Photo Basics

Have you just purchased a camera or do you want to review the basics of photography? here are the 4 concepts that will help you start taking artistic photos and create a beautiful photo gallery. 

1. Composition creates an original image

The photo galleries will show you a number of different subjects: still life, skyline or photo of a deserted beach, the subjects are not lacking. So how do you see the world through a photographer's eye? You have to understand that any original image arises from a choice. Aesthetic, political, technical, the clichés you see are rarely neutral. Composing a photo is all about choosing what you want to show, because anything outside the frame could tell a different story... 

The composition of artistic photos reflects what the photographer wants you to perceive. It therefore plays an important role in the representation of the subject. For example, you can frame a person by isolating him from his environment, or on the contrary, in such a way as to introduce elements, which say more about who he is. You can also show a doorway, so as to create a framing effect for a original picture which indicates the mystery or a stolen cliche. Seek the narrative behind artistic photos photographers you admire!

2. Light, the key to artistic photos

There are two sources of light: nature and artifice. Natural light is provided by the sun or the moon, while the commercial artistic photos are often taken under artificial lights, for example . 

Natural light is divided into two categories: daylight (daytime light) and night light. During the day, the light can be of type A (weak coloring - white or yellow) or B (strong coloring - red, orange, blue). Night light is said to be type A when it is weakly colored (gray-blue) or type B when it is strongly colored (red, red-orange, blue).

Artificial lighting (bulb, neon, LED, etc.) has always contributed to creating an original image. Photographers have found that synthetic lights can make photography more realistic or produce artistic photos, depending on their desire. The photographer will use a set of artificial lights to increase the brightness of a scene or to create shadow areas on his subject. It's up to you to explore the possibilities around you to achieve the desired effect!

3. Focus sublimates the subject

This process consists of bring clarity to the subject. For example, when you want to photograph flowers in a garden, you want the petals to stand out from the foliage. How to make sure that the flowers are sharp?

There are two basic methods for adjusting the focus of artistic photos : manual or automatic. The last is to entrust the focus to autofocus. It works by collimators (horizontal, vertical and cross), selectable indicators are displayed on the screen of your camera. They light up once focus is achieved by half-pressing the shutter button. All you have to do is point to the subject and press the little button, as they say.

For manual focus, put your camera on manual focus (M or MF) and play with the mobile ring which is located on your lens that will make different elements of the image appear more or less sharp. Coming back to the flowers in your garden, there can also be wind which will cause the branches to shake. The adjustment of the size, the opening of field and its speed, according to the luminosity of the scene, will make it possible to have effects of blurring or sharpness on the petals of the flowers. Practice with subjects and in different situations (outdoors, indoors, still life or life scene) to better master focus and take more artistic shots !

4. Basic technical terms to master

After having evoked the notions of basic photography and given you some keys to produce a original picture, let's recap in more technical terms. 

4.A. The diaphragm

This operation of the camera is similar to that of our pupil. It decides how much light will enter the lens. It is expressed by the formula "f/x.x" for example f/5.6. The lower the number, the more light the lens lets through, and vice versa.

4.B. Shutter speed

This part touches the camera body. The shutter adjusts the amount of time the case will be exposed to light. The speed at which the light-sensitive material is exposed is crucial. Because, remember, artistic photos play between light and dark. 

4.C. The sensibility

Precisely, the sensitivity of the support (plate, film, etc.) intended to be impressed by the light is expressed in ISO. The higher the ISO, the more light the material will take. We will therefore prefer an ISO of 800 for a dark scene than an ISO of 400, sufficient for a photo in broad daylight. Attention, an ISO more sensitive to light will have a coarser grain. 

With these basic notions, it's up to you to transform your holiday snapshots into real ones. artistic pictures !