camera ALWAYS focuses on one specific spot in the scene.  It is physically impossible for a lens to focus on two spots at once.  When you look through your viewfinder, you see a bunch of dots (Canon) or small boxes (Nikon).  Those markings show you where in the frame the camera is focusing.  This spot generally blinks red when the camera sets focus.

In the picture below, I chose to focus on the ant on the flower, since that is where I wanted people to look.  To do this, I set the camera to spot focus and used the four-way selector on the back of my DSLR to move the focus point onto the ant.

Notice the red illuminated focus point right on the ant? That’s where I’m setting the focus for this shot.

Sometimes, the spot in the picture where you want to focus will not have a focus point available.  This is especially true on entry-level Canon Rebel or Nikon D3200 DSLRs, which do not have many focus points.  If you find that this is the case, check out this article on focusing and recomposing.

Focus Selections

I hope I didn’t confuse you earlier when I said that the camera can ONLY focus on one specific spot in the photo.  There are ways that you can activate multiple focus points at once, but in doing so, the camera is just choosing the best of both worlds and compromising between the focus selections to set the focus in the middle somewhere.

99% of the time when I’m out shooting I use spot focus, which allows me to move around the focus point in the viewfinder.  My thumb has become adept at constantly moving around the focus point using the four-way selector on the back of the camera as I compose a shot through the viewfinder.  Spot focus is great because you have exact control over where the focus is placed.

However, there are other focus selection options on most DSLR cameras.  Other than spot focus, you have the ability to choose a small group of between 3 and 5 focus points and tell the camera to choose the best of those points, or you could set your camera to determine which focus point to use all on its own.  I never let the camera take control of focus–it’s a recipe for blurry pictures.  When I’m shooting sports or fast-moving wildlife, I’ll sometimes set the camera to use any of the center area focus points and choose the best one, because the action happens faster than I can move the focus point.

Although there are certainly situations to use other focus selections, I would encourage you to use spot focus and get used to constantly moving around the focus point around the frame as you shoot for the next few months.

Focus Modes

Aside from selecting which focus point(s) the camera is using, you also need to set which type of autofocus the camera will use.  For most uses, you’ll want to leave your camera on “AF-S” (Nikon) or “One Shot” (Canon).  This means that the camera will acquire focus when you press half-way down on the shutter button, and then take the picture when you finish pressing all the way down on the shutter button.

The other main option is continuous focus (displayed on the camera as “AF-C” for Nikon cameras and “AI Servo” for Canon cameras).  This mode is used when the subject is moving.  Suppose you’re shooting a soccer player running toward you.  If you use one shot, then the camera focuses when you press half way down on the shutter, and by the time you finish pressing all the way down, the camera takes the picture.  In that split second, the athlete will have moved, so the picture will not turn out sharp.  Continuous focus (AF-C or AI SERVO) means that the camera continues to find focus all the way up to the instant that you snap the picture.

So why wouldn’t you want to use continuous focus all the time?  Because it’s slightly less precise than one shot.  So here’s the rule… use one shot (“AF-S” on Nikon, and “One Shot” on Canon) for all shots where the subject is reasonably still like landscapes or most portraits.  Use continuous focus (“AF-C” on Nikon, and “AI Servo” on Canon) for all fast-moving shots.

Note: Canon users will also see the option for “AI Focus” when choosing a focus mode.  There is a specific use for this, but honestly it’s just outdated technology.  I have tried it extensively even in the best case scenarios for this focus mode and have always achieved better results with AI Servo.

In the next installment of this photography basics series, you’ll learn all about shooting in RAW and post-processing your photos  (Coming soon).

By   Jim Harmer

Site Improvephotography

Photo Basics Lesson #4: Creative Composition

    In part 3 of this photography basics series, I taught you how to shoot in aperture priority and manual mode on your camera.  In this installment, I’m going to teach you how to develop strong compositions in your photos.

    Here’s the thing about composition.  There are a few basic rules of composition that you’ll easily understand from this article, but you’ll soon see as you get out and practice photography that finding a strong composition is a process of trial-and-error which you’ll only learn with time and practice.

" Simply put, composition means meticulously selecting what elements will appear in the picture, and then carefully placing those elements in the frame to create a creative, balanced, and interesting organization.

Jim Harmer (yep--that's me) "

Composition Example

Ever had a driver’s license photo taken?  Or a mug shot?  Hopefully not the mug shot, but we all know how horrendous those photos look.  You can look your absolute best when you get to the driver’s license place, but the photo always makes you look terrible.  Why?  Because they position you in the middle of the frame, and then make you square off your shoulders to the camera.

