Photography Guide

Compiled By Jawad Ali 17/01/09

The Box - approx 500 BCE

In ancient times, Greek and Chinese philosophers discovered a curious optical effect, and it worked like this. Inside a completely dark room, a tiny hole is created in one wall. Through the hole light is focused, and the outside scene is projected (upside down) on the opposite wall.

The effect came to be known as the "camera obscura" which is Latin for "dark room". This was the first camera. The hole acted like a lens, focusing and projecting light onto the wall of the dark chamber.

Modern film and Digital Cameras:

New cameras are very easy to use, just point and shoot. The camera's built-in computer handles focus and exposure so you don't have to. A camera is still a camera, It's comforting to know that even the latest digital cameras work the same way as their ancestors. Light passes through the lens, into the camera, and exposes the film. And guess what? The end result is still a photograph.

Camera Modes:

Every camera has one or more shooting modes. You don't need to learn them all, but know at least one. Old fashioned cameras have one mode, manual. Camera settings would have to be figured out by the photographer, along with focus.

Modern cameras can do all this automatically, but sometimes they need help. By choosing a shooting mode you give the camera hints about what you want, and it will try to deliver.

Know your modes!

Like riding a bicycle, operating your camera should become second nature. You should know AT LEAST ONE camera mode well enough to take a picture without hesitation.

Point and Shoot: Auto/Program Mode:

Of all the shooting modes, Auto/Program is probably the most useful. Most people don't really want to learn about how a camera works, and point and shoot photography is the perfect solution. point and shoot photography is not second class! Even professionals will happily switch to program mode so they can concentrate on getting the shot instead of exposure calculations.

Auto/Program Camera Modes:

Auto The camera will completely control flash and exposure. On most cameras this is labeled "auto", on others simply "A". Some cameras only have (P)rogram.

Program automatic-assist, just point and shoot. Unlike full auto mode, you can usually control flash and a few other camera settings.

Operating Modes - Turning on the Camera

Operating modes are the most basic, and essentially tell the camera whether to take pictures or display them. Some cameras only have "on" and "off". Operating modes can usually be found on buttons or dials on the camera body.

Basic Camera Operating Modes:

Playback takes a digital camera OUT of shooting mode and allows the user to view and edit stored images.(sometimes found on shooting mode dial)

Off Completely switches off the camera, usually a button labeled " off"

More Common Shooting Modes:

While (P)rogram is the most important for everyday use, most cameras have dozens more.. it's like having an assistant photographer inside your camera who tries to figure out what you need.

Movie/Video In movie mode, Digital cameras can capture live streaming video.

Macro/Close-Up this mode used for taking close-up pictures.

Party/Night longer exposures to capture darker scenes. Usually used with flash, and some nice motion effects can be created.

Portrait To attempt to blur out the background, camera will try to use the fastest available lens setting (aperture).

Landscape camera will attempt capture detail in foreground and background by using high f-stop (aperture) settings.

Sports To freeze motion, camera will use the highest shutter speed possible.

Stitch For creating multi-shot panoramas, this mode will help to combine several shots into one wide scene. Good fun.

Aperture Priority Photographer sets the aperture (f-stop) and the camera will attempt to deliver a good exposure. Some cameras use an "A" icon instead of "Av"

Shutter Priority Photographer sets the shutter, and the camera will attempt to deliver a good exposure. Some cameras use an "S" icon instead of "Tv"

Manual Full manual mode, the photographer must set both the shutter and the aperture. mode.

Introducing the Half-Press:

This is an easy yet essential skill for beginners to learn. The "half-pressed" button is helpful in many ways, including:

faster camera response time
more control over focus
encourages better composition

Using the half-press is easy, aim your camera directly at the subject and gently press the shutter release button until the camera comes "alive". If you want to take the shot, press down until the camera fires.

Ready, Aim, Fire..

To use the half-press technique, think of it as a 3 step process.

1. Ready (Half-Press)
Point the camera at the subject and half-press. Wait for focus lock. While focusing, the camera will show a blinking focus indicator (usually a green dot). When you hear a beep and the indicator stops blinking, the camera is telling you it's ready to go..

