Photography Step By Step

I will conclude this first beginner tutorial with some basic ideas that you need to have in mind when taking photos, so that you will be satisfied with the final result.

What goes through your mind in the moments as you raise your digital camera up to take a shot and before you press the shutter? If you’re like many digital photographers you’re not thinking about too much – you just want to capture the moment and then move on. However getting in the habit of asking some simple questions can help take your images to the next level. Here are some questions to get in the habit of asking while framing your shots.

What story am I telling? – This is an important question and one that should help you to make any number of decisions in terms of composition, framing, exposure etc. In essence what you’re asking is “why am I taking this shot? What is it’s purpose and what am I trying to convey?” Is it purely a way to keep a record of a moment, are you trying to capture the emotion of a moment, is it possibly a shot to give to someone, is it part of a larger series of shots or will it be the only shot to commemorate the moment etc.
What is the visual focal point of this shot? – What will viewers of this picture naturally have their eye drawn to in this scene? Once you’ve identified this focal point you can think about where to place it in the frame (consider the rule of thirds for example).
What competing focal points are there? – Once you’ve identified what you do want your viewers eyes to be drawn towards and have placed it in the frame – scan your eyes over the shot and see if there are any competing focal points and ask yourself whether they add to or take away from the image? Secondary focal points can add depth to shots but they can also be very distracting and so you might need to reposition yourself or adjust your focal length and/or depth of field to accommodate or remove them from your shots. Also keep in mind that if your shot has more than one focal point that it might be worth taking two shots, one of each focal point, in order to keep things simple.
What is in the background and foreground? – One of most common places for distractions in digital photography is the background of your shots. Run your eyes over the space behind your subject to see what else is in the image (do the same for the foreground). Consider whether you want the background in focus or nice and blurry.
Am I close enough? – Another common mistake in digital photography is taking shots where your subject is too small in the frame. Shots that fill the frame with your subject tend to be much more dynamic and show a lot more detail of your subject. To get this effect you have the option of moving yourself closer, moving your subject closer or using a longer focal length to give the effect of closeness.
What is the main source of light? – Always give consideration to how your subject is lit. Without light you’ll lose detail and clarity in your image and your camera will have to compensate by doing things like increasing ISO and lengthening shutter speeds (which could lead to noisy and blurred images). What is the main source of light, where is it coming from, is there enough light, do you need artificial light sources (flash etc), do you need to stabilize your camera on a tripod to stop camera shake due to low light etc.
Is my Framing Straight? – It’s amazing how many otherwise good photos are spoiled by framing that is slightly offline. Sloping horizons and slightly leaning people or buildings should always be in the back of your mind to check.
What other perspectives could I capture this subject from? – Put 10 digital camera owners in front of a scene and most of them will take exactly the same shot from the same position. Make your images stand out from the crowd by challenging yourself to not only take the standard shots that everyone else will get but to find creative and fresh angles and perspectives to shoot from.
How would holding the camera in the other format change this shot? – Many photographers get into the habit of always holding their camera the same way (horizontally/landscape or vertically/portrait). While it’s OK to have a preference one way or the other it’s also worth remembering that changing the format can drastically change the impact of the shot. Don’t forget you can also hold your camera at an angle for an effective result too.
How will the eye travel through this image? – This is related to asking about focal points but gets in touch with the fact that while you’re photographing a still image your viewers eyes don’t remain still as they look at an image. People tend to follow lines and are attracted to shapes and colors so considering all of these different visual elements and cues can help improve your shots considerably.

Of course you probably won’t remember all the questions and you’re unlikely to go through each of them with every shot you take – however next time you head out with your digital camera concentrate on asking yourself at least one or two of them as you take your shots. As you do you’ll find that they become more automatic and in time you’ll naturally take digital photography shots that take into account all of these elements.

The background in a photography is both an opportunities and a challenge to photographers. On the one hand it can put a subjects in context and make it stand out in a way that highlights it wonderfully, but on the other hand backgrounds can overwhelm subjects and distract from them. Some of the common problems that photographers have with backgrounds are:

Distracting Focal Points – this can happen to everyone – you line up a shot of a friend to take a portrait and just as you press the shutter someone else pops into the frame with the intention of ruin your shot. The result is that the real focal point of the shot becomes this person which pops into the frame. This is an extreme example of distracting focal points in the background but it’s something that happens quite a lot.
Protruding Elements from Subjects Heads – this is something so common that I have to mention it. When shooting a portrait one of the common mistakes is for some background element to look like it’s sticking up out of a person’s head – like a horn. It’s often trees but could be anything. These shots can be quite comical but can also really throw the composition of a shot off.
Competing Lines – if your subject has lines in it and your background also has strong lines they can compete in such a way that the image becomes busy or so that the lines clash with one another.

