##Take one photo.

• Choose a color scheme outlined in the lesson, and make a photo with it in mind.
• When posting, don’t specifically mention which scheme you chose. Let your classmates guess!
• Comment on another participant’s post guessing which scheme they chose to try out.
• Include a text about what challenges you faced, and how you approached making the photo.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

IMG - Color!

^(Chelsea London © 2019 | Fujifilm X-T1 | 35.0mm | ƒ/1.4 | 1/1000s | ISO 500)

As photographers, we have a lot of tools available to us: compositional rules, lighting knowledge, the exposure triangle, and so on. Color is just another one of those tools. While it can be an intimidating element to a photographer, color can help solidify a voice. Knowing and understanding color theory - the way painters, designers, and artists of all trades do - a photographer can utilize color to their benefit.

You may already be aware of the concept of additive and subtractive color (RGB vs. RYB), which is something we will touch upon in the next post in this series. For the sake of this lesson, we will be talking in generics about color theory and are focusing on Red Yellow Blue (RYB).

In this lesson we’ll look at orders of colors, variables of colors, and color schemes. By the end, you should be able to recognize different color orders and schemes, and how to use variables to bring out the most in your images.

##Orders of Colors

IMG - Primary colors: Red, Blue, Yellow

IMG - Primary colors: Blue, Yellow

This may cause some flashbacks to elementary school art class, but let's start at the beginning: The orders of colors. There are three orders: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colors. When working in RYB color, the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. That is to say, they are the three pure colors from which all other colors are derived. If we take two primary colors and add combine them equally, we get a secondary color. Finally, a tertiary color is one which is a combination of a primary and secondary color. Below you will see a graphic which depicts these three orders using an RYB color wheel.

GIF - Primary, Secondar, Tertiary

• Primary Colors: Red, yellow, and blue are what we call "pure colors." They are not created by the combining of other colors.

• Secondary Colors: A 50/50 combination of any two primary colors. Example: Red + Yellow = Orange.

• Tertiary Colors: A 25/75 or 75/25 combination of a primary color and secondary color. Example: Blue + Green = Turquoise.

Now, how do the orders of colors help a photographer? Well, by knowing the three orders, we can make decisions about which colors we want to show in frame. As this article continues we will explore how to effectively make those decisions to achieve the final look you are aiming for, but before then, let’s look at some examples of the three orders in actual photographs.

IMG - 1a

^(Figure 1a: Note the primary colors do not distract the eye from the subject. By using strong primary reds and blues, the subject is clear to the viewer.)

IMG - 1b

^(Figure 1b: Strong secondary colors often add interest and can easily become a subject on their own.)

IMG - 1c

^(Figure 1c: Tertiary colors are often used to create visual interest and make for other-worldly vibes.)

##Variables of Colors

IMG - Luminance was used to recover the soft colors of the sunset.

Now that we've been introduced to the orders of the colors, let's look at their variables. Those who have post processed images in Adobe Lightroom, Apple Photos, Capture One, or any other RAW editor may be familiar with what is commonly known as the 'HSL sliders.' HSL meaning: Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity. Let's start with hue.

GIF - Figure 2a: Hue slider (Lightroom Classic CC)

• Hue: Hue simply is the shade or name of the color. In our editing programs, this slider allows us to completely change a color. Watch what happens when I take this photo of an orange sunset and move the orange hue slider left and right.

GIF - Figure 2b: Saturation slider (Lightroom Classic CC)

• Saturation: Saturation is the amount of color, or its intensity. This is how we end up with those selective color photos we all... er... love so much, but it can also be used to isolate the strength of one color over the others. The photo in figure 2b consists of mainly 3 colors: blue, yellow, and orange. Watch what happens when I move each color's individual saturation slider.

GIF - Figure 2c: Luminance slider (Lightroom Classic CC)

• Luminance: Luminance is the brightness of the color. This helps us bring out bright color, recover skin tones, and many other techniques. In figure 2c you can see how the blues react to the luminance slider.

##Color Schemes

IMG - Orange and blue are complementary colors.

When you decorate a house, you choose the color of the walls to go with the furniture, wall hangings, curtains, and so on. You're essentially creating a color scheme. We do the same thing when we set up a shot. When being intentional with the color in your images, scheme absolutely comes into play. Three of the most popular color schemes are complimentary, analogous, and monochrome. To look at each individually, it will help to revisit our RYB color wheel.

• Complementary Colors:

GIF - Figure 3: Complementary color wheel

Simply put, complementary colors are the ones which sit completely opposite one another on the color wheel, and they, ahem - complement one another. For example, red and green may make you think of Christmas, or light blue and orange may make you think of the Mets (oh, only me?) But there's a reason these combinations create such strong emotions in us - they just look good together.

Below you will see a few images which utilize complementary colors. Note how our attention is not being fought for by strong colors, but rather the colors create balance.

IMG - Figure 3a: Tones of blues and yellows complement each other.

IMG - Figure 3b: Greens are reds are complementary.

IMG - Figure 3c: Darker shades of blue complement oranges.

• Analogous colors:

GIF - Figure 4: Analogous color wheel

Colors which sit next to each other on the color wheel and share similar colors are known as analogous colors. They will have one dominant color in common, most often a primary color, but can also be a secondary or tertiary. Analogous colors are often found in nature - think those rich oranges and yellows in a New England autumn.

Landscape photographers can really benefit from knowingly utilizing analogous colors, of course, but they also lend themselves to other aspects of photography, such as beautifully bokeh'd backgrounds of a portrait. By having similar colors in the background, the subject remains the focus.

Below you will see some examples of analogous colors.

IMG - Figure 4a: Varying shades of blue and green are analogous.

IMG - Figure 4b: Browns and oranges sit next to each other on the color wheel.

IMG - Figure 4c: Analogous shades of blues and purples.

• Monochrome colors:

GIF - Figure 5: Monochrome color wheel

While you may be familiar with monochrome referring to black and white, it actually refers to anything which uses solely one color value. Those images you see where there is overwhelmingly one color present are monochrome, for all intents and purposes. We see this technique often in those hazy sunrise/set shots, but it is also a very impactful technique for street shots.

Below we see three example images using monochrome colors.

IMG - Figure 5a: Shades of greens.

IMG - Figure 5b: Shades of orange.

IMG - Figure 5c: Shades of pink.

##How to Use Color Theory

IMG - How is color theory being used in this image?

Let's see this in practice.

So now we know the orders and variables, as well as three popular schemes of color, but how do those tools aide us in our photography? When we combine the three aspects we discussed above, we can deliberately look for or create scenes that further our intended story.

Note Figure 6a below. When I first approached this scene, I saw two things, interesting lines and complementary colors. With a little patience and a whole lot of luck, the jogger ran into the scene wearing one of the two complementary colors. Had this color story not been introduced, the image would have had much less impact. In this instance, the color creates the story.

Figure 6b utilizes monochrome in secondary colors. With a stark gradient from dark to light oranges, the image projects a warm summer's sunset - which is exactly what I was hoping to acheive as it was well over 105F (42C) - and trying to capture that in a photo was an important part of the story of my time in that city.

Finally, in Figure 6c we see analogous tertiary colors. While the color is not so much the subject as it is in the other two, it is still crucial to set the mood for the shot. The various levels of greens and blues in the ocean water enhances the relaxed atmosphere I was intending to create with this image.

IMG - Figure 6a: Complementary secondary colors.

IMG - Figure 6b: Monochrome secondary colors.

IMG - Figure 6c: Analogous tertiary colors.

##With great power comes great responsibility. or something.

To recap, we went over are three orders of colors (primary, secondary, and tertiary), three variables of color (hue, saturation, and luminance), and three popular color schemes (complementary, analogous, and monochrome). When you have a good grasp of these basic aspects of color theory, you're off to a good start and can work to manipulate a scene to create the desired ambiance or vibe in your shots.

Disclaimer: It is important to note that while RYB color is one with which we are all familiar, it is not the standard anymore. In fact, your photography software does not utilize RYB color by default. It uses a different, four color, subtractive color model known as "CMYK" (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black). We stuck with RGB to keep it simple. In a future lesson, we will go deeper into color theory, as it is a rabbit hole. (Relevant xkcd is relevant).

In the meanwhile, an excellent resource for the choosing colors is Adobe's color wheel. Here you can chose a color wheel and scheme and be given applicable pairings of colors. If not for nothing, it's a fun and pretty to look at - try it out!

##Take one photo.

• Choose a compositional guideline outlined in the lesson, and make a photo with it in mind.
• When posting, don’t specifically mention which guideline you chose. Let your classmates guess!
• Comment on another participant’s post guessing which guideline they chose to try out.
• Include a text about what challenges you faced, and how you approached making the photo.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

There are many visual tools in your artist’s toolbox which help create more striking visual narrative. One such toolset includes so called “compositional rules.”

Now, as I am not one for adhering to the rules, I prefer the verbiage ‘guidelines’ instead. So, that’s what we’re going to use from here on out.

By having a solid handle on these guidelines, we can prepare ourselves for whatever scenario we find ourselves in. As a documentary travel photographer, I often find myself in unfamiliar locations with little prep time. Of course I can (and do) research potential photographic opportunities before arriving, but one cannot simply anticipate every thing - especially if one hopes to interject their own unique voice into a photograph. With that in mind, having a mental lockbox of compositional guidelines to fall back on allows one to look at a location differently and with intention - and as all of my photography students can attest to, in my book, intention is everything.

Before we get to the guidelines, I want to explain how we will approach analyzing the example images. I’m going to talk a lot about “The Eye” and it’s movements. When you look at an image, try and pay attention to the route your eye takes while viewing. My grandma the talented painter once said to child-me, “the goal of a painter is to make The Eye go on a circular journey, never allowing it to leave.” That’s what you want in your photographs. You want The Eye to be free to move about the cabin frame in with ease.*

*Note: I am not one to speak in absolutes. There are times the artistic vision is to make a viewer feel cramped, frantic, uneasy, claustrophobic, etc. Knowing compositional guidelines, and when to not follow them will help in these situations.

I am also going to challenge you to rethink how you look at a scene. What I mean by that, is to not look at a landscape and see a grassy hill and tree. Instead, you should be seeing curves (the hill), strong lines (the tree and branches), softness (the grass on the hill), sharpness (the leaves on the tree). An easy way to get in to the habit of seeing differently in a scene is to unfocus you eyes (bonus points if all you have to do is remove your glasses) and just take note of the shapes and textures you’re seeing.

With all that out of the way, let’s have a look at some common and master-able compositional guidelines.

Rule (coughguidelinecough) of Thirds

Probably the most oft muttered of the compositional guidelines. So oft that I considered leaving it off this list all together. But, as it is the first rule most new photographers get a handle on, it seems unjust to ignore. Just please note that it is not absolutely necessary to always follow this guideline. There are absolutely endless opportunities where it is not necessary. Okay, off the soapbox.

Here it is: Imagine the frame divided into nine equal segments (this grid is often a feature you can turn on your camera LCD/EVF). By placing the most important elements/subject where the lines intersect, you are creating an arguably more interesting image. The important thing to note here is that not only are you showing intent by not plopping that coffee cup in smack dab in the middle of the frame, but you are also allowing for space for context. I approach the Rule of Thirds as a gateway guideline which allows for others to come in to play. More on that later.

Rule of thirds example

Captions of the images on imgur have additional context and analysis of each supporting photo in this post.

Leading Lines

Our eye naturally is attracted to lines, and instinctually follows them. You can use this to your advantage by placing a subject at the end point of a line. Some commonly used leading line are streets, fences, bridges, etc. I would urge you not to fall into the trap of using railroads to create a leading line as its both extremely dangerous and most often illegal.

Instead of falling into that trope, look for some less-obvious leading lines.

One commonly seen utilization of leading lines is a technique known as “single-point perspective.” In single point perspective the leading lines converge on a single vanishing point in the distance. If you’ve seen any Kubrick film, you will recognize this technique. It’s a great tool to give a sense of continuation of a scene.

Leading lines examples

Framing

Another commonly talked about guideline, but one with some real heft behind it. Essentially you are wanting to create a frame within the frame which highlights the subject, making it clear at what the viewer should be looking. There are plenty of found frames which can be used, such as er- door frames, mirrors in frames, window frames - seeing a pattern here? But guess what, it doesn’t stop there!

Be creative and make the frames. I for one use a lot of body parts - people pointing, shoulders, profiles, etc. My living room window sits eye-line with a tram lines and I cannot express how many times the bars connecting the tram to the wire have been used as a frame in my images.

Having trouble finding some of these lesser-seen frames? Go back to the unfocused eye trick. Are you seeing any strong lines filling the scene? Those are what you’re looking for - now just try and find a subject to which they can enhance and draw The Eye.

Framing examples

Scale

Scale is simply showing the viewer how large something is (or isn’t). By using an element which everyone knows the size of, you can show the viewer the immensity or puniness of an element. Common usages may be a person being completely dwarfed by a large building, thereby showing that building is impressively large. You can play this the other way, as well.

Looking at the image below, you’ll see the iconic Eiffel Tower. Everyone in the modern world has some conception of how large the tower is, but by making it tiny in the image, we’re now getting a sense of the sprawl of the city.

Scale examples

Rule of Odds

When The Eye looks at an image with an even number of elements, it bounces between them, with the frantic ping ponging of a tennis match, not knowing where to rest. Having an odd number of elements give The Eye some time as it moves from element to element.

When the brain processes even numbered elements, it tends to couple them up, which in turn splits the image. But, with an odd number it creates a connecting element and maintains the singularity of the frame. Please note that the word “element” here doesn’t necessarily mean a single object - sometimes an element can be a grouping. For example, a bouquet of flowers, a couple sitting together, a bottle of wine with a glass in tow, etcetc. For added compositional zen, when framing these elements do decide which is the primary subject, and balance the others off of it by making one physically larger than the other or playing with the depth of field.

Rule of odds examples

Repeating Patterns

Patterns come in many forms: lines, colors, shapes, textures, and so on. A strong pattern can be used to guide The Eye to the subject of the image. It can also make a solid object stand out and pop by breaking the pattern. Imagine a top down photo of a crosswalk (zebra crossing to the Brits reading this). We’ve got a strong pattern in the painted white lines. Now, imagine a person with a bright yellow umbrella walking across it. That solid yellow is amplified by the repeating nature of the crosswalk.

Patterns can be found everywhere. Yes, there’s the obvious crosswalk example, but challenge yourself to find patterns in less obvious places. Irregular patterns often appear in nature, like the disrupted sand as it is pushed and pulled from the sea. Regular patterns appear in manmade structures, and even can be found in crowd of people. Filling the frame with a strong pattern almost always creates an interesting shot.

Repeating patterns examples

Balancing Elements

Lack of balance is where many photos following the Rule of Thirds miss out. A photographer spends so much time making sure their subject is in that right quadrant of the photo that they miss the fact that the image is now heavily weighted.

Discussing visual weight can be hard to articulate, but when we are aware of it, it becomes extremely noticeable. Here’s another time when the unfocusing of eyes really comes in handy. Unfocus on a scene, does it just feel heavy on one side? You’re going to need a lesser-element to counterweight the subject element. That balancing element should be obviously of lesser-import either by making it smaller or more out of focus than the subject. An intentional balancing element can also create more context in a scene.

If we think back to that coffee cup in the Rule of Thirds segment, what could be used to both balance it and create context? Maybe an open book on a cafe table? Maybe a bag of coffee beans? Anything which tells the viewer where they are and fills in the unweighted space of the frame.

Balancing elements examples

Depth

The part of view that is closest to an observer is the foreground. The background is what’s furthest away from the observer. What’s in between is the mid-ground. Okay with that vocabulary out of the way, we can talk about depth.

By showcasing multiple layers in a frame, a photographer can give a sense of breath of a location. If there’s no specific foreground of a scene, you can create one. My go to is my lovely obliging husband’s profile. Be creative and try different angles to get solid differential fore, mid, and backgrounds. When doing this, you should make a choice as to where you’re placing your subject and make depth of field choices based around that.

Depth examples

Perspective/Viewpoint

Here’s something I tell all my photography students: what you see is completely unique to you. Your viewpoint is just that, your viewpoint. Use that to your advantage and showcase how you see the world. For me, I am not a tall woman, so I see the world from behind shoulders and from low angles. I can enhance that by positioning myself in a way which adds visual interest to a subject.

Get low, get high, find unique angles. Anything which isn’t the normal eye-height straight on will create a more dynamic image. You can add little hints of recognizable detail to help the viewer understand where you are while still showcasing something new about a recognizable scene.

Perspective examples

Nose and Headroom

This guideline is snagged from my former life as a filmmaker, but it’s one that holds just as much importance in photography. When photographing a subject, you want to leave enough breathing room. This goes for living subjects as well as inanimate.

If you’re photographing a person and they’re turned to the right of the frame, unless your intent is to make your viewer to feel claustrophobic, you should leave some space between the nose of the subject and the edge of the frame. Same goes for headroom. Leave a little room between the top of the subject to the top of the frame.

Now, of course there are times where this can be ignored, such as cutting the top of the head of a model in a headshot, but in general watch where you cut the frame. A good practice is to look at every corner and all edges of the frame while composing. Pay close attention to what’s being cut off. Be intentional with your framing choice.

Nose and Headroom example

Fill the Frame

If you’re unsure of how to effectively capture a scene, it may be because there are many distracting elements or unnecessary empty bits. Try filling the frame with your intended subject. This isolates the subject and makes it very obvious to the viewer. Don’t be afraid to get really close, either. Be completely unapologetic about your attempt to fill the frame. Combine this technique with patterns for a really dynamic shot.

Fill the frame examples

Negative Space

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have negative space. This is where my mantra of be intentional really gets reinforced. There are absolutely times when what seems like unnecessary empty space is ideal for the photograph you’re attempting. Negative space can elicit a feeling of solitude, vastness, calm, etc.

When trying out negative space think about where you are placing the subject very carefully. Do you want to highlight the surroundings? Maybe placing the subject off-center within the rule of thirds is the way to go. Are you more interested in showcasing the emptiness around a subject? Try a more center-weighted composition. When done properly, negative space is an incredibly useful tool for showing atmosphere.

Negative space examples

Golden Triangles

Alright, you’re going to have to stay with me here a little, because this one might not click straight away. We’re going to go back to the rule of thirds for a moment. Remember how we cut the frame into nine rectangles. Well with golden triangles we cut the frame into diagonals and place elements accordingly. This creates something known as dynamic tension.

Essentially dynamic tension makes the viewer feel, well, tense. We’re not accustomed to strong diagonals in every day life. We see things on a flat plane, more or less. But, by introducing diagonals, we’re showing a scene in an unfamiliar way. Think of it this way: straight lines = stable, diagonals = rickety.

So how do we do it? Cut the frame into four triangles of two different sizes by drawing a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite, and then two lines off of the remaining two corners, reaching the first line at a 90 degree angle. Phew. You then want to place your elements within the triangles, or place diagonal elements running along the two lines. Still with me? Maybe let’s just look at some examples.

