by John Wilhelm is a photoholic
For beginners who are just starting their journey in the world of photography, all advice is useful, even basic ones, since for an unprepared person such advice is not always an unobvious truth. If a person is looking for simple ways, which will help to really improve the pictures, it is worth listening to the opinion of Simon Takk (Simon Takk). He is a professional photographer and founder of the phototechniques.info portal, which helps neophytes see new and exciting perspectives. He prepared some tips on the basics - the composition of pictures.
Tip #1 - Avoid centering your subject in the frame
by Sara Hadenfeldt
Shooting subjects so that they are not in the center of the composition is what photography books call the "rule of thirds". This is a great basic tip - it's worth practicing so that in the pictures people, animals or something interesting are not located at the "dead" center point, but slightly to the right / left or above / below it. This is especially true for portraits and main part eyes on them. "Mirrors of the soul" should not be in the very center of the photograph, you need to move the camera or model.
It is worth looking closely and you can see that the lines are everywhere. You need to train your eyes and then you will be able to reveal your potential for creating dynamic and lively shots. The lines formed by the natural outlines of objects in the frame can be used in many ways, but the easiest way is to start from the main subject.
It is enough to carefully consider how the verticals and horizontals are located and move, turn until they point to a key point in the composition. This can be tricky: for example, if the subject is located against a wall, you cannot shoot directly in front of it, this will reduce the depth in the image.
by Stefan Schnese
Using the lines of a vertical surface, you can make them "point" to the main element of the composition, making it more expressive.
Tip #3 - Engage the Horizon
Horizontal lines create a feeling of calm and relaxation - think of a summer sunset over a vast field of grass, and you will understand what Simon means. If there are a lot of "flat" lines in the frame and few expressive verticals, the picture will come out calm and peaceful. This technique is used if you need to make the photo more relaxed, reduce tension. To achieve this effect, you need to look around and compare the number of horizontals and verticals. If the latter prevail, it is worth changing the position.
Even if there are a lot of verticals in the frame, a strong transverse line (such as the horizon) "outweighs", making the photo calmer. A striking example is a forest with thousands of vertical tree lines. The horizon connects them, it dominates and reduces the expressive saturation of the entire scene.
Tip #4 - Remember vertical lines
The opposite position is to saturate the image with dynamics with the help of verticals. The same forest landscape can be shot in a different way: instead of covering a wide panorama with the horizon, you can stand next to a single tree. It will be the dominant, large vertical line and will help to completely change the feeling of the picture.
This principle works effectively when shooting skyscrapers. If several buildings, along with the horizon line, are combined into a softened composition, then increasing the vertical multiplies its influence, it will work like an explosion. To achieve the effect, you need to get close to the skyscrapers and shoot individual buildings from below.
by Andreas Paehge
Tip #5 - Use White Space
White space in the frame is a very "scenic", beautiful and effective method that is often used in photography. People who are not familiar with the basic principles of photography often tend to fill the entire scene with subjects. This leads to the fact that the image becomes unnecessarily cluttered and not very successful. Don't be afraid of white space around your key subject in the frame - use it as a powerful visual tool.
Tip #6 - The Principle of Isolation
A method similar to the previous one is to highlight one object, isolate it and focus the viewer's attention only on it. Most people who take pictures "just for fun" shoot everything that fits into the frame, without thinking about individual elements. Try to go one step further: choose one object or subject and isolate it from surrounding objects - move closer, change your position, decrease the depth of field.
It is necessary that the background is not cluttered, there should be more empty space on it. It can be a blue sky (it comes out well when shot from below) or monochrome surfaces.
Tip #7 - Shooting at Sunset and Sunrise
One of the most useful basic tips for improving the quality of your shots is to photograph at sunset and sunrise. As long as you haven't "earned" the base and experience, this trick will be your magic lifeline. When the sun is low on the horizon, the street light is crisp and the sky shimmers with pleasing hues and shines. At sunset and sunrise it's harder not to shoot beautiful landscape than vice versa.
by Fabio Montanari
Try to shoot more during the day and in the morning. Photographing when the sun is directly overhead is not a task for beginners, and there are hard, contrasting shadows that you need to be able to work with when additional equipment may be required, for example, . (Why all photographers need a reflector, we already.) Bright overhead lighting certainly brings out details and is great for shooting certain scenes, but this is a topic for a separate, large-scale discussion.