From the photo below, you can see a humorous example of how photographers often envision a picture, and what the camera actually captures.  It’s funny, but unless you start paying attention to your composition, your pictures will always look like mugshots.

Driver’s license photos always look terrible because they pose you in the middle of the photo and make you square off to the camera.

The Rule of Thirds

Imagine a tic-tac-toe board placed on your picture.  The rule of thirds says that you should place whatever is most interesting or eye-catching in the photo on the intersection of the lines on the photo.  That’s really all there is to it!

If you’re shooting a portrait, decide which eye of the model is the focal point of the image.  Usually, it’s the eye closest to the camera.  Then, adjust the framing of the picture until the eye is on the intersection of the imaginary tic-tac-toe board.  Bingo!  You followed the rule of thirds.

The same is true when shooting a landscape.  In many or most landscapes, we like to include some of the foreground up close to the camera so as to give the sweeping landscape a sense of depth.  So if there is an interesting rock or plant in the foreground, I’ll place it on the bottom-right or bottom-left intersection of the frame.  The same is true without a foreground element.  You can place the horizon on the top or bottom third-line so that the horizon doesn’t cut the picture in half.

You can learn more about the rule of thirds at the digital photography school.

The REAL Rule of Composition

Ask most amateur photographers in the world what composition is, and 90% of them would answer something like “The rule of thirds and leading lines.”  Those are certainly important principles to follow, but I have found that these basic principles are far too simplistic.

When I go out and shoot, I usually find that trial-and-error is the only way to get strong compositions.  I loosely follow the rule of thirds and other compositional principles, but mostly it’s about getting down low and shooting up, or finding something to stand on to shoot down, or moving my tripod an inch here an an inch there, and really playing around until everything in the picture looks balanced and solid.  Don’t over-analyze the rules.

In the next lesson of this Photography Basics series, I’m going to talk about proper focusing techniques. 

By   Jim Harmer

Site Improvephotography

Photo Basics Lesson #3: Master Your Camera’s Shooting Modes

    In part 2 of this photography basics series, we learned about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.  Now, you need to learn how to apply these settings on your camera to take advantage of your new-found nuggets of knowledge.  I’ll try to struggle through writing this, but my wife has me on a vegetarian diet right now, and just the mention of nuggets makes me hungry.  Anyway…

The Great Flaw of Shooting “Icon Modes” on Your Camera

Icon modes highlighted in red.

Whenever I teach shooting modes, I always get the same question from members of my class, so I’m going to attempt to deal with that one right off the bat.  The question is: why do I need to learn how to set my camera’s settings manually when my camera already has built-in modes for sports, portraits, landscapes, etc?  (These are, by the way, referred to by photographers as the icon modes because they have icons of the shooting situation on the mode dial).

Again, an example will help to explain why these icon modes won’t work for those who want to become a “real” photographer.

With your new photography skills and your new fancy camera, your family members nominate you the official photographer at your family reunion.  It comes time to take the giant group picture with over 60 people in it (including your Uncle Bob who really shouldn’t have worn that ugly Hawaiian shirt).  What mode do you set the camera to?  The little portrait icon, because it’s a portrait!  But there is a problem… a really big problem.  The portrait mode on your camera automatically makes the aperture go really low, because it thinks you want shallow depth-of-field in your portrait.  But in this instance, it’s such a large group of people that you need full depth-of-field so that the people in the back aren’t out of focus.  The camera doesn’t know your intentions with this portrait, so half of the group looks blurry.

And thus we see why the little automatic icon modes (the landscape, portrait, sports modes, etc), simply will not work for photographers who want to learn to take professional-quality photos.

What are Creative Modes?

Creative modes highlighted in yellow.

The Creative Modes on your camera are Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual Mode.  On most cameras, they are marked “P, A, S, M.”  These stand for “Program Mode, Aperture priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual Mode.”

If you use a Canon DSLR, then you’ll see that your camera company likes to feel “special” by changing up those names.  Canon cameras will show “P, Av, Tv, M” for the same exact modes.  ”Av” is Canon’s version of Aperture Priority, and “Tv” is Canon’s version of Shutter Priority.

It may feel a little bit intimidating to move to these creative modes on your camera, but I’ll walk you step-by-step through each of the creative modes, how to use them, and what they do.