Golden triangles examples

Golden Ratio

Math time! Nah, who am I kidding, I’m not going to subject you to my terrible understanding of geometric formulae. Let’s ELI5 this one: Larger elements lead to smaller subject elements in a spiral. Imagine a snail’s shell or one of those really trendy spiral succulents you see all over instagram. The spiral starts with large bits and spirals down until the smallest bit. Basically The Eye is being lead to the center without you even noticing.

That’s what you’re trying to do with the Golden Ratio - use larger elements to sneakily guide The Eye to the smaller subject. That’s really the crux of it. Save the complicated algorithms to Euclid.

Golden ratio examples

Break the Rules

Once you have a good understanding of the guidelines, it is best to use them when appropriate. But, here’s the rub, you’re an artist and as an artist you need to express your creative vision. That might mean ripping the pages out of your text book Michael Scott style and throwing all the rules away. And that’s fine - more than fine, actually. Once you have a grasp of the guidelines you will understand when they benefit your final image and when you can tweak them to fit your needs. So get out there and practice practice practice so you can break break break!

Break the rules examples

Hopefully these guidelines help you to look at your images differently, and most importantly have you out photographing with intent. Happy composing!

tl;dr: Photograph intentionally!

##Make four photos.

• Found Natural Light: The first photo should be entirely natural light and not modified actively by you. Just use the natural light as it comes. You can of course position yourself or subject to take full advantage of the light, but do not intentionally bounce or diffuse the light.

• Manipulated Natural Light: For this photo, you will modify the natural light. If you don’t have any specific light modification tools like a reflector, be creative and find different ways to modify the light. A white posterboard works well as a reflector. A white sheet as a skrim. You can get even more creative, using lace to create shadowed patterns on your subject, for instance.

• Found Artificial Light: For some you may think this is your first foray into artificial light, but in reality, you’ve dealt with artificial light many time before - be it a table lamp, neon sign, street light, etc. For this photo, use what artificial light you can find as the main source of light for your image. Do not manipulate this light in any way - not even by moving that table lamp. You may move yourself/subject to best take advantage of the found artificial light.

• Manipulated Artificial Light: Now it’s your turn to put on your Type A hats and really control the scene and final image. Using whatever artificial light you have at hand (whether it be professional studio equipment or simply the flashlight on your phone) modify the light to make the final image. You can use modifiers or simply move the lights to the desired effect.

Include a write up about the light you found and how you manipulated light with your submissions. What was difficult about this assignment? What came natural (pun) to you? Include what feedback you are looking for as far as your final submissions.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Unit 6: The Art of Photography

This unit is all about the artistry behind photography. We’re going to introduce the topic with three fundamental aspects to photography: light, composition, and color theory. In this unit you’ll be given the opportunity to be truly creative and share your unique photographic vision. Our advice to you is to take risks from here on out. Try new techniques and push yourself to get out of your comfort zone.

##Natural Light

Understanding light is essential for any photographer. Light is the fundamental element that shapes the mood, composition, and visual impact of a photograph. In this lesson, we will look at the basics of light, including its properties, behavior, and how to manipulate it. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced photographer, mastering light is key to creating your desired final image.

IMG - Natural light

^(Sean Makin © 2018 | Nikon D610 | 70.0 mm | ƒ/8.0 | 1/40s | ISO 100)

Natural light refers to the illumination provided by the sun. It's constantly changing throughout the day and affected by weather conditions. Knowing how to read the light will help you to control it, creating your desired final image. The quality of natural light varies based on time of day, weather, and geographical location. For example, the golden hour, which occurs shortly after sunrise and before sunset, provides soft, warm light ideal for portraits and landscapes. Different times of the day offer different types of natural light: harsh midday light can create strong shadows, while overcast skies can provide soft, diffused light with minimal shadows.

IMG - Backlit

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T1 | 56.0mm | ƒ/2.9 | 1/250s | ISO 250)

##Direction of Light

The direction from which natural light comes can dramatically affect the mood and appearance of your photographs. Front lighting illuminates the subject evenly, while side lighting creates depth and texture through shadows. Backlighting, where the light comes from behind the subject, can create silhouettes or halo effects. Experimenting with different angles and directions of natural light can help you convey various emotions and narratives in your photographs.

Lighting direction plays a crucial role in shaping the mood and visual impact of a photograph. Observing the direction of light, whether it's front, side, or backlit, can significantly influence the overall look and feel of the image. Frontal lighting, where the light source is directly facing the subject, tends to minimize shadows and reveal details with clarity. This type of lighting is often used in portrait photography to create a flattering and evenly lit portrait.

On the other hand, side lighting can add depth and texture to the scene by casting shadows that define shapes and contours. This directional light creates a sense of drama and emphasizes the three-dimensional aspects of the subject. Photographers often utilize side lighting in landscapes or still life compositions to enhance the texture and visual interest of the elements in the frame.

Backlighting, where the light source is behind the subject, can create silhouettes or halo effects, adding a sense of mystery or ethereal beauty to the photograph. This lighting direction can be particularly effective in capturing subjects against a dramatic sky or creating a sense of warmth and nostalgia in outdoor scenes during golden hour. Understanding how different lighting directions affect a photo allows photographers to creatively manipulate light to convey specific emotions or narratives in their images.

IMG - Sun from the left of frame

^(Sean Makin © 2017 | Nikon D610 | 112.0mm | ƒ/8.0 | 1/200s | ISO 100)

##Reading Light

As photographers, it's essential to observe and understand how natural light interacts with the environment. Pay attention to how light falls on different surfaces, how shadows form, and how colors appear under different lighting conditions. Being observant allows you to anticipate and adapt to changes in light, enabling you to capture compelling photographs even in challenging situations.

Understanding how to read light is crucial in photography. Light can dramatically change the mood and impact of a photograph, influencing everything from exposure to color rendition. One fundamental aspect of reading light is to observe its direction and quality. Directional light, such as that from the sun or a lamp, creates distinct shadows and highlights, adding depth and dimension to the scene. On the other hand, diffused light, like on a cloudy day or through a sheer curtain, produces soft and even illumination, ideal for capturing details without harsh contrasts.

Another key aspect is understanding the intensity of light. Bright light can result in high contrast and vivid colors, while low light conditions can create a moody and atmospheric effect. By paying attention to these elements of light, photographers can make informed decisions about exposure settings, composition, and timing to achieve the desired visual impact in their photographs.

IMG - Example of reflector

^(Chelsea London © 2019 | Fujifilm XT-1 | 35.0mm | ƒ/2.5 | 1/1000s | ISO 320)

##Modifiers for Natural Light

There are several light modifiers that photographers can use with natural light to enhance their photographs:

• Reflectors: Reflectors bounce natural light back onto the subject, filling in shadows and creating a softer, more even illumination. They come in various colors like white, silver, gold, and translucent, each offering different qualities of light.

• Diffusers: Diffusers soften harsh sunlight by scattering the light, resulting in a more gentle and flattering illumination. They are especially useful for portrait photography to achieve a smooth and even skin tone.

• Flags or Barn Doors: These are used to block or shape natural light, allowing photographers to control the direction and intensity of light falling on the subject. Flags are often used in studio setups but can be adapted for outdoor shooting as well.

*Scrims: Similar to diffusers, scrims are larger panels that diffuse sunlight over a broader area, creating a soft and diffused lighting effect ideal for outdoor portraits or group shots.

• Gobos: Gobos are used to create patterns or shapes with natural light. They can be placed in front of a light source to project interesting shadows or textures onto the subject or background.

• Polarizing Filters: These filters reduce glare and reflections in photographs taken under bright sunlight, making colors more vibrant and enhancing overall image quality.

• Silks: Silks are translucent fabrics that can be used to soften and diffuse sunlight, providing a gentle and flattering light for portraits or close-up shots.

By using these light modifiers creatively, you can effectively harness natural light to achieve various artistic effects and improve the quality of your final images.

##Artificial Light

Artificial light refers to any light source that is not naturally occurring, such as lamps, flashlights, or studio lights. Unlike natural light, artificial light offers photographers greater control over intensity, direction, and color temperature. In later lessons we will look at more advanced studio set-ups, but for now, we’re going to keep it simple focusing on what artificial light is and how you can use it even without a huge set up (or even without a simple speed light!)

IMG - Speedlight in an umbrella. Remote triggered.

^(Chelsea London © 2019 | Fujifilm XT-1 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/3.6 | 1/180s | ISO 200)

##Types of Artificial Light

When it comes to light in photography, you have two main options: continuous lighting and flash/strobe lighting. Continuous lighting offers a steady stream of illumination, allowing you to see and adjust the lighting setup in real-time. This type of lighting is particularly useful in studio settings and videography, where you need consistent lighting throughout the shoot for precise control over the scene.

On the other hand, flash or strobe lighting provides a quick burst of intense light, perfect for freezing fast-moving subjects or adding dynamic effects to your images. This type of lighting is popular in portrait photography and outdoor shoots where additional light is required to fill in shadows or create a specific mood. Understanding the characteristics and applications of both continuous and flash/strobe lighting will empower you to make informed decisions and elevate the quality of your photographs.

IMG - Light modifiers

^(Jefferson Gomes via Unsplash)

##Manipulating Artificial Light

Manipulating artificial light in photography involves several techniques to control and enhance the lighting conditions for desired effects. One crucial aspect is adjusting the intensity of the light. This can be done by changing the distance between the light source and the subject or using dimmers for adjustable lighting setups. By varying the intensity, you can create different moods and atmospheres in your photographs, from soft and subtle lighting to bold and dramatic effects.

Another important technique is modifying the quality of light. This can be achieved using diffusers, reflectors, or specific modifiers like softboxes and umbrellas. These tools help soften harsh shadows and create a more flattering light on the subject. By controlling light quality, photographers can enhance textures, reveal details, and create a visually appealing balance of light and shadow.

Additionally, playing with color temperature adds another layer of creativity to artificial lighting. Different light sources have varying color temperatures, from warm (yellow/orange) to cool (blue). Understanding color temperature allows photographers to match the artificial light with ambient lighting for a natural look or creatively alter the mood of their photographs. This manipulation of color temperature can evoke different emotions and enhance the overall storytelling in photography, making it a powerful tool in the photographer's toolkit.

##Modifiers for Artificial Light

Here are some common light modifiers that can be used with artificial light in photography:

• Softboxes: These are large fabric boxes that diffuse and soften the light, producing a flattering, even illumination with reduced harsh shadows.

• Umbrellas: Reflective and shoot-through umbrellas can be used to bounce or diffuse light, respectively, creating a softer and more diffused lighting effect.

• Reflectors: Reflectors bounce light onto the subject, filling in shadows and adding a subtle, flattering glow to the scene.

• Grids: Grids are attachments that control the spread of light, focusing it in a narrower beam to create more controlled and directed lighting.

• Beauty dishes: These are bowl-shaped modifiers that produce a soft yet slightly contrasty light, often used in portrait photography to create a pleasing, flattering effect on the subject's skin.

• Snoots: Snoots narrow the beam of light, creating a spotlight effect and highlighting specific areas or subjects in the frame.

• Diffusion panels: These panels are placed in front of the light source to scatter and soften the light, reducing harsh shadows and creating a gentle, diffused lighting effect.

• Gels: Gels are colored filters that can be placed over the light source to add color effects or correct color temperature, allowing for creative lighting variations and adjustments.

A fun way to learn about modifiers in photography is to focus on catchlights in fashion or portrait photos. Take a close look at the subject's eyes and observe the shape of the catchlight. Is it an octagon or a perfect circle? Try to identify the modifier used based on the reflection visible in the subject's eye. This exercise can help you understand how different modifiers affect the light and create distinctive catchlights.

##Artistic Uses of Light

IMG - purposeful shadows

^(Chelsea London © 2018 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/2000s | ISO 200)

Light plays a crucial role in setting the mood and atmosphere of a photograph. Whether it's the warm, golden glow of sunset casting long shadows or the diffused light of foggy mornings, different lighting conditions can evoke distinct emotions in viewers. Experiment with using natural and artificial light to enhance the mood of your photographs. Consider how the direction, intensity, and color temperature of light can contribute to the overall atmosphere you want to convey.

Light has the ability to reveal texture and shape, adding depth and dimension to your images. By manipulating the angle and intensity of light, you can highlight the details of surfaces. Experiment with side lighting to create dramatic shadows that accentuate the texture of your subject. Alternatively, use soft, diffused light to capture smooth textures with minimal shadow detail.

Contrast refers to the difference in brightness between the lightest and darkest areas of a photograph. By controlling contrast through lighting techniques, you can add drama and impact to your images. High-contrast lighting, characterized by deep shadows and bright highlights, can create a sense of tension and intrigue. Low-contrast lighting, on the other hand, produces a softer, more subtle effect, suitable for conveying a sense of tranquility or nostalgia. Experiment with backlighting, silhouettes, and chiaroscuro lighting (strong contrast between light and dark) to create compositions that command attention.

Light can be used strategically to draw the viewer's eye to specific elements within a photograph. By placing light strategically, you can create leading lines, highlights, and focal points that guide the viewer's eye through the image. Experiment with using light to illuminate your primary subject while allowing surrounding elements to fade into shadow. This technique, known as selective lighting, can help emphasize the subject's importance and create a sense of depth within the frame.

Light can be a powerful symbolic element in photography, representing concepts such as hope, enlightenment, or mystery. By incorporating light symbolically into your images, you can imbue them with deeper meaning and narrative. Experiment with using light to create symbolic motifs within your photographs, such as light streaming through a window to represent new beginnings or casting ominous shadows to evoke a sense of foreboding.

##Make and edit a headshot.

Photograph a (human - sorry our furry friends) subject, and fully process it. For the sake of the processing, have the photo be a medium shot. That means the composition should be from the shoulders, ending at the top of the head. Fully process that photo.

• Do a complete workflow post process on the image, noting any major adjustments you did.

• Post the unprocessed image and the final edit side by side. (For this you can export the raw without any added adjustments, or screenshot the raw file.)

Include a write up about what your process looked like, and any challenges you ran into. Include what your thought process was as far as what you intended the final image to look like. If you have specific questions, include those as well. For feedback, mentors will be focusing on the how you were able to translate your intended goals into the final image.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

IMG - Medium shot

^(Chelsea London © 2019 | Fujifilm X-T1 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/7.1 | 1/180s | ISO 200)

In our last lesson we talked about best practices for processing landscape and object photos. Before starting here, make sure you’ve read through that lesson, as the fundamentals there translate to portrait photography. For this lesson, we’re going to look at some specialty processes which benefit portrait photos specifically. This lesson is by no means an exhaustive explainer of processing portraits - some portraits require more intensive processing, and we’ll focus in on basic processes that you can use for day to day portraits and as a base for those times you’ll need more.

Before we start, watch the following video, which shows processing of multiple portraits from beginning to end. You will see some of the practices we talk about in this lesson in the video.

#Video - Processing Portraits

##Portrait-Specific Techniques

IMG - Raw image exported as JPEG. IMG - Final edit

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0mm | 1/500s | ƒ/1.2 | ISO 100 )

Skin Retouching

Some portrait subjects may ask for skin retouching. Before you go wild with that heal tool, ask yourself what actually needs retouching. Our personal suggestion is to remove things which are temporary (acne, cuts, dark circles, etc) but not anything which is permanent (moles, scars, etc) - unless requested by the client. I think about my senior portraits where my prominent face moles were removed, but not the one giant zit on my chin. As a teenaged girl, all that did was make me even more self conscious about my moles. On the other hand, I have had clients with moles specifically ask for them to be removed.

Okay, with the morals out of the way, let’s talk about how to do this. Generally, processing software will have tools built in to easily remove any unwanted facial marks. Often you’ll find a heal tool and a clone tool. In Lightroom/Photoshop, for example, the heal tool is used to blend and repair imperfections in an image by analyzing nearby pixels for a more natural look. The clone tool duplicates an exact copy of a selected area, maintaining the source texture and color without blending, making it suitable for precise replication in retouching. For skin, the heal tool is preferable.

There are more advanced techniques for skin retouching. One which is well-regarded is frequency separation. Photoshop, or other advanced, layer-based editing programs are required for frequency separation. It is quite powerful. Its main benefit is that the original texture of skin remains intact, keeping the skin looking natural and not over-processed. If you are interested in this technique, I can highly recommend this video from Phlern.

IMG - Raw image exported as JPEG. IMG - Final edit.

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0mm | 1/2000s | ƒ/1.2 | ISO 200 )

Eye Enhancement

In a portrait, eyes are often the main attraction, and you want them looking lively and bright. The first step in bringing life into the eyes happens at the time of capturing. A catch light in the eye really makes the difference between a bright portrait and uncanny valley territory. We’re going to spend quite a bit of time talking about the best way to capture alive portraits, but to quickly touch on catch lights will set you up for success in processing portraits. Briefly, a catch light is a reflection of light in the eye. This can be easily introduced with a reflector, flash, or simply just positioning your subject in a way where the light bounces into their eyes.

So now you have an image with gorgeous catch lights, but you want to brighten those eyes even more. Selective edits will be your friend here. If you’re working in something like Lightroom where layers are not available, you’ll want to use masks to target the location. Simply choose a mask brush, brush it over the eyes. In your mask, adjusting the highlights, whites, sharpness, texture, and clarity will brighten and sharpen the eyes effectively. Just remember to be careful not to overdo it to the point where the subject now looks unreal - unless, of course, that’s the look you’re going for.

In the processing video you watched above, you’ll also see techniques in Photoshop to address under eye discoloration or bags. In something like Lightroom, the heal tool is often a good solution for this, but keep the opacity at a lower level to keep it looking natural.

IMG - Self portrait with heavy dodging and burning to enhance cheekbones and jawline.

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 50.0mm | 1/42s | ƒ/4.5 | ISO 320)

Dodging & Burning

We referenced frequency separation above, which utilizes dodging and burning very effectively. We’re going to look at other uses for it outside frequency separation. Dodging and burning are techniques used in photo editing to selectively lighten (dodge) or darken (burn) specific areas of an image. In portrait photography, dodging can enhance highlights and brighten facial features, while burning can add depth and definition by subtly darkening shadows, resulting in a more sculpted and visually engaging portrait with enhanced facial contours. If you’re familiar with makeup, you can equate it in your mind to contouring.

In Photoshop, dodging and burning can be accomplished using the Dodge and Burn tools. To dodge, select the Dodge tool, adjust the exposure settings, and brush over areas you want to lighten. For burning, use the Burn tool in a similar manner, adjusting exposure as needed to darken specific regions. These tools offer control over the intensity of the adjustments, allowing for a nuanced enhancement of highlights and shadows in portrait photos.

IMG - Raw image exported as JPEG. IMG - Final Edit

^(Chelsea London © 2016 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 27.0mm | 1/10s | ƒ/2.8 | ISO 200)

Recovering Skin Tone with Luminance

Everyone has undertones in their skin - some are pinks, reds, yellows, oranges, olives, etc. When processing an image, it’s easy to end up with a skin tone which no longer matches the subject in reality, or appears washed out or muddied. A simple fix for this is using the luminance slider in the HSL sliders in most processing software.