Often, newbies in photography have a question: where to start as a beginner photographer? For those who are just about to learn the art of photography, we have put together practical tips that will help a novice photographer learn the most important things. Have good camera- half the battle, even less. And to be able to use it correctly is a whole science. Let's figure out what a beginner photographer needs to know.
If you are serious about taking up photography, here are a few tips to help you get started.
- Don't chase newfangled technology. A soap dish and a DSLR are different things, there is nothing to argue. But do not try to get the coolest camera and think that the pictures will be of high quality. AT skillful hands even photos taken with a soap dish will look beautiful and bewitching. And vice versa, good reflex camera in the hands of an inept photographer will not make spectacular shots. Everything depends not on pixels and other camera parameters, but on the ability to take pictures, see the frame, and set up the camera. For the first time, an ordinary SLR camera will be enough, you can use it. Here it is important to be careful and not run into a failing equipment. Do not run around the shops in search of a popular and fashionable camera, this can significantly empty your wallet and not lead to the desired effect. Spend this time learning the art of photography.
- Once you've got your camera, get to know it. Read the instructions carefully, understand the settings. Pictures taken in auto mode will not have the same effect as photos taken with manual settings. The camera should be your friend. It is important to know the settings up and down in order to always be on “you” with your friend.
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- Start learning from the basics. Go to courses where the teacher will give the necessary knowledge base, direct you in the right direction. You can ask knowing person questions that interest you. If you can't take a course, don't be discouraged. Start learning the art of photography on your own by purchasing special literature or using the Internet. Do not be intimidated by the amount of information that will seem overwhelming. Stick to the training plan and in small steps you will come to the result.
- Practice. Remember how in the song “I always take a video camera with me”? Also in life. Take your camera with you and take pictures. The more you practice, the better. Learn to see the frame, build a composition, change settings and get used to the camera. This does not mean that you need to thoughtlessly photograph everything in a row, but you should not leave the camera for a long time. Let it be in business, and not gather dust on the shelf.
- Try to notice interesting things around. Even if you don't have a camera with you, learn to see a good shot, think about the composition and understand how to build the light and what settings to apply. The ability to notice interesting things around you will become a habit over time, which will certainly affect the quality of your pictures.
- Don't stop learning. Study pictures of other photographers that you admire, whose work you usually admire. Try to understand what is the secret of their success? What is special about their photographs? Try to take a similar photo, it will not be copying, just one of the steps of learning. It will not work to make exactly such a frame, but you can discover something new for yourself.
- Don't stop taking pictures if you don't like your pictures. Try to understand why the frame failed, what's wrong? There is work on mistakes in any school, university, this is a normal process. No one succeeds in doing everything perfectly the first time. We all make mistakes, learn, step on the same rake. The most stubborn reaches the end. Don't be discouraged if the pictures aren't as beautiful as you'd like. Do you think famous photographers succeed with the first press of the camera button? You are deeply mistaken. Sometimes you have to take hundreds, or even thousands of frames, in order to choose the most beautiful 5-6 photos from them, which will cause admiration. The profession of a photographer is labor, the ability to see a frame, make it, process photographs. This is a creative process that requires concentration and diligence. Lazy photographers never succeed. They take mediocre photos, don't learn from their mistakes. Do you want to be numbered among them? Then do not be afraid to make mistakes and go ahead, honing your skills.
- You don't have to worry about your camera. For starters, we advise you to buy a used camera that you can take with you everywhere, actively use it, and not follow every scratch or crack. It's a technique! Yes, she is your photographer's assistant, but nothing more. This is not a child who needs constant eye and eye. Of course, you don’t need to carelessly handle the camera, but blow off dust particles too.
Let's take a look at camera settings. What do you need to pay attention to?
Manual shooting modes
M- manual mode;
A/AV- aperture priority, in this case the camera will set the shutter speed;
- Advice:
in the case when the shutter speed is 1/60 s, it is recommended to use a tripod.
S/TV- shutter priority, the camera will automatically set the aperture value, it is convenient to use when you need to capture movement in sharpness;
P- software, practically auto mode shooting, suitable for the first exposure.
exposition
exposition- the amount of light falling on the camera matrix when the shutter is opened. A lot of light - the frame is overexposed, little - underexposed.