Program Mode (P)

Just trust me on this one–you don’t want to use it–ever.

But just in case you’re curious, program mode usually (it is slightly different on each camera model) sets the aperture and the shutter speed for you, and allows the photographer to set the white balance, ISO, and flash.

This mode is not a great choice for serious photographers because you can’t set the shutter speed to make sure the picture isn’t blurry, or the aperture to control the depth-of-field.

 Aperture Priority Mode (“A” on most cameras, “Av” on Canon)

    I’d love to see you use aperture priority for 95% of your shooting for the next several months.  It is the mode that most hobbyist photographers and even many many pro photographers shoot in most of the time.

    When you shoot aperture priority mode, you set the aperture (the f-stop) and also the ISO.  The camera will then set a shutter speed for you so that the picture is properly exposed.

    Aperture priority mode is powerful because it is amazingly simple to use, and still allows the photographer a lot of creative choice.  In fact, most competent photographers use aperture priority mode every single day.

     Suppose you’re shooting friends and family at a party.  The background is really busy with people and things around the house, so you decide you want a blurry background in the photo (shallow depth-of-field).  To achieve this, you set the camera to f/3.5 which is a low aperture and which will blur out the background.  The first picture you take is of a person sitting on the couch next to a lamp.  The lamp is bright, so you want a fast shutter speed to get the correct exposure since your aperture is wide open.  Using aperture priority mode, the camera would automatically set that shutter speed for you.  Then, you want to take a picture of someone in a darker corner of the room.  You wouldn’t have to fiddle with camera settings at all, because the camera will automatically see that it is dark and choose a slower shutter speed.  All the while, you’re able to keep the aperture set to use creative depth-of-field.

" If I could only teach you one thing in this photography basics series, it would be to set your camera in aperture priority for the next six months.  When you want full depth-of-field, choose a high f-stop (aperture).  When you want shallow depth of field, choose a lower f-stop.  Your pictures will DRAMATICALLY improve when you learn to control the depth-of-field. "

Shutter Priority Mode (“S” on most cameras, or “Tv” on Canon cameras)

   Shutter priority mode sounds very useful, but the truth is that I have never found a professional photographer who uses it.  It is a bit difficult to explain why that is.

  At first blush, it sounds convenient to have a mode where you could choose the shutter speed and ISO and let the camera choose the aperture for you.  For example, when shooting a school basketball game, you might think you’d want shutter priority mode because you could set the shutter speed fast enough for the quick-moving sports situation.

  However, you might be surprised to learn that nearly all professional sports photographers I’ve worked with shoot in aperture priority mode.  Why?  Because the depth-of-field is key.  We want to control depth-of-field in our sports pictures and we just keep an eye on the shutter speed to make sure the camera isn’t picking one that is too low.  If it does, then we boost the ISO so that the camera will chose a faster shutter speed.

Manual Mode (“M”)

     When I was 16 and drove a car for the first time, my teacher took me to a large parking lot.  He asked me to floor it as fast as I possibly could across the parking lot.  This was my first time driving!  So, I went for it.  I felt like I was FLYING!  Then, he told me half way across the parking lot to look at the speedometer.  I was only going 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers)!  The point is, the first time you try anything, it feels intimidating and like you’re out of control.

    The first time any of my students use a camera in manual mode, I can see them terrified to try it out.  However, shooting in manual mode really isn’t as difficult as it may seem.  To understand manual mode, the example below will be helpful.

Manual mode.  Aperture: f/18.  Shutter speed: 1/60.  ISO 100.  Nikon 10-24mm lens.  Nikon D7000 camera.

I took the picture above while at a photography conference in San Francisco.  In a situation like this, the bridge isn’t going anywhere, the bay isn’t going anywhere, the chain in front of me wasn’t going anywhere… I had a captive audience to say the least.  In situations like this, I always use manual mode.  I then set my shutter speed to 1/100.  I set my ISO to 100 because I wanted no noise in the picture and I knew if I needed more light, I could just slow down the shutter speed.

After taking the picture with the settings above, I realized that the picture was coming out a bit too dark with 1/100 shutter speed.  So, I slowed it down to 1/60 and it looked just how I wanted.

The point is that, eventually, you’ll find yourself wanting to shoot in manual mode for situations where you aren’t rushed to get the shot.  If you’re shooting sports, outdoor portraits, or other things, then aperture priority is simpler and faster than shooting in manual mode.

