INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY

BYPETER HALL

“YOUR FIRST 10,000 PHOTOGRAPHS ARE YOUR WORST”

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

CONTENTS

• CAMERA TYPES• FOCAL LENGTH• EXPOSURE• SENSOR AND FILM SENSITIVITY• SHUTTER SPEED• APERTURE

CAMERA TYPES

FOCAL LENGTH

10mm

15mm

20mm

35mm

50mm

70mm

100mm

155mm

200mm

300mm

EXPOSURE

UNDER EXPOSED

OVER EXPOSED

CORRECTLY EXPOSED (?)

EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

EXPOSURE MODE

SENSOR SENSITIVITY

• The ISO value is a measurement of the cameras film/sensors sensitivity to light

• The lower the number (e.g. 100) the more light that is needed but the better the quality

• The higher the number (e.g. 400) the less light that is needed but the poorer the quality

• ADVICE – use the lowest ISO value that you can !

SHUTTER SPEED• The relationship between shutter speed and aperture is

fundamental to the understanding of exposure and photography on the whole. While the latter primarily controls depth of field, the former can transform images with presence of blurred motion or, at the other extreme, freeze an instant of time by thousandths of second.

• The term ‘shutter speed' refers directly to how long the shutter within your camera remains open, and therefore how much light is able to reach the sensor. Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and fractions of seconds - the longer the shutter remains open at a set aperture, the more light will reach your camera's sensor, and vice versa.

• When looking to keep images sharp, a good general rule of thumb is thus - the maximum shutter speed you can use is 1/ your focal length. For example, take a focal length of 50mm - the longest shutter speed from which you can expect a sharp image is 1/50 second. Image stabilisation goes some way to extending this, but it's best not to rely on this if razor-sharp images are needed.

CAMERA SHAKE

ADVICE

• USE SHUTTER SPEED AS A CREATIVE TOOL IN PICTURE MAKING

• DOES EVERY PHOTOGRAPH NEED TO BE SHARP ?

ROBERT CAPA

SPORTS 1/4000

1/40 SEC

1 SEC

10 SECS

30 SECS

PANNING 1/45 SEC

CAMERA MOVEMENT 1/15 SEC

APERTURE

EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

DEPTH OF FIELD

DEPTH OF FIELD – DEEP – f22

DEPTH OF FIELD – MEDIUM – f8

DEPTH OF FIELD – SHALLOW – f1.8

ADVICE

• USE APERTURE AS A CREATIVE TOOL IN PICTURE MAKING

• DOES ALL OF A PHOTOGRAPH NEED TO BE SHARP ?

LANDSCAPE f13

PORTRAIT f1.8

MACRO f4

MACRO f6.3

f4.5

“OF COURSE IT’S ALL LUCK”

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

Ignite Images