By adjusting the luminance, which controls the brightness of specific colors in the image, you can selectively target the skin tones without affecting other elements. If the skin appears overly bright or washed out, reducing the luminance can help restore natural warmth and tonal depth. Conversely, if the skin tones are too dark or lack vibrancy, increasing the luminance can bring out subtle highlights and create a more balanced and lifelike representation. This nuanced control over luminance allows you to rescue and enhance skin tones, achieving a more flattering and visually appealing result in portrait photos.

IMG - Example of extreme flyaways

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0mm | 1/500s | ƒ/2.8 | ISO 200 )

Flyaways

The bane of all portrait photographers’ existence are the flyaways - those little hairs that stand on edge, or worse cover a subject’s face. Ideally, this would be minimized at the time of photographing by keeping your eyes open for them, and copious amounts of hairspray. But, in the real world, they are inevitable.

The good news is they can be removed. The bad news is that it’s a stupidly tedious process. In the video above, you’ll see me tackle a few flyaways in Photoshop using the spot healing tool.

IMG - Portrait

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0mm | 1/60s | ƒ/2.8 | ISO 200)

Moving Forward

There are many other techniques you can implement in processing portrait photography. While it may seem overwhelming, the good news is that there are endless resources to help you with your specific needs. A quick search of what you’re trying to do will open up tons of videos and written tutorials to get you going.

##Pull out those raw files from the Raw vs. JPEG lesson, and fire up your post processing software of choice.

Choose two images from your photo series from Lesson 4.

• Do a complete workflow post process on both images, noting any major adjustments you did.

• Post the unprocessed image and the final edit side by side. (For this you can export the raw without any added adjustments, or screenshot the raw file.)

Include a write up about what your process looked like, and any challenges you ran into. Include what your thought process was as far as what you intended the final image to look like. If you have specific questions, include those as well. For feedback, mentors will be focusing on the how you were able to translate your intended goals into the final image.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Unit 5: Post Processing

##In this Unit...

We’re going to jump in to post processing. Keep in mind that this is not meant to be an all encompassing ‘how to’ on post processing. In fact, try not to think of it as a tutorial at all. Post processing is very variable depending on your style and desired output. We’ll look at some best practices and see some examples of how we teachers handle our own post processing. You will most likely have questions specific to what you’re trying to achieve - feel free to ask the teachers and mentors for help and we’ll point you in the right direction.

IMG - Before & After

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-E1 | 27.0 mm | ƒ/7.1 | 1/500s | ISO 200)

Following on from our Lesson #6 on Digital Workflow a few weeks ago we’re going to get started on what you can do with your raw files that you’ve shot in previous weeks. Capturing your image in camera can be only half of the photographic process, the other half which we refer to as post processing. This can be where your image comes alive, where you can increase contrast, add pop and colour and fulfil the idea you had in your head when you hit the shutter button. That being said, plenty of people are happy with an out-of-camera jpeg or a quick film simulation or preset applied, there’s also nothing wrong with this!

You’ll notice that for this week's lesson, we are using Adobe Lightroom Classic, this is just our personal choice for editing software. The broad concepts outlined here will apply to editing no matter what particular editing software you are using. Most tools/steps will have a direct equivalent, though they may not use the exact same name/terminology. We also want to mention this is not an exhaustive editing tutorial, but something foundational to give you the vocabulary and knowledge to search for more information on particular steps, software features or editing concepts.

Again, we do highly recommend using a piece of software that integrates digital asset management, some options are:

• Adobe Lightroom

• Capture One

• ON1

• DxO PhotoLab

• Darktable (Free)

• Ansel (Free)

• digiKam (Free)

• Apple Photos (included with MacOS)

Other non-digital asset management options include:

• RawTherapee

• Filmulator

• Photoscape X

• Nikon NX Studio

• Canon Digital Photo Professional

• Fujifilm X RAW Studio

Here is a quick reminder before you start editing:

• Make sure you’ve imported your images and aren’t somehow editing your image on a memory card.

• Make sure your images are backed up.

• Make sure you’ve tagged, keyworded and filed your images appropriately - make life easy for future you!

• Make sure you’ve disabled night mode etc. otherwise, you won’t get an accurate rendition of your image.

##Workflow

We're going to look at a post processing workflow step by step. You can follow along with your own image, or the example image (raw available below.)

IMG - Raw exported as JPEG

IMG - Final edit

An image of the Massachusetts State House in the centre of Boston, taken on a cold January evening during golden hour. Sean Makin © 2016 | Nikon D610 | 10s | ƒ/11 | ISO 100

Download the raw file here. Sean Makin © 2016 released and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - If you post your version of this image anywhere, please link to this class and credit Sean.

Most software follows a fairly logical flow of editing, where you work down the editing panel from top to bottom, you should use this as a general guide of the steps to follow.

IMG - Raw imported image

IMG - Step 1

Step 1: The first step of the editing process is all about “correcting” your image file. Lens corrections can be done by default on import in some software or as a separate stop, this removes vignetting, lens distortion and chromatic aberration. Cropping and rotation, it is useful to refine your composition as early as you can in the editing process removing any distracting elements and cropping to your desired aspect ratio. Perspective correction is useful for images that have straight lines, this ensures they’re parallel and straight. Finally, healing or spot removal is useful to remove dust spots, blemishes or undesirable elements from your image.

IMG - Step 2

Step 2: The next step is white balance, adjusting this allows you to change the colour temperature, lower values make your image cooler (more blue) and higher values make your image warmer (more yellow). You can also change the image's tint, from more magenta to more green. Often the auto WB will do a good job for tint and you can adjust the temperature to taste. If you are only editing a JPEG you have significantly less latitude to apply corrections and should only make small adjustments.

IMG - Step 3

Step 3: The next series of basic adjustments is where the bulk of your editing occurs.

Exposure changes the brightness of the image. Highlights change the brightness of the highlights portion of the histogram. Shadows change the brightness of the shadows portion of the histogram. Whites change the brightness of the whites portion of the histogram. Blacks change the brightness of the black portion of the histogram.

Contrast increases or decreases the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of the image. Clarity is similar to contrast but only targets the bright and dark parts of the mid-tones, allowing you to increase or decrease the difference in brightness of these. Texture targets high frequency (i.e. fine detailed) part of image, allowing you to soften it for a portrait or sharpen it for a landscape or a cityscape.

Saturation allows you to increase or decrease the intensity of the color in your image. It influences all colors and should therefore be used sparingly, if at all. Vibrance is generally a better way to make your colors pop, various algorithms are used to determine which colors to target. A fully desaturated image will be black and white while a fully de-vibranced image will not be.

IMG - Step 4

Step 4: Tone Curve is a graphical way of making targeted changes of different brightness values while keeping a natural falloff away from this targeted brightness. The horizontal axis corresponds to a particular histogram value, while the vertical axis corresponds to an adjusted value. A straight, 45˚ line means no adjustment has been applied while picking a point and raising it above the line raises its brightness while lowering a point below the line decreases its brightness. This can be a great way of creating more targeted contrast changes or changes to very specific brightness values e.g. a certain value in the shadows to bring back detail.

IMG - Step 5

Step 5: Color adjustment to make changes to, hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) of e.g. colour, intensity, and lightness/darkness of specific colors across the whole image. This tool allows you to make subtle tonal changes, or strongly color grade your image to taste. Some image editors also have ways to apply specific colours to the highlights, mid-tones and shadows and control the hue and saturation of this color adjustment.

IMG - Step 6

Step 6: Local adjustments are a powerful tool to alter areas of the image selectively. There are normally two ways to select the area in which to apply the adjustment. Brushes allow you to paint areas, you can control brush strength, size and the feather or fade of the edge of the brush. Masks are a larger area tool where you might use a radial mask, a gradient mask or some other shape offered by your software. More comprehensive masking tools can allow you to target specific brightness, colours or textures. Generally, you will have the full suite of basic adjustments as described above available to alter the area to which you selected to apply adjustments.

IMG - Step 7

Step 7: Sharpening and noise reduction are some of the final steps of the editing process. Sharpening lets you bring out finer details in your image, making textures and details in the image pop. You’ll usually have control over the amount of sharpening, the radius of the sharpening as well as being able to mask off certain areas from being sharpened. All images will need some degree of sharpening applied to them.

Noise reduction allows you to reduce the amount of random noise across your image. There are two primary types of noise, colour which is usually the green and red mottle and luminance noise is more like like a texture. Even at ISO 100 there is still a need for a small amount of noise reduction. There are also “AI” denoising tools such as Adobe Lightroom (AI) Denoise, Topaz DeNoise AI, and Luminar Neo, which can do excellent jobs at reducing noise even in very extreme situations. These can be computationally and time intensive, depending on your computer so they are not suited to applying to large numbers of images.

For both of these, be careful how much you apply as you can quickly cross into too much territory, resulting in odd textures and details.

IMG - Step 8

Step 8: Before and after side by side

IMG - Step 9

Step 9: Output (or export) settings are important for getting the image you worked so hard to create and edit into its optimal state for its final purpose.

For a lot of uses, you’ll want to resize your image as some hosts will not accept large images or may just display them poorly so it’s better to resize them yourself. Generally speaking, Instagram likes 1000-pixel long edge, Facebook 2000-3000 pixels and full resolution can be useful for uploading everywhere else.

Output sharpening allows you to add some final sharpening depending on how your image will be displayed, this generally is proportional to the resizing you do to your image above. More advanced users may want to have 100% control over this step in Photoshop or similar.

With more and more cameras having GPS included it is usually good practice to strip the location metadata from images you make public in case there may be sensitive location data attached, e.g. your home etc.

For print, there are more advanced ways of proofing your image to ensure it prints well but that is well beyond the scope of this lesson. The user manual of your particular piece of software is generally the best way to do this, alternatively, your printer may have some suggestions for delivering files to them.

##Video Example

Video - Real-time post processing

The above video (34:29) shows real-time processing on two images in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Apple Photos. Keep in mind that it is not meant to be a “follow my lead” tutorial, but more of an example of how processing can be approached.

The two raw files in this video can be downloaded here:

• Photo One

• Photo Two

Photos are both © Chelsea London. If you post your versions anywhere, please link to this class as credit.

For a cleaner version of this lesson, head over to this link.

IMG - High ISO

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X-E1 | 27.0 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/2000s | ISO 6400)

##Introduction to ISO

In this lesson, we will tackle the last of the three exposure controls: the ISO, also sometimes called sensitivity (though this is a misnomer). Once you have mastered shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, you will know 90% of what you need to know to create (technically) good images that reflect your vision.

ISO is the only one of the exposure controls where there is a fundamental difference between film and digital. In film, ISO is a physical property of the film you are using, and the only way to modify it is to change to a new roll. With digital you can easily change ISO between shots simply by turning a wheel, hitting a button, or digging into a menu. This action allows for adaptation to the current light conditions. For those who shot film a long time ago, you may have used different words for sensitivity: ASA or din. The first is exactly the same as our current ISO - it simply changed names when it became standardized. The latter uses another logarithmic scale and is completely outdated.

Like shutter speed and unlike aperture, ISO is a linear value. This makes it easier to determine a stop - simply a doubling of the ISO value. Let’s assume you keep the same shutter speed and aperture, are shooting at ISO 800, and want one stop of underexposure, you would go to ISO 400. If you want one stop of overexposure, you should go to ISO 1600.

A very common misconception is that increasing the ISO in digital cameras increases the sensitivity of the camera/sensor. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible, as sensor sensitivity is a physical property baked into its construction. Changing ISO changes the amount of amplification applied to the initial voltage produced by a photosite on the sensor when a photon hits it. Or, in simpler terms, adjusting ISO basically alters how much the camera boosts the initial signal created by light hitting the sensor. The base ISO of a sensor (generally ISO 100) would have no additional amplification applied to it, while ISO values higher than this have amplification applied to it.

IMG - nighttime ISO

^(Sean Makin © 2018 | Nikon D610 | 24.0mm | ƒ/1.8 | 13s | ISO 6400)

##Noise

You have heard that increasing ISO makes your images noisier, right? This is another common misconception that appears to be true if you look at two images taken at significantly different ISO settings in different lighting environments. But the real answer is a little more nuanced and technical.

Noise in the simplest form is related to light, or lack thereof. Because sensors are not perfect there are many different noise sources including read noise, dark current, hot pixels, photon noise, shot noise, fixed pattern noise, and color mottle. We won’t explore these terms any further as this goes well beyond the limits of a beginner photo class. When we increase the amount of light on the sensor, the number of electrons hitting the photosites on the sensor increases. This, in turn, increases the amount of current produced by the transistor. The increase in the signal produced by these transistors increases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), meaning we can swamp the noise produced by the sources listed above and end up with a cleaner, less noisy image.

IMG - Test scene with fixed shutter speed, exposure is balanced during postprocessing to achieve equal brightness. No noise reduction or sharpening applied.

The idea that increasing ISO causes more noise arises when you compare pictures taken in various lighting conditions, with the same shutter speed and aperture settings, to achieve a well-exposed image. For instance, if you use settings like 1/250 and f/4, and take one photo during the day at ISO 100 and another in the evening at ISO 1600, you're letting in four stops less light. This reduction in light means there's less signal, resulting in a lower signal-to-noise ratio and more noticeable sensor noise in the images.

IMG - Test scene where shutter speed is varied to achieve balanced exposure. No noise reduction or sharpening applied

Let’s consider a different situation where you take two photos in the same lighting conditions. In the first photo, your settings are 1/250 shutter speed, f/4 aperture, and ISO 400. However, this isn't fast enough to capture fast movement. So, you decide to increase the shutter speed to 1/1000, keeping the aperture at f/4. To keep the image brightness the same, you also increase the ISO to 1600.

Now, the question is, which change in settings actually leads to more noise in the picture? Surprisingly, it's the 2-stop increase in shutter speed. This is because it lets less light reach the camera sensor, and that reduction in light is what causes more noise in the image, not the higher ISO.

IMG - nighttime ISO

^(Chelsea London © 2018 | Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/60s | ISO 6400)

##What does this mean for me as a photographer?

Setting aside the technical details, as photographers, we often find ourselves restricted by a minimum shutter speed (to avoid blur) and a chosen aperture size (based on our lens and desired depth of field), which determines the amount of light we can capture. When we want a well-exposed image, we might need to increase the amplification of the signal on our camera's sensor, (e.g. increasing ISO).

It's useful to associate higher ISO with more noise, as a higher ISO is typically needed in darker environments, where less light is available, leading to more noticeable noise. Because of this, photographers usually have a set of ISO values for their cameras, including a base ISO, the first ISO where noise becomes apparent, the highest acceptable ISO for good quality (which is crucial), and the maximum ISO they're willing to use in emergency situations.

Video - Noise reduction example in Lightroom Classic

##Noise Reduction

Okay, so now you have some noise in your image. Is there anything you can do about it? As discussed in our raw vs. JPEG lesson, an in-camera JPEG will always have some processing applied - noise reduction is one of these processes. This is why if you shoot a raw+JPEG, the raw file will look grainer/noisier. The raw has had no noise reduction applied (that’s your job in post processing), whereas the JPEG would have had some applied.

Generally, good raw editors contain their own version of noise reduction, with some people gravitating to specific software just for this process. There have also been advances in neural network-driven (“AI”) noise reduction - with Adobe Lightroom AI Denoise, Topaz DeNoise AI, and Luminar Neo among the main players. We’ll explore noise reduction a little more in our editing lessons, but you can see an example in the video above.

IMG - Indoors ISO

^(Sean Makin © 2018 | Nikon D610 | 17.0mm | ƒ/4.5 | 1/40s | ISO 800)

##Dynamic Range

When you change the ISO on your camera, it affects the camera's ability to capture a wide range of tones, from dark to bright - also known as dynamic range. A higher dynamic range helps the camera capture details in both bright and dark areas, even in challenging light. Conversely, a lower dynamic range may cause lost details in either bright (overexposed) or dark (underexposed) areas.

Practically, if you increase the ISO beyond the camera's base setting, it reduces the dynamic range. This means you must be more cautious about the contrast between shadows and highlights in your pictures, ensuring it's not too extreme to avoid losing important details.

You can see how the change in ISO changes your dynamic range here.

IMG - Indoors ISO

^(Chelsea London © 2017 | Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/250s | ISO 2000)

##ISO Invariance

ISO invariance in digital cameras means that the amount of read noise remains relatively consistent across the ISO range of the camera's sensor. This is helpful because it allows you to take a darker photo and brighten it later without losing much quality. This can be advantageous when you want to preserve highlights, if you prefer to adjust exposure in post-processing, or if you accidentally didn't get the exposure right.

It's important to note that not all cameras are equally ISO invariant. The extent to which you can adjust brightness without losing quality can vary between different camera brands and models. Generally, cameras with modern Sony-made sensors (used in Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm) show good ISO invariance. On the other hand, even the latest Canon sensors usually don't exhibit as much ISO invariance. Some cameras may become ISO invariant only after a certain ISO setting (like ISO 400-1600), depending on the specific camera and sensor.

You can see how the read noise changes with ISO in your camera here.

IMG - Indoors ISO

^(Chelsea London © 2015 | Nikon D7000 | 102.0 mm | ƒ/5.0 | 1/60s | ISO 1600)

##Further Reading

Here are some links if you would like to go further down the rabbit hole of what becomes an incredibly technical topic

• Photons to Photos

• ISO - The Myth and the Cold Amplified Truth

DPReview also has an excellent studio shot comparison tool where you can compare cameras at different ISO, under the same lighting though with different shutter speeds. This is handy for seeing real-world camera performance.

• Image comparison

##Photographers usually have specific ISO values for their cameras, including a base ISO, the first ISO where noise becomes noticeable, the highest acceptable ISO for good quality, and the maximum ISO they're willing to use in an emergency.

#This lesson is a two-parter.

Part One

Do an ISO experiment: In a setting with consistent lighting, take multiple exposures in attempt to identify:

• Your base ISO

• The first ISO where noise becomes noticeable

• The highest acceptable ISO for good image quality

• The maximum ISO you’re willing to use in an emergency

Part Two (submission photos)

Use your highest acceptable ISO.

• Using your highest acceptable ISO, take any photo. If you have a style or genre that you’re generally attracted to, go that route. If you’re still experimenting with various photo types, go with whatever sparks your interest.

Use your emergency ISO.

• Using your emergency ISO, take any photo. If you have a style or genre that you’re generally attracted to, go that route. If you’re still experimenting with various photo types, go with whatever sparks your interest.