Diaphragm A device in the lens that adjusts the size of a circle by changing the amount of light passing through it. The larger the value, the more the aperture is closed, the less light enters the matrix. If you want to shoot a landscape, then use a closed aperture of f / 8, then the entire frame space will be in sharpness. For a portrait, an open aperture of f / 1.4 - 3.5 is an excellent option.
Shoot with a wide aperture in spot focus mode.
exposure meter- this is a scale on the camera screen, in the viewfinder. The exposure meter readings depend on the mode of its operation.
matrix- takes a measurement of a significant part of the frame, suitable for most types of shooting.
Spot metering- produced in the central square. Perfect for shooting in difficult lighting conditions, as well as for shooting portraits.
center weighted- Measures the amount of light throughout the frame, focusing on the central area. It is necessary when you need to take a photo of an object in the center of the frame.
white balance
White balance is the process of adjusting the colors of a photograph according to light sources so that white objects do not appear warm or cold. All colors in a photo depend on the white balance setting. If you change the lighting conditions, then the white balance also needs to be re-adjusted.
Take pictures in RAW format, this will allow you to change the white balance in processing programs.
It is impossible to tell everything for a novice photographer. There is a lot of information, it is constantly updated, new equipment appears, respectively, the possibilities of using the camera. We shared useful information for beginner photographers. If you feel a great desire to take pictures - do not put it off for later! Maybe a hobby will grow into a life's work.
1. If possible, try to make the light fall on the subject at an angle. When the light is directed at a certain angle, it creates highlights and shadows, making images more spectacular than with "flat" lighting. 2. Make your image even more spectacular by shooting at a time when the shadows are long and deep. For a unique image, try photographing only the shadow of a person or object. 3. Shoot when the light is at its most colorful, just after sunrise or just before sunset. At this time, the sun is low on the horizon and gives a warm golden light that is so pleasing to the eye. Landscapes and portraits look great in this light. 4. In daylight, harsh shadows often appear in portraits. Soften those shadows by turning on the flash, which will brighten the dark areas a bit. Just go to the settings and specify that the flash should be on all the time. This method gives excellent results even in bright light. 5. To photograph someone at sunset, turn on the flash and turn the person you are photographing with their back to the setting sun. When the flash is on, the person will be illuminated. With the flash turned off, only his silhouette will be visible. 
6. Turn on the lights when taking pictures at home. With the help of lamps and overhead lighting, any shot taken indoors can be brightened up. The light will add depth to the image and often make the colors warmer. But most importantly - it will lighten the background. 7. When working with light, try to "place" it to the side or behind the subject. Angled light almost always produces very interesting effects, creating intricacies and patterns that never happen with direct lighting. 
8. If glare is formed in the lens when shooting against the sun, then fast way The solution to this problem is to ask a friend to cover the top of the camera with their hands to shade the front lens. You can immediately determine whether you have achieved the desired result. Just make sure that your hands are not in the frame when taking a photo. 9. Patience is a critical factor when taking a picture. If you find a scene you like, but think it would look better in different lighting, it's best to wait a bit. Or make a note and return to the same place at a different time of day or even a different time of year. 
10. Use a small flashlight to illuminate the scene. Position it behind or below your subject at night to create an interesting glow, or use it instead of a flash. Take long exposure shots using the flash as a light source. This will create interesting luminous areas in the photo. 11. When shooting at sunset, look around. What seemed like a boring day, miraculously comes to life from the touch of the last rays of the sun. Buildings, cars, anything that reflects light, take on special qualities at sunset. 
12. Most cameras with built-in flashes have a setting for red-eye reduction. When activated, the pre-flash fires several times before the main flash fires. If you don't take pictures of people, turn this feature off as it drains the battery quickly and doesn't help lighten the scene at all. 13. Light bounces off glass surfaces at a 90 degree angle to its source, so if you take a picture directly in front of glass (window, aquarium glass, etc.), there will be a large spot of light in the image. Move so that the subject is at a slight angle, then the chance of reflected light passing by the camera increases. 
14. Shooting against the light - this is shooting in conditions when the light source is behind the object and shines in the face of the photographer. This is tricky because you end up with only a silhouette of the subject instead of the subject in the image, and the background may be overexposed. However, if you shoot the subject up close, you can get a great shot. Measure exposure on the subject, not on the light behind it. 