But since you’re still learning, the best option for the next few months is to get comfortable shooting in aperture priority mode 100% of the time.

In the next lesson in this series, you’re going to learn how you can dramatically improve your pictures by using creative compositions.  We’re past most of the technical stuff for now.

By   Jim Harmer

Site Improvephotography

Photography Basics #2: Aperture, Shutter speed, and ISO

    From the example of the sunset picture in installment #1 of this photography basics series, you have learned the importance of taking full control over the exposure on your camera.  Now, it’s time to dig into your camera and learn the three most basic tools available to you in controlling the exposure.

Those tools are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  After I explain what each one does, I’ll explain why we need three separate tools to control the brightness or darkness of the photo.

Aperture

A small aperture in a camera lens.

The aperture is a small set of blades in the lens that controls how much light will enter the camera.  The blades create a octagonal shape that can be widened (we photogs call it shooting “wide open”), or closed down to a small hole.  Obviously, if you shoot with the aperture wide open, then more light is allowed into the camera than if the aperture is closed down to only allow a tiny hole of light to enter the camera.

So suppose you take a picture that is too bright.  How do you fix it?  Simply choose a smaller aperture.  Simple! Aperture sizes are measured by f-stops.  A high f-stop like f-22 means that the aperture hole is quite small, and a low f-stop like f/3.5 means that the aperture is wide open.

Let’s test your knowledge to make sure you have it down.  If you take a picture and it’s too dark at f/5.6, would you choose a lower f-stop number or a higher one?  Yep!  You’d choose a lower f-stop number, which opens up the aperture to let in more light. The size of the aperture controls more than the brightness or darkness of the picture, though.

The aperture also controls the depth-of-field.  Depth-of-field is how much of the picture is sharp, and how much is blurry.  If you want to take a picture of a person and have the background be blurry, you’d use shallow depth of field.  If you want to take a picture of a sweeping mountain vista, you’d want to use a small aperture size (high f-stop number) so that the entire scene is in sharp focus. If you, like me, are more of a visual learner, then I think this graphic will help solidify the information about aperture.  Take a minute and make sure you understand this info before moving on.

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Shutter Speed

The shutter is a small “curtain” in the camera that quickly rolls over the image sensor (the digital version of film) and allows light to shine onto the imaging sensor for a fraction of a second. The longer the shutter allows light to shine onto the image sensor, the brighter the picture since more light is gathered.  A darker picture is produced when the shutter moves very quickly and only allows light to touch the imaging sensor for a tiny fraction of a second. The duration that the shutter allows light onto the image sensor is called the shutter speed, and is measured in fractions of a second.  So a shuttedr speed of 1/2 of a second will allow more light to touch the image sensor and will produce a brighter picture than a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second. So if you’re taking a picture an it is too dark, you could use a slower shutter speed to allow the camera to gather more light.

That’s me! Typing away on this article from my studio in Caldwell, Idaho.

Just as the aperture affects the exposure as well as the depth-of field, the shutter affects more than just the exposure.  The shutter speed is also principally responsible for controlling the amount of blur in a picture. If you think about it, it makes sense that the shutter speed controls how much blur is in the picture.

Imagine me sitting here at my computer desk waving to you (you don’t have to imagine very hard if you just look at the picture on the right).If you take a picture of me with a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second, then my hand will have moved in the time that the camera is recording the picture.  To get rid of the blur, you need to increase the shutter speed to around 1/320th of a second.  At this speed, my hand is still moving, but the camera takes the picture so fast that my hand travels only such a small distance that it is not noticeable in the picture.

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ISO

The funny thing about ISO is that it is an acronym, but nobody really knows what it stands for.  It is always just called ISO even though it really stands for International Organization for Standardization.  Every once in a while, you’ll hear an older photographer pronounce it “I-so”, but almost everyone pronounces it “I.S.O.” The ISO controls the exposure by using software in the camera to make it extra sensitive to light.

A high ISO such as ISO 1,600 will produce a brighter picture than a lower ISO such as ISO 100. The drawback to increasing the ISO is that it makes the picture noisier.  Digital noise is apparent when a photo looks grainy. Have you ever taken a picture at night with your cell phone or your pocket camera, and noticed that it looks really grainy?  That is because the camera tried to compensate for the dark scene by choosing a high ISO, which causes more grain.