With your two photos, include a write up about your experience using the high ISO, and where you think it is helpful. If you processed the photo with any denoise system, explain what you did and how it impacted the final image. Please include what feedback you're looking for from the mentors.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Aperture and Depth of Field

IMG - Aperture

^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-E1 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/2.2 | 1/1000s | ISO 200)

##Aperture

You’ll remember from previous lessons that the term "aperture" refers to the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the sensor/film. The size of the aperture is measured in f-stops or f-numbers, a ratio of the width of the aperture divided by the focal length of the lens. The size of the aperture is measured in f-stops or f-numbers. A smaller f-number (e.g., f/2.8) indicates a larger aperture opening, allowing more light to reach the camera sensor, while a larger f-number (e.g., f/16) represents a smaller aperture, letting in less light. While the numbering system may seem counterintuitive, remind yourself that we’re dealing in fractions.

The aperture plays a crucial role in controlling the amount of light that enters the camera, affecting the exposure of the image. Additionally, along with subject distance from the background, it influences the depth of field - the range of distances in the scene that appears in focus in the final photograph. Adjusting the aperture also contributes to creative effects such as background blur (bokeh) or maximizing the sharpness throughout the entire image.

IMG-DOF

^(Chelsea London © 2016. Fujifilm X-T10 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/18 | 6.5s | ISO 200)

##Depth of Field

Depth of field (DOF) is a term used in photography to describe the range of distances within a scene that appears in focus in a photograph. In other words, it is the area in front of and behind the main subject that appears to be in focus. A photograph with a shallow depth of field will have a limited portion of the image in sharp focus, while a deep depth of field will render a larger portion of the scene in focus.

Several factors influence the depth of field, with one of the primary ones being the aperture setting of the camera. A wider aperture (smaller f-number) results in a shallower depth of field, isolating the subject from the background and foreground by creating a pronounced blur in the out-of-focus areas. On the other hand, a narrower aperture (larger f-number) increases the depth of field, making more of the scene appear sharp and in focus.

Other factors that can affect depth of field include the distance between the camera and the subject, as well as the focal length of the lens. For this week, we’re going to concern ourselves mainly with the aperture’s effect on DOF.

IMG - Diffraction

^(Christian Fischer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

##Diffraction

Diffraction refers to the bending of light waves as they pass through the aperture of a camera lens. This optical phenomenon becomes more noticeable at smaller aperture settings, which correspond to higher f-numbers. When light passes through a small aperture, it tends to spread out, causing the edges of the aperture to diffract the light.

In practical terms, diffraction can have an impact on image sharpness. As you stop down the aperture (use higher f-numbers), you might initially notice an increase in depth of field, but beyond a certain point, usually around f/11 to f/16 or smaller depending on the lens, diffraction starts to counteract the benefits. The diffracted light creates interference patterns that can lead to a loss of overall image sharpness.

Photographers often need to strike a balance between achieving the desired depth of field and avoiding the negative effects of diffraction. This is especially important in situations where maximizing sharpness is crucial, such as in macro photography or when using high-resolution camera sensors.

The consequence is that each lens has a sweet spot, an aperture at which its sharpness is optimal. The further you step away from this aperture, the worse the results will be. Depending on the general quality of the lens, it could be hardly noticeable, or it could ruin your images. The exact value of the sweet spot depends on each particular lens.

IMG - Shallow DOF

^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/1.2 | 1/2000s | ISO 200)

IMG - Shallow DOF

^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/1.2 | 1/500s | ISO 200)

##Shallow Depth of Field

A shallow depth of field refers to a photographic effect where only a small portion of the image is in sharp focus, while the areas in front of and behind that point appear blurred. This effect is achieved by using a wide aperture (a smaller f-number) on the camera lens. The wider aperture allows more light to enter the lens, resulting in a reduced depth of field.

Photographers often use a shallow depth of field to isolate a subject from its background. Portrait photography utilizes a shallow depth of field in headshots or other photos where the environment is not crucial to the image. You’ll also see it a lot in birding or macro where the subject is what’s important.

By blurring the background or foreground elements, attention is drawn to the sharply focused subject, making it stand out prominently in the photograph.

IMG - Deep DOF

^(Sean Makin © 2017. Nikon D610 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/11 | 30s | ISO 100)

##Deep Depth of Field

A deep depth of field in photography refers to a scenario where a large portion of the image, both in front of and behind the main subject, is in sharp focus. This effect is achieved by using a narrow aperture (a larger f-number) on the camera lens. A smaller aperture allows less light to enter the lens, resulting in an increased depth of field.

With a wide depth of field, objects at various distances from the camera will appear relatively sharp and clear in the final photograph. This technique is often employed when photographers want to capture a scene in its entirety, ensuring that both foreground and background elements are in focus. Landscape photography, architectural photography, and certain types of documentary photography are examples of situations where a wide depth of field might be preferred. Environmental portraits where the scene is an important aspect of the portrait also benefit from a deep depth of field.

In summary, a deep depth of field is characterized by a larger area of the image being in focus, achieved by using a narrow aperture (large number).

IMG - Bokeh

^(Chelsea London © 2016. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/1.4 | 1/2000s | ISO 200)

IMG - Bokeh

^(Chelsea London © 2015. Nikon D7000 | 50.0 mm | ƒ/1.8 | 1/8s | ISO 640)

##Bokeh

Bokeh is a term used to describe the aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus areas in an image, particularly in the background. It refers to the way the out-of-focus points of light are rendered, creating a soft and visually pleasing blur. Bokeh is influenced by the lens design, aperture settings, and the distance between the camera, the subject, and the background.

Key characteristics of bokeh include:

• Smoothness: High-quality bokeh is often described as smooth and creamy, without harsh edges or distracting elements.

• Shape: Bokeh can take on different shapes depending on the design of the lens aperture. Lenses with circular aperture blades tend to produce round bokeh, while lenses with other aperture shapes may create bokeh with corresponding shapes.

• Background Blur: Bokeh is most noticeable in the out-of-focus background of an image. It adds a sense of separation between the subject and the background, drawing attention to the main focal point.

Photographers often use wide aperture settings (small f-numbers) to intentionally create bokeh and isolate the subject from the background. This technique is commonly employed in portrait photography, where a shallow depth of field and pleasing bokeh contribute to a visually appealing image where the subject is the star. Additionally, bokeh can be creatively used in various types of photography to enhance the overall aesthetic and mood of a photograph.

#Advanced Aperture Techniques

IMg - Bokeh shapes

^(Roni Amin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Bokeh Shapes Create custom-shaped bokeh by placing a cutout over the lens or using lenses with aperture diaphragms designed for unique bokeh shapes.

Creating different shapes in bokeh involves modifying the aperture in such a way that the out-of-focus highlights take on a specific shape. Here's a general guide on how to achieve this:

Custom Bokeh Shapes:

• Select a Lens with a Wide Aperture: Choose a lens with a wide aperture (small f-number) to maximize the blur and emphasize the bokeh.

• Create a Bokeh Mask: Cut out a small, precisely shaped mask from a piece of black paper or cardboard. This mask will be placed over the front of your lens and will determine the shape of the bokeh.

• Cutting the Mask: Cut a shape out of the center of the mask, leaving a border around it. Common shapes include hearts, stars, or other geometric patterns. Ensure that the mask is small enough to fit easily over the front of your lens.

• Attach the Bokeh Mask: Carefully attach the custom bokeh mask to the front of your lens. You can use tape, a lens hood, or a commercially available filter holder that allows for creative aperture inserts.

• Set Up Your Shot: Compose your shot and ensure that there are bright, out-of-focus highlights in the background. These could be distant lights, reflections, or any small, bright objects.

• Adjust Your Aperture: Use a wide aperture setting (small f-number) to create a pronounced bokeh effect. The custom mask over the lens will cause the out-of-focus highlights to take on the shape you've cut into the mask.

• Focus on the Subject: Ensure that your main subject is in focus, and take the shot.

Additional Tips:

• Experiment with Different Masks: Try creating and using different shapes to achieve various bokeh effects. The possibilities are limited only by your creativity.

• Consider Lighting Conditions: Bright lights or reflections in the background will enhance the visibility of the custom bokeh shapes.

• Use a Lens with Rounded Aperture Blades: Lenses with circular aperture blades tend to produce smoother and more natural-looking bokeh.

By customizing your bokeh shapes, you can add a unique and creative touch to your photographs, making them stand out with a distinctive visual style.

[IMG - Bokeh panorama](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/656ee4384f1c306c75727f4a/c8faa623-6c30-4a3c-9029-5e1f1799a57f/23566499039_766c72ac87_k.jpg?format=750w

^(Chelsea London © 2015. Fujifilm X-T10 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/2 | 1/1000s | ISO 200 | Multiple images stitched for bokeh panorama)

##Bokeh Panorama (Brenizer Method)

Use a wide aperture to capture a series of images and then stitch them together to create a panoramic photo with a shallow depth of field.

The Brenizer Method, named after photographer Ryan Brenizer who popularized it, is a photographic technique that involves creating images with an exceptionally shallow depth of field and a wide-angle of view, often mimicking the look of medium or large format photography. This method is particularly useful for achieving a unique and dramatic aesthetic, especially in portrait or environmental photography.

Here's how the Brenizer Method works:

• Multiple Shots: Take a series of photographs of your subject using a lens with a wide aperture (small f-number) to achieve a shallow depth of field.

• Overlap Shots: Overlap each shot by about 30-50% to ensure there is enough information for stitching the images together seamlessly in post-processing.

• Stitching: Use image editing software (such as Adobe Photoshop or specialized panorama stitching tools) to combine the individual shots into a single composite image.

• Adjustment: After stitching, you may need to make adjustments to ensure a smooth blend between the images. Pay attention to details like alignment, exposure, and color consistency.

The result is a photograph with a wide field of view and a shallow depth of field that might not be achievable with a single shot, even with a very wide-angle lens. This technique allows photographers to create images with a cinematic or panoramic look while maintaining the subject separation and background blur typically associated with wide-aperture settings.

The Brenizer Method can be particularly effective in situations where a photographer wants to capture a subject in a broader context, such as a portrait with an expansive background, while still achieving a beautiful bokeh and a distinct visual style.

IMG - Focus stacking

^(Sean Makin © 2015. Nikon D610 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/8 | 1/20 | ISO 100 | Five images stacked)

IMG - Focus stacking

^(Sean Makin © 2023. Nikon D610 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/8 | 1/6 | ISO 100 | Two images stacked)

IMG - Focus stacking

^(Muhammad Mahdi Karim, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

##Focus Stacking

Use a small aperture for a deep depth of field, and then take multiple shots focusing at different distances. Combine these shots in post-processing to achieve a sharp image throughout.

Focus stacking is a digital image processing technique used in photography to achieve a greater depth of field than what is possible with a single exposure. This method is particularly useful in macro photography or any situation where capturing a wide depth of field is challenging due to the limitations of the camera's optics.

Here's how focus stacking works:

• Capture Multiple Images: Take a series of photographs of the same scene, each with a different focus point. These shots should cover the entire depth of the subject from the nearest to the farthest point.

• Software Processing: Use image editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop or specialized focus stacking applications, to align and combine the in-focus portions of each image into a single composite photograph.

• Blending and Sharpness: The software analyzes each image and selects the sharpest areas, blending them together to create a final image where the entire subject is in focus

Focus stacking is beneficial in situations where achieving a deep depth of field with a single exposure is challenging due to factors like a close subject distance, the use of a wide aperture, or limitations in the camera's optics. It is commonly employed in macro photography to capture intricate details while maintaining overall sharpness throughout the subject.

This technique allows photographers to overcome the inherent limitations of depth of field in photography and produce images with a level of detail and clarity that might not be achievable in a single shot.

##We learned about aperture and how it can be used to create different types of images. This week you will be creating (at least) two images using small and large apertures.

#For the sake of this week, use Aperture Priority mode!

Shallow Depth of Field.

• Take one photo utilizing a large aperture (small number) in order to create an image with a shallow depth of field. To fully see the effect, place your subject in between a foreground element and a background element. Your background and foreground should be out of focus, with the subject in focus.

Deep Depth of Field.

• Take one photo utilizing a small aperture (large number) in order to create an image with a deep depth of field. To fully see the effect, have elements in the foreground, midground, and background. All three elements should be in focus.

Bonus: Advanced technique.

• Take a photo using one of the advanced techniques discussed in the lesson. The idea here is to just experiment, so don’t worry about getting it exactly right! Just try it out and see what you end up with.

Include a short write-up of what you learned while adjusting your aperture to get your desired depth of field. As this is an experimental lesson, feedback will be focused on your ability to use your aperture to control depth of field. If you want feedback on another aspect of your image, please include that in your write-up.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#We learned about shutter speed and how it can be used to create different types of images. This week you will be creating (at least) two images using slow and fast shutter speeds.

##For the sake of this week, use Shutter Priority mode!

Freeze motion.

• Take one photo utilizing a fast shutter speed (1/125s or faster) in order to completely stop a subject in motion.

• Some ideas to get you started: moving cars, athletes in action, dancing, playing children, animals.

Show motion.

• Take one photo utilizing a slow shutter speed (1/60s or slower) in order to show movement in your subject.

• Some ideas to get you started: flowing water, a blurred subject running, cars blurred as they pass by.

Bonus: Advanced technique.

• Take a photo using one of the advanced techniques discussed in the lesson.

• The idea here is to just experiment, so don’t worry about getting it exactly right! Just try it out and see what you end up with.

Include a short write-up of what you learned while playing with different shutter speeds. Include any aspect that was especially challenging. As this is an experimental lesson, feedback will be focused on the shutter speed technique you utilized. If you want feedback on another aspect of your image, please include that in your write-up.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Unit Four: The Exposure Triangle

Video - Week Seven Check-In

Time to take control! Watch the video above (4 1/2 minutes) to get an idea of how we’ll be approaching our camera’s settings.

##The Exposure Triangle

The exposure triangle is a term you will hear thrown around photography circles - and for good reason. Understanding the exposure triangle is the fundamental basis for getting complete control over your photos. So what is it?

The exposure triangle is a fundamental concept in photography that describes the relationship between three crucial elements: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These three components work together to control the exposure, or the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor, ultimately influencing the brightness and quality of an image.

IMG - The Exposure Triangle | Download a high-resolution version here

^(A visual representation of the Exposure Triangle.)

##The Settings

The exposure of your image depends on the three settings that make up the exposure triangle. We’ll go over each in detail in individual lessons, but let’s have an introductory look at each element.

• Shutter Speed. The camera's shutter is like a quick-opening and closing curtain inside the camera that controls how long light is allowed to reach the camera sensor. Shutter speed is how long it takes for that curtain to pass over the sensor or film. The quicker the speed, the less light hits the sensor/film, and vice versa. The amount of time that the shutter is open also affects how much motion is recorded. More on that later in this lesson.

• Aperture. As we saw in our gear unit, the aperture is a hole in your lens through which light enters before hitting the sensor/film. The wider the hole, the more light hits the sensor/film. Your aperture not only has an effect on how much light is present in the image but is also an important aspect in determining depth of field, which you will remember refers to the range of distances within a photograph or image where objects appear acceptably sharp and in focus. We’ll see this in practice in the next lesson.

• ISO. ISO represents the amount of amplification that occurs to the signal that the sensor receives. A higher ISO represents more amplification, and a lower ISO represents less amplification of this signal, with the greater the amplification resulting in a brighter image of the same scene. Higher ISOs also introduce grain or digital noise to the image - how much depends on individual cameras. In film, ISO is a characteristic of the film itself and on digital cameras, you have the ability to adjust the ISO. We’ll learn more about ISO in lesson 9.

Remember this is just a quick overview to give you an idea of what we will be covering in the coming weeks. What is important to know at the moment is that each setting has an effect on others, and controlling the exposure means finding a balance between the three. It's like a dance between the lens aperture, the speed of the shutter, and the sensitivity of the camera sensor to capture the perfect shot - and we’re going to learn the steps.

IMG - slow shutter speed

^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/11 | 1.5s | ISO 200 | Handheld)

##Shutter Speed

We’re going to start our introduction to the settings with shutter speed. In simple terms, it is the amount of time that your camera's shutter stays open when you take a photo. It controls how long light is allowed to reach the camera's sensor.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second (e.g., 1/1000 of a second, 1/250 of a second, 1 second). A faster shutter speed (like 1/1000) means the shutter opens and closes quickly. A slower shutter speed (like 1 second) means the shutter is open longer. The longer the shutter is open, the more light that is let in, resulting in brighter images. But, of course it’s not that simple. If the shutter is open, letting in light, it also is continuously recording what’s in front of the lens.

IMG - slow shutter speed

^(Chelsea London © 2015. Nikon D7000 | 200.0 mm | ƒ/9 | 1s | ISO 160)

##Shutter Speed Values

Shutter speeds are represented in seconds or fractions of a second. Common values include 1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s, 1/60s, 1/30s, and so on - full seconds is also an option. Faster shutter speeds, such as 1/1000s or 1/500s, allow the shutter to open and close very quickly, reducing the time the sensor is exposed to light. This has two main effects: light has less time to hit the sensor/film and there is less time for movement to be recorded. Slower shutter speeds, like 1/30s or 1/15s, result in a longer exposure time, allowing more light to reach the sensor. As you can guess this has the opposite effect of a shorter exposure time - more time for light to hit the sensor/film, and more time for movement to be recorded.

The real question is how does that function in a practical sense. Controlling the length of time the shutter is open gives the opportunity for both creative decisions and for combatting difficult lighting situations. Longer shutter speeds can introduce motion blur, create smooth-looking water, and opens us up to more advanced techniques like panning. Shorter shutter speeds can freeze action like an athlete jumping, rain drops falling, or cars speeding passed.

IMG - low light

^(Sean Makin © 2018. Nikon D610| 24.0 mm | ƒ/1.8 | 13s | ISO 2500)

##Low Light Conditions

In low-light conditions, the available ambient light is often insufficient to achieve a well-exposed photograph using standard exposure settings. To address this challenge, you may opt for a slower shutter speed, allowing the camera's sensor to be exposed to light for a longer duration.

While this can effectively capture more light and detail in low-light environments, it introduces a potential drawback - the risk of camera shake and resulting blurry images. Slow shutter speeds make the camera more susceptible to the natural movements of the photographer's hand, leading to unintentional blurring in the final image.

Recognizing this, you can employ various stabilization techniques to mitigate the effects of camera shake. One commonly used method is the use of a tripod, providing a stable platform for the camera during the longer exposure. Additionally, image stabilization features in some camera systems or lenses can help compensate for minor movements. By carefully managing shutter speed and stabilization methods in low-light conditions, photographers can achieve well-exposed, sharp images without compromising on image quality.

IMG - long exposure

^(Sean Makin © 2018. Nikon D610| 20.0 mm | ƒ/8.0 | 88s | ISO 100)

##Long Exposures

Long exposures involve the deliberate use of very slow shutter speeds, often extending into seconds or even minutes, to create unique and visually interesting effects. Commonly this technique is seen in capturing star trails, light painting, smoothing moving water, and producing ethereal effects in low-light situations.

When utilizing long exposures to photograph star trails, the prolonged shutter opening allows the camera to record the movement of stars across the night sky, resulting in swirling patterns. In light painting, where additional light sources are introduced during the exposure, extended shutter speeds enable the painter to manipulate and shape the light in the frame. Utalizing a long shutter speed when photographing moving water captures the continuous motion, creating a smooth look.

