When looking at a picture, most people aren’t thinking about all the different aspects that went into getting that perfect shot. To most, it’s a great looking photo, maybe even one they wish to hang on the wall for others to see as well. But to photographers, they can comprehend and appreciate the amount of work that went into taking that picture.
There are different elements that come into play when taking pictures. With light being one of the most important elements. The lighting can set the mood, tone, and atmosphere of a photo. There is different types of light which include natural light, this would be the sun or the moon and there is also artificial light which includes indoor lights, street lights, or the flash. How the light is positioned is also going to affect how the picture comes out.
Exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera sensor or film. It is a crucial part of how bright or dark a picture appears. There are two camera settings that affect the actual exposure of an image and that is shutter speed and aperture. Shutter speed is the amount of time your camera spends taking a picture. This could be 1/ of a second, 1/10 of a second, or three seconds, or five minutes. These speeds matter because a longer shutter speed lets in a large amount of light. The quicker the shutter speed the les amount of light. Speed also affects the motion blur in images. A quick shutter speed will do a much better job freezing motion in a photo versus a slow shutter speed. Aperture is like the “pupil” of your camera lens. It’s considered a pupil because it can shrink or open to change the amount of light that passes through. To have a brighter photo there should be a larger aperture because it will let in more light. Of course, the smaller the aperture the less light there is.
Another element of photo taking is composition. Composition can apply to more subjects than just photography. It also applies to music, dance, literature and essentially any other type of art. It describes the placement of relative objects and elements in a work of art. Composition fits photography because it means arranging elements in a way that it suits the idea or goal of the work needing to be done. It will guide the viewer’s eye to the most important elements of a photo. The rule of thirds can produce a more balanced and engaging photo. It means mentally dividing up your image using 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines. Then position the important element in your scene along those lines or where the points meet. There are also images with leading lines which might include a road or river. The viewer of the photo will be drawn to lines that lead the main subject of the image. It’s an easy path for the eye to follow and can help create depth and dimensionality.
Another component of a photo is the angle of view. This describes the angular extent of a given screen that is photographed by a camera. This is expressed in degree and can be measured horizontally, vertically, or diagonally across an image. Long and short lenses will affect the angle of view. Larger lenses will offer narrow angles of view that make it easier to isolate objects within a wider scene. The shorter the focal length the wider the angle of view.
The last component of taking a photo is the stop-action. This catches motion in pictures so they don’t come out blurry. This will require a fast shutter and a wider aperture. Faster shutter speed means less light so that will require an aperture than can catch more light. To show movement in a photo, there should be some blur. If the lens is too fast it can make a moving car look like it’s parked.
Now we will discuss the object that is responsible for creating photos. The basic components of a digital SLR camera include the lens, viewfinder, mode dial, body, shutter release, aperture, image sensor, LCD screen, flash, focus ring, exposure compensation button, and the magnify/demagnify button. The lens is one of the most vital parts of a camera. This is where the photo process begins. Lenses are either interchangeable or fixed to the body. The viewfinder is where one would look to compose a shot. The photo will not look like what is seen through the viewfinder. The mode dial has a variety of functions and automatic features. Older cameras may not have this option. Some may also have a touch screen instead of a dial. The body is the main part of the camera. This comes in all shapes and sizes.
At the very basic level digital cameras capture and record media to flash storage. Early forerunners had very limiting fixed internal storage capacities; fortunately, the ability to utilize removable storage media was engineered early on to give consumers and professionals a like, more capacity and flexibility. The advent of the SD card brought with it all the familiar conveniences the typical USB flash drive affords us – pairing that with an LCD screen to review captures and you have the pinnacle of photograph/film technology.
What is image editing? Image editing allows you to modify or even improve a digital photograph using different tools or software. An image is edited to improve the look and quality of a picture. This might include brightening a photo, darkening a photo, removing any unwanted blemishes, rotating, cropping and much more. Editing a photo can require a high level of expertise. With photo editing, it’s possible to take a photo and turn it into something completely different. A simple picture of a sunset at the beach could be edited to include a couple having a romantic picnic as the sun sets. That couple may never have even been there, but they were able to be photoshopped in.
In conclusion, taking photos is more than just point and click. A good photographer knows how to use the lighting, angles, and many other aspects to get the perfect shot. They will also know how to use photo editing to help enhance their photos. While everyone can take a photo, only some can take a great photo.
