Let’s get technical
A basic guide into photography for beginners
Are you interested in photography but struggle to understand how a camera works, what some concepts mean, and what makes a good photograph, well, good? Then today is your lucky day! Because I don’t like gatekeeping and I truly believe in sharing knowledge and also in helping others pursue their passion, I have put together in this post a basic guide into camera work for beginners or basically whoever wants to learn more about photography from a technical standpoint. You don’t have to get a fancy DSLR camera to know the foundations of photography, you can use your smartphone’s in-built camera to practice and to understand how everything works.
Let’s begin!
Basic concepts
Exposure
This is the most important concept to know in photography because a photograph is, essentially, an exposure. This means that a photo is just capturing the light bouncing from an object or person or whatever comes through the lens.
Besides exposure being a synonym of photograph, it is also a term used to express the amount of light recorded through the camera. To know this amount, cameras use a light meter. It is like a ruler that goes from minus on the left to plus on the right, having a 0 in the middle. When a photographer is ready to shoot, the light meter should typically be on 0, indicating that the photo is correctly exposed. If it goes to the left, it means the photo will be underexposed, and if it goes to the right, the photo will be overexposed.
As seen in the example above, underexposed images look dark in their appearance. But also there is a loss of information that would be difficult to recover in post-processing. On the other hand, an overexposed image is very bright and can be completely white. This can happen when the subject being photographed receives too much light. So, unless there is an artistic intention behind underexposing or overexposing, it is better to shoot a correctly exposed photograph.
Bokeh
The term bokeh refers to an optical effect created by combining the focus point with the aperture (keep reading to know what these mean!). It is widely used for portraits as it isolates the subject from its background by blurring it, helping whatever object is in the foreground to pop, increasing its presence and importance in the final photograph, as in the example below.
Format
The format or ratio of the photograph basically refers to its size. It is really important to know which ratio the camera is set to shoot at, as it will affect the final image. Some of the standard ratios are 1:1 (square), 4:3, or 16:9 (landscape). The ratio is easily edited in post-processing, but it is essential to know that, if the camera shoots at 1:1 and the photograph needs to be 16:9, the image has to be cropped and there will probably be a loss in whatever the subject was if not careful.
Camera settings
There are three key elements to get a correct exposure that need to play together and adapt to the light source present in the scene: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.
Shutter speed
This element refers to the velocity at which the camera’s shutter opens and closes. Think of the shutter as blinds: when the blinds are down, the shutter is closed and no light can enter; but when the blinds are up, the shutter is open and light gets in, creating an exposure until the shutter closes again. So the shutter speed would be how fast the blinds go down, allowing for the light to get in for a longer or shorter time. It is measured in seconds, some cameras — like mine, a Nikon D5500 — ranging from 30’’ (very long) to 1/4000 (very fast). This concept is especially important when wanting to shoot a long exposure, which is a photo that takes longer than 1/5 of a second to produce, like the image below.
The shutter speed would change depending on the amount of light present in the scene. For example, under dark conditions, the shutter would need to stay open for longer to capture all the light, so it would need to be slow. However, if there is a lot of light or a moving object that needs to be shot without speed distortion, the shutter speed needs to be really fast.
Aperture
Aperture refers to the size of the shutter’s opening. It is a hole, and the bigger the hole, the more light enters, which is ideal in low light scenarios. The aperture is measured in stops, called f. And the bigger the hole, the smaller the number: for example, an aperture of f1.4 means the shutter is pretty much wide open, while an f22 is a very small hole. I know it is confusing that smaller is bigger but I don’t make the rules. Having a lens able to have a big aperture, meaning an f stop lower than 2, is the reason why some camera lenses are so expensive.
Imagine you are a nature photographer. You need to work with natural light because you cannot have animals step into your nice backdrop and controlled lights to pose for you. So you need lenses that can adapt to any light conditions. Also, animals usually run and move, so you can’t really compromise your shutter speed to allow for longer exposures if you want a sharp image of the animal. Therefore, you need a lens with a wide aperture — or a low f stop.
Furthermore, the aperture is especially important to create bokeh as I mentioned earlier. A low f stop of 1.4 will blur the background more, while an f22 will not blur at all. If portrait photography is what you are after, you would probably like to have a lens with a low f stop or master Photoshop.
ISO
The ISO setting refers to the camera’s sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light, which is something to keep in mind when shooting at low light. But there is a tiny issue with high ISO: noise. Noise is digital grain, like in analog photography, but worse because is square as it comes from pixels. While grain can make the photo look nostalgic, noise makes them look pixelated and off. So keeping a low ISO is important to achieve sharp images.
Let’s take the image below as an example (please note the photo is a non-edited RAW). I shot that at a concert with low light using a regular lens with a low aperture of f3.5. It is a concert, so you want to have your subject sharp without motion blur, so the shutter speed should be at least above 1/125, so long exposure to allow the light to get in for longer is not really an option. Therefore, the only thing left to increase is the ISO. And I had to go all the way to 25600, resulting in a lot of noise. This is a great example of how all the outlined three elements work together and depend on each other and the light available to create a photograph.
Visual composition
Rule of Thirds
This composition rule is not only used in photography but belongs to all the visual arts. It is a grid of equally sized rectangles that divide the image into nine spaces. The rule says that the human eye is drawn to the intersections the rectangles create, so in order to make images more appealing, we should place the important elements of the composition within the lines and points where the rectangles intersect, as in the image below.
The Rule of Thirds also allows for the natural creation of white space, enhancing the subject and isolating it from every other element that would appear inside the composition.
Golden Ratio
This is, in my opinion, the most difficult composition rule to master. Also, I think it is more widely used in graphic design than in photography but it is important to know about it. The golden ratio comes in a variety of forms: it could be a grid as in the image on the right — more relevant for photography —, as a spiral as in the image on the left and its more common shape, or as circles that keep the same ratio — more relevant for graphic design.
As in the Rule of Thirds, the golden ratio implies that those elements positioned within the lines and intersections of the grid will have more visual weight in the composition. I do not have any photographs that align with the golden ratio because, as I said, I think it is quite difficult to master manually while shooting, so the image below is just an example of how the grid and spiral look like and not an example of a golden ratio composition.
Symmetry
When in doubt, remember Wes Anderson and go for symmetry. Visual balance is very pleasing and also very easy to perceive and identify, so arranging the elements within the composition in a symmetrical way is a win-win. That can be achieved by “dividing” the image into two identical sides, left and right, with the elements arranged to closely match each side, or by having the main subject placed right in the middle of the composition.
There are a lot more concepts and techniques but I believe these are the most important to know when beginning with photography. They might be simple but mastering them requires time and commitment, especially when it comes to visual composition. Training the eye to be able to compose a photograph before even thinking about the settings is the most essential skill to become a good photographer.
So get your camera, or your phone, and start practicing!