There are a couple of strategies for dealing with distracting backgrounds:
Check your Background Before Hitting the Shutter Release: Always scan the background of your shots before taking a shot. Look for colors that don’t fit with the rest of the image, bright patches that might distract the eye, lines that clash, people that don’t belong etc.
Move Your Subject: This is a fairly simple technique but is probably the first thing you should consider. Quite often asking a portrait subject to take a step to the left or right will fix things either by putting the distraction behind them or by putting it out of frame.
Change your Shooting Angle: If you have distracting elements in the background of a shot but can’t move your subject another strategy is to move yourself and shoot from a new angle. This might mean rotating around your subject but could also include getting down low to make the sky the background or even getting up high and shooting down onto your subject to make the background the ground.
Using Aperture to Blur Backgrounds: One of the most useful things to learn as a way to combat distractions in backgrounds (and foregrounds) is to use the power of your lens to throw the background out of focus using depth of field. What you’re trying to achieve with this technique is a nice blurred background where you can’t really make out what’s going on there. The easiest way to do this is to use a wide aperture (the smaller the number the wider the aperture). The wider your aperture the more blurry your background should become. The quickest way to see the impact of this strategy is to switch your camera into aperture priority mode and to take a number of shots at different apertures. Start with an aperture of f/20 and work your way down – one stop at a time. Once you get down to under f/4 you’ll start seeing the background in your shots getting blurrier and blurrier.
Using Focal Length to Blur Backgrounds: Another way to help get your backgrounds nice and blurry is to use a lens with a long focal length. Longer tele-photo do help a little to get narrower depth of field. In actual fact the impact is smaller than it seems and the main reason for the change is that with a longer focal length the subject actually takes up more space in the frame. Using longer focal lengths does seem to have some impact and is worth experimenting with.
Place Subjects In front of Open Spaces: Placing your subject a long way in front of other objects will also help to make those objects more blurry. For example if you have the choice between shooting your subject standing right in front of a brick wall or standing in front of an open field – the open field shot will have a much more blurred background simply because the brick wall is just centimeters from your subject whereas an open field stretches off into the distance where everything will be out of focus.
Fill your frame with your subject: One of the most effective ways of removing distractions from backgrounds is to remove the background altogether by totally filling the frame with your subject. Get up close and/or use your zoom lens to tightly frame the shot and you’ll not only remove distractions but could end up with a high impact shot as well.
Make your Own Background: Sometimes there just isn’t any suitable background and so you might want to consider making your own. This could range from buying a purpose built studio background or simply buying some cloth to do the job for you. The other thing to keep in mind is that in many instances you can move things around in the background of your shots (especially if you’re shooting indoors).
Post Processing: There are numerous ways of editing a shot after you’ve taken it to get rid of distracting elements. These can include blurring techniques, actual removing of elements and replacing them and techniques such as selective coloring (making your subject stand out by making your background black and white).

Next time when you are about to press the shutter button on your camera, take a moment and ask yourself: “What is the focal point in this picture?” Some other ways to ask the same question might include – What is the central point of interest? What will draw the eye of the viewers of this picture? What in this image will make it stand out from others? What is my subject?

The reason a focal point is important is that when you look at an image your eye will generally need a point of interest or something that will really hold attention. Without it you’ll find people will simply glance at your shots and then move on to the next one. Once you’ve identified a point of interest or focal point you then should ask yourself how you can enhance it.

A focal point can be virtually anything ranging from a person, to a building, to a mountain, to a flower etc. Obviously the more interesting the focal point the better – but there are other things you can do to enhance it’s power including. Basically there are 6 techniques to enhance the focal point in an image:

Position: Place it in a prominent position, you might want to start with the rule of thirds for some ideas.
Color: using contrasting colors can also be a way of setting your point of interest apart from it’s surroundings.
Blur: If you really want to get tricky you might want to play with slower shutter speeds if your main subject is still and things around it are moving.
Size: making your focal point large is not the only way to make it prominent, but it definitely can help.
Shape: similarly contrasting shapes and textures can make a subject stand out, especially patterns that are repeated around a subject.
Focus: Learn to use Depth of Field to blur out other aspects in front or behind your focal point.

