By: Prince McClinton
The Basics of Photography – Introduction to photography (Tutorials)
Hey there, you made it! Glad to see you
found your way to our Basics of Photography series. We have taught the
basics of photography to photographers around the world through Art of
Visuals, so we know just exactly how difficult it can be to learn the
basics principles of photography. My goal is to make this Basics of
Photography series the absolute simplest way to learn the basics of
photography in the fastest amount of time possible. I hope you’ll love
this series because of what you learn here, and I hope you’ll join the Art of Visuals Academy after you get your feet wet with the Basics of Photography. Let’s get going.
BASIC EQUIPMENT YOU’LL NEED
You can do photography with even the
simplest of cameras, but the principles that I’d like to teach are for
people who want to learn to use a DSLR camera, a micro four-thirds
camera, or at least a camera that allows the photographer to adjust the
shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. For a full list of gear that we
recommend, check out our selections on Adorama. Now that you have your camera, let’s jump into learning exposure.
EXPOSURE
When we talk about “exposure,” we simply
mean the brightness or darkness of a photo. It seems simple enough to
take a photo that is correctly exposed (has the proper brightness or
darkness), but in reality, it can be quite tricky. Exposure uses
Aperture, Shutter speed, and ISO in conjunction to create a properly
exposed image. View, share, and download the infographic below to help
better understand exposure below. 
Art of Visuals Exposure Cheat Sheet
WHAT IS APERTURE?
Simply put, Aperture is the hole within your lens, through which light travels into the camera body.
What is Aperture? from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
The image above on the left is shot at an
aperture of 1.4 making it a wide aperture while the image on the right
is taken at 5.6 making it a more narrow aperture, therefore more of the
shot is in focus.
WHAT IS ISO?
In very basic terms, ISO is the level of
sensitivity of your camera to available light. The lower the ISO number,
the less sensitive it is to the light, while a higher ISO number
increases the sensitivity of your camera.
What is ISO? from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Low Iso Image
High Iso Image
WHAT IS SHUTTER SPEED?
Shutter speed, also known as “exposure time”, stands for the length of time
a camera shutter is open to expose light into the camera sensor. If the
shutter speed is fast, it can help to freeze action completely, as seen
in the below photos. If the shutter speed is slow, it can create an
effect called “motion blur”, where moving objects appear blurred along
the direction of the motion which you can also see in the below photo.
What is shutter speed from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Example of a high shutter speed image.
Example of a slow shutter speed.
WHAT IS WHITE BALANCE?
As the name suggests, white balance
balances the color temperature in your image. How does it do this? It
adds the opposite color to the image in an attempt to bring the color
temperature back to neutral. Instead of whites appearing red or yellow,
they should appear white after correctly white balancing an image.
White Balance from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Art of Visuals White Balance Cheat Sheet
AUTO FOCUS MODES AND HOW THEY WORK
DSLR’s come with a range of autofocus modes. For simplicity, will focus on AF-C and AF-S.
Single Focus
One Shot / S-AF / Single Servo / AF-S / S,
etc., is the simplest form of autofocus. In general, you press the
shutter-release button halfway, or your camera may have a separate AF-ON
button, and the camera will lock focus on a subject on which you have
placed the active autofocus sensor. Press the shutter button the rest of
the way to take the image. The advantage? Simplicity. You aim, the
camera focuses, and you shoot. The disadvantage? Did your subject move?
Did you move? If the distance between camera and subject changed, that
initial focus solution is no longer valid. You will have to go through
the process again. If your camera has an “autofocus assist” light on the
front, it is likely that you need to be in this mode to get the lamp to
illuminate the scene so the camera can focus.
Continuous Focus
Continuous AF / C-AF / AI Servo / AF-C,
etc. is where the camera’s electronic brains start to do some pretty
cool things to help you keep your subject in focus. In general, the
camera locks onto a designated subject, chosen by you using the
autofocus point(s), and then tracks that object as it moves in the
frame. If the locked subject moves closer or farther, or if you move,
the camera will adjust focus accordingly. The advantage? Taming dynamic
situations with sports action, moving kids or roaming wildlife. The
disadvantage? If you must recompose your image after the focus is
locked, your camera may get confused into locking onto another part of
your frame.
Camera focus basics from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.PHOTOGRAPHY COMPOSITION
So, “composition” describes placement of
relative objects and elements in an image. Consequently, composition is a
key aspect of great photography. There is hardly a way to overemphasize
the importance of composition. Any aspiring artist ought to give
composition of his work a lot of attention.
Composition basics from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Composition examples.
Composition examples.
WHAT IS AN IMAGE SENSOR
The camera sensor size affects many factors
in your images and the functions of your camera body. It has a major
impact on the quality of your image, how your lens functions, and how it
performs in low light conditions. There are three basic size categories
for sensors: Four Thirds, APS, and Full Film Format(full frame).
Smaller sensors are used in point and shoot cameras while the larger
ones are found in DSLR cameras.
What is image sensor? from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Sony a7Sii Full Frame Mirrorless Camera
AOV Image Sensor Diagram
METERING AND HOW IT WORKS
Metering is how your camera determines what the correct shutter speed
and aperture should be, depending on the amount of light that goes into
the camera and the sensitivity of the sensor.
Metering from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Metering from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
MEMORY CARDS
This is what your camera uses to store images and video files from
the camera. The faster the memory cards the better the performance for
photo and video. We personally shoot with Lexar Memory cards because
they are fast and dependable but there are also other great companies
out there.
Memory cards from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Memory cards from Art of Visuals on Vimeo.
Lexar memory Card
PHOTOGRAPHY LENSES FOR BEGINNERS
In this video below we make recommendations for the best lenses for beginners. You can also visit our gear page on Adorama for our favorite selection of camera lenses and photography gear.
CONCLUSION
We really hope you enjoyed the Art of
Visuals basics of photography. We hope to continue to educate and
inspire you. If you are interested in learning more about photography
and more advanced techniques then you should head on over to the Art of Visuals Academy where we teach you all the ins and outs of photography.
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