15. When shooting against the light (when its brightest source is behind the subject), try using fill flash. Sometimes you need to take pictures directly in the direction of the sun, for example when shooting a beautiful sunset. Try turning on the flash or using a Speedlight to illuminate your subject. 16. When shooting an object located near a glass or mirror, be careful not to be perpendicular to the reflective surface, but shoot at an angle. This will prevent the reflected light from the flash from getting into the picture. 
17. Too bright sun can interfere with portraiture, creating harsh shadows and brightly lit areas on the subject. In this case, you should move the person to an open shady place and shoot in softer lighting. 18. Color sources have different color “temperatures”, so pictures taken under different lighting conditions (incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, sodium, etc.) look different. This feature can be used to create interesting effects by choosing something else instead of automatic white balance. Experiment with different light sources to get different results. 19. Try turning off the flash at night to capture what is visible to the naked eye. Find the flash off icon (usually it looks like a lightning bolt with a line through it) and select it. Hold the camera firmly or use a tripod as the shutter speed can be very slow. 
20. When shooting landscapes at dusk or at night, use a tripod and shutter release cable or self-timer to increase shutter speed and get more light. This technique is used to create pictures where the car's headlights look like lines instead of dots. 
Here little secret, which most professionals prefer to keep to themselves: many sports photographers rely on framing to create the right image in terms of composition.
They take pictures initially at a wider angle than necessary, then, in the process of processing the photo, they crop it to the required position. So you have more chances to convey the dynamics of the movement in the right direction, which means - to make a quality shot.
The other main reason for shooting this way is so that you can use the center AF point instead of choosing a peripheral point. The center point is the most flexible and accurate.
Focus lock button
Most people focus by pressing the shutter button halfway, but many cameras offer an alternative approach that is used by professionals - the AF button. It is usually located on the back of the camera and is called the standby focus button.
One of the benefits of the autofocus lock button is that you don't have to worry about pressing too hard and accidentally taking a shot.
It is also useful when shooting moving subjects. This way you can keep them in focus until you decide to take a picture. This will come in handy when photographing plants moving in the wind.
You can lock the focus with the AF lock button and take a picture when conditions environment will be acceptable. So you can save time and effort and not focus every time.
Set aperture to f/8
The f/8 aperture is an excellent choice for most shooting situations. This is the optimal hole for the lens, which, on the one hand, provides a normal amount of light, and on the other hand, makes it possible to take blurry and clear photographs.
If you're carrying a camera with a standard lens attached, it's best to pre-set what you think are the best settings for shooting. Set up your camera so that you can take a good shot at any time. To do this, evaluate the level of illumination around and determine the sensitivity values that allow you to work normally in automatic mode.
Follow the histogram
Keeping an eye on the histogram is essential in order to control the bright and dark parts of the photo. The essence of this technique is that the lighter areas (located on the right side of the histogram) are less noisy, and the dark areas become grainy faster. Based on this logic, you should photograph, initially, brighter and lighter images, and then make them darker. The main thing is not to overdo it, because darkening the highlighted areas will not be easy.
When starting to photograph in a new shooting environment, after taking the first shot, look at the histogram to evaluate the ratio of light and dark parts of the frame.
Remember, there are dark areas on the left side of the histogram, midtones in the middle, and light areas on the right. If there are sharp rises in the histogram around the edges, this indicates the presence of very light or dark areas.
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Use a fast lens
Professional sports photographers and wildlife have the huge advantage of using top-notch fast lenses. Yes, they are big and heavy, and they cost a fortune, but the quality of such optics fully corresponds to its high price. In addition, this technique allows for better control of depth of field in low-light conditions and enables more accurate autofocus when shooting subjects in motion.
Few hobbyists can afford to buy such luxurious lenses, but there are shops that rent optics. So you can always take your favorite lens and test it in operation. When you go to your next sports shoot or animal photography, you can take some great optics with you for a day. By using a formatted memory card, you can top speed continuous shooting and get the best quality results.
use flash
In daylight, a flash will add life to your shot and get rid of unwanted bright shadows. Using the flash as an additional light source will help you get a good picture. Proper use of flash is the key to your success. When working with external flashes, it is easy to make mistakes in the settings, which will only exacerbate the situation, so many novice photographers try not to use them.
With more expensive automatic flashes, you won't have any problems with the settings and it's much easier to use them.
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Focus across the frame
The trick with the frame, where the focus is on the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe photo, allows you to create the most clear and sharp image. It is especially useful to use this technique when photographing macro.
