The Beginner’s Guide to Photography. Capturing the Moment Every Time, Whatever Camera You Have

176 Pages·2017·154.22 MB·English

by  Haje Jan Kamps

B eginner’s
G uide to
P hotography
An Hachette UK Company
www.hachete.co.uk CONTENTS
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by ILEX,
a division of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd I ntroduction 6
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ 1 EQUIPMENT
www.octopusbooks.co.uk
Fixed-lens Cameras 10
Copyright © Octopus Publishing Group Ltd 2017 Interchangeable-lens Cameras 12
What to look for in a Camera Body 14
Distributed in the US by
Hachette Book Group Fixed vs. Interchangeable Lenses 16
1290 Avenue of the Americas What to Look for in a Lens 18
4th and 5th Floors Prime Lenses vs. Zoom Lenses 20
New York, NY 10020
What Camera do you need? 22
Distributed in Canada by
Canadian Manda Group
664 Annette St. 2 PHOTOGRAPHY FUNDAMENTALS
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6S 2C8
What is an Exposure? 26
Publisher: Roly Allen Controlling Exposure 28
Publisher, Photo: Adam Juniper Aperture & Exposure 30
Managing Specialist Editor: Frank Gallaugher
Shutter Speed & Exposure 32
Admin Assistant: Sarah Vaughan
Art Director: Julie Weir Get Creative with Shutter Speeds 34
Designer: TwoSheds Design Focus & Depth of Field 36
Production Controller: Sarah Kulasek-Boyd Focus & Focusing Modes 38
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be repro- ISO & Exposure 40
duced or utilized in any form or by any means, electron- Shooting Modes 42
ic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording Learning to Look 44
or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
3 LIGHT & COLOR
Haje Jan Kamps asserts the moral right to be identiied
as the author of this work. How Light affects Photography 48
Light Quality 50
ISBN 978-1-78157-510-9
Basic Studio Lighting 56
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from Using Flash 58
the British Library. Flash Control 60
Flash Techniques 62
Printed and bound in China
Off-camera Flash 64
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 What is Color? 66
Color & White Balance 68
Creative Color Balance 72
4 BETTER COMPOSITION, BETTER PICTURES 6 SHARING & EDITING
Improving Technique 76 Sharing on the Move 142
Getting Creative 78 Smart Cameras & Apps 144
Varying your Viewpoint 80 Editing on the Move 146
Eliminating Blur 82 Sharing your Photos 148
Rule of Thirds 84 Desktop Imaging Software 150
The Power of Lines 86 Raw Format 152
Symmetry & Repetition 88 The Editing Worklow 154
Creating Depth 90 Global Editing 158
Frames within Frames 92 Spot Editing 162
Break the Rules 94 Black & White Conversion 164
Exporting & Backing Up 166
5 HOW TO SHOOT ANYTHING
Tracking Progress 168
Perfect Landscapes 98
Glossary 170
Portrait Photography with Natural Light 100
Index 173
Portrait Photography with Artiicial Light 102
Picture Credits 176
Shooting in a Studio 104
Street Photography 106
Photographing Pets 108
Architecture & Cityscapes 110
Close-up & Macro 112
Travel Photography 114
Photographing Children 116
Photographing Families 118
Wedding Photography 120
Wildlife Photography 122
Night Photography 124
Still-life Photography 126
Food Photography 128
Abstracts 130
Black & White Photography 132
Shooting Panoramas 134
HDR Imagery 136
Focus Stacking 138
INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Beginner’s Guide to My number one top tip to becoming a better
Photography! Over the following pages we’re photographer is to be self-critical. Take a lot of
going to make a fantastic journey through the photos, all the time. Use the camera built into
world of photography, and I’m very happy that your phone, take a compact camera with you
you’ve decided to come along! everywhere you can, and dig out a bigger camera
(if you have one) as often as possible. In the
Before we get started, I’d like to dispel two myths beginning, you may ind that only one in a
right off the bat, if you don’t mind. The irst one thousand photos is any good. But look on the
is that you need very high-end equipment in bright side: If you take a thousand photos,
order to be able to take good photos. Nothing you’ll get at least one fantastic picture!
could be further from the truth. Sure there
are occasions where a fancy camera might make With practice, the tricks shown in this book,
your job easier, and there are indeed certain and a good idea of what all the buttons and dials
techniques that are impossible unless your on your camera do, you can start working on
camera has certain features, but on the whole, improving that ratio of good-to-bad shots: taking
you really don’t need to spend all that much it from one in a thousand, to one in a hundred, to
money to hugely improve your photography. one in ten. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s
incredibly rewarding, and I promise you’ll have a
The other myth is that photography requires “a lot of fun along the way.
6 good eye” or “natural talent.” Hogwash. Getting
started from the very beginner level—where you So what are you waiting for? Grab your camera,
are right now—is easy. Once you’ve got to grips lip the page, and let’s get started!
with the basics you’ll ind there are loads of very
simple ways to drastically improve your shots, –Haje Jan Kamps
and this book is full of tips that will help you to
progress quickly. Further down the line when you
start getting the hang of things, you may ind that