In low-light scenarios, employing long exposure techniques can reveal subtle details and textures that might be otherwise imperceptible with shorter exposure times. When photographing a skyline at night, for instance, a longer shutter speed will expose lights from buildings which may not even be noticeable to the photographer.

Despite its artistic appeal, mastering long exposure photography requires careful consideration of factors such as stability, lighting conditions, and creative intent. The deliberate use of extended shutter speeds offers you a powerful tool to make images that transcend the constraints of conventional exposure settings.

IMG - stopped motion

^(Chelsea London © 2023. Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/3.2 | 1/4000s | ISO 200)

##Stopped Motion

There will be instances where you want your subject to be completely frozen in time: sports, birding, and your running kids come to mind. So how do we get our moving subject completely still in an image? This is when you’ll want to use a fast shutter speed.

The concept of freezing motion through the use of fast shutter speeds is a pivotal aspect of photography. Fast shutter speeds, typically measured in fractions of a second such as 1/1000s or 1/500s, serve the purpose of capturing subjects with precision and clarity, eliminating the risk of motion blur.

This technique is particularly indispensable in sports photography, where athletes are in constant motion, and the aim is to freeze split-second actions like a sprinter mid-stride or a soccer player striking the ball. Similarly, in wildlife photography, where animals exhibit swift and unpredictable movements, employing fast shutter speeds is essential to preserve the details of the subject without any distortion caused by motion.

The ability to capture crisp details and freeze action is not limited to these genres alone; it extends to any scenario where the goal is to seize a fleeting moment, whether it be a dancer's leap, a child's spontaneous expression, or any other dynamic element within a scene. In these instances, the use of fast shutter speeds becomes a fundamental tool for photographers to ensure the sharpness and clarity of their images.

The important thing to remember when attempting to freeze motion is that the shutter will close quickly, so less light will have the time to hit the sensor/film. You will need to adjust your aperture and/or ISO accordingly. But, that’s the beauty of automatic modes. Putting your camera into Shutter Priority mode will allow you to set the quick shutter speed you need, and the camera will adjust the aperture and ISO for you - saving you time in adjusting everything manually.

IMG - slowed motion

^(Sean Makin © 2017. Nikon D610| 17.0 mm | ƒ/9.0 | 2s | ISO 100)

IMG - slowed motion

^(Sean Makin © 2018. Nikon D610| 29.0 mm | ƒ/11.0 | 2.5s | ISO 100)

##Motion Blur

Motion blur, achieved through intentionally slow shutter speeds (sometimes exceeding seconds), serves as a versatile and creative tool in photography. This technique deliberately extends the duration of the exposure, capturing the movement of subjects within the frame. One common application is in the portrayal of the smooth flow of water, as exemplified in waterfall photography (see the above images).

You can leverage this technique to capture light trails produced by moving vehicles during nighttime shots. The elongated streaks of light create a sense of speed and energy, adding a dynamic element to urban scenes.

Intentional motion blur can be employed to convey a sense of motion in a subject, be it a dancer, athlete, or any moving object. This technique transcends the static nature of traditional photography, offering a visual narrative that encapsulates the essence of movement. Through the deliberate manipulation of shutter speeds, you can create static images which show movement.

IMG - motion blurred background

^(Chelsea London © 2023. Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/9.0 | 1/8s | ISO 200 | Handheld in spinning tea cup)

##Reciprocal “Rule”

The reciprocal rule is a fundamental guideline in photography aimed at minimizing motion blur caused by camera shake, especially when shooting handheld. This rule provides a straightforward relationship between the focal length of the lens and the minimum recommended shutter speed.

Essentially, the reciprocal rule suggests that the shutter speed should be set at least as fast as the reciprocal of the focal length. For instance, if using a 50mm lens, the recommended shutter speed would be 1/50s or faster. The rationale behind this rule is to match the shutter speed to the focal length, preventing the introduction of noticeable blurriness caused by the natural movements of the photographer's hands during the exposure. Adhering to the reciprocal rule becomes increasingly crucial at longer focal lengths where minor shakes become more pronounced.

While advancements in image stabilization technology have provided alternatives, the reciprocal rule remains a valuable guideline for photographers, ensuring that the chosen shutter speed is well-matched to the focal length to achieve sharp, clear images when shooting without a tripod.

Just remember that rules like these should be approached more as guidelines, intended to give you a starting point. When working with shutter speed, it can be helpful to be aware of the reciprocal “rule,” but there are endless situations where it does not apply and you’d be better suited to forget it.

IMG - light trails

^(Julian Steenbergen via Unsplash.)

##Light Trails

Light trails refer to the streaks of light captured when a moving light source is recorded over an extended exposure time. This popular technique involves using a slow shutter speed to capture the continuous movement of lights, such as those produced by vehicles on a road, city traffic, or even stars in the night sky. The long exposure allows the lights to leave a trail on the image sensor as they traverse the frame.

Light trails add a sense of motion and energy to the photograph, transforming the static elements of a scene into vibrant and captivating displays. You can experiment with different exposure times and settings to achieve the desired effect. This technique is commonly employed in urban photography, capturing the hustle and bustle of city life, or in long-exposure astrophotography to create star trails.

IMG - rear-curtain sync

^(Chelsea London © 2018. Fujfilm X-T10 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/30s | ISO 6400 | Off-Camera Flash, rear-curtain sync)

##Rear-Curtain Sync

Rear-curtain sync, also known as second-curtain sync, is a flash photography technique that involves firing the flash at the end of the exposure rather than at the beginning. In traditional or front-curtain sync, the flash fires as soon as the shutter opens, freezing the subject at the start of the exposure.

Rear-curtain sync, on the other hand, synchronizes the flash burst with the closing of the shutter curtain. This technique is particularly effective in situations where there is movement or motion trails, as it allows ambient light to expose the background first, followed by a burst of flash to illuminate and freeze the subject at the end of the exposure.

To use rear-curtain sync, set your camera to this mode in the flash settings and choose a slow shutter speed. The result is a photograph that captures the flow of motion with the ambient light while concluding with a crisply illuminated subject. To add another layer of creativity to it, you can move your camera as the flash fires, creating light streaks.

IMG - strobosonic

^(Man Walking' by Thomas Eakins)

##Stroboscopic Flash

Stroboscopic flash is a photographic technique that involves using multiple, rapid flashes of a strobe light during a single long exposure. This technique captures successive phases of motion within a single frame, creating a stroboscopic effect. The repeated bursts of light freeze different moments of movement, producing a sequence of still images in one photograph.

Stroboscopic flash is commonly employed in situations where continuous motion needs to be represented in a dynamic and visually striking manner. This technique is often seen in dance photography, sports imagery, or any scenario where capturing the fluidity of movement is crucial.

You can control the frequency and intensity of the flash bursts, adjusting settings to achieve the desired effect. Stroboscopic flash not only freezes fast-paced action but also allows for creative experimentation, enabling you to craft unique and compelling compositions by manipulating the timing and duration of the strobe bursts.

IMG - zoom burst

^(Robert Zunikoff via Unsplash)

##Zoom Burst

Zoom burst is a creative photography technique that involves changing the focal length of the lens during a long exposure. To achieve a zoom burst, use a slow shutter speed and zoom the lens in or out while the shutter is open. This causes the focal length to change continuously, creating a burst or radial streaks emanating from the center of the frame. The effect is particularly effective in emphasizing a central subject or adding a sense of energy and motion to the image.

You can experiment with different zooming speeds, focal lengths, and exposure times to achieve various outcomes. Zoom burst is often employed in situations where a static composition may benefit from an added element of creativity, such as capturing city lights, fireworks, or even natural scenes, resulting in visually dynamic and/or abstract photographs.

IMG - panning

^(Naveen Kumar Manne, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

##Panning

Panning is a technique in photography where the camera moves horizontally along with a moving subject to capture the subject in motion while maintaining a relatively sharp focus on it, creating a sense of speed and dynamism in the final image.

To execute a successful panning shot, photographers typically set a slower shutter speed to intentionally introduce motion blur into the background, emphasizing the subject's movement. The key is to synchronize the camera's movement with that of the subject, keeping it in the frame and maintaining a consistent speed. To achieve this, photographers often use continuous autofocus and tracking modes to keep the subject in focus while panning smoothly.

Additionally, it is advisable to stabilize the camera, either by using a tripod or by adopting a stable stance, while following the subject's movement. Panning is frequently employed in sports photography, capturing moving vehicles, or photographing wildlife in motion, allowing photographers to convey a sense of speed and energy in their images through the intentional blurring of the background.

#This week’s assignment will be quite open ended. The ultimate goal is to just make some photos (any photos!) and organize them. Take any photos of your choice.

Time to start focusing on your photographic interests. Find some time this week to make any photos you’d like. Take this opportunity to show us what you are interested in photographically, and have a little fun!

• Load those photos onto your computer, and organize them in a way that makes most sense to you. If you haven’t decided on an organization and editing software yet, use this week as an opportunity to do so. You’ll need it for the post processing lessons.

• Share any of the photos you’d like with your peers and mentors. Remember to be specific about what kind of feedback you would like!

• Most importantly: have fun!

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

##Introduction to the digital workflow.

This week we’re going to talk about (almost) everything that happens after you’ve hit the shutter and taken an image. This is what we call a workflow, which you can think of as a pipeline or a conveyor belt. Each step takes the result from the previous task and modifies the image, giving it to the next task in line. The whole process of organizing your images and other multimedia files in something relatively organized bears the somewhat pompous name of digital asset management (DAM). You will have to pay attention to it sooner or later. The earlier you organize yourself, the easier and less time-consuming it will be.

Most of this lesson will be aimed at those shooting on mirrorless or DSLR cameras who want to organize their images onto a computer. There are some completely cloud-based options for mobile shooters, but we’ll mostly consider this outside this lesson's scope.

IMG - software options

##Software

Before we look at the things that we can do with your images after capture, we need to look at one of the most critical pieces in your workflow; the software. Yes, you can simply copy your images into dated folders on your hard drive, but digital asset management (DAM) software is incredibly powerful and can provide a lot of worth in organizing your images, and in finding them afterwards.

Ever tried to find that one photo taken 5 years ago, but you can’t exactly remember where you took it or where it’s located on a pile of hard drives or a mess of folders on your computer? DAM software (and a little bit of organisation by you) should help you find photos in a situation like this and make your life easier. These pieces of software are in another class from those that can simply read and allow you to edit a raw file - though most of these have those capabilities also. These applications allow you to organize your images, apply and use tags, search and edit metadata, and many other powerful tools.

Here is a short, but not completely exhaustive list of DAM software:

• Adobe Lightroom

• Capture One

• ON1

• DxO PhotoLab

• Darktable (Free)

• Ansel (Free)

• digiKam (Free)

Which particular software you choose is almost completely up to you. The majority of professionals are still using Adobe Lightroom or Capture One, though other players are emerging in ON1 and DxO PhotoLab. Options like Darktable, Ansel (a fork of Darktable), and digiKam offer great free and open-source solutions for enthusiasts who aren’t sure about dropping a chunk of cash on software - or adding to the seemingly ever-increasing list of monthly subscriptions.

IMG - Lightroom Classic screenshot

##Introduction to organization.

So you have shot an image, using all the information from the previous lessons. It is now living happily on your memory card in the form of a weirdly named .jpg or raw file. There’s probably no information in the file name about what trip the photo was taken on, which camera took it, what settings you used, etc. We want to be able to organize your images using the metadata stored within the image file. Metadata is information about data that helps describe, organize, and manage it, such as details about when a file was created, who created it, and its content.

We are lucky to live in a digital world: we no longer need to deal with bulky boxes of negatives. But of course, we still need to index and label our images just as before, or it will be just as impossible to find an old image as it was in the days of film. Any photographer who has been shooting for a while will have tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of images in their library. If you don’t organize your library, and if you don’t do it early, you will have an impossible mess on your hands.

Now you have one of these pieces of software we talk about above, the first part of a digital workflow is called ingestion, basically a fancy way of saying that you’re copying your files onto your computer. This can be done either directly from the camera, or via a card reader.

There are many different ways you can set up your directories, but the general premise is that you should organize your files in a well-defined, well-thought-out structure that ultimately makes sense to you. A very popular way of doing this is simply by date: all files shot today would go in the folder 2024 > 2024-02-05.

Changing filenames is somewhat optional but can also be important, you could name your date and location, which would give 20240205-London-001.nef, or you could include the date, model name and camera e.g. 20240205-Chelsea-Z6-001.nef. This gives you some insurance that you can find your files even if you cannot launch your DAM software. Most DAM software offer means to inject text into the file name so you can take advantage of this and rename on import.

Once all the images are inserted in the library, it is time for reviewing and tagging. You should go through your images in full screen and sort them into different groups, marking the best ones for further work. Most software has keyboard shortcuts so you can quickly assign combinations of flags and number ratings to your images. Culling obviously bad images; be it out of focus, too overexposed, or just simply duplicates is important in this step to reduce the amount of data you collect. Storage is relatively cheap now, so it’s up to you whether you’d like to delete “rejects” or just let them sit in the folder. You should also investigate if your DAM offers previews - these are normally a smaller JPEG version that can be quickly loaded, so it does not have to render the raw for every file you want to quickly view in the culling process.

This is also the step where you should add relevant keywords to your images, to make it easy to find them again when needed, though some DAM software offer this feature on infestation and import. The camera will automatically record shooting parameters (in the EXIF tags) but you should add further information indicating information on the content of the image (location, subject, style, etc). Throughout the editing process, you can also add keywords or tags for the current “status” of the image, whether it is marked as being fully processed, waiting for editing, scheduled for a further look, archived for future use, to be removed, etc. Doing this early will allow you to search through old images quickly!

Another important concept is to use non-destructive editing (NDE). This means that you are never overwriting the original file and always have the ability to go back to earlier stages of the editing process. NDE is built-in in software like Lightroom, Darktable etc where your edits are kept in a catalogue file and you need to export your images for them to be applied. But you need to be careful if you use Photoshop, GIMP or similar applications. Either keep an untouched bottom layer or, better, always work on a copy of the image, never on the original. Your style, your tastes, your skills and your software will all evolve in time, and you will want to be able to return and edit a raw image from scratch.

The caveat to this whole section is that you should find a logical system that works for you and your particular DAM software!

##Introduction to backing up.

The other major component of your digital workflow is backups. It seems like nearly everybody needs to go through one major data loss before getting serious about backing up. Just make sure it doesn’t happen to your most important images. This isn’t an exhaustive discussion on backup by any means, there are plenty of specialised articles which can delve into the nitty gritty details, this is more a primer to have you aware of the basic concepts and media. The blog of cloud storage company Backblaze has a wealth of information if you want to delve further.

All backup options have their upsides and downsides, and the truth is that there is no perfect solution to perfectly store digital files for a long period.

Optical media (CDs and DVDs) only last a few years at best. Hard drives provide a great gigabyte-to-dollar ratio and, when treated correctly, are one of the most reliable storage solutions. They are easily transported if required and scale well into multi-drive arrays using RAID (remember, RAID isn’t immediately a backup method!). That said, hard drives still are prone to failure, often catastrophically and often with no warnings. Tape backups are more reliable than hard drives but still do not last forever and are an incredibly niche media outside of a data centre.

Storing files on the cloud e.g. Amazon S3, Backblaze, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon Photos and similar services, are a great option to have the easiest way to have secure offsite storage. Pricing is generally very competitive, though some solutions scale to multiple terabytes better than others, and most also come with a versioning history. A critical factor in the viability of these cloud-based services is they are highly dependent on your internet upload and download speed, upload to move the data there and download to retrieve it in case of an issue with other media. Cloud-based storage is generally the last line of defence if all your local media have failed.

Of course, even a hypothetical immortal media wouldn’t survive fire, flood or accidental erasure. For these reasons, the basic concept of backups follows the 3-2-1 strategy; in that three copies are made of the data to be protected, the copies are stored on two different types of storage media, and one copy of the data is sent off-site. Businesses and working professionals almost always use variations of this, but the 3-2-1 idea holds well for hobbyists and enthusiasts where downtime if a failure were to occur isn’t a big issue.

As to what you should backup, at a minimum, you should backup your raw and processed versions of your best images, though with the price of storage, it is very easy to backup your entire photo library. It should also be mentioned that you want to have backup at both ends of the workflow pipeline, you want to have this process started as soon as you start copying files from your memory card to your computer. This copying stage is often where you are most vulnerable. You also want to ensure all your newly added tags, flags, ratings, non-destructive edits, and file duplicates with destructive edits are backed up as you make the changes within your DAM software.

Here are some recommendations for backup ideas:

We don’t condone it, but the simple start of this could be:

1. One copy on your computer

2. One copy on an external hard drive, that every week you bring home from another location, backup your computer and take that drive back to another location. This leaves you vulnerable to loss of files created in this window.

An ideal option is:

1. One copy on your computer

2. One copy on an external hard drive in your home. This is always connected to your computer backs up at a regular time interval providing coverage if your main drive dies.

3. One copy on an external hard drive, left in another location e.g. family, friends, workplace etc. Bring this drive home periodically and swap it with your other external drive at home. This protects you against fire, flood etc. loss in your immediate area, but might not cover your whole city. Since this runs manually it also protects you from ransomware or similar malware.

A more ideal option is:

1. One copy on your computer

2. One copy on an external hard drive in your home. This backs up at a regular time interval providing coverage if your main drive dies.

3. One copy on a cloud-based service, this also backs up at a regular time interval and protects you against fire, flood etc. loss in your immediate area, and will also cover against this happening across your whole city.

4. In the last situations where you have two backup methods running automatically, you should also have a third, manually run in the case of ransomware or malware that encrypts your devices and locks you from your computer.

In the following weeks, we’ll cover more about how to edit your photos, but this is a start to getting your images organized and keeping them safe.

##Unit Three: In this unit...

If you’ve made it through all that technical gear talk, I salute you! With that out of the way, it’s time to get into the fun stuff. Unit Three is all about Photography Basics, and we’re starting with exposure. After getting an understanding what exposure is, we’ll learn some best practices for digital workflow so that we’re set up for success when getting into settings.

Let’s do this thing!

IMG - dark shadows

^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X-T1 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/3.6 | 1/250 | ISO 200 - Histogram showing clipped shadows.)

##Introduction to Exposure

After getting an overview of what a camera is, how focal length works and what kind of image files we can work with we’re now going to look at one of the most fundamental concepts of any photograph: exposure.

In order to keep things (relatively) short, we will split this vast subject into smaller, easier to digest pieces. In this lesson, we will see what exactly exposure is, and how we can use three camera settings to modify it. We will talk about a very important tool for reviewing exposure: the histogram. In subsequent lessons, we will talk about each of the three controls (shutter speed, aperture and ISO) in more detail.

IMG - bright highlights

^(Sean Makin © 2017. Nikon D610 | 86.0 mm | ƒ/11 | 1/80s | ISO 100 - Histogram showing bright highlights.)

