Dr Dwivedi ended his presentation with a series of tips for taking better photos, based on his own learning and experiences. He kept the audience engaged throughout the presentation, which was interactive with many in the audience asking questions and at the end everyone was asked to go out with their cameras or cell phones and take pictures, which could then be shown to the team for advice and suggestions.

1. Dr. K.K, Dwivedi

2. DIGITAL SLR
CAMERA
DIGITAL POINT
& SHOOT
CAMERA

3. Anatomy of DSLR

4. Sensor And Crop Factor

5. Prime Vs Zoom
14 mm, 50mm,
300 f4, 300mm
f2.8, 800mm etc.
18-70mm, 100-
400mm, 200-400
mm etc.
Macro, Fisheye......
Lens

6. Basic Digital Photography
Sensor
Analog-Digital
Converter
Image Processor
Storage media
Light
Shutter
Light Data
Subject
Photo

7. Pixel - Picture Element
•Digital cameras capture images as pixel
elements.
•Digital images are made up of
thousands of these tiny, tile-like picture
elements.
•The more pixels, the higher the image
resolution.

8. BPP and Megapixel
• Pixels and bits are the basic building blocks of digital images
• Bits per pixel-the number of distinct colors that can be
represented by a pixel depends on the number of bits per pixel (bpp)
• JPEG file have 8 bpp, and Raw and TIFF capture 16 bit files.
• Megapixel—A unit equal to one million pixels.
•An image that is 2048 pixels in width and 1536 pixels in height has
a total of 2048×1536 = 3,145,728 pixels or 3.1 megapixels.
An image file that is 1 megapixel (MP) can make a photo realistic
print of 5 x 7 inches; a 2 MP file can make an 8 x 10-inch print

9. Resolution
● The term resolution is often used for a pixel count in digital
imaging
● The higher the resolution, the more pixels in an image and
therefore the greater the image quality.
● Resolution is the quality of the image. As the resolution
goes up, the image becomes more clear. It becomes
sharper, more defined, and more detailed as well.
● Quality of the pictures is measured by
● DPI = dots per inch for printer
● PPI = pixels per inch for computer, mobile, TV screens

10. Digital File
● There are several types of digital file formats-
JPEG, TIFF, RAW, GIF, BMP, PNG, PSD etc
● Shoot in RAW format for best dynamic range
and quality
● TIFF is a lossless format but takes a lot of space
● JPEG the most common format but quality is
inferior to TIFF

11. White Balance
●White balance is a camera setting that adjusts for lighting in order
to make white objects appear white in photos.
● Most light sources (the sun, light bulbs, flashlights, etc) do not
emit purely white color because they have a certain “
●The light from an incandescent or halogen bulb, for example, is
red/orange in color, while that from the sun is relatively blue.
●A proper in a camera will prevent, for
example, a in a photo from appearing orange in
color when it is being illuminated by a candle
●The human eye is perfect at adjusting to these fluctuations and
will see a piece of white paper, for example, as white whether you
look at it outside in bright sunshine or inside by candlelight.
●Your camera, on the other hand, doesn’t have such capability.

12. White Balance Color Temperature
Color Temperature is measured in Kelvin (K)

13. How WB affects the image

14. How WB affects the image

15. Creative Use of WB
● Auto WB setting works correctly in most of the
situation
● WB setting can be changed in photo editing
software
● Use Daylight WB Setting for sunset and sunrise
photographs for vibrant color.

16. Image Histogram
Graphical representation of the tonal distribution
in a digital image
Source: web

17. • Usually, a “good” histogram would render most tones in
the middle portion of the graph, and no or few tones
would be found at the extreme edges.
• A “bad” histogram would have tones at the very edges of
the graph, which would basically mean either
underexposure to the point of lost shadow detail
(shadow clipping), or overexposure to the point of lost
highlight detail (highlight clipping), or even both in a
single image.
How to Read Histogram

18. Histogram- Under Exposed Image

19. Histogram- Over Exposed Image

20. Histogram-Correctly Exposed Image

21. Exposure
•Determining overall brightness or darkness of a scene
•exposure is the amount of light per unit area
reaching image sensor, as determined by shutter
speed, lens aperture and scene luminance.
•Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be
computed from exposure value (EV)