To implement, you need to mount the camera on a tripod. Set focus to one point and take the first shot focusing on the center point. Then take a picture by moving the focus point to one of the neighboring ones. Thus, you should photograph the object from all or more of the available points.
After a series of photos with different focus points is taken, they need to be combined into one shot. This is done manually, using the available software. It's pretty laborious and long work requiring patience and some skill. Photoshop is perfect for the implementation, where you can isolate the areas in focus into separate layers, and then merge them all into one frame. You can also search the Internet for free programs, such as Combine ZP.
Don't complicate the composition of the frame
This tip can come in handy when photographing still subjects, macro photography, and landscape photography. The essence of the recommendation is not to complicate the composition of the frame with unnecessary details that can distract attention from the main component of the photo.
For fruitful work, you need to better understand the basics of composition and the rule of thirds. A well-built frame can always attract and hook the viewer. Resist the temptation to fix a large number of elements. This can make your image look cluttered and hard to read.
"Less is more" - very often in photography, this rule contributes to an attractive frame. You can also be guided by this principle when photographing and covering important events. In order to accurately convey the atmosphere of the event, it may be enough to take a few successful shots, with correctly placed accents.
Mirror pre-lift
When shooting at slow shutter speeds, macro photography and in other special cases, it is recommended to use the pre-mirror up function, which is now available on almost all professional and semi-professional cameras. The essence of this method is that the vibration of the camera is more due to the rise of the mirror, rather than the shutter. Therefore, pre-mirror blocking avoids unwanted shake and captures a clear and sharp image.
Artem Kashkanov, 2019
The article you are reading has been in existence since 2008 and once every couple of years it is thoroughly edited in accordance with current trends and trends in the field of photography - amateur and professional. This is due to the fact that we now live in a critical era, when photography has turned from the lot of professionals and enthusiasts into a general hobby. And not even a hobby, but an integral part of everyday life.
On the one hand, this is very cool, but on the other hand... Photography ceases to be an art because of its mass nature. Every day, millions (or even billions) of the same type of photos with flowers, cats, plates of food, selfies are uploaded to the Internet, and oddly enough, all this finds its viewer - "Instagram stars" gain thousands of likes for unsharp photos like "me and mine cat". Just because their pictures are understandable and close to the majority. Photos of recognized masters have a much lower rating among the general public - they do not understand them. Their creations will be appreciated by true connoisseurs of art. This is about the same as comparing two areas of music - pop and, say, jazz.
Let's get back to the question - why do you want to learn photography? If you are doing this only because it is “fashionable”, “prestigious” or “friends advised” - do not bother. This "fashion to be a photographer" will pass sooner or later. If you really want to "rise above the hustle and bustle", this article is for you!
What is the best camera to buy for learning photography?
There is a choice of camera on the site, so here I will list only brief theses.
- If you really want to learn how to take pictures, you need a camera, not a smartphone. It is highly desirable that this camera be with interchangeable lenses. Smartphones are conceptually sharpened for shooting on the machine. Creativity requires manual mode.
- To learn photography, it is not necessary to purchase the most modern and expensive equipment. Now amateur technology has developed so much that it satisfies the requirements of not only amateurs, but also advanced photographers with a large margin.
- The main element in a modern camera is the lens. Buying a simpler carcass, but with a cool lens is a perfectly reasonable idea.
- The regular ("whale") lens is not as bad as they write and say about it. He gets to the camera almost for free and you should not refuse him. Read more about optics in.
- There is no point in chasing the most modern models. They are expensive and usually do not offer any significant advantages over the previous model cameras. Prices for new items are unreasonably high.
- Frank "junk" is also not worth buying, well, maybe used for a symbolic price.
Introduction to basic camera features
So, the camera is bought, now we need to get acquainted with its capabilities. To do this, it is advisable to be patient and study the instructions for the camera. Unfortunately, it is far from always written simply and clearly, however, this does not eliminate the need to study the location and purpose of the main controls.
As a rule, there are not so many controls - a mode dial, one or two dials for setting parameters, several function buttons, a zoom control, an autofocus and shutter button. It is also worth learning the main menu items in order to be able to configure things like . image style. All this comes with experience, but over time, you should not have a single incomprehensible item in the camera menu.
It's time to take the camera in hand and try to portray something with it. First, turn on the auto mode and try to take pictures in it. In most cases, the result will be quite normal, but sometimes photos turn out too light or, conversely, too dark for some reason. It's time get to know such a thing as exposure.