Keep in mind that a combination of above elements can work well together.

Lastly, don’t confuse the viewer with too many competing focal points which might overwhelm the main focal point. Secondary points of interest can be helpful to lead the eye but too many strong ones will just clutter and confuse.

APERTURE PRIORITY MODE (A or AV): This mode is really a semi-automatic (or semi-manual) mode where you choose the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed so as to ensure you have a well balanced exposure. Aperture priority mode is useful when you’re looking to control the depth of field in a shot (usually a stationary object where you don’t need to control shutter speed). Choosing a larger number aperture means the aperture is smaller and lets less light in. This means you’ll have a larger depth of field (more of the scene will be in focus) but that your camera will choose a slower shutter speed. Small numbers means the opposite (if your aperture is large, depth of field will be small and your camera will probably choose a faster shutter speed).

SHUTTER PRIORITY MODE (S or TV): Shutter priority is very similar to aperture priority mode but is the mode where you select a shutter speed and the camera then chooses the aperture. You would use this mode where you want to control over shutter speed (obviously). For example when photographing moving subjects (like sports) you might want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. On the flip-side of this you might want to capture the movement as a blur of a subject like a waterfall and choose a slow shutter speed. You might also choose a slow shutter speed in lower light situations.

PROGRAM MODE (P): Some digital cameras have this priority mode in addition to auto mode. In those cameras that have both, Program mode is similar to Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO etc. Check your digital camera’s manual for how the Program mode differs from Automatic in your particular model.

MANUAL MODE (M): In this mode you have full control over your camera and need to think about all settings including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, flash etc. It gives you the flexibility to set your shots up as you wish. Of course you also need to have some idea of what you’re doing in manual mode so most digital camera owners tend to stick to one of the priority modes.

I’ve decided to talk about Exposure Time and Aperture in the same lesson because it is a strong relation between them, which I’ll explain later. First I will discuss about each of them to help you understand them better.

EXPOSURE TIME: The Exposure Time is the period of time in which the sensor will be exposed to light. This is done in the moment push the button to take the picture. A mechanism inside the camera will open for the precise amount of time that has been manually set or automatically calculated by the camera. The exposer time on a digital camera can vary in a wide range. For example, on my Canon 450D DSLR the exposure time interval is from 1/4000 to 30. That means that I can expose the sensor from the tiny amount of time that is 1/4000 of a second up to 30 seconds. This is set accordingly to light conditions where the picture is taken.

APERTURE: This is a little more complicated to understand than exposer time, but I’ll try to explain it as simple as I can. The aperture is a characteristic of lenses and it is usually specified on these as a value like 1:3.5-5.6 (on lenses with zoom capability) or 1:1.8 (on lenses with no zoom). To make an analogy with the human eye, aperture is similar to the pupil. It gives us the ability to set the amount  of light that enters through the lens by closing or opening a mechanism similar to the eye pupil. A smaller number means a wider opening so more light will come in. The numbers specified on lenses means the maximum opening of the aperture that can be achieved. For example a value like 1:3.5-5.6 (or f/3.5-f/5.6) on some zoom lenses means that we can get a maximum aperture opening of 1:3.5 (or f/3.5) on no zoom and a 1:5.6  (or f/5.6) one on maximum zoom.
Another very important aspect about aperture is the Depth Of Field (or DOF). Depth of field is a term which refers to the areas of the photograph both in front and behind the main focus point which remain “sharp” (in focus). Depth of field is affected by the aperture. A larger aperture (smaller f-number, e.g. f/2) has a shallow depth of field. Anything behind or in front of the main focus point (the main point that you want to be sharp) will appear blurred. A smaller aperture (larger f-number, e.g. f/11) has a greater depth of field. Objects within a certain range behind or in front of the main focus point will also appear sharp. Here is an example:

The relationship between aperture and exposure time is that a smaller aperture will result in less light that will enter through lenses, so a longer exposure time will be required and vice versa. So you can achieve the same luminosity in a picture using different aperture/exposure time combination. The main reason for playing with these two is again the DOF (Depth of Field). There are many situations when you want a shallow DOF (so a blurred background), like in portraits, macros, etc, and there are situations when you’ll prefer a greater DOF, for example in landscape photography. To master this two in combination will require time and a lot of exercises, but I assure you that it worth the effort.