Beginner to Advanced Photography



Left Image
Minolta Maxxum 9, 100mm macro lens, Fuji Velvia, at f-16 and 1/4 sec, +1 stop exposure compensation, aperture priority, spot metering. Manual focusing. Bogen tripod and ball head.
 

You have been taking pictures for a while. Most likely you've been using your camera on auto everything modes. That is fine if you just want to take a few pictures every once in a while, but if you want to improve your photography, eventually you have to take full control and become more advanced and even a pro. Photography is like riding a bike. You start on a tricycle which is safe. You know you are not going to fall. You ride around the block a few times, but if you want to go farther, faster, or do some of those cool moves, you need to get on a bicycle. Sure you will fall a few times and get some scratches, but soon you'll be confident and can even go mountain biking. When you first start taking picture, you set your camera on Program mode and autofocus and simply point and shoot without really paying any attention to what your camera is doing. This is like riding a tricycle. It is safe. You may get a few nice shots but you can't really take full credits for them, because all you did was point the camera and release the shutter. It is time to move a head and take some chances. You will definitely miss shots or get bad shots just as you fell off your bicycle and got some scratches, but you'll learn from your mistakes.

Wake up early in the morning on a weekend. Load your camera with a fresh roll of film or a blank media card if you use digital. Take your lenses and tripod and go to your favorite location for photography. Find a good stationary subject and set your camera dial to aperture priority or if you feel brave enough, set it to manual mode. Turn off autofocus. You are going to focus your lens the old fashion way. Now, turn the focusing ring to focus on the main part of your subject. Autofocus would lock on any point the camera autofocus would be pointing at. By focusing manually, you can select the point in the frame which is most important to you. Start changing the aperture to smaller numbers one stop at a time and see how the camera automatically changes the shutter speed one stop to keep the same exposure on aperture priority mode. On manual mode, metering index in the viewfinder shows an arrow or a line suggesting change of shutter speeds to keep the same overall exposure.

The metering index lets you monitor exposure by showing plus values higher and minus values lower. Values are displayed in 1/2EV or 1/3EV increments, in accordance with the EV increment selected with the exposure compensation dial.



Lets say you start by an aperture of f-5.6 and your camera suggests a shutter speed of 1/125 sec. In aperture priority mode, as you stop the lens down to f-8 (one stop slower than f-5.6) your camera automatically changes the shutter speed to 1/60 sec (one stop slower than 1/125 sec) to keep the same overall exposure. The only difference is that you get more depth-of-field at f-8 than f-5.6. More of the picture area will be in sharp focus. In manual mode you need to adjust shutter speed by referring to the metering index. If you close down the lens by one stop, you must use one stop slower shutter speed to get the same overall exposure. You can use smaller apertures if you need more depth-of-field as long as you change shutter speeds accordingly. Don't stop down more than you have to. Smaller apertures require longer shutter speeds which can result in unsharp images due to mirror vibration or subject movement. By looking at the information inside the viewfinder, you begin to learn how apertures and shutter speeds affect final results.


Left Image: Canon EOS D60, Tamron 70-210mm f-2.8 lens, 1/60 sec at f-2.8.

Next you need to learn how your camera meter works. You know now that your camera automatically changes shutter speeds as you manually change f-stops or in manual mode your camera shows you how many stops you must change the shutter speed. How does your camera know which shutter speed is needed for certain f-stops? The truth is, it doesn't. It just makes a guess. Cameras are very stupid, even sophisticated ones. They are pre-programmed to give 18% gray or middletone results regardless of the subject's tonality or metering mode. Middletone is not dark nor light, it is not black nor white. It is half way in between. Tree trunks, green grass, blue sky, or your faded blue jeans are all middletone. Since photography is about light and controlling light, you need to understand how your meter works under different lighting conditions. If you rely on your camera meter, you can get good exposures but not always. As you point the camera from one part of the scene to another, your camera quickly readjusts setting if light hitting the subject is more or less or if it has a different tonality. No matter where you point your camera at, it sees middletone. Point your camera at a black, white, yellow, red, or any other color under sunshine, cloudy day, sunrise or sunset, and your sophisticated camera says, this is 18% gray or middletone.

Gray Cards which are medium tone.

Luckily there are many middletone subjects so you can trust your camera when photographing middletone with good results, otherwise you need to make changes. If you are photographing a subject which is medium red, you can trust your camera. Just pick the aperture or shutter speed you need, and let your camera pick the other setting. If your subject is light red for instance, you need to open up or close down if it is dark red. You need to tell your camera ''This is not middletone, it is lighter or darker''. How do you do that? It is simple. You use the wonderful exposure compensation dial, marked +/- on your camera. If you are working in aperture priority, just select the f-stop you need and let the camera pick the shutter speed. Now select +1 stop of exposure compensation if you want to make the scene one stop lighter than middle tone or -1 stop if it is darker. You can even work in 1/2 step increments for finer tuning or even use +/- 2 stops for very light or dark subjects. On manual mode just change shutter speeds by 1 stop or 1/2 steps if you want to be more accurate. If shutter speeds are more important than depth-of-field, change f-stops instead.

So far you have taken full control of your photography by selecting the tools your camera offers. Take your time and take more shots of different subjects at different shutter speeds on aperture priority and manual mode. Use different focusing points at different f-stops. Use exposure compensation dial. Keep a record of all settings including exposure modes and any adjustments made. When you get your pictures back from the lab, examine them and check sharpness, exposure, and color. Check your notes and see which setting produced the best result. Don't get discouraged if your pictures turned out bad. This is like the time you fell off your first bike ride and got a few scratches. The most important thing is learning from your mistakes, and like riding a bicycle, once you learn you'll never forget.