Exposure is the total light flux that the matrix caught during the shutter release. The higher the exposure level, the brighter the photo. Photos that are too bright are called overexposed, and photos that are too dark are called underexposed. It's very short. If you want more details, read on. If you know all this - click on the "skip the boring theory" link.
A bit of boring theory - shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, depth of field.
The picture is exposed when the shutter opens. If fast moving objects enter the frame, then during the time the shutter is opened, they have time to move and the photos turn out to be slightly blurry. The time for which the shutter opens is called endurance.
Shutter speed allows you to get the effect of "frozen motion" (example below), or, conversely, blur moving objects.
Short exposure photo
The shutter speed is displayed as a unit divided by some number, for example, 1/500 - this means that the shutter will open for 1/500 of a second. This is a fast enough shutter speed at which driving cars and walking pedestrians will be clear in the photo. The faster the shutter speed, the faster the movement can be "frozen".
If you increase the shutter speed to, say, 1/125 second, the pedestrians will still be clear, but the cars will already be noticeably smeared. If the shutter speed is 1/50 or longer, the risk of getting blurry photos due to the shaking of the hands of the photographer increases and it is recommended to install the camera on a tripod , or use an image stabilizer (if available).
Night photos are taken with very long exposure in seconds or even minutes. Here it is already impossible to do without a tripod.
To be able to fix the shutter speed, the camera has a shutter priority mode. It is designated TV or S. In addition to a fixed shutter speed, it also allows you to use exposure compensation. Shutter speed has a direct effect on the level of exposure - the longer the shutter speed, the brighter the photo.
What is a diaphragm?
Another mode that can be useful is aperture priority mode.
Diaphragm- this is the "pupil" of the lens, a hole of variable diameter. The narrower this aperture, the more IPIG- the depth of the sharply depicted space. Aperture is indicated by a dimensionless number from the series 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. In modern cameras, you can choose intermediate values, for example, 3.5, 7.1, 13, etc.
The larger the f-number, the greater the depth of field. Large depth of field is relevant for when you need everything to be sharp - both foreground and background. Landscapes are usually shot at apertures of 8 or more.
A typical example of a photograph with a large depth of field is the zone of sharpness from the grass under your feet to infinity.
The meaning of a small depth of field is to focus the viewer's attention on the subject, and blur all the background objects. This technique is commonly used in . To blur the background in a portrait, open the aperture to 2.8, 2, sometimes even up to 1.4. At this stage, we come to the understanding that the 18-55 mm kit lens limits our creative possibilities, since at a "portrait" focal length of 55 mm, the aperture cannot be opened wider than 5.6 - we begin to think about a fast aperture (for example, 50mm 1.4) in order to get a similar result:
Small depth of field is a great way to switch the viewer's attention from the colorful background to the main subject.
To control aperture, you need to switch the control dial to aperture priority mode (AV or A). At the same time, you tell the device what aperture you want to take pictures with, and it selects all the other parameters itself. Exposure compensation is also available in aperture priority mode.
Aperture has the opposite effect on the exposure level - the larger the f-number, the darker the picture is obtained (a pinched pupil lets in less light than an open one).
What is ISO sensitivity?
You have probably noticed that photos sometimes have ripples, grain, or, as it is also called, digital noise. The noise is especially pronounced in photographs taken with poor lighting. For the presence / absence of ripples in the photographs, such a parameter is responsible as ISO sensitivity. This is the degree of susceptibility of the matrix to light. It is denoted by dimensionless units - 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc.
When shooting at the lowest sensitivity (for example, ISO 100), the picture quality is the best, but you have to shoot with a slower shutter speed. With good lighting, for example, during the day on the street, this is not a problem. But if we go into a room in which there is much less light, then it will no longer be possible to shoot at the minimum sensitivity - the shutter speed will be, for example, 1/5 second and at the same time the risk is very high. shakers”, so called because of the trembling of the hands.
Here is an example of a photo taken at low ISO with a long exposure on a tripod:
Note that the swell on the river washed out in motion and gave the impression that the river was not ice. But there is almost no noise in the photo.
To avoid "shake" in low light, you need to either increase the ISO sensitivity in order to reduce the shutter speed to at least 1/50 second, or continue shooting at the minimum ISO and use. When shooting with a tripod at slow shutter speeds, moving objects are very blurred. This is especially noticeable when shooting at night. ISO sensitivity has a direct effect on the exposure level. The higher the ISO number, the brighter the picture will be at a fixed shutter speed and aperture.
