Photography 101
Everybody has been there. You are browsing on the internet
or Facebook or your favorite blog. Perhaps you are reading some content. Then
WHAMO! You are struck with a visual beauty that you can’t take your eyes off
of! Is it the color? How is the subject positioned? How do they get the eyes to
just “pop”? How do they do that background thing? To any novice photographer, I
am sure that these are the things that pop into your head when you see a
photo.
Well you are in the right place to have all of your
questions answered! Welcome to your Santa Clarita Photographer’s Edition of
Photography 101: Tricks of the trade, from schmo to Pro, lame to fame. Whatever
your goal is you can find it here! Over the course of the next few months, I
will be blogging about camera basics, principles of photography, my take on
what equipment to buy, the differences between terms, settings, brands,
pricing, etc. If we end up not covering everything that you need to learn here,
feel free to leave comments below and I would love to answer them for you.
Who knows, you may even have some photography homework on
your hands. :) You can read more about me on my About page, but for those of
you who are so engaged that you don’t want to flip there at the moment, here is
a little background. My name is Josh D. Smith. I am a Southern California
Native. I started my interest in photography in about 2006 when I was acting
and modeling. After searching for many photographers for a good and affordable
set of headshots, my response was simply, “I can do that!” So… I did! I started
my business in 2007 doing mainly headshots.
I have since then moved into weddings, fashion, as well as
video work for weddings, short films, music videos, spec commercials, etc.
Needless to say, I love images and to capture life through my lens, turning it
into something people can’t stop talking about! I am a student for life and as
I learn new tricks and information, I love to share it. So definitely expect
that as well. :)
Lesson #1 – Cameras
I get a lot of people that ask me the age old question:
Digital or Film? To them I say: Fast Food or a Restaurant? The point being that
both will do the job, it is just a matter of preference. I will admit that
although film captures light in a way that digital doesn’t, digital SLR cameras
have gotten to a point in which the quality is practically comparable. And when
it comes down to it, if I am going to shoot the kinds of jobs that I do, I need
a faster workflow as well as deliverable file type that I can send to clients
online. Even though I have the experience of film, I still, hands down, prefer
to shoot digital.
I LOVE IT.
But try it for yourself! In learning about the photographic
principles, they don’t really change whether or not you are shooting film or
digital. Some of the key ingredients that you need to take a look at when
choosing a camera are your Megapixel count, processor, and sensor. What are
your goals with your photos? Will you be blowing them up to 60x80 prints? If
not, then a camera with a high megapixel count may be overkill for you. In
simplest terms, a megapixel (MP) is a unit of quality. The fewer MPs, the lower
the resolution. They are directly related to the resolution of a graphic. A MP
is equal to 1 million pixels. As a reference, for a standard 8x10 print, you
will want a camera with at least 5-6 MP.
The processor on a camera works similar to the processor on
a computer. It is responsible for how quickly the camera can process
information. For somebody shooting sports, you can imagine that a processor is
an extremely important tool. For someone shooting portraits, it may not be so.
The sensor is the last thing on our list. The sensor on a digital camera is
basically the “film” of the digital camera. This is what captures the
image.
It is important to note that the majority of cameras
actually have cropped sensors (APS-C: Advanced Photo System type-C). This type
of sensor ultimately crops in closer to the image than film would, or the
digital equivalent being known as a full frame sensor. All of these items
ultimately make up the life blood of your camera and are responsible for
handling anything that has to do with your images.
Although all of these items are important to consider when
purchasing a camera, something to know is that the majority of cameras out now
a days are all capable of shooting extremely high quality images. So in my
honest opinion, I would worry more about the principles of photography and how
to operate the camera as opposed to the camera you get!
So next time we will cover just that. First order on our
list for next time will be Aperture. :)
Until then!
Joshua
No comments :
Post a Comment