22. Shutter speed
Ideal
exposure
Controlling exposure
EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

23. APERTURE
●The aperture is the diameter of the lens opening
●The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more
light reaches the film / image sensor
●Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8
●The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the
larger the lens opening (aperture) (inverse
relationship)
●Controls depth of field

24. APERTURE

25. F-STOPS

26. Depth of Field

27. Depth of Field

28. Depth of Field

29. If you want to maximise the depth of field in your shot at a gi
ven focal length, then focus manually at the hyperfocal dist
ance; the point at which everything from half the hyperfocal
distance to infinity will appear sharp
Hyperfocal focusing is based on the fact that depth of field ty
pically extends 2/3 behind the point focused on and 1/3 in fro
nt, but if you focus on infinity, the depth of field behind is co
mpletely wasted.
Depth of Field-Hyper focal Distance

30. Hyperfocal Distance

31. 1/125 seconds 1/1250 seconds
Shutter Speed selection

32. SHUTTER SPEED

33. SHUTTER SPEED
●Shutter speed is the amount of time that the
shutter is open
●Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most
cases fractions of seconds
●Long shutter causes blur and fast shutter freezes
motion

34. FAST SHUTTER SPEED TO FREEZ THE
ACTION

35. Or shutter speed can blur motion
1/15 sec

36. SLOW SHUTTER SPEED FOR
MOTION

37. ISO SETTINGS
●ISO speed - A rating of sensitivity of film or sensor to light
● Low light conditions - use higher ISO
●Action shots - use a higher ISO
●Keep ISO lower in bright light
●Generally, as ISO speed climbs, image quality drops.
●The higher the ISO number the more noise is generated in
your photograph
● Noise is more noticeable when image is enlarged

38. ISO SETTINGS

39. Characteristics of ISO

40. Characteristics of ISO

41. Characteristics of ISO

42. Using ISO 1600 to capture a night scene.
ISO For Night Scene

43. Exposure Compensation
● Your camera will, normally, try and expose your picture so the
tone averages to medium gray. If you are shooting the sky, it’ll
expose a long time until the sky looks medium gray.
● You don’t want this – you want your sky to look dark because it
IS dark!
● You can over-rule the “medium gray” default using exposure
compensation – a dial which will let you expose as much as
(usually) 2 stops (each “stop” is ½ in light) under- or over-
exposed. However, even 2 stops underexposed may still look too
bright to be good.

45. Contrast
• Contrast- difference between highlights and
shadows in an image
• By turning your exposure up or down you can make
the photo more interesting by creating more contrast

46. Metering

47. Types of Metering Modes

48. How to use metering mode

49. How to use metering mode
● Center-weighted metering- Good for portraits, subject will be
correctly exposed without giving much weight to the background.
This is the most consistent form of metering, since most
photographic subjects are near the center of the frame. For this
reason, center-weighted metering is often the default metering
system used by many point-and-shoot cameras.
● Matrix or evaluative metering-The meter divides the scene into
zones, then analyzes each zone for highlight and shadow
● Spot metering is a very accurate form of metering. Suited for a
backlit subject, subjects at a distance or for macro photography,
especially when the subject isn’t filling the entire frame.

50. How to use metering mode

51. Composition
Simplicity
Contrast
Rule of thirds
Perspective
Know your frame
Foreground Background
Color
Shadow
Focus
Lighting
Exposure
Components of a great picture

52. Composition
● Composition – how the eye-catching elements of your
image are arranged in the frame
● ALWAYS look at the ENTIRE frame before you take
your picture! Put a pretend picture frame around it and
pretend get it back from the photo place and see your
finished printed picture… all before you actually push the
shutter button. Do you like it? Or does it look off-balance,
too busy, flat,or boring?

53. Composition
Bad Composition

54. Good Composition

55. Don’t cut people in half and leave an empty sky on top!
CLASSIC result of not paying attention to your frame!

56. Tilted horizon

57. Levelling Horizon

58. Look for object to lead your eyes through the
frame.

59. object
moving out of
frame
object
entering into
the frame

60. Composition – Point of View
You should feel a lot more engaged with the fox. You are
at eye level and a participating observer in the

61. Only a small section of
the frame is interesting
Fill the Frame

62. Use your foreground
• The foreground can be a useful tool to draw your
viewer into the photo
• When used right it can also help to make your
photo more interesting
• Try putting objects in your foreground that
compliment and don’t distract from your subject

63. Which picture of flowers is more interesting?
Why?
Foreground vs. Background

64. Very busy, cluttered and bad background

65. In an ideal image you would have a creamy smooth back
ground free of any distracting elements

66. Rules are meant to be broken sometimes to show the ba
ckground. it shows the bobcat in it’s environment. It really
shows how he blends in with nature

68. Simplicity
• Show your subject as clearly as possible
• Avoid distracting ‘spots’
• Avoid distracting shapes
• If you take a picture of everything you take a
picture of nothing.