Below is an example of a shot taken outdoors at ISO6400 late in the evening without a tripod:
Even in web size, it is noticeable that the photo turned out to be quite noisy. On the other hand, the grain effect is often used as an artistic technique, giving the photograph a "film" look.
Relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO
So, as you may have guessed, there are three parameters that affect the level of exposure - shutter speed, aperture and ISO sensitivity. There is such a thing as “exposure step” or EV (Exposure Value). Each next step corresponds to an exposure 2 times greater than the previous one. These three parameters are interrelated.
- if we open the aperture by 1 stop, the shutter speed is reduced by 1 stop
- if we open the aperture by 1 stop, the sensitivity decreases by one stop
- if we reduce the shutter speed by 1 step, the ISO sensitivity increases by one step
Programmed exposure mode
Programmed exposure mode or “P mode” is the easiest creative mode. It combines the simplicity of auto mode and at the same time allows you to correct the operation of the machine - to make photos lighter and darker (exposure compensation), warmer or colder (white balance).
Exposure compensation is usually applied when either light or dark objects dominate the frame. Automation works in such a way that it tries to bring average level exposure of the picture to 18% gray tone (the so-called "gray card"). Please note that when we take more of the bright sky into the frame, the ground turns out to be darker in the photo. And vice versa, we take more land into the frame - the sky brightens, sometimes even whitens. The exposure compensation function helps to compensate for shadows and highlights that go beyond the boundaries of absolute black and absolute white.
Even in the program exposure mode, you can adjust the white balance, control the flash. This mode is convenient in that it requires a minimum of technical knowledge, but at the same time it is able to provide a much better result than full automatic.
Also in program exposure mode, you should be familiar with such a thing as bar chart. This is nothing more than a graph of the distribution of the brightness of the pixels in the picture.
The left side of the histogram corresponds to the shadows, the right side - to the highlights. If the histogram looks "cropped" on the left, then the image contains black areas with lost color. Accordingly, the "cropped" histogram on the right indicates the presence of light areas "knocked out" into whiteness.
Most modern cameras have a "live histogram" function - displaying a histogram over the image in the viewfinder in real time. When adjusting the exposure, the histogram will shift to the right or left, while the picture, respectively, brightens or darkens. Your task is to learn how to control the histogram and not let it crawl beyond its limits. In this case, the exposure of the picture will be correct.
Manual mode
In manual mode, the photographer has the ability to control everything. This is necessary when we need to rigidly fix the exposure level and prevent the camera from being "amateur". For example, darken or lighten the foreground when more or less sky enters the frame, respectively.
Manual mode is useful when shooting in the same conditions, such as when walking around the city on a sunny day. Once adjusted and in all the photos the same exposure level. The inconvenience in manual mode begins when you have to move between light and dark locations. If we go from the street, for example, to a cafe and shoot there at “street” settings, the photos will turn out to be too dark, since there is less light in the cafe.
Manual mode is indispensable when shooting panoramas and all thanks to the same property - maintain a constant exposure level. When using auto exposure, the exposure level will depend heavily on the amount of light and dark objects. We caught a large dark object in the frame - we got sky flare. And vice versa, if light objects predominate in the frame, the shadows have gone into blackness. To glue such a panorama then one torment! So, to avoid this mistake, shoot panoramas in M mode, setting the exposure in advance so that all fragments are correctly exposed.
The result - when merging, there will be no "steps" of brightness between frames, which are likely to appear when shooting in any other mode.
In general, many experienced photographers and photography educators recommend using manual mode as the main one. They are somewhat right - when shooting in manual mode, you completely control the shooting process. You can choose the most correct combination of settings for a given from hundreds of options. The main thing is to know what you are doing and why. If there is no clear understanding of the principles of work in manual mode, you can limit yourself to semi-automatic ones - 99.9% of viewers will not notice the difference :)
In reporting conditions, the manual mode is also not very convenient, since you need to constantly adapt to changing shooting conditions. Many do it tricky - in M mode, they fix the shutter speed and aperture, while "releasing" the ISO. Although the mode selector is M, the shooting is far from being in manual mode - the camera itself selects the ISO sensitivity and flash power, and can change these parameters over a wide range.