Photography How-to

The Basics

Optics

Clean your cameras optics with a photographic cloth and cleaning solution (available from your local camera shop). Do not use tissue paper or household cleaning solutions.

Locking the Focus

Most modern cameras have an autofocus function, with a two-step shutter release. Pressing the shutter lightly half-way locks the focus; pressing it fully takes the picture. This two-step shutter release allows you to select the part of the picture you want to be in focus.

Press the shutter release half-way to lock the focus, and then reframe the picture. Your main subject, even if it is not now in the camera's focus zone, will still come out in focus in the final picture.

Depth of Field

The amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field depends on the size of the aperture, the distance of the camera from the subject, and the focal length of the lens. The bigger the aperture, the greater the depth of field.

You can use a shallow depth of field to isolate your main subject from its surroundings, as in a portrait. You can do this by zooming in on your subject, by moving in close, or by using a large aperture.

alternatively, if you want the foreground and background to be as sharp as possible, as in a landscape shot, you can increase the depth of field by using a small aperture or zooming out to a wide-angle.

Composition

Rule of Thirds

If you divide your screen into three horizontal and three vertical sections, where the lines intersect are focal points. Focal points are what the eyes naturally seek out when they look at a photograph. These are good places to position our main subjects.

The horizontal lines also make for a good position of where approximately to put the horizon depending on whether you want more land or more sky.

Portraits

To take a good portrait shot, get in close, or zoom in on your subject. Cut out as much unneeded stuff as possible. Also, avoid the "lamppost growing out of the head" syndrome.

Landscapes

To take a good landscape shot, zoom out to the widest angle possible. This gives the deepest field of depth which means all o0f the picture will be in focus.

Sunsets

Sunsets can be beautiful if shot correctly. As the sun sets, take a number of pictures at different exposures (known as "exposure bracketing"). You will neecd to manually adjust your exposure one to two f/stops down as you are shooting into the sun.