A photograph, as the name suggests, is a record of light. Exposure is simply the amount of light to which the sensor is exposed. I’m sure you’ve seen photos taken indoors without a flash, and found them to appear too dark. Those photos are underexposed - not enough light was allowed on the sensor. You probably have also seen images that are too bright, with pure white in large areas. Those are overexposed.

There is not one correct exposure of a given scene. Depending on what you are trying to say with your image, you might actually over or underexpose on purpose. For instance, a scene where the main source of light is behind the subject could be underexposed to create silhouettes against the sky. Or a portrait might be carefully overexposed to create a bright and playful feeling. What we will generally consider a good exposure is one with an even (but not necessarily linear) distribution of lights and darks - from pure black to pure white - with no details lost to either shadows or highlights.

IMG - mostly "good" exposure

^(Chelsea London © 2018. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56 mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/800s | ISO 320 - Histogram showing an even exposure.)

Modern camera bodies include one or several light meters whose role is to measure the quantity of light and give an idea of what the correct exposure should be. What you will do with this information will depend on the shooting mode you are using. In auto, the camera will choose all the settings for you. Semi-automatic modes (aperture or speed priority modes) will allow you to choose one setting, and then set the remaining settings for you. You can also choose all the settings for yourself using manual mode. Regardless, the light meter on your camera will tell you what the “good” exposure is.

Three parameters control the quantity of light to reach the sensor: aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Let’s see briefly how they work with an analogy.

Imagine that your sensor is a bucket. Light is water coming from a pipe (your lens) into the bucket. What you want to achieve is a good exposure – just the right quantity of water - to the rim but without spilling any on the floor. You can achieve that by doing three things:

• You can change the diameter of the pipe. The wider it is, the more water will come into the bucket.

• You can modify the time during which the pipe is open, the longer you leave it open, the more water will come through.

• The water is not very pure. There is a filter above the bucket to remove impurities. You can decide how fine the filter is: the coarser it is, the more water will go through, but at the price of more impurities making their way into the bucket.

You can decide to modify any of these parameters as you wish to achieve your perfect bucket, with some limitations. You can’t have a pipe of infinite diameter, there is a maximum size. Likewise, your filter can’t be too coarse or you might get trash in the bucket and it would be unusable.

Important: all three parameters are bound together. If you modify one and want to keep the same exposure, you need to modify anothern. If you want to use a pipe with twice as much area (doubling the flow), you need to either cut the flow duration by half or use a twice as fine filter. Modifying a single parameter will result in a modification of the bucket’s content.

As you probably guessed already, the diameter of the pipe corresponds to the aperture. The duration to the shutter speed. The filter to ISO. Things get even more interesting because each of these parameters has another consequence besides modifying exposure. Aperture changes depth of field, shutter speed can introduce motion blur and ISO (can) influence the noise levels.

###For the analytical:

Let’s look at some numbers that your camera might display when it is metering a hypothetical scene. When you put your camera in manual mode, you should see three numbers in the display; for instance f/8, 1/50, ISO 400. What this is telling you is that the aperture is f/8, the shutter speed 1/50th of a second, and the ISO is 400. What other properties these numbers affect will be covered in the following lessons. But for now, let’s take a look at how modifying them changes exposure.

IMG - LCD showing settings

^(Thom Holmes via Unsplash. Note the light meter, and the indicator’s position to the left - what does that mean for the exposure?)

##Let’s Try

Put your camera in Aperture Priority Mode (note: your camera may refer to this mode differently). What this does is let you control the aperture, and the camera set the shutter speed accordingly. Turn the control wheel in one direction to modify the aperture. You should now see instead that f/number change to correspond with what you changed the dial to. You should also notice that the speed changed as well. To compensate for the modification of one parameter (aperture), the camera changed another one (shutter speed). The exposure remains “good,” with the light meter indicator sitting right in the middle. We’ll explore what this means in greater detail in each of the coming shutter speed, aperture and ISO lessons.

In manual mode, the camera lets you modify all three parameters yourself without attempting to compensate to keep the same global exposure. It will usually let you know how far away you are from what it considers the “good” exposure. Whether you want to follow its recommendation is up to you.

This should hopefully give you a good idea of what is going on in a camera’s brain, and what the A, S and M modes are for, but we have left a lot of things out, to be covered in the next lessons.

Try it out for yourself with a complex scene. Go to this site, and play around with the different settings. Note that while the sample camera is Canon and uses Canon terminology, the theory is there and will translate across camera brands. Don’t worry too much right now about fully understanding what you’re doing, just look at the light meter and try and make a good exposure, an overexposed photo, and an underexposed photo. How does the light meter express that?

IMG - curved histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/1.2 | 1/250 | ISO 2000 - Histogram showing a mostly even exposure with some leaning to the shadows.)

##Introduction to the histogram.

As discussed, exposure is one of the most important controls of the final image. We have discussed how to modify exposure, but not how to review it. This is the role of a very powerful tool: the histogram.

As a rule of thumb, the LCD screen should never be trusted to evaluate exposure. It is not designed to produce an accurate rendition of the image. How bright your photo appears will depend on a variety of factors, including the ambient light levels, and the brightness setting you applied to the screen. The camera’s JPEG preview has also been applied to your raw image. For this reason, you might think you have the right exposure when out shooting, only to find out the screen misled you when you get back to your computer.

A histogram, on the other hand, is a more “scientific” way of evaluating exposure. It will always be available and identical on all devices, whether the LCD screen of your camera, or your fancy calibrated computer monitor. All digital cameras offer post-capture histograms – often in one of the “image details” modes (check your manual). A large number of mirrorless cameras also have “live histogram”, a very useful feature showing what the histogram would be if you took the photo at that instant.

The histogram is a visual graph that shows the distribution of brightness levels in a photo. It represents the range of tones from dark to light, with shadows on the left, midtones in the middle, and highlights on the right. The height of each part of the graph indicates the frequency or amount of pixels at that particular brightness level. A well-balanced histogram ensures that the photo has a good mix of shadows, midtones, and highlights, helping us assess and adjust the exposure to capture a properly exposed image without losing important details in the shadows or highlights.

IMG - shadow-heavy histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/3.61 | 1/160s | ISO 800)

Above you see a very dark image and it’s associated histogram. Notice how all the data is shifted far to the left, with almost nothing on the middle and the right side. Also notice that the highlights from the street lights are too small to be noticeable in the histogram.

IMG - highlight-heavy histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/3.61 | 1/160s | ISO 800)

Here’s a fairly bright image and its corresponding histogram. Notice how its shifted to the right. The white triangle on the top right indicates that some of the highlights have been “blown out,” or are entirely unrecoverable. You will also notice a slight bump on the left which is due to the dark blob on the left of the frame.

IMG - even histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2017 Fujifilm X-T10 | 27.0 mm | ƒ/14 | 1/125s | ISO 200)

Here’s a more neutral image and its histogram. You’ll see a mostly even distribution across the highlights, midtones, and shadows - despite the shot being made directly into the setting sun.

IMG - split highlights and shadows histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2018 Fujifilm X-T10 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/320s | ISO 5000)

Finally we have an image and corresponding histogram where the both the highlights and the shadows are quite strong. Notice how the histogram has strong lines on the left and right, and the midtones (or the middle of the histogram) is basically empty. The highlights from the window have been blown out, as demonstrated by the peak all the way to the right of the histogram.

The histogram makes it very easy to visualize how modifying camera settings changes your exposure. All you are doing is shifting the entire histogram to the right (increasing your exposure) or to the left (decreasing your exposure). If you push it too far and hit the edges, something interesting happens: the histogram “crashes” and the shadows or highlights are clipped. This means that the information is lost forever, and this is something you will usually want to avoid at all costs. An “ideal histogram” is relatively easy to define. It is a bell curve covering the whole width and finishing exactly at the edges, with no lost details. This also happens to be what the light meter in your camera will try to produce. From this ideal exposure you will then have incredibly large amounts of latitude in editing your raw file, to craft it into the image you visualized.

IMG - colorful histogram

^(Chelsea London © 2019 Fujifilm XT-1 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/1.4 | 1/1000s | ISO 500 = Histogram showing peaks in specific color channels.)

##What about color?

There are several more advanced points that can be discussed:

So far, we only talked about brightness, not about colors. Color information is coded in three channels (Red, Green and Blue, also known as RGB) and some cameras show individual histograms for each channel. This is useful information in one situation: when you have a very brightly coloured object, it is possible to blow out the corresponding channel (go so far to the right that information is lost) without it showing in the main histogram.

For raw shooters, you should be aware that the displayed histogram is the one from the JPEG preview file, not the one from your actual raw data. This means that you can sometimes recover more information than you think.

Due to the way information is stored in digital cameras, there are more details in highlights than in shadows. If you plan on using significant post-processing, you can try to shift your histogram to the right as far as you can without getting pure white, then shift it back left in post-processing. This is known as the “expose to the right” technique, and is worth your time to try out. You may find it suits your shooting style.

#Time to dip our toes into that bucket of exposure.

We’re not diving head first into our settings, but we will take some time to experiment this week. Like previous weeks, we’re looking for a few photos. We want you to attempt to make three photos, each of which showcases a specific version of the histogram.

##Make three photos.

• Photo One: This photo should aim to have a histogram that lays heavily to the right. This means you’re looking for bright highlights. We can sometimes call this “high-key” depending on how bright.

• Photo Two: For this one, do the opposite. Your photo should be strong in the shadows and the histogram should reflect that by laying heavily to the left. And, you guessed it, we can refer to this as “low-key,” depending.

• Photo Three: Aim for a “good exposure” where the histogram makes that pleasing bell curve. Don’t aim for perfection here, just do your best to have the histogram data fall mainly in the middle (the mid-tones).

Load the photos into your photo editor of choice, and find the histogram. Take a screenshot of the histogram and include it in your submission. As this is an exercise in using the histogram while shooting, let’s refrain from any dramatic exposure edits which alter the histogram. Like our previous technical assignments, mentors will not be required to give feedback on your submissions - this gives you the freedom to focus on exposure without worrying about other ‘critiqueable’ aspects. If you’d like specific advice or feedback on your submissions, tag the mentors so they know to check in.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

##coming up...

Before we jump into intentionally adjusting settings, we want to make sure you are set up for success. As such, our next lesson will be all about digital workflow. You’ll see some best practices for organization, post processing, and presentation. That way, when we’re 52 weeks in, your photos won’t be a complete mess. Time to pu ton our Type A hats and get organizing!

#Put on your photojournalist hat this week - and get out of the house.

The past couple of assignments have been more technical, with the intention of just understanding how your camera works. This week, you have more of an opportunity to flex those creativity muscles.

##Photograph and assemble a series.

If your camera allows for it, shoot this week in Raw+JPEG - we will be revisiting this week’s raw files in our post processing unit, so store them somewhere easily accessible. If you are unable to shoot raw and JPEG simultaneously, just shoot JPEG this week.

For this assignment, we want you to document an event or just everyday life. Focus on your exposure and composition, and getting it “right” in camera - because you will not be editing your submissions.

Your submission will be a series of 3-5 images which work together to tell the story of what you’re photographing. You will submit the straight out of camera JPEG images. Reminder: no editing! If your camera allows you to set camera profiles or recipes, feel free to use those, but we want to see no post processing.

Along with your images, you will include a short write-up about your thought process during photographing. Think about whether or not you found SOOC to be limiting. For the sake of the mentors, include what you would specifically like feedback on, and any challenges you faced.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Coming up...

Congrats! You’ve managed to make it through all the minutia of introductory gear talk. Just a friendly reminder that if you’re not technically-inclined, it’s not an issue. Photography is a lovely marriage of technology and art, and ultimately the gear is simply a tool to help you create a final image. Knowing the basics will help you to make choices in your photography, but it’s your vision and creativity which ultimately make for quality images.

With that in mind, next week begins Unit Three: Photography Basics. We’ll begin with an introduction to exposure and the tools available to understand an image’s exposure. In the unit we will also discuss digital workflow, setting you up for success for the following lessons.

#Welcome to the final lesson of our unit on The Gear!

Week Three: Check-In

Watch the above video (6 minutes) for a quick check-in, including some clarifications of the last lesson and its assignment. We’ll also preview the upcoming Lesson Four - the final lesson in The Gear unit!

IMG - Straight out of camera JPEG

^(Chelsea London © 2023. Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/500s | ISO 1250 - Straight out of camera JPEG; Velvia Film Simulation)

#Introduction to Image File Types

You probably have already encountered the terms ‘JPEG’ (an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group) and ‘raw,’ in regards to file types. To really understand the difference between the two, we need to go back to the components of a camera. As you may remember, a digital sensor is a grid of photo-sensitive receptors. The result of an exposure is just a big bunch of numbers corresponding to the light level recorded at each pixel. This does not make a visible image. A number of steps are still required before an image can be viewed: obtaining color information for each pixel, applying white balance, adjusting contrast, sharpening, adjusting saturation, and possibly some other treatments.

There are two ways to perform this task. You can let your camera do it for you, with minimal input, resulting in a JPEG image file. Or, you can tell the camera to do as little as possible and perform each step yourself with dedicated software later on. This process requires a raw file.

IMG - unedited raw

IMG - processed raw using Lightroom Classic

^(Sean Makin © 2020. Nikon D610 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/7.1 | 1/160s | ISO 100)

#So, what are they, exactly?

JPEG has the advantage of simplicity. There is no need to spend additional time in front of a computer. In-camera processing has come a long way, and many skilled editors still use straight out of camera (SOOC) JPEG images as their final photo. Some camera manufacturers have become known for their SOOC images, notably Fujifilm and their film-replicating recipes. In some fields such as photojournalism and sports photography, JPEGs are commonplace for their speed of transfer and ability to rapidly push good looking images to editors for quick publication.

Raw files are more complex and will require additional effort from the photographer. There are, however, significant benefits - namely control over every aspect of the final image. Think of a raw file as all the ingredients to a sandwich laid out in front of you. It’s your job to cut the bread, assemble the meat and vegetables, and top it off with a sauce. The same principle applies to raw files. You have all the data there, and it’s up to you to make choices in exposure, white balance, contrast, color balance, sharpening, et cetera.

Processing a raw file can feel daunting at first, but don’t stress over it too much at the moment. We have an entire unit about post processing coming up where we will learn how to turn raw files into the final image you’ve envisioned. For now, remember this key point: raw files give you more control over the final image. They also allow for more leeway in exposure at the time of shooting.

You may be asking now - ‘why would I choose one over the other?’ There are some key points to acknowledge when choosing whether you’ll be working mostly in raw or JPEG. Most cameras allow you to record both simultaneously, as well. So, let’s look at the benefits of each.

#Why choose JPEG?

As previously stated, there are a lot of instances in which JPEG is a great choice. Let’s look at some of the key benefits. While reading, think about how these benefits would present themselves in your personal shooting style and goals.

• Smaller File Size: JPEG files are significantly smaller compared to Raw files. This is beneficial for saving storage space on memory cards and hard drives, and making it easier to manage and share a large number of images more quickly.

• Ease of Sharing: JPEG is a universally supported format, making it easy to share images across different devices and online platforms without compatibility issues. It is widely accepted for web uploads and social media sharing. For photographers who are new to post-processing, JPEGs can be more approachable. The in-camera processing helps produce a polished image without the need for advanced editing skills or specialized software.

• Simplified Editing and Faster Workflow: JPEG files require less post-processing compared to raw files. The in-camera processing applied to JPEGs, including color correction and compression, can save time in the editing process, especially for photographers who prefer a quick and efficient workflow.

• In-Camera Adjustments: JPEG files allow photographers to apply various in-camera settings, such as white balance, sharpness, and color profiles. This can be advantageous for photographers who prefer to get the image “right” in-camera without extensive post-processing.

• Continuous Shooting: The smaller file size of JPEGs allows for a greater number of continuous shots when using burst mode. This is particularly useful in fast-paced situations where capturing multiple frames per second is essential.

##When is JPEG a hindrance?

We now have an understanding of why one would choose to use JPEG. Let’s take a look at where JPEGs fall short in terms of post processing. Watch the attached video to see an example.

Video - processing JPEG file example

Now that we can identify instances wherein JPEG would be advantageous (or not), let’s explore the benefits of using raw files.

#Why choose raw?

For many photographers, raw is the way to go. As we’ve already learned, raw files give us more latitude in our post processing. Let’s look at more key advantages to using raw.

• Higher Image Quality: raw files contain more data and information, preserving details and colors that may be lost in JPEG compression. This results in higher overall image quality, especially in situations with challenging lighting conditions.

• Greater Dynamic Range: Raw files typically capture a broader dynamic range, allowing for better retention of details in both highlights and shadows. This is beneficial when photographing scenes with high contrast.

• Non-Destructive Editing: Raw files allow for non-destructive editing, meaning adjustments can be made without permanently altering the original image data. This provides photographers with the freedom to experiment and refine their edits.

• White Balance Adjustments: Raw files enable precise control over white balance during post-processing. Photographers can easily correct or fine-tune white balance settings without compromising image quality.

• Adjustable Exposure: Raw files offer more latitude for exposure adjustments, allowing photographers to recover details in overexposed or underexposed areas. This flexibility is especially valuable in challenging lighting situations.

• Flexible Color Correction: Raw files provide extensive control over color correction, allowing photographers to adjust hues, saturation, and color balance with greater precision. This is particularly useful for achieving accurate and consistent color representation.

• More Editing Options: Photographers have more control over sharpening, noise reduction, tone and contrast, perspective, lens corrections, and much more.

• Future-Proofing: Raw files contain all the original sensor data, making them more future-proof. As software and editing tools evolve, photographers can revisit raw files to take advantage of new processing capabilities without loss of image quality.

• Customizable Compression: While JPEG files use lossy compression, raw files can be converted to various formats with different compression levels, allowing photographers to choose the most suitable file type for their specific needs.

##Let’s see raw in action.

Watch the attached video for examples of just how much control you have with raw files.

Video - raw processing examples

Since raw files are not directly viewable, you will need software which can read and manipulate raw file types. We will go into more detail during our processing unit, but some popular options for software include:

• Adobe Lightroom (paid)

• Capture One (paid)

• ON1 Photo Raw (paid)

• DxO PhotoLab (paid)

• Affinity Photo (paid)

• RawTherapee (free)

• Filmulator (free)

• Darktable (free)

• Apple Photos (included in MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS)

• Brand Specific Software: your camera may have come with raw processing software specific to your brand such as Canon DPPS.

Like last week, we'll start with a quick check-in from last week. Watch the below video (8 minutes) for a recap on what we did in last lesson and a quick preview into Lesson Three.

Week Two Check-In Video

#Introduction to Lenses

In your gear-buying research, you may have seen the idea that lenses are more important than the actual camera body. Simply speaking, this holds a lot of truth. We know that the camera body is what translates what the lens captures and writes it to either a digital sensor or film, but that information could not be collected without the use of a lens. The choices a photographer makes in regards to their lens has a dramatic effect on the final image.

