learn with Austin Area Photography

Exposure is the most important photography basic and the first photography concept that you need to understand.

You’ve probably heard the expression “photography is painting with light”, and it’s completely true! Photography is about capturing light, and exposure is so important because it’s the amount of light collected by your camera.

Aperture is the first concept of photography exposure basics.

This basic photography concept has a direct effect on the exposure; the wider the aperture the brighter the image will be, and the narrower the aperture the darker it will be. It also plays a significant role in the depth of field and sharpness of the image.

The second photography fundamental related to exposure basics is the shutter speed.

In short,  shutter speed is related to how long the camera shutter is open and capturing light.

This has a significant impact on the exposure; a shorter shutter speed will translate into a darker image whereas a longer shutter speed will capture a brighter image.

Shutter speed is also a fundamental for capturing motion, something vital in some genres like long exposure photography. It also has an effect on the camera shakiness and the possibility of shooting handheld vs. the need for using a tripod.

The last of the exposure photography basics is the ISO.

In short, the ISO works by increasing the light information captured by the camera sensor.

This has a drastic effect on the exposure; the higher the ISO, the brighter the image will be, and the lower the ISO, the darker the photograph will be.

Apart from exposure, ISO has a major side effect called “digital noise ”. As you increase the ISO, your image will be brighter but will also have more digital noise, which is an important element related to the quality of the image.

Once you understand the basics of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, it's time to put them all together!

The best way to see how these elements interact with one another is through the exposure triangle. 

All three elements must be in balance   

if you want to capture a correctly exposed image. So, when you adjust one side of the triangle, you’ll have to adjust one or the two other sides to strike a balance.

For instance, if you open your aperture, you’ll have to either reduce the shutter speed or decrease the ISO to achieve the same amount of brightness (exposure level). 

One of the fundamentals of digital photography is the depth of field.

In short, depth of field is simply the space in the image that is acceptably sharp and in focus.

In photography, we can say that there’s a shallow depth of field when just a narrow portion of the frame is acceptably sharp, whereas we speak about a large depth of field when a big portion of the frame is considered to be in focus.

Depth of field is affected by many different factors:

· Aperture: The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field

· Focal length: The longer the focal length, the shallower the depth of field

· Focusing distance: The closer the subject to the lens, the shallower the depth of field

· Sensor size: The smaller the camera sensor size, the shallower the depth of field (*using the same focal length).

Focal length is related to the photography lens basics.

It’s a vital photography concept to understand for creating your images and choosing the lenses that you’ll need in your gear.

The focal length works by describing each lens in terms of millimeters from the optical center of the lens to the sensor. Depending on how short or long the focal length is, this will have a direct impact on the field of view of your images and in other aspects like the depth of field.

For example, shorter focal lengths like wide-angle lenses will have a wide angle of view, whereas longer focal lengths like telephotos will have a narrower angle of view. The focal length will also create different effects, like distortion in wide angles of view, and magnification in narrower angles of view.

All these elements are essential for anyone who is beginning in photography since it will affect the final look of your subject and image.  

Another photography fundamental for beginners that often goes overlooked is the camera sensor size.

The camera sensor size is truly important. There’s not an absolute best sensor size in photography, but rather different sensor sizes for different photographic needs.

The size used as a reference in digital photography is the classic 35 mm sensor size, also known as Full-Frame. If the sensor is smaller than this size, it’s said to be “ cropped”, and if it’s bigger, it’s considered “medium format.“ Knowing the different types of sensors, their qualities, and what they can achieve, is also crucial to taking the pictures that you want.

For example, a basic rule in night photography is to use a sensor with larger pixels, since these are better at capturing light and will allow you to take a better-quality image with less digital noise.

The focal length is also important since smaller sensors will offer more reach and greater magnification for shooting subjects far away like in wildlife or sports.

The depth of field is the last effect of the camera sensors. Using the same field of view, the depth of field will be narrower in cameras with larger sensors and larger in cameras with cropped sensors. An example is portrait photography, where photographers usually shoot with larger sensors to decrease the depth of field and bokeh effect.

Focusing is one of the most common struggles for anyone beginning in photography.

Briefly, focusing consists of adjusting the lens to find the maximum sharpness, contrast, and resolution for a chosen subject.

There are two ways to focus in digital photography:

Manual focus: Use your hands to tweak the focus ring until you get to the best focus.

Automatic focus: Using the camera’s and lenses’ internal motors to focus on a given subject.

Using manual focus or autofocus will depend on the type of photography that you do. For instance, in some genres like macro and night photography, it’s better to use manual focus. Yet, in other genres, like wildlife or sports, autofocus is faster and will make things easier.

In some genres like landscape photography, you can focus on a specific distance that will help you achieve the maximum depth of field (or reasonable sharpness). This is called the Hyperfocal distance and it’s one of the best photography basics to learn. There are also more advanced techniques to achieve maximum sharpness like focus stacking that you can apply if you already have some experience.