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Bought an SLR an not really sure what to do with it? I think this section might just be for you. It goes through things that I've learnt with my SLR camera. I'm adding on chapters as I go.
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Hello there, this section has been written for people like me. People with a digitial or film SLR that want to be good with it, but without spending any more money on extra gadgets. The cameras were expensive enough without buying a million other things too! I found that a lot of photography books seem to fall into a couple of categories: 1. Specialised in Wildlife, Landscapes, Weddings, Portriture - all the things that you need specific equipment for and were no use to me. 2. How to guides that went through the makes and models of cameras and what all the dials and buttons do, but they don't actually inform/show you how to take good pictures. 3. Collections of pictures following a theme that have the camera and settings next to the photo. 4. Time consuming photoshop tricks. This information does not fit into any of those categories. That's why you're reading it. Most of the books really are too bogged down with the hardcore stuff and just aren't that much use to us. I'm going to assume that you don't have access to a whole stack of equipment and have no interest forking out more cash, that you actually bought your camera before buying any books and that you have no interest in this section going through what every single boring setting does. I'm also going to assume that you don't want to be friggin around with your computer for hours every single time you get your camera out of the bag. This book applies to both film SLRs and digital SLRs, and since you've already scrolled down the screen, you know that we are going to go through awesome things you can do with your camera and go through only the settings required to achieve those goals. We won't be requiring any more equipment - cameras these days are pretty darn good and things like light meters are stuff are only useful to the really hardcore dudes. Hardcores, this section is not for you! Anyway, enough bagging of the books on the market. I'm sure soon enough a million books a whole lot like this page will soon flood the market anyway. All the photos were taken with entry level SLR cameras, not stupid expensive ones. They probably don't have the same impact as shots in other books, but that is what the big money is buying you. We don't have the big money, so we are going to take good shots with what we have, you'll love 'em just as much. In case you are interested, I've used a Nikon D70 with a couple of different lenses, the others were taken with the Olympus C5050, its not even an SLR but it has the same functions as one. Both are digital. On with the show!
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Chapter One. We aren't even going to worry about settings in this chapter. Set your camera to the program setting (Should be a P on your dial) and let's rock on. Now, the most important thing for us to learn is, what makes a good photo. We've all been there, someone who has done a bit of photography comes up with some awesome shots with a normal camera of something that the rest of us just took snapshots at. We've all been there though, when we've totally fluked a couple of awesome photos that we love. They're awesome but it's not real obvious why they stand out against the other photos. Firstly, photos are stupidly subjective. What you really like, someone else won't. What someone else things is brilliant and artisitic and special you might think is boring and too artsy. Don't worry too much about trying to impress everyone, get shots that you like and be happy with that. Impress yourself - and the rest of the world may or may not follow. I've noticed that people's emotions play a huge part in whether they like photos. A photographer and a model usually pick out very different favourites. This is usually because the photographer likes all the techically good photos - good bits in focus, that sort of stuff. The model usually has a complete disregard about depth of field and composition and all that and likes the photos where she has a cute expression or feels sexy or whatever. People change their mind dependant on mood and how they are feeling. The point I am trying to make is, don't stress too much about what other people like and don't worry when people don't like the same photos you do. It will happen. Since photography is stupidly subjective, some old guys made some rules to qualify why some photos are better than others. Okay, okay, okay so they didn't make up the rules completely, they just tried to put in words what people were already thinking. We'll go through some of the rules and how they apply to us. Don't take them too seriously, they were definitely made to be broken, they are most useful when you're trying to capture something and it isn't working. Use these rules then. Rule of Thirds: When you are taking a picture on a way groovy horizon or something, apparently it's totally better to have the horizon going along the top third or the bottom third instead of straight through the middle. It's supposed to be more pleasing to the eye but I think it really is just because people get bored of seeing a sunset or whatever in the dead centre. I think it makes a difference, you've already checked out the photos what do you reckon?
Horizon dead in the middle of the picture.
Horizon in the upper third.
Horizon in the lower third. I personally prefer the one with the water line in the bottom third. You might not, whatever. The point is that composition can be used to make your photos less snapshotty and lookin' nicer/more special/okayish. Okay, so that rule of thirds applies to lines on the horizon. It also applies to the vertical. Instead of having stuff smack bang in the middle, or way off to one side, try and stick it on either the line between the 1st/2nd third or the 2nd/3rd. |
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More to come. |
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Does your band need some promo shots? E-mail me |
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E-mail me if you would like to nominate yourself or a friend to be model. Or you can e-mail me if you have a way groovy event that you want pictures of. |