69. New Perspective
• Don’t just show us the same perspective that we see
every day. Get Creative!
• The most interesting photos may be the ones taken while
lying on the floor or standing on a rock.
• Show us a new cool perspective of your subject that
makes your photo more interesting

70. Working with angles
● Low angles
●Clear sky backdrop
●Accentuate movement or action
● High angle
●Eliminate cloudy sky
● 45 degree angles will cut glare
● Avoid centered horizons

71. Rule of Thirds
● Rule of Thirds is perhaps the most well known principle
of photographic composition.
● The “Rule of Thirds” is the basis for well balanced and
interesting shots.
● The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine
breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and
vertically) so that you have 9 parts.
● Put the subject at cross section of lines

72. Rule of Third

73. Rule of Third

74. Rule of Thirds
Put major elements 1/3 of the way through your frame

75. Rule of thirds

76. Horizons
A natural extension of
rule of thirds is to place
your horizon line along
the one-third or two-third
line of the grid,. Most
amateur photographers
will place their horizon in
the middle. This ends up
looking dull and
uninteresting.
Rule of thirds

77. Rule of thirds
One third land, two thirds sky.

78. BREAKING THE RULE OF THIRDS
● If you want to emphasize the subject's symmetry?

79. Break the rule for dramatic effect. This picture would NOT work if
you didn’t carefully place the door in the exact center

80. • When and how to use your flash
• Backlighting
• Dappled lighting
• Shadow
Lighting

81. The Flash Modes
• Auto: the camera chooses how bright to make
the flash based on the amount of light coming
into the camera
• Red Eye Reduction : flash takes away red eye
by flashing quickly before the shot is taken

82. Backlighting
• When something is lit from the back by a light
shining towards your camera
• This means that the camera cannot get very
much detail out of the front of the subject
because the back is so bright
• If a subject must be lit from behind try turning
your flash on to light the front
• Can be cool sometimes when trying to make a
silhouette

83. Dappled Lighting
• This happens a lot when you take a picture while
your subject is in the shade of the tree
• The light coming through the leaves makes a lot
of distracting ‘hot spots’ in the frame
• Use flash to avoid dappled lighting unless you
have a good reason to use it

84. …but they don’t always
work ‘cause sometimes
you can’t dig the subject
Shadow that works
because the outline
is cool.
Do you feel scared?
Shadows

85. Focus on eyes• Focus on Eyes
• Keep the camera at the eye level of the Subject
• Eye contact- straight looking at camera- makes strong
image
Focus

86. Looking
straight
at the ca
mera. Yo
u can re
ally feel
his pres
ence.

87. How to Hold Camera

88. How to Hold Camera

89. How to Hold Camera

90. How to Hold Camera

91. How to Hold Camera
● Add extra stability by leaning against a solid object like
a wall or a tree or by sitting or kneeling down.
● If you have to stand and don’t have anything to lean on
for extra support put your feet shoulder width apart to
give yourself a steady stance. The stiller you can keep
your body the stiller the camera will be.
● Before you take your shot take a gentle but deep
breath, hold it, then take the shot and exhale.
● The other method people use is the exact opposite –
exhale and before inhaling again take the shot.