2. Aim (Hold and Compose)
WHILE HOLDING the button at half-press, take time to explore the composition of the scene. The camera will remain at the ready with focus locked.

3. Fire (Full-Press)
Take the shot by pressing down until the camera fires. Only a gentle pressure is needed, be careful not to shake the camera.

What's it good for?
If the subject is somewhat off-centre, the auto-focus may be fooled. You have probably seen this effect many times before. A half-press will tell the camera that you're almost ready to take a shot and to be prepared, triggering the following things to happen:

Focus Lock:
The camera will attempt to lock focus on the subject. The focus lock allows the photographer to freeze the point of focus BEFORE taking the photograph. This technique is crucial for exploring the art of composition with a point and shoot camera.

Faster Full-Press Response:
when taking a shot, the camera will respond quicker from a half-press. The delay between pressing the button and the digital camera firing is called "shutter lag"

The Flash Mode Button:

Technique:

A flash is commonly used indoors as the main light source when there is not enough ambient light for a desired shutter speed. A fill flash or fill-in flash is a low powered flash added to ambient light to illuminate a subject close to the camera while using an exposure long enough to capture background detail. Another technique is to point a flash upwards onto a reflective surface, which may be a white ceiling or a flash umbrella, which reflects light onto the subject; this is called bounce flash. Bouncing creates a more natural light effect than direct flash without glare in the highlights and impenetrable shadows, but requires more flash power than a direct flash.

Part of the bounced light can be also aimed directly on the subject by "bounce cards" attached to the flash unit which increase the efficiency of the flash and illuminate shadows cast by light coming from the ceiling. It's also possible to use one's own palm for that purpose, resulting in warmer tones on the picture, as well as eliminating the need to carry additional accessories.

Some camera manufacturers may be considering the inclusion of a built-in bounce flash within the body of a camera with automated features to assist the user in obtaining a bounced light effect without spending time to set up and direct external flash devices.

Drawbacks:

A typical problem with cameras using built-in flash units is the low intensity of the flash; the level of light produced will often not suffice for good pictures at distances of over 3 meters (10 ft) or so. Dark, murky pictures with excessive image noise or "grain" will result. In order to get good flash pictures with simple cameras, it is important not to exceed the recommended distance for flash pictures.
The "Red-eye effect" is another problem. Since the retina of the human eye reflects red light straight back in the direction it came from, pictures taken from straight in front of a face often exhibit this effect. It can be somewhat reduced by using the "red eye reduction" found on many cameras (a pre-flash that makes the subject's irises contract). However, very good results can be obtained only with a flash unit that is separated from the camera, sufficiently far from the optical axis, or by using bounce flash, where the flash head is angled to bounce light off a wall, ceiling or reflector.
Some cameras' flash exposure measuring logic fire a pre-flash very quickly before the real flash. In some camera/people combinations this will lead to shut eyes in every picture taken. The blink response time seems to be around 1/10 of a second. If the exposure flash is fired at approximately this interval after the TTL measuring flash, people will be squinting or have their eyes shut. Among others, Canon compact cameras (A590IS) suffer from this problem. One solution may be the FEL (flash exposure lock) offered on some more expensive cameras, which allows the photographer to fire the measuring flash at some earlier time, long (many seconds) before taking the real picture. Unfortunately many camera manufacturers do not make the TTL pre-flash interval configurable.
Flash distracts people, limiting the number of pictures that can be taken without irritating them. Photographing with flash may not be permitted in some museums even after purchasing a permit for taking pictures.

Photographic Concepts:

You don't really have to, but if you learn a few photography concepts those numbers on the camera will start to make sense.

Exposure:

In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance over a specified area.

Exposure time:

The exposure for a photograph is determined by the sensitivity of the medium used. For photographic film, sensitivity is referred to as film speed and is measured on a scale published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Faster film requires less exposure and has a higher ISO rating. Exposure is a combination of the length of time and the level of illumination received by the photosensitive material. Exposure time is controlled in a camera by shutter speed and the illumination level by the lens aperture. Slower shutter speeds (exposing the medium for a longer period of time) and greater lens apertures (admitting more light) produce greater exposures.

