So, you call yourself a photographer?
January 19, 2012
Let me just get this out there, before my opinion gets misconstrued by a lack of reading comprehension. If you take photographs, and you enjoy it, then more power to you. I am not talking about the “casual photographer” in this blog. Ok, phew. That was a close one.
Every day more and more people are taking “pics”, getting digital camera’s and fancying themselves a photographer. Also, every day it is becoming easier and easier for someone to get the “film look” on their photos.
Sadly, film as a medium is getting slowly killed by the ease of use that digital brings. There is a very common misconception that film is expensive to get into. A quick search on eBay, craigslist, or a visit to a camera store will prove that to be false.
I personally picked up a Nikon F100 for $150. At the time this was one of the top of the line film cameras, it is a professional film camera body with an included battery grip, magnesium body and every. The cat’s pajamas with the bees knees. Yes, you have to take your film to be developed, and it costs money. You don’t need to take over a hundred photographs of one subject if you know what you can do with your camera. There is something film makes you do before you fire off the shutter and then review the image on your cameras screen.
It makes you think.
Shutter speed? Aperture or F/stop? Composition? If you don’t know what those things are, you are NOT a photographer. If you fall into this category and you know I am talking about you, let me explain. I won’t even shame you into going to google, cause we both know you wont anyways. You’ll learn something and you can still hold your head up with your left hand.
Shutter speed - The amount of time the shutter is “open”. The general rule of thumb is the darker it is, the longer you need the shutter open. You’ll get a blurry image in low light situations if there is movement of the camera while the shutter is open. The work around is a tripod, breath control, or the ASA/ISO film (or settings in your digital camera). I’ll explain ISO as a bonus later.
f/stop or Aperture - This one is slightly more complicated, so I will go slow. Think of your lens as an eye. If you look at the sun, you squint and not as much light is let through to your pupil. If you are in a dark room you may open your eyes wider to try and see if there is any monsters under your bed, or maybe a spider in the corner above your pillow. The higher the number (f/22) the less light, the lower the number (f/2.8) means more light.
Composition – There are many different thoughts about how a photographer should ideally compose an image. The most basic and easiest to understand is the “rule of thirds”. Imagine a 3×3 box two vertical and horizontal lines over the scene. You want to place your subject along those lines or at the point where the lines cross. You can still get some great photographs without applying this rule, but you must know the rule before you can break it. This will give you a more visually appealing imagine, and you’ll notice the results immediately.
BONUS!! ISO/ASA – American Standards Association and International Organization for Standardization. ASA is the older term used for film, but the most commons now is ISO. This is basically the how sensitive the film is to reflected light. The lower number will give you a crisper and cleaner image but you will need to adjust your shutter speed and aperture accordingly. The higher the ISO, the more “noise”, meaning you will start losing detail in the image.
If you are able to apply these basics, you are well on your way to becoming a photographer who understands the genuine meaning of what it takes to capture a moment the way you saw it. I will guarantee you will not regret it.
Take your camera off “Auto”, educate yourself and become legitimately passionate and the results will speak for themselves.