Lenses determine how much of the scene is in focus (depth of field), what is seen in the image via focal length, and the distance at which you are able to focus. This lesson will mostly talk about focal length, and we’ll tackle the other aspects of the lens in future lessons.

##How do Lenses Work?

IMG-Lens Element Diagram

##The Lens

In simple terms, lenses focus light on to the camera sensor or film through a complex optical system. While we won’t get into the nitty gritty about all the intricacies of the different parts of the lens in this class, a basic overview of the main components will be beneficial.

• The Front Element: Fancy word for the glass on the front of the lens. This piece both protects the inside elements and bends and refracts light as it enters the lens.

• Lens Groups: Multiple lens elements arranged in groups. These lens groups work together to focus and direct light onto the camera's image sensor or film. Each lens element within a group has a specific optical function, and the arrangement of these elements can vary widely depending on the type of lens and its intended purpose. There are quite a few different types of lens groups, each with its own specific arrangement and number of lens groups depends on the type of lens and its intended purpose.

• Aperture: The opening in a camera lens through which light passes to enter the camera body. It is a crucial element in photography as it directly affects the exposure of an image and plays a significant role in controlling depth of field. Aperture size is measured in f-stops or f-numbers (e.g., f/2.8, f/4, f/8). A lower f-number indicates a larger aperture, allowing more light to enter the lens. Conversely, a higher f-number represents a smaller aperture, allowing less light - we will go into that at more depth in a later lesson.

• Rear Element: Lens elements located at the back of the lens, closer to the camera body. The specific functions of the rear elements can vary depending on the lens design and its intended purpose. Generally, the rear elements contribute to image projection, focusing, and reducing flare and other optical artifacts, amongst other things.

Look at the diagram above. Can you identify each of the lens’s elements?

IMG-Lens Markers

^(Sean Makin © 2024)

##What are all those numbers on my lens?

Let’s take the time to identify what all those numbers mean on your lens(es). Have a look at the above image, we’ll use that as a reference point and example for the given numbers.

First up we see: “AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm.” Okay, so to break that down; AF-S means “Auto Focus - Silent Wave,” with “silent wave” just being Nikon’s cute way of saying their auto focus is quiet. “16-35mm” is our focal range. That means this lens can be as “wide” as 16mm and caps out at 35mm. We’ll break down exactly what focal length is in the next section of this lesson, just for now remember that numbers shown in millimeters (mm) are the focal length.

The next set of numbers you see are “1:4” - our aperture (f-stop). This means this lens has a maximum aperture of f/4. On some lenses you’ll see a range, something like “4.0-5.6” showing that at your widest focal length, you have a maximum aperture of f/4 and at your narrowest focal length, you have a maximum aperture of f/5.6. Again, this may read as quite confusing, but don’t worry, we’ll get more in depth in our future aperture lesson. For now remember that numbers represented by “#:#” is the aperture.

On the front of your lens, you’ll see Ø with a number following it. Try and remember back to high school geometry - remember what what symbol means? If you said diameter, you’d be exactly right. The front of your lens has some threading on it. This is to attach screw-on filters. To ensure you get the right size filter, you need to know the diameter of your lens. That’s the number written after Ø on the front of your lens. If it says Ø52, for example, that means your lens has a diameter of 52mm, and that’s the size of screw-on filter (or lens cap!) you need.

For the remainder of this lesson, we’re concerning ourselves with only the focal length. The focal length is important as it determines the field of view (FOV), or in plainer terms: the area or angle of the scene that is captured by the camera and recorded in the resulting photograph.

#Introduction to Focal Length

Put simply, focal length is what determines how “zoomed in” you are, also often called field of view (FOV). Focal length is an actual length, expressed in millimeters - it corresponds to the distance between the optical center of the lens and the film plane. The lower this number, the less zoomed in you are. You’ll hear photographers use the word “wide” to talk about this because you can see a large amount of the scene. Conversely, if the number is high, the angle will be “narrow,” and you will only see a small portion of what is in front of you. In this instance, you are zoomed in. Being extremely zoomed in is referred to as “telephoto.” Some lenses, called “zoom lenses,” allow you to change your focal length. So-called “prime” lenses are fixed to one focal length.

The choice of a focal length is the very first step in composing a photograph. Focal length determines framing, so in that way, it is one of the most important choices you make as a photographer - every other choice (exposure, depth of field, etc) are dependent on your decision in framing.

##Going a Bit Deeper

While simplified, the above is really the need to know information. It does become more complicated, but if you’re not too fussed on the technical intricacies, understanding the idea of focal length determining your FOV is enough.

For those with a more keen interest in the technical aspects, we must note that focal length gets more complicated when you start looking at the actual numbers. An 18mm lens on a medium format camera will produce a very different angle of view than the same focal length on a compact camera. A modern compact like the Sony RX100III has focal lengths between 8.8 and 25.7mm, yet the same values on a lens for a FX DSLR like the Nikon D850 would be exceptionally wide, making for a more difficult scene to compose.

The culprit of this phenomenon is what we call the “crop factor.” The focal length is a physical property of a lens, but the resulting angle of view, which is what we are really interested in, depends on another factor: sensor size. The bigger the sensor, the wider the angle of view for the same focal length. In order to convert angles of view between different formats, we use the crop factor, which is a ratio between the standard 35mm film area and the actual sensor size. For instance, Nikon DX cameras have a smaller sensor than their FX counterparts, which results in a 1.5x crop factor. This means that a 28mm lens on a DX camera will have the same angle of view as a 28*1.5=42mm lens on FX.

Of course, this works in the other direction too: if your sensor is bigger than 35mm film, then you will need longer focal lengths to obtain similar angles of view: on 4×5 large format cameras, 150mm is considered “normal”, whereas it would be firmly in the telephoto domain on a DSLR.

Because it can all be a bit confusing, especially with lenses that can be used on several different formats, it is common to give a “35mm equivalent” focal length: the focal length at which a 35mm/FX camera would give the same angle of view.

You just need to be careful when discussing actual focal lengths: remember that the final angle of view (which is probably what you are discussing) depends on the crop factor, and that everyone may be using different ones. This is one of the reasons it may be advantageous to disclose what gear you’re using, so there’s context as to what the crop factor is (or isn’t).

Sometimes, it will be worth getting closer to your subject and using a shorter focal length, if you want to create depth and emphasize perspective. Sometimes, you will have to walk backward and use a longer lens, if you want to compress perspective.

IMG-Long-length portrait

^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X-T1 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/6.4 | 1/180s | ISO 200)

IMG-Wide-length portrait

^(Chelsea London © 2023. Fujifilm X100F | 33.0 mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/1000s | ISO 200)

##Fact or Fiction: Distortion and Compression

A common misconception is that focal length has a direct relationship to distortion. Normally this will be demonstrated through a mid-shot - a portrait shot from the shoulders up. The .gif or static images will show a face at 18mm, 56mm, and 80mm, for example, and there will be apparent distortion through squished heads and bulbous noses at 18mm, and more natural-looking head shapes and noses at 80mm. You’ve probably already seen this effect in your own selfies. But let’s look at this from a border point of view. Think about that selfie you’re taking. As it’s inherently taken by you, by your own hands, you can only hold the camera so far from your own face. Keeping that in mind, think now about that portrait with an 18mm focal length. We know that 18mm is quite wide, meaning there’s a lot of the scene in that image. To make sure the subject (in this case a person) is seen clearly and not lost in that massive scene, the photographer has to move closer. And closer. And closer. That physical distance between the photographer/camera and the subject is what’s causing that facial distortion. Step back far enough, and the subject’s face is perfectly proportioned. So now think about that 80mm photo - the zoom factor of the focal length allows the photographer to stand further away from the subject, thereby not introducing any facial distortion. Now think back to that selfie - does it reflect what you see in the mirror or photos taken by someone else? No, because the arm’s length you can provide yourself is not far enough away to negate any distortion.

That brings us to compression. The term "compression" is often used to describe the visual effect of narrowing the perceived distance between elements in an image. This effect is related to the choice of focal length and the resulting perspective in the photograph. Like that distortion .gif, you may have seen .gifs or visual representations of compression - normally with a farmhouse or shack in front of mountains. At wider focal lengths, the mountains behind the shack seem small and far away. At more narrow focal lengths, those mountains are massive, and right up on the shack. This “perspective flattening” can be used to a photographer’s advantage strategically.

IMG-Wide-length landscape

^(Sean Makin © 2023. Nikon D610 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/8.0 | 1/6s | ISO 100)

IMG-Wide-length landscape

^(Sean Makin © 2018. Nikon D610 | 140.0 mm | ƒ/6.3 | 1/15 | ISO 100)

##Focal Length Ranges

Now that you know more about focal length, let’s take a look at the different ranges usually found in lenses, and what their uses tend to be. Of course, there are many, many exceptions, but this is the “normal” use they were designed for. All focal lengths are given for 35mm sensor size (crop factor 1).

• Ultra-Wide Angle (14-24mm): They are pretty specialized lenses as they will tend to exaggerate perspective to levels which can easily be disturbing. Our eyes are not used to such wide angles of view, and they will look unnatural, which can be used for artistic purposes. Landscape and architecture photographers love these focal lengths as they will create a lot of depth and emphasize perspective. These can make for cartoonish and fun portrait or action shots - seen sometimes in fashion and skateboard photography. Note that there are lenses even wider than this range, which create even more extreme and exaggerated perspectives.

• Wide angle (24-35mm): Wide enough to show a lot of context, but not so wide that they look unnatural, they were used a lot by photojournalists. It is a good “default” focal range, which explains why most kit lenses include them (18-xx lenses on DX DSLRs, for instance).

• Normal (40-75mm): What exact length a normal lens should be has been subject to a lot of debate, but it is estimated to be around 45mm. This is an angle of view which looks very natural and “inoffensive”, neither too wide nor too tele. It also corresponds more or less to the focal length we actually perceive (though due to peripheral vision, our eyes have an estimated 22mm focal). Street photographers love these lengths.

• Mild tele (85-105mm): This is prime portrait category: long enough to isolate the face and create separation from the background (through shallow depth of field - more on this in another lesson) but short enough that you can still be within communicating distance from your subject.

• Medium tele (120-300mm): Just like wide angle, this is a very prevalent focal length which can be used in most genres to isolate details and simplify compositions. For landscape work, remember about the “perspective flattening” effect.

• Long and exotic tele (300-800mm): Those are specialized lenses for wildlife and sport photographers who need to get close to their subjects but can’t physically move. They are complex and very expensive lenses, and their angle of view is so narrow that it won’t be of much use to most photographers. Tripods and fat wallets are often required.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s enough to get you thinking consciously about your focal length choices.

To test your understanding of the lesson, take this short quiz on lenses and focal length.

How to take the quiz:

Click on this link.

• Quizizz will open in a new tab.

• Type in your name.

• Click start.

• Try and get the highest score!

If you try to play the quiz and it says it’s expired, message us and we’ll renew the quiz.

Building off of last week, for this assignment we are once again taking two photos.

##If you have a variable focal length lens (zoom lens), or you have more than one lens with differing focal lengths:

Take two of the same photos.

• Use two different focal lengths to make two photos with the same framing. Remember this may mean (probably will mean) moving either forwards or backwards to match up the field of view.

• Write a short paragraph about the differences between the two images, what you had to do to make them the same framing, and which you prefer. Preference could be due to final output, or the overall experience to make it happen.

##If you only have one focal length available, i.e. a fixed-lens camera or one prime lens:

Take two photos.

• Take one photo of a subject of your choosing, then back up significantly and take the same photo. Crop the second photo to match the field of view of the first.

• Write a short paragraph about any observations you had while making the photos. Think about how far you had to crop - did it effect the image in any way? How would you have preferred to take the photo? Do you think you would have benefited from having an alternate focal length available to you?

Like last week’s assignment, because this is more of an exercise in understanding gear, it will not be required for mentors to leave feedback on all submissions. If you have any specific questions or requests, you may tag the mentors in your post so that they will have a look and help out where needed.

##Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#Coming up...

In lesson four, we will finish out unit two, and our introduction to gear. After the next lesson, you will have an overview of your gear, and how their functionalities will effect the choices you make in your photography.

The next lesson will focus on two common file types: raw images and JPEG. We will discuss how they differ, and when you would choose to use one over the other. It will also be our first toe dip into post processing.

See you all on Reddit and Discord!

#Introduction to Cameras

We’ll start this class with a rather gentle introduction to the technical aspects of photography by asking ourselves what a camera is and what its different components are. Chances are that you will already know some of this, but going through it anyway will at least ensure that we have defined a common vocabulary.

In the strictest sense, a camera is simply a device that can record light. It does so by focusing light on a photosensitive surface. From this simple sentence, we can see the three main parts of any camera.

IMG

^(Dan Cristian Pădureț via Unsplash)

##The Sensor

The sensor is a photosensitive surface which reacts to light through either a chemical process (film) or an electric one (digital sensor). There are fundamental differences between these two, which we will cover in a subsequent lesson. But for now, we can consider both identical: they are a grid of several million tiny dots (pixels), and each can remember how much light was received in a given period. Each sensor has three important qualities: resolution, size, and what we can call “quality.”

Resolution is simply the number of pixels - it is slightly more complicated with film, let’s not worry about that for now. The more pixels you have, the more fine-grained detail you can theoretically record. Any resolution above 5 or 6 megapixels (millions of pixels) will be enough to display on a screen. Higher resolutions come into play for two important applications: printing and cropping.

To have a good reproduction quality, it is generally estimated that between 240 and 300 pixels should be used for every inch of paper (dots per inch, or dpi). This will give a natural limitation to the biggest size one can print if the print is viewed closely (viewing distance is also an important aspect of resolution for print). For instance, a 6MP image at the dimensions of 2000×3000 pixels can be printed at a maximum size of 12.5×8.3″ at 240dpi (2000/240 = 8.3, 3000/240 = 12.5). Printing bigger by lowering the dpi or artificially increasing the resolution is possible, but this will come at a loss of image quality. Having a higher resolution allows you to print bigger.

Cropping means reducing the size of an image by discarding pixels on the sides. It’s a very useful tool and can often improve composition or remove unwanted elements from an image. However, it will also decrease resolution, since you lose pixels. Therefore, how much cropping you allow yourself will depend on the initial resolution, which you want to be as high as possible. This is also what some cheaper cameras, along with phone cameras, call “digital zoom.” General point of advice is that digital zoom should be avoided, as the same effect can very easily be reproduced in post-processing through cropping.

The physical size of the sensor is very important and will have an impact on many other parameters, most of which we will see in subsequent lessons. These include: field of view (“crop factor”), depth of field, high ISO noise, and dynamic range. Bigger sensors will also allow for more widely spaced pixels (increasing image quality) or more of them (increasing resolution). Bigger is almost always better, and this is one of the main reasons that Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras (DSLRs), as well as medium format cameras, produce a much better image quality than compact cameras. 

Finally, sensor quality is harder to quantify, but it refers to how well the sensor reacts to difficult light conditions. Low light conditions will require an increase in ISO, and will demand a sensor to have as little noise as possible. High contrast conditions will require a good dynamic range to be recorded adequately.

IMG

^(Chelsea London © 2024. iPhone X | Automatic Settings)

##The Lens

The lens is the second component of any camera. It is an optical device that takes scattered light rays and focuses them neatly on the sensor. Lenses are often complex, with up to 15 different optical elements serving different roles. The quality of the glass and the precision of the lens will be extremely important in determining how good the final image quality is. Lenses must compromise, and a perfect all-around lens is physically impossible to build for a reasonable budget, weight, and overall size. For this reason, good lenses tend to be specialized and having the ability to switch them on your camera will prove extremely useful.

Lenses usually come with cryptic sequences of symbols and numbers that describe their specifications. Without going into too much detail, let’s review some of their characteristics:

Focal length refers roughly to the “zoom level,” or angle of view, of the lens. We will address this in more detail in the next lesson, as it can be a surprisingly tricky subject. A focal length is usually expressed in millimeters. You should be aware that the resulting field of view actually depends on the size of the camera sensor on which the lens is used - also known as the crop factor. For this reason, we often give “35mm equivalent” focal lengths, which is the focal length that would offer the same view on a 35mm camera (the historic film Single-Lens Reflex format) and allows us to make meaningful comparisons. If there is a single length (e.g. 24mm), the lens doesn’t zoom, and it is commonly referred to as a “prime lens.” If there are two numbers (e.g. 18-55mm), you can use the lens at any focal point within that range. Compact cameras often don’t give focal lengths but simply the range, for instance, 8x. This means that the long end is 8 times longer than the wide one, so the lens could be an 18-144mm, or a 35-280mm, etc.

The aperture is a very important concept which we will talk about in much detail later on. The aperture is an iris in the center of the lens which can close to increasingly small sizes. This action limits the amount of light that hits the sensor. It is referred to as an f-number, and you’ll see it written like f/2.8, for example. To make things more confusing, the smaller the number, the bigger the aperture! For now, don’t worry about this too much. The important number on a lens is the maximum aperture, and generally, the lower the better. Professional zoom lenses often have f/2.8 maximum apertures, and cheaper consumer lenses have ranges such as f/3.5-5.6, meaning that at the wide end, the maximum aperture is f/3.5, and at the long end, it is f/5.6. Aperture can be closed to tiny levels, usually around f/22.

Lenses also need a focusing system. Nowadays, most lenses have an internal motor that can be piloted by the camera - the autofocus. They also have a ring to allow the photographer to focus manually. Lenses are often equipped with stabilization systems (called VR by Nikon, IS by Canon). They detect small movements, usually handshake, and compensate for them by moving the optical elements internally in the opposite direction of the movements. Though not magic, these systems tend to work very well and allow sharp images to be taken at slower shutter speeds. Side note: lens-based stabilization is becoming increasingly less important due to sensor stabilization in modern mirrorless cameras.

IMG

^(Chelsea London © 2024. iPhone X | Automatic Settings)

##The Body

Finally, the body is the light tight box connecting the lens to the sensor, and ordering everyone around. Though some film cameras are just light-sealed boxes, most digital cameras are now small computers, sporting all sorts of features. Let’s review some of the components found in most bodies:

The shutter. Think of it as a curtain in front of the sensor. When you press the trigger, the curtain opens exposing the sensor to light from the lens. It then closes again after a very precise amount of time, often a tiny fraction of a second. Most shutters operate between 30 seconds and 1/4000 of a second. That duration (the shutter speed) is one of the three very important exposure factors, along with aperture and ISO (more on those later!). Some cameras lack a physical shutter and will use global or electronic shutter - there are advantages and disadvantages to this.

A light meter. As the name suggests, it measures the quantity of light and sets the exposure accordingly. How much manual control you keep at this stage is one of the most important decisions in photography. There are different metering modes, but except in very specific cases, using the most advanced, most automated one will provide the best results - and make things easier on you!

