Photography 1.1 For Beginners

If your new to photography this artical is intended to start you out with basic information about the functions of camers, film and the developing process.

Below is an SLR type camera. As you can see by the small window on the top it is programable. However, the interesting thing about this camera is that although you can use auto focus lenses and the cameras program capabilities, you can also use manual lenses setting the F-stopand the focal length yourself and focusing manually as well. This camera also has focus confirmation. When the object in the center of the lens is in focus the camera beeps. This is pretty handy when your eyes are not what they used to be but you still don't want to relinquesh controle to auto focus.

Canon T-80

The very first and the most important thing you need to learn before you can take good photos is how your camera works. If you're not already familiar with your camera and all it's functions, take your camera in hand, and get the manual that came with it. Now sit down and get comfortable. Open the book or booklet to page one and start reading. If you don't have a manual try downloading one from the manufacturers web site. If that doesn't work go to one of your local camera shops and ask them if they can order one for you. They may even have one you can buy or get a copy. If not ask them if they can show you how it works. It really depends on the camera and the person behind the counter whether you can get the full run down on all its options without the book.

For those of you with an instruction manual start at the beginning and familiarize yourself with all the adjustments and options by performing those adjustments as you read about them. Take your time. Go over the instructions one by one adjusting your cameras' setting several times until you feel comfortable with the camera. When you're out in the field trying to shoot a great picture is no time to start trying to find out how to get the effect you want out of your camera.

If your camera is a simple one, a point and shoot or fixed lens, whether in digital or a film format you will have a lot less to learn and a lot less options. If you have an SLR, single lens reflex, camera and changeable lenses there is a much higher learning curve but it's well worth the extra effort. There are many more options for focal length, increased magnification, wide angle lenses close up or Macro lenses that you can interchange at will.

So first and foremost KNOW YOUR CAMERA. A word to the wise: do not touch anything on the inside of your camera. If you have an SLR you may notice your mirror inside when you change lenses. Don't touch it. Don't clean it. Don't breath on it. Don't use canned air on it. If your camera is dusty inside, and you think there has been some degredation of your photos, take it to a professional to be cleaned. There is nothing on the inside of your camera that can be improved by you.

As you can see by the examples above, getting the right amount of light onto your film is crucial to making a good photo. As important as the light exposure, the sharpness of your photos in the areas you choose are an intragal part of the creative process. Knowing your camera well will help you to achieve the unique composition that is your vision of a subject.

If you have a point and shoot camera this is a really easy section. The simplest form of point and shoot has nothing to set. You get what you get. The most important thing to know on this type of camera is how much of what you see in the range finder is going to show up in the picture. Some cameras show you more than you will actually be able to print, some less. You will have to shoot some test photos to really know. Of course with digital this is not a problem but if your using a film format, it can be. Most of the time the entire frame you see in your view finder may be on the negative, but at a commercial lab, printing all of it is not possible. Unless your having your photos hand printed don't get mad at the person printing your pictures if something on the edge is cut off that you can see on the negative. The negative is held in place by a frame that is slightly smaller than the 35mm negative. This is so single negatives can be printed. Something has to keep the negative flat so they can be printed without distortion. There is nothing the person printing can do about it so back up a little extra when you shoot to make sure everything you want in the picture can be printed. You can always crop later.

F-stops, Shutter Speed and Film Speeds

Some point and shoot cameras have a few settings on them expanding their versatility some have many. There are usually two or more film settings, 200 and 400 for low end cameras and I have seen digitals emulate from 100 to as high as 1600 iso though there probably are higher ranges than this. The 200 speed film is for good light conditions and the 400 for bright overcast days. The higher the iso the less light needed to capture an image. A lower end point and shoot camera will not be good for night shooting without a flash and then only close up. You can experiment with higher film speeds to see the limit of your cameras capability. If there is a "night setting" it usually just means that the flash will go off. It could have a slower shutter speed but don't count on it unless your manual says it does. The range of the flash should be either on the camera or in your book. It will do you no good to take a picture of something out of range of your flash. Even if enough light reaches your subject, the lens will have opened and closed before the light can get there. On SLRs the setting for the shutter speed, when using a flash is, is usually indicated in some way, normally 1/60th of a second. (The automatic SLRs also use "the picture of what your photographing system", for setting the F-stop and the shutter speed is adjusted automatically). It depends on the camera, but you already know this if you've already read your book and your instructions are detailed enough. Other settings might be Landscape, Portrait and Closeup. The low end digital I have has 11 different settings. These are your F-stops settings. Here again, if you have a close-up setting, in your manual, it should say how close they mean. The closest may very well be 3 feet, not really close enough to fill the frame with one flower or an insect but close enough for a face to fill the frame.

