Basic Photography Techniques to Learn
A few weeks ago, we wrote an article outlining our thoughts on whether photography classes are worth it. Whether you decide to take in-person photography classes, or utilize the internet’s vast educational resources (ahem, YouTube and Boxy’s Blog), there are a few key basic photography techniques to learn at the start of your photography journey. In this article, we’ll let you know exactly what basic photography techniques you should start with, and give you a bit of insight into what each technique is as well.
Each of these basic photography techniques are also fundamental to really understanding how your camera works, and how you can create the exact photos you’ve always desired. But you need to learn all three and understand how they work together to make your dream shots happen. Ready? Let’s rock and roll:
Aperture
Aperture determines the size of the hole inside your lens that lets light hit the sensor. Aperture is depicted on your camera through F numbers, and is usually shown like this: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, etc. A smaller F number (f/1.4) means a larger hole inside your cameras lens, which means more light is hitting your camera’s sensor; a larger F number (f/22) means a smaller hole inside your camera’s lens, which means less light is hitting your camera’s sensor. Got it?
Now, why does it matter what the F number is, and why can we change it?
A lower F number typically creates a shallower depth of field within an image, meaning that, in a simple example, your subject will stay sharp and focused, and everything else in the photo will become blurred. This blurring is known as bokeh, and works very well with portrait photos.
A higher F number creates a greater depth of field, and tends to keep everything in the frame more in focus. This is great in scenarios where you want all details to remain sharp, such as landscapes or architectural shots.
I think Aperture is a great setting to consider first before other settings when taking a photo because the F number will affect the depth of field of the shot, and ultimately determine how your end shot will look. If you’re hoping to take portraits with a really nice blurry background, make sure you set your F number lower (around f/2.8). If you want to take a landscape shot with everything in focus, set your F number higher (around f/11).
Shutter Speed
Every camera has a shutter blocking its sensor (aka keeping light off of it). Shutter speed determines how quickly the shutter opens when you take a photo, which determines how long light can actually hit the sensor.
Depending on the type of shot you’re trying to take, you may want to set the shutter speed before setting the aperture. This is especially true if you’re taking sports photos or photos of cars or really anything moving fast. Why? Because you need a fast shutter speed to catch fast movements without having the subject blur. The longer your shutter is open, the greater the chance of blurring moving subjects / objects.
You may also want to choose your shutter speed before aperture if you know you need a long shutter speed. If you’ve ever seen waterfall shots where the water looks silky smooth, it’s thanks to a long shutter speed. The long shutter speed allows more light to enter the camera’s sensor, and the movement of the water during that duration creates the smooth blurring effect.
Connecting Shutter Speed to Aperture
If you remember from above, aperture determines how large the hole inside your lens is, with a larger hole meaning more light gets through to your sensor and vice versa.
Now, shutter speed is very similar, as the amount of time the camera’s shutter is open also determines how much of that light that’s coming through your camera’s lens is actually allowed to hit the sensor.
Why does this matter? Well, say you want to take a landscape photo towards the end of the day when the light is getting low. You know you want a higher F number so everything is in focus, but a higher F number means a smaller opening inside the lens, which is not ideal for scenes with low lighting because there’s a good chance not enough lighting will get through.
The solution? Change your shutter speed so that the shutter is open longer. That way more light has a chance to enter through the lens and hit the sensor, even though your F number is high.
ISO
ISO determines how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. Back in the day, you’d have to pick your ISO at the store when you picked up a roll of film, meaning your ISO was set until that role of film was complete. Nowadays, with Mirrorless DSLR cameras, you can set your camera’s ISO to a whole wide range of sensitivities on any given photo.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: why do I need to worry about my camera sensor’s sensitivity? Well, because, just like with aperture and shutter speed, the way your camera receives light directly affects how your images will come out. So, if you’re in a situation with low light, you’ll want to set your ISO higher, making the sensor more sensitive and allowing it to collect more light easier. When you’re in a super bright scenario, you’ll want a lower ISO, making the sensor less sensitive and keeping it from collecting too much light and washing out your image.
You’ll want to make sure you don’t set your ISO too high, though, as this can create a noisy / grainy effect on your images. Most modern cameras can go fairly high without causing this affect, but, by combining all of these basic photography techniques, there’s a simple way around it.
Connecting ISO to Shutter Speed and Aperture
All of these basic photography techniques may sound great, but how can you connect them all together to ensure your photographic visions come to life on every shot?
Most mirrorless DSLR cameras have what’s called a built-in light meter. If you look through your camera’s view finder, it’s typically at the bottom of the frame. This light meter essentially lets you know if your camera setting are exposed correctly, over exposed or under exposed. To ensure your photo turns out correctly, you want to make sure your photo is properly exposed. The light meter shows this when the little indicator on the meter is centred, or it shows a reading of 0. If it shows a reading with a + symbol, such as +0.3, the photo is slightly overexposed, and if it shows a reading with a negative symbol, such as -0.3, the photo is slightly underexposed.
So, tying all of these basic photography techniques together, you need to make sure that your aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all set correctly so that your light meter reads a perfect exposure.
Going back to one of our previous examples, if you want to take a portrait shot with a blurry background, you need a wide open aperture, say f/2.8. This again means that the hole inside your lens is much larger, allowing more light to enter your camera. You now have to compensate for this by adjusting the shutter speed and ISO on your camera to ensure that the correct amount of light is entering your camera, and you do this by adjusting these settings until the light meter states that your image is properly exposed.
And again, aperture, shutter speed and ISO all work together, so, if you start by establishing which shutter speed you want first instead of aperture, you can then start tweaking your aperture and ISO to ensure the shot is properly exposed.
These basic photography techniques can seem confusing at first, but, with a bit of practice, they are fairly easy to understand, and, once you’ve mastered them, you will have way more control over the type of photos you create. As with anything, the best thing to do is get out there and practice!
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