Intro To Photography

An Introduction to Digital Photography

What makes a good photo?

Light strikes a sensor (CCD) which measures light intensity and colour and turns this information into an image made up of pixels (tiny dots).

A lens focuses the light onto the sensor. Light enters through the shutter , which opens a certain distance (the aperture ) for a certain period of time (the shutter speed ).

Aperture is measured in f-stop values: The lower the value, the wider the aperture So f/2.8 is a wider aperture than f/22

Shutter speed is measured in seconds (or fractions of a second) The longer the shutter speed, the more light strikes the CCD. Long shutter times lead to blurring if the subject is moving and may lead to camera shake unless a tripod is being used.

Focus is the ability of a camera to clearly show parts of an image. By manipulating camera settings, more, or less, of an image can be “in focus”.

Using the camera to affect how your photos look

Locking focus

Lock the focus If you don't want a blurred picture, you will need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle

Depth of field Small depth of field Larger depth of field

P (Auto) - the camera automatically sets the aperture and shutter speed A (Aperture Priority) - the user sets the aperture, and the camera sets the shutter speed accordingly S (Shutter Priority) - the user sets the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture accordingly.

Low depth of field is encouraged by: - Low f-stop value (wide aperture). Use Aperture Priority mode to set the aperture as wide as possible . . . - Use of optical zoom

Take four photos around the CLC to show:

low depth of field

higher depth of field

focus lock (foreground)

focus lock (background)

Using Flickr

Flickr concepts

Annotating

Tagging

Organising

Sharing

Discussing

Composition How the parts of the photo are placed within the frame

Which do you prefer? A B

The “Rule” of Thirds

Close-ups For really close-up shots use Macro Mode.

Colour

Colour or no colour?

Light & Dark (Contrast) Using contrast in your photos will give you very artistic shots.

Camera Angle

Think about the best angle to take your photo from

How is the effect changed if the photo is taken from above front on or below?

Horizontal or Vertical? Some subjects look better in a vertical picture

Background

Background Where possible, use a plain background A cluttered background will distract you from the subject. Modifying camera settings for low depth of field will help

Background Make sure that there are no poles or trees growing from your subjects

The end!