Photography Basics - Prelude

"...You can take great photographs with a camera set on "autoexposure" or "programmed exposure" as long as you are aware of what choices the camera is making, can evaluate them to see if they are what you want, and know how to override them if necessary. You should be in control of what your camera is doing, not the other way around. (p.16)"

"Cameras can't think. They don't know what you're photographing nor do they know how you want your picture to appear. (p. 22)"

From John Shaw’s Landscape Photography

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I have wanted to do this for a long time, and that is to give a "tutorial" of sorts on the basics of photography. Almost everybody likes to see a good photograph. What defines a good photograph is subjective, but yet the technical aspects of taking that photograph are the same no matter what the style or "genre" of the photograph. Quite often I see photographs that are lacking in some respect because the camera did all the work in determining the exposure and the composition wasn't well thought out.

First of all, I am not an expert in photography nor do I pretend to be one. However, I have spent the better part of the last seven years having photography as a serious hobby and have thought and read about it quite a bit, but more importantly I have gone out and taken thousands and thousands of photos, and messed up thousands of times! It is through those mistakes where I have grown as a photographer. Having a gorgeous scene in front of me and coming home to find out I missed something and all the photos are trash is a real-life lesson as to the importance of thinking about the technical aspects of photography while in the field.

I use a fully-manual 35mm film camera, which is a rarity in today's digital world! However, the rules of photography are the same for my camera built in the late 70s and the digital point-and-shoot camera purchased earlier this year. In a lot of ways, I wish that everybody would take some time learning the basics of photography on a fully-manual camera. Being in full-control of the camera makes you think about everything (and makes you pay when you don't), but really gets you to understand the principles behind exposure. These principles can then carry over to the vacation photographer and his fully-automatic digital P&S camera.

There are two main areas in which I am constantly learning and trying to improve my photography: exposure and composition. It is these two areas where I find the greatest need in a lot of photos that I see from people on vacation to those who are selling photos for a living. Most of the problems I think are just ignorance, not really knowing any different and having the camera do all the "thinking". When somebody has thought about the photograph, consciously, the viewer can tell and the photo truly comes to life.

Although my discussion will primarily focus on my passion of Nature photography, the principles apply to all genres of photography. So if nature photography isn't your thing, but you still want to learn about exposure and composition take what you can and apply it to your own situation.

The following can change (and probably will) but below is something of a "Table of Contents" for my discussion of Photography Basics.

1. Foreword - My "photographic journey"
2. Introduction
3. Exposure
   1. Introduction
   2. The three parts of exposure determination
      1. Aperture (depth-of-field)
      2. Shutter Speed (movement)
      3. Film Speed
   3. Stops and the reciprocity principle
4. Composition
   1. Introduction
   2. Time of Day
   3. Finding subjects
   4. Rule of Thirds
5. Equipment
   1. Tripods
   2. Filters
   3. Lenses
6. Appendix
   1. Features of many digital P&S cameras
   2. Resolution and printing

I hope to start this endeavor soon, as time warrants with all the other stuff I have going on! I hope that there is some interest (even if there isn't I will still do it for my own enjoyment and learning). If questions arise or there is something you want me to cover please let me know!