in order to reach the next level you need to start
developing an “eye for photography,” but the
secret not a lot of photographers will tell you is
this: As soon as you realize that you want to start
developing your own style, and training your eye for
composition, you’re already halfway there.
B E G I N N E R ’ S G U I D E T O P H O T O G R A P H Y I N T R O D U C T I O N
CHAPTER 1
EQUIPMENT
It’s quite ridiculous how often discussions about
photography can degenerate into “Mine’s bigger
than yours”-style conversations. It’s doubly
curious because, in our experience, among
amateurs, the people with the most extravagant
equipment often have the least clue about how
to use it.
On the other hand, you are going to need
equipment—if there’s one way to guarantee you'll
not capture a single good photo, it’s by
not having a camera with you!
Frequently, the most experienced photographers,
8 who have dabbled with all sorts of high-end
cameras, ind themselves turning back to
relatively simple equipment. This means that if
you want to be a better photographer, you really
shouldn’t worry too much about your equipment.
Worry about the person holding the camera.
Work on becoming a better photographer, and
your photos will improve. All the camera gadgets in
the world are only going to be a distraction if
you’re struggling with the basics.
B E G I N N E R ’ S G U I D E T O P H O T O G R A P H Y E Q U I P M E N T
F IXED-LENS CAMERAS
The term ūixed-lens cameraŬ applies to any entry-level digital SLRs and are capable of producing
camera with a lens that cannot be removed from good-quality images up to small poster size. However,
the main body of the camera. There are numerous all that zoom range comes at the cost of a much
types of ixed-lens cameras, ranging from inexpensive, smaller sensor, so bridge cameras can’t cope with
mostly automatic point-and-shoot models, through challenging lighting conditions, and are harder to
“bridge” or superzoom cameras with powerful zoom control when it comes to creative shooting.
lenses, to high-end compacts with large imaging
sensors that are capable of producing photos
Large-sensor compacts
comparable to those taken with a DSLR (digital
single-lens relex camera—explained on the following As a broad category, large-sensor compact cameras
pages). are the most recent type of ixed-lens cameras. Aimed
at experienced enthusiasts, such cameras are often
bought as portable backups to bulky professional
Point-and-shoot cameras
equipment. These cameras offer full manual control,
Point-and-shoot cameras are small in size, typically big imaging sensors (the same size or near to most
have limited manual controls, and feature autofocus digital SLRs) and high-quality lenses. However, the
zoom lenses. Such cameras, often referred to as tradeoff is usually that the lens cannot zoom—it's the
“compact cameras,” are very simple to operate and are only way to put a large sensor in such a small body.
designed for people who primarily want a quick-and- Instead, it's typically locked at a moderate wide angle.
easy visual record of vacations, birthdays, weddings,
and similar events. In bright daylight conditions, The level of control, combined with the quality of the
point-and-shoot cameras can provide good quality lenses and their large sensors, make these cameras
images that look sharp at up to 8×10 inches. complete creative photography tools capable of
producing high-quality images. Their discrete size
10
The principal drawbacks with this type of camera are makes them popular with photographers who don’t
the small size of the sensor and, typically, a lack of want to attract attention to themselves, such as street
manual control. A small sensor is less eicient at photographers and some photojournalists.
gathering light, therefore in high-contrast lighting
conditions (e.g., bright sunlight combined with dark
shadow areas) point-and-shoot cameras will struggle
to produce clean-looking or accurately exposed More and more phone cameras are incorporating
images. The lack of manual control also makes it a second, parallel camera to achieve effects
diicult to shoot creatively—for choosing focus or impossible with a single lens/sensor. You can
high-key effects, for example, which we’ll cover later. create 3D images, refocus the image after capture,
blur the background to mimic a shallow depth
of ield, take photos in darker situations than
Bridge or superzoom cameras would normally be allowed—all of which are
made possible by the phone’s processor, which
So-called because they “bridge” the gap between
is signiicantly more powerful than the typical
compact point-and-shoot cameras and digital SLRs,
processors in even high-end cameras.
bridge cameras tend to be larger and have a richer
photographic feature set compared to compacts.
Most offer manual controls, an incredible range of
focal lengths (from wide-angle to super telephoto).
In addition, unlike most point-and-shoot cameras
which utilize a rear LCD screen for composing images,
bridge cameras also have an electronic viewinder (E”F)
through which photos can be composed. This is an
advantage in bright conditions when it can be diicult
to see an LCD screen.
Bridge cameras are aimed at photographers who are
keen to experiment with image making and like the
convenience of having a 20x to 50x zoom in single
package. Some bridge cameras can cost as much as
B E G I N N E R ’ S G U I D E T O P H O T O G R A P H Y F I X E D - L E N S C A M E R A S
COMPUTATIONAL CAMERAS