Setting the F-stop is much more technically challenging on all manual cameras. Some people set their F-stop on F8 with a 1/125 of a second shutter speed and leave it there. This is ok for sunny days. I did this when I first started taking pictures. You are downgrading your camera to something like a point and shoot however when you do this. Let me explain as briefly as I can how it the whole thing works. Different cameras have different ranges of F-stops. F8 is in the middle somewhere. The higher the F-stop you use the smaller the aperture. Never mind why for now that's just how it is. The smaller the aperture the higher the range of sharpness. So if you are taking a picture of someone fairly close to you and you want the background sharp as well as the person, you need a higher F-stop. If you want the background to be blurred out you want a lower F-stop.

Aperture, Light Exposure and Film

Now about the aperture, the aperture is the opening that the light comes through to strike the film. The higher the F-stop the smaller the aperture remember? The smaller the aperture the less light can get to the film. So in lower light conditions you need to open up the aperture to let in more available light or you need to keep the aperture open longer. In very bright settings you need to close the aperture more.

An image is created when light strikes the, light sensitive, film . The color of light determines the colors left on the film, With positive or slide film the colors will be the same as those of the light striking the film, but negative film will look like the opposite of those colors. Thats why we refer to those strips of film, after developement, as negatives. The images are the negative number, so to speak of the original, the direct opposite. Once you have the negatives you pass light through them so it will strike the photo paper you are using. The paper starts out white and grows darker the more light it absorbs. Once again the colors are reversed so the image created is now the original colors again. Of course with black and white film the image is created but there is no color emultion on the film. The only effect from the light is, it turns the film gray to balck and the same with the black and white photo paper. It has no ability to change to different colors, only grey or black.

If you don;t have enough light getting to the film it will be under exposed. Then the image on the film will be too light to print properly. You won't have captured the whole image. If you are shooting in very bright light you need a smaller aperture so you don't get too much light striking the film. When this happens the film is over exposed. The image on the film will be very dark. Too dark for enough light to pass through the film to strike the photo paper and recreate the orininal image The image will be very light and detail will be lost.

I'm not going to get into a hand held meter. That's too much to worry about. Most cameras either set their own exposure time and F-stop or have a built-in meter. If your camera is automatic, no worries. Just set the F-stop for the effect you want, or pick the picture closest to what your shooting, point and shoot. If there is a meter on-board it is probably visible when you look through the view finder. Your manual should tell you where the sweet spot is on your meter. Be sure the meter indicates you have the correct amount of light before you shoot. Somewhere on your camera there is a place to set your film speed. Set it to the film you have and leave it there. Unless you plan to develop your own film don't try to cheat and push or pull your film to shoot in light inappropriate for your film. Though it is posible to develop the film in such a way as to maximize the image, commercial developers will not adjust their machines to your specifications. They can't. The machines do everything themselves, there is no way. You would have to have your film custom developed and that is extreamly expensive.

This is where it starts to get hairy The trick in setting the F-stop and the exposure time is in getting a balance between the type of image you want and the amount of light you need. If your camera is all manual you need to set your aperture on the F-stop you want, look at your meter and adjust the exposure time to bring the meter to the optimum setting for a good exposure. You may want your image sharp in the foreground and background but in a low light condition you will have to leave that small aperture open a lot longer then in bright daylight. That means your subject is going to have to be sitting still if you want a sharp image. Then there is the problem of camera shake. If the exposure time is over 1/125th of a second you need a tripod and a cable release. Without them you will not be able to hold the camera steady enough to get a sharp image unless you can set your camera down on a stable object or brace it against a wall or something of that nature..

The same things apply when your shooting in very bright light. You might like to shoot an object and have the background blurred out, however if you open the aperture too much you may over expose your film even at the fastest shutter speed. Check your meter and make what adjustments you need. You might set your shutter speed on the highest setting and then adjust the F-stop until your meter reads in the optimum range. You can't always get exactly what you want. This can be very frustrating. You may have no choice but to compromise or wait for another time with better lighting conditions.

And Finally

There are many different options available on cameras, but there's one thing you should know. From the simplest to the most versitile camera, you make all the difference in whether you take prize winning photos or not. Work with what you have. Whatever it's limitations, you don't have any.

I think this is enough for now. It's enough for me anyway. I will be following up later with tips on how to take good photos. I wanted to start from the basics for those people who would like to learn photograph from the ground up.and know nothing about it. I will then move forward in some kind of logical progression, I hope. I want to cover all the information on how to take good photos I can. I'm not a professional photographer but I have owned a full service photo business and I restored old photos for a living for many years. I've taken many thousands of photos and studied to improve my photos off and on for years and I'm still studying. I'd like to pass what I've learned on to others. Be patient, even though my writing abilities may be questionable and my subject matter not as organized as it could be, it's faintly possible I could improve over time. .