An approximately correct exposure will be obtained on a sunny day using ISO 100 film, an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second. This is called the sunny 16 rule: at an aperture of f/16 on a sunny day, a suitable shutter speed will be one over the film speed (or closest equivalent).

A scene can be exposed in many ways, depending on the desired effect a photographer wishes to convey.

A two second exposure of a fire poi Photograph of a night-time sky with

Ball dance exposure time of 8 seconds

Reciprocity:

An important principle of exposure is reciprocity. If one exposes the film or sensor for a longer period, a reciprocally smaller aperture is required to reduce the amount of light hitting the film to obtain the same exposure. For example, the photographer may prefer to make his sunny-16 shot at an aperture of f/5.6 (to obtain a shallow depth of field). As f/5.6 is 3 stops "faster" than f/16, with each stop meaning double the amount of light, a new shutter speed of (1/125)/(2·2·2) = 1/1000 is needed. Once the photographer has determined the exposure, aperture stops can be traded for halvings or doublings of speed, within limits.

A demonstration of the effect of exposure in night photography. Longer shutter speeds mean increased exposure.

The true characteristic of most photographic emulsions is not actually linear, but it is close enough over the exposure range of about one second to 1/1000th of a second. Outside of this range, it becomes necessary to increase the exposure from the calculated value to account for this characteristic of the emulsion. This characteristic is known as reciprocity failure. The film manufacturer's data sheets should be consulted to arrive at the correction required as different emulsions have different characteristics. Digital camera image sensors can also be subject to a form of reciprocity failure.

Determining exposure:

The zone system is another method of determining exposure and development combinations to achieve a greater tonality range over conventional methods by varying the contrast of the 'film' to fit the print contrast capability. Digital cameras can achieve similar results (high dynamic range) by combining several different exposures (varying only the shutter speeds) made in quick succession.

Today, most cameras automatically determine the correct exposure at the time of taking a photograph by using a built-in light meter, or multiple point meters interpreted by a built-in computer, see metering mode.

Negative/Print film tends to bias for exposing for the shadow areas (film dislikes being starved of light), with digital favoring exposure for highlights. See latitude below.

A fair ride taken with a 2/5 second exposure.

A photograph of the Forth Rail Bridge with an exposure time of 13 seconds - the effect of a long exposure

shot on moving water is to make it seem creamy and opalescent.

Latitude:

Latitude is the degree by which one can over, or under expose an image, and still recover an acceptable level of quality from an exposure. Typically negative film has a better ability to record a range of brightness than slide/transparency film or digital. Digital should be considered to be the reverse of print film, with a good latitude in the shadow range, and a narrow one in the highlight area; in contrast to film's large highlight latitude, and narrow shadow latitude. Slide/Transparency film has a narrow latitude in both highlight and shadow areas, requiring greater exposure accuracy.

Negative film's latitude increases somewhat with high ISO material, in contrast digital tends to narrow on latitude with high ISO settings.

Highlights:

Areas of a photo where information is lost due to extreme brightness are described as having "blown-out highlights" or "flared highlights".

In digital images this information loss is often irreversible, though small problems can be made less noticeable using photo manipulation software. Recording to RAW format can ameliorate this problem to some degree, as can using a digital camera with a better sensor.

Film can often have areas of extreme overexposure but still record detail in those areas. This information is usually somewhat recoverable when printing or transferring to digital.

A loss of highlights in a photograph is usually undesirable, but in some cases can be considered to "enhance" appeal. Examples include black-and-white photography and portraits with an out-of-focus background.

Example image exhibiting blown-out highlights

Top: original image, bottom: blown-out areas marked red

Blacks:

Areas of a photo where information is lost due to extreme darkness are described as "crushed blacks". Digital capture tends to be more tolerant of underexposure, allowing better recovery of shadow detail, than same-ISO negative print film. Crushed blacks cause loss of detail, but can be used for artistic effect.

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