What constitutes a “high” ISO is constantly changing.  Camera companies are constantly improving the ability of cameras to use high ISOs without as much grain.  A few years ago, only the highest-end pro DSLR cameras could achieve 2,000 ISO, and now even entry-level DSLR cameras can shoot at this level.  Since each camera is different, you would do well to do a few tests with your camera to see how high of an ISO you can shoot at without making the image overly grainy.

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Putting It All Together

Bighorn sheep in Yellowstone National Park

I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Why do I need three tools to control the exposure!?!?  Wouldn’t one suffice?”  The answer is no, and I’ll explain why with an example. In January 2012, I took a trip to my favorite place on the planet to take pictures–Yellowstone National Park.  My guide informed us that the bighorn sheep in the park were dying off very quickly due to whooping cough, so I worked hard that week to capture pictures of the last few sheep in that area of the park. Around 9AM on a cloudy day, I found a small group of bighorn sheep and started photographing them with a long 600mm lens.  The early hour and clouded sky made the situation quite dark for shooting.

The lens I was working with (which costs $11,000–don’t they know I’ve gotta send my kids to college?)… Anyway, it had a maximum aperture size of f/4.  So I set my aperture at f/4 to gather as much light as possible.  This also impacted the depth-of field to blur out the rocks behind the bighorn sheep. Next, I set my shutter speed.  I wanted to capture action in the photo, so I set my camera to 1/1000th of a second shutter speed.  I knew that this fast of a shutter speed would prevent any motion blur from the sheep running on the mountain side. Then, I took a picture.  WAAAY too dark!  I couldn’t compromise my shutter speed or aperture, so I knew I needed to use the third player in the exposure triangle–the ISO.

I played around with my ISO and found that if I increased it to ISO 640, it made the picture bright enough to take the picture without making it overly grainy. Yahtzee!  This combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO worked out perfectly.  Now can you see why you need to know how to shutter, aperture, AND ISO, and know how to set them independently on your camera?

In part 3 of the Photo Basics Series, I’m going to teach you how to set these on your camera.

By   Jim Harmer

Site Improvephotography

Photo Basics #1: Introduction and Exposure

    I’m so glad you found your way onto my Photography Basics series.  I have taught the basics of photography to millions of photographers around the world through Improve Photography, so I know just exactly how difficult it can seem to learn the basics of photography.

      My goal is to make this Photography Basics series the absolute simplest way to learn the basics of photography.

  I hope you’ll love this series because of what you learn here, and I hope you’ll join the Improve Photography community after you get your feet wet with the photo basics.  Let’s get going.

   Basic Equipment You’ll Need

    You can do photography with even the simplest of cameras, but the principles that I’d like to teach are for people who want to learn to use a DSLR camera, a micro four-thirds camera, or at least a camera that allows the photographer to adjust the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  Even some pocket cameras have this functionality.

Now that you have your camera, it is time to learn exposure.

   Exposure–the most basic element of photography

     When photographers talk about “exposure,” we simply mean the brightness or darkness of a photo.  It seems simple enough to take a photo that is correctly exposed (has the proper brightness or darkness), but in reality it can be quite the trick.

    If you’re reading this Photo Basics series, it probably means that you currently shoot on the “Green mode” of your camera–or the automatic setting.  That means the camera entirely controls the exposure of the picture.  When you shoot on automatic mode, your camera selects an aperture setting, an ISO setting, a shutter speed, and a host of other settings for you.

Automatic can be handy, but it also seriously limits your creative ability to make a beautiful picture.

      Want proof that automatic isn’t the best way to shoot?  Check out the picture below.  On the left, the picture was taken entirely in automatic mode on a Canon Rebel DSLR.  That might look okay to you… until you see the picture on the right.  Same sunset.  Same camera.  The pictures were taken only seconds apart.  The difference?  The picture on the right was taken using manual exposure.

The only difference between these two pictures is that one was shot with automatic exposure, and the other was shot using creative exposure.

  Which photo do you prefer?  Probably the picture on the right!  By choosing a creatively dark exposure, the rich colors in the sunset were allowed to shine through.

     However, technically, the photo on the left is “correct,” and the photo on the right is “incorrect.”  The camera saw through the lens and tried to expose the bird so that it wouldn’t become a shadow.  To me, the photo was not about exposing the bird properly, but exposing the sunset properly.  The bird was just a nice shape to include in the foreground.  This is exactly why you must learn exposure–because sometimes the “scientifically correct” exposure is not the best exposure to make the photo look how you want it to.

By   Jim Harmer

Site Improvephotography