92. How to Hold Camera-Hand Held Shot
● Thumb Rule- Shutter speed should not be less
than the focal length of the lens in camera. If
focal length of camera is 400mm the shutter
speed must be 1/400 second to avoid camera
shake and blurred photograph
● Use image stabilization setting for sharp photo

93. Camera Menu Functions

94. Shooting Mode- NIKON

95. Shooting Mode-Canon

96. SCENE
MODES
CREATIVE
MODES

97. PROGRAM

98. ●Aperture and shutter speed are set by the camera, but
can be shifted using the control dial, with the exposure
staying the same
●Unlocks some other settings in your camera that gives
you more control over the final image : ISO setting,
white balance, exposure compensation
●Great for quickly getting a photograph without having to
think too hard about settings
Characteristics of Program Mode

99. TV-SHUTTER
PRIORITY

100. ● TV means time value
●Shutter priority: set the shutter speed and calculates the
matching aperture
●To photograph moving subjects (sporting action). A
faster shutter speed will freeze the motion
●To capture movement as a blur of a waterfall, choose a
slower shutter speed
CHARACTERISTICS OF TV MODE

101. AV-APERTURE
PRIORITY

102. CHARACTERISTICS OF AV
MODE
●AV means aperture value
●Manually control the aperture while the camera
sets the matching shutter speed
●Particularly useful to control a stationary object
where you don’t need to control the shutter speed
●Choosing a larger aperture (f/stop) means the lens
will get smaller and it will let less light in so a larger
depth of field (more of the area in focus), but your
camera will choose a faster shutter speed and vice
versa

103. MANUAL

104. ●Full control over camera settings such:
shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance
and exposure compensation
●Gives you the flexibility to set your shots the
way you want them to be
●Can result in creative and non-traditional
exposures
CHARACTERISTICS OF MANUAL
MODE

105. PORTRAIT MODE

106. ●An automatic mode with emphasis on settings for a
perfect portrait shot.
●The ability of the camera to detect if there are
faces in the image and to ensure they are all in
focus
●Sets a wide aperture of the lens so that the
background behind your subject is softly focused
(shallow depth of field)
CHARACTERISTICS OF PORTRAIT
MODE

107. LANDSCAPE MODE

108. ●Narrows the aperture, so both the subject and
background stay sharp (deep depth of field)
●Foreground, middle ground, and background
are all in focus
●Exposure compensation for entire frame
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANDSCAPE
MODE

109. MACRO/CLOSE-UP MODE

110. CHARACTERISTICS OF MACRO
MODE
●An automatic mode with emphasis on settings for
close-up photography
●Commonly used to photographing flowers, insects
and other small items
●Somecameras may be able to focus when the lens
is less than an inch away from the subject
●Creates a very shallow depth of field

111. SPORTS MODE

112. ●Represented by an icon of a sprinter, this is
perfect for taking pictures of moving objects
●Also good for shooting children or pets in action
●Can give you higher shutter speeds to stop
action, along with a smaller aperture so that
more of the action will be in focus
CHARACTERISTICS OF ACTION/SPORTS
MODE

113. FLASH

114. CHARACTERISTICS OF FLASH
MODE
● Auto- Flash Off
●Flash On (mandatory flash, useful for filling in
shadows when shooting in daylight)
●Auto + Red-eye reduction-
●Flash On + Red-eye reduction
●Soft Flash (Diffused flash)
●Slow-sync flash (Second-curtain flash)

115. OR TO ILLUMINATE DARK AREAS

116. HDR PHOTOGRAPHY
● In high contrast scene camera can not capture details in
both shadow and highlight areas
● 3-5 Photographs are taken with different exposure
settings and blended in a software to produce HDR
image.

117. 1. Set the highest resolution.
2. Select file format in RAW or TIFF if options are available.
3. Use flash for Red Eye Reduction.
4. Use flash for indoor photography.
5. Try Panorama for landscape.
6. Use HDR for scene where high light and shadow have
strong contrast.
7. Save photographs in memory card.
8. Do not use digital zoom, move closer to the subject.
Mobile Phone Photography

118. 1. Check the camera settings.
2. Hold the camera properly.
3. Compose the frame as per rule of third and golden mean.
4. Try different angles and perspectives.
5. Try low angle shot. See through worms eye.
6. Try panorama and HDR.
Shooting Tips

119. 1. Be creative- use different shutter speed and aperture.
2. Freeze action, blur the background.
3. Avoid distracting background.
4. Shoot at eye level of the subject.
5. Subject should look straight towards the camera for strong
composition.
6. Show action, drama and emotion in photograph.
7. Use tripod if possible.
Shooting Tips

120. 1. Try close up shot.
2. Shoot abstracts, shapes , pattern, etc.
3. Shoot wide angle or fill the frame
4. Practice, Practice and Practice..
5. Be your own critic.
Shooting Tips

121. Thank You