A focus detector. This is used to drive the autofocus motor in the lens. There are two competing technologies: contrast detection and phase detection. These systems tend to vary greatly between basic and advanced bodies, but it should be noted that they all need reasonable amounts of light to work properly.

A way to store the image just created, and make room for the next. Back in the days of film, this was just a lever to advance the roll to the next unexposed frame. Now, it is a pipeline that ends up in the memory card that the camera is using. If you are shooting JPEG instead of raw (more on this in another lesson), there is an additional stage where the internal computer performs all sorts of black magic on the image to output a ready-to-view JPEG file.

A way to frame. It can be a multitude of things; optical or electronic viewfinder, LCD screen, or even ground glass. DSLRs have an optical viewfinder that allows “through-the-lens” viewing and immediate feedback. Mirrorless, compact cameras, and phones use an electronic viewfinder allowing us to preview the image’s exposure, depth of field, et cetera. Rear LCD screens of cameras have taken significant jumps in usability in recent years and are now a very viable option for framing your images.

#What are you using?

We’ve talked about the different components of any camera, but not really about the different types of cameras out there. We hope this might be useful if you’re on the edge of purchasing a camera for the photo class. Friendly reminder: we’re not trying to spark your G.A.S. If reading this fuels your need to buy more and more gear, go back to lesson one - the G.A.S. section, in particular.

We will classify cameras into six somewhat arbitrary groups: phones, compacts, mirrorless, DSLRs, film, and exotics. You can forget about the last category, as anyone using these probably doesn’t need an introduction class.

For specific camera recommendations, we recommend the friendly /r/photography Questions Thread.

IMG

^(Chelsea London © 2024. iPhone X | 28.0 mm | ƒ/1.8 | 1/125s | ISO 20)

##Phones

Phones, everyone has one in their pocket these days. They are an excellent choice whether you are a beginner photographer or a very experienced one looking for a camera that is always with you.

Phones generally have quite small sensor cameras, but to make up for that, they take advantage of the processing power of your phone. Phones rapidly do large amounts of computational photography to improve their final image, with no work from the photographer necessary. This can include live image stacking to improve low light performance or to produce handheld long exposure images. A large number of phones have the ability to shoot raw, though this means you miss out on the computational ability of your phones processing. Making that choice is one we’ll help you with in our JPEG vs. raw lesson. One downside to phone cameras is there is no way physically adjust aperture, so depth of field is more of less fixed with these small sensors. That said, modern camera phones have multiple lenses, and built in tools to emulate varied depths of field.

Phones for the most part have gutted the market for compact point-and-shoot cameras discussed below and thus are usually the default complete beginner camera before a mirrorless or DSLR.

IMG

^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X100F | 23.0 mm | ƒ/3.5 | 1/200s | ISO 1250)

##Compact

Compact cameras, sometimes also called point and shoots, probably were (depending on your age) your first digital camera. Their main advantage is their low profile. When using a compact, most people will assume you are just a tourist and won’t give you a second look, whereas even a small DSLR or mirrorless camera will attract attention.Most cheap compact cameras come with downsides as a result of their small size. The sensor is usually very small, thus low light capabilities are of lesser quality, and the depth of field is always quite large. Lenses tend to be of mediocre quality and with limited maximum apertures. The LCD screen is almost exclusively for framing, which is a problem in bright light. One of the most annoying characteristics of compacts, is the infamous shutter lag – the delay between pressing the trigger and the photo actually being recorded. Compacts also assume the photographer wants the camera to make all the decisions and it is often difficult and if not impossible, to gain manual control of the various camera settings. 

Phone cameras have essentially gutted the market for most of these cameras, except in high-end compacts, which usually contain larger sensors and higher quality lenses, pop-up or integrated electronic viewfinders to improve framing along with the ability to control all aspects of the camera to the degree of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Point-and-shoot cameras do seem to be making a resurgence with the interest in “digicams,” usually cheap point and shoot cameras from the ‘00s where the low image quality, interesting processing and “vibe” are part of the image’s look.

IMG

^(Sean Makin © 2020. Nikon D610| 185.0 mm | ƒ/8.0 | 1/400s | ISO 100)

IMG

^(Sean Makin © 2020. Nikon D610| 24.0 mm | ƒ/9.0 | 3s | ISO 100)

##DSLR

A Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is a popular choice among photographers due to its versatility, image quality, and manual control options. These cameras feature interchangeable lenses and an optical viewfinder - providing a real-time, lag-free preview of the scene.

DSLRs are equipped with larger image sensors (compared to compacts or phones), leading to superior image quality and better performance in low-light conditions. The ability to use a variety of lenses is also key to the DSLR, allowing for sharp and detailed photos with a lens most appropriate for the situation. The manual controls on DSLRs provide photographers with the flexibility to adjust settings such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, enabling precise control over their shots. Another strength of DSLRs lies in their fast and accurate autofocus systems, making them suitable for capturing dynamic and fast-moving subjects, like in sports photography. The durability of DSLRs is a significant feature, as these cameras are often built with robust materials and weather-sealing capable of withstanding a variety of environmental conditions.

DSLRs do come with some drawbacks, their size and weight make them less convenient for on-the-go photography compared to more compact options. The audible noise produced during operation, particularly when using the mirror mechanism, may be a concern in quiet environments.

With the increasing proliferation of mirrorless cameras, DSLRs offer fantastic value for money on the used market, especially for someone wanting to dip their toes into photography with a “proper camera” where they can have full control of their images. In recent years, mirrorless cameras have gained popularity as they address some of the disadvantages of DSLRs, offering comparable image quality in a more compact and lightweight form. This is highlighted through Nikon and Canon appearing to have ceasing development of entry-level DSLR cameras in favor of mirrorless models.

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^(Chelsea London © 2019. Fujifilm X-T1 | 35.0 mm | ƒ/10.0 | 1/250s | ISO 250)

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^(Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm XT-10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/2.0 | 1/4000s | ISO 200)

##Mirrorless

Mirrorless cameras (or MILC, for Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera) are cameras that have gained popularity for their compact size (compared to DSLRs) and versatility in hybrid photo-video shooting since their first appearance c. 2008. These compact digital cameras lack the traditional mirror mechanism found in DSLRs, contributing to a lighter and more portable design. One distinguishing feature is the use of electronic viewfinders (EVFs) or LCD screens for composing shots, eliminating the need for an optical viewfinder. All major manufacturers now make mirrorless cameras across multiple sensor sizes from full frame to APS-C, M4/3 and 1”.

Mirrorless cameras, like DSLRs, support interchangeable lenses. The absence of a mirror mechanism can lead to quieter operation, making them more suitable for situations where discretion is crucial. Additionally, mirrorless cameras often excel in video recording, offering advanced features such as 4K recording, high frame rates, and reliable autofocus during video capture. A significant advantage of mirrorless cameras is their compact size and lightweight nature, making them ideal for travel or street photography. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) in mirrorless cameras offers a real-time preview of exposure and depth of field, aiding photographers in making decisions before capturing an image. 

However, mirrorless cameras come with certain disadvantages. One notable drawback is their battery life, which tends to be shorter compared to DSLRs due to the power demands of EVFs and continuous autofocus. Some mirrorless systems may also have a more limited selection of native lenses compared to established DSLR systems, along with a more limited used market due to their newer introduction. 

Some photographers also prefer the optical viewfinder (OVF) of DSLRs, providing a direct optical view through the lens without relying on electronic displays. Some cameras do offer a hybrid EVF and OVF. The choice between a mirrorless and a DSLR camera often boils down to personal preferences and specific photography needs. As the mirrorless market expands, addressing their issues and incorporating new features, these cameras are becoming the way of the future.

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^(Chelsea London © 2019. Minolta X-700 | 45.0 mm | Portra 800)

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^(Chelsea London © 2019. Flexaret VI | 80.0 mm | CineStill 50d)

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^(Chelsea London © 2012. Holga | 47.0 mm | Kodak Gold)

##Film

Film cameras use photographic film to capture images. These cameras rely on a chemical process to develop and produce physical prints. Despite the prevalence of digital cameras and smartphones, there has been a resurgence of interest in film cameras among certain photographers and enthusiasts. Like digital, film cameras take various forms including Twin-Lens Reflex, SLR, rangefinders, film point and shoot, toy cameras like Holga and Lomography cameras, and so on. With more and more photographers taking interest in film photography, used prices are significantly higher than they were even just 10 years ago.

This resurgence has been driven by the distinct analog aesthetics, offering a nostalgic and unique look. The tactile experience of loading film and manually setting exposure settings, as well as the limited number of exposures per roll, encourages a more deliberate and thoughtful approach to photography. The challenges and limitations posed by film contribute to a creative and intentional shooting process. Additionally, the appeal of vintage and unique cameras, often no longer in production, adds to the renewed interest in film photography.

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^(Sean Makin © 2021. Mavic Air 2 | 4.5 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/80s | ISO 100)

##Exotics

There are a number of cameras that are well outside the realm of a normal photographer, including big stuff. In the digital world, cameras larger than 35mm mean medium format backs, or more “consumer” medium format mirrorless cameras. The cheapest of these start at $10,000 without lenses, but their resolution and image quality are hard to beat with sensors pushing well over 100 megapixels. They have little application if you are not printing big or working as a commercial studio photographer, as the difference between high-end DSLRs and MILC will be hardly noticeable in everyday use. They are mostly used by commercial shooters and (rich) landscape photographers.

Rangefinders are another alternative to DSLRs, where the optical viewfinder does not pass through the lens. This permits a smart manual focus system based on split screens. The most famous of these cameras are the Leica M family. Photojournalists and street shooters love them, but they come with a steep learning curve.

#See this post in its course form here.

#So you can now identify the parts of your camera, and different types of cameras. Let’s do a little exercise to try and see why the technical parts may even matter.

##If you’re using a dedicated camera (of any type), your assignment is as follows:

Take two of the same photos; meaning at the same time, of the same subject.

• Photo One: Use your phone camera. If you have access to manual controls either natively or through a third party app, and you feel comfortable adjusting settings, feel free. If you don’t have access to manual controls, or are not comfortable with settings, not to worry! Let the phone do the backend work, and you just focus on your composition.

• Photo Two: Use your main dedicated camera. If you are comfortable adjusting settings, go for it. If not, automatic modes are your friend. Again, let’s just focus on composition here.

• Now, submit the photos side by side. Take note of your processes - what did you focus on, what was your goal for the photos. How do the two photos differ? Are you surprised by the outcome of either, or both? Did you find any limitations either from the cameras themselves or in your level of knowledge? What worked in both of the photos? These are the questions you should be thinking about as you fill in your learning journal.

• When posting the photos, don’t mention which photo is which - let your peers guess!

##If you’re using a phone camera exclusively, your assignment is as follows:

Take two photos of the same subject, in the same location, under different conditions.

• Photo one and two should be of the same subject in the same location - the one difference should be the conditions. The shift in conditions can be different times of day (good for outdoor photos), or changing in lighting (think: turn off and on different lights indoors). If you are comfortable with manual settings either native to your phone or through a third party app, feel free to use them - if not, don’t worry, we’re covering settings in future lessons!

• Submit the photos side by side, taking note of how your phone handled the different conditions. Were there any limitations you encountered? How did your phone adjust for the changing conditions? Where did you find success and where did you struggle? Take note of all of this in your learning journal.

#Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal

#On Photography

##It is time. Time to discuss why we’re all here: photography. But, before we jump into the minutia of it all, let’s take a step back and look at the idea of photography as a whole. 

Photography is a unique practice that marries science and technology with art. While the technical aspects of photography are generally easy to master, it is the intricacies of the art form that separate proficient from great. That’s why we’re going to spend the year not only learning technical aspects, but also diving into the creative side of photography.

Image - Kermits Sean Makin © 2018. Nikon D610 | 16.0 mm | ƒ/11 | 2s | ISO 100

This isn’t to say not to take pride in hitting those technical goals. The technical side of photography is its groundwork - knowing how to use your camera is the fundamental skill to be able to take your personal vision from the brainstorm stage to an actual image. On that note, knowing your tools is what is going to help you, and those tools include the automatic modes on your camera. We will encourage you to try and use manual settings in the beginning, but this is only as a means to fully understand your camera and how settings affect one another. Once you have an understanding of your settings, you’ll find that automatic modes may be the best solution for your situation.

Image - Prague

Chelsea London © 2020. Fujifilm X100F | 13.0 mm | ƒ/4.0 | 1/125s | ISO 320

Then there’s that oft-debated topic of gear. You’ll hear “the best camera you have is the one on you,” and that is absolutely correct. The caveat is that gear is ultimately another tool in your tool box. As you progress in photography, you may find that you’re limited by your gear whether it be button layout, low light performance, et cetera. But, know that you can most often make what you envision with the gear that you have. Before slamming that “add to cart” button, learn your gear inside and out.

Focal Point Podcast : A G.A.S.eous State

Listen to this podcast on Gear Acquisition Syndrome for more on the topic of gear over consumption and how to combat it.

Above all you should remember that photography is fun. It can be relaxing, stimulating, confidence-building, even discouraging. It’s nothing if not dynamic in its nature - and we’re here to have fun with it. As we progress through the course, you may find yourself getting burnt out or overwhelmed. It’s important to be honest with yourself and know when to take a step back or take a break. We’re here regardless, so take those breathers, and come back when you can. Often projects like these can become a stressful experience, so remember that this is ultimately about your own goals and you have to remain aware of your own mental health throughout the class.

#Inspiration and Feedback

Image - L'viv

Chelsea London © 2017. Fujifilm X-T10 | 56.0 mm | ƒ/2.8 | 1/180s | ISO 200

##A large portion of this course will focus on feedback and inspiration.

First, let’s tackle inspiration. We’ll go into this more in later lessons, but this week’s assignment asks you to seek out inspiration in the form of a another photographer’s work. We often see the question: ‘but where do I go to be inspired?’ A fair question, and one which has various answers depending on your personal idioms and interests. I also believe strongly in finding inspiration outside of your given medium - meaning don’t be limited to photography, but seek out different sources of art; film, music, traditional, modern, written, etc. But, getting back to photography, there are different resources available to you to seek out contemporary and older photography. Here’s a list of just some of them.

• Local art museums and galleries. This may seem obvious, but going to a local gallery is an incredible source of inspiration and opens you up to artists you may otherwise not encounter. Here's a list of galleries worldwide.

• Online Magazines/Groups/Blogs. The New Yorker Photobooth | Magnum Photographers | National Geographic | World Press Photo | The British Journal of Photography | NYTimes Lens | Lens Culture | Aperture | VII | Lomography | F-Stop | PDN | Frankie | It's Nice That | American Suburbx

• Social Media. Instagram is the first that comes to mind for most, but there are others worth noting. Flickr | NatGeo Your Shot | Behance | Vero | [YouPic] | Pinterest

• Famous Photographers. Again, may seem obvious, but successful photographers are notable for reasons. This Fstoppers article lists the 100 most influential photographers of all time.

• Photography Book Publishers. There are countless photography book publishers that you can browse. Some include: Taschen | Steidl | Mack | Mörel | Gost | And more | Here's a list of recommended photography books

• Online Communities. Obviously your peers in the photo class are a wonderful source of inspiration, and we encourage you to look at and interact with their work. Outside of the photo class (and 52 Weeks project) there are multiple great subreddits that are worth checking out. r/photographs | r/analog | r/birdphotography | r/photojournalism | r/earthporn | r/itookapicture | r/streetphotography | r/photoessay | r/nightpictures. You’ll also find subreddits for your specific gear.

While not a comprehensive list, the above options will help you get started looking at photography critically and intentionally. Remember that not everything will spark inspiration, so when you find something that does, take note of it. You can make folders on your computer of inspirational photos (don’t forget to write down the photographer and source), or bookmark sites and photographers who interest you. Some find that creating mood boards is a great way to start you on track to putting together your own work based on inspiring photos.

Now, on to feedback. One of the most crucial tools for improving photography is through critique - both receiving it and giving it. When requesting feedback, it may help the other photographer to have some added context about what your goals were for the image, how you approached hitting your goal; basically why you made the choices you made. You may also add specifics about what you’re looking for feedback on specifically. All this information allows the reviewer to approach their critique in a way most meaningful to you. Keep in mind that some may request that you give them no context so that they can come in with a clear point of view. They may follow up with questions about intent and choices, but want to start from a fresh perspective. The photo above was submitted for critique by a panel of professionals, and was submitted without context. The feedback received did touch on some things which I felt I could have clarified if I were given the opportunity, and in some ways felt a little irrelevant. And you may feel that way sometimes. It’s important to remember not to get defensive and discouraged. Feedback is not personal, and while you may find some less helpful, focus in on the points which are. Going in with an open mind and an understanding of differing perspectives will ultimately help you to grow as a photographer.

When requesting feedback in the discord and subreddit, let’s default to adding context to lessen the load for the mentors.

During this course you will also be tasked with giving feedback. If you’re new to photography, you may feel that you’re not ‘in a place’ to give feedback to others. You’d be wrong. All perspectives have value, regardless of how long you’ve been in photography or the level of education you have of the subject. Photography is a visual medium, and you have been consuming visual media your entire life. You have an inherent understanding of it whether you consciously recognize it or not.

Alright, so you’ve accepted that you can give feedback, but now you’re asking ‘how??’ The main thing is that feedback should be constructive and actionable. What that means is that there needs to be more than what you like and dislike - there needs to be substance. For example, non-constructive feedback would look like what you see in the comments of most instagram posts. You know the kind - “Sick tones, bro! 🔥🔥🔥” While probably appreciated by the photographer, it doesn’t really say anything. Instead, note what makes the photo ‘sick’ and ‘fireemoji.’ Is it the composition, where the subject is places in the frame, the overall story? Identify why you are having the reaction to the image that you are. Now for the actionable part. When giving constructive criticism, it’s important to note what can be done to improve the overall image. This would look something like “I love the energy of the overall scene, but I think we could bring more attention to the subject. Try getting closer to the point of interest to really highlight it.” Notice how what works was identified, and actionable advice is given. For more on how to give meaningful feedback, read this Fstoppers article.

You can find this lesson and all the others in order on the course page of the Focal Point Hub.

#Assignment

Submit your assignment right here in the comments!

##In our Getting Started section, we asked you to choose an old photo of yours that you were proud of, and explain why. This week is a two-part assignment. 

Choose two photos.

• Photo One: One of yours that you feel like didn’t quite come out the way you envisioned in your head. Look at it critically and articulate what about the photo doesn’t work, in your opinion. You may not know how to “fix” it, and that’s okay. This exercise is about pinpointing what you’re unhappy with. Share this photo alongside a short paragraph of where you think your opportunities with it lie.

• Photo Two: One from another photographer that you find inspiring or visually interesting. Again, look critically at the image and articulate what it is in that photo that speaks to you. Share this photo with a short paragraph about why you chose it.

Engage with a fellow participant.

Either in this post, or on discord, choose a photo submitted by another person taking the course and write some feedback on it. The main thing to do here is to identify what works in the photo, and where there may be opportunity for improvement. When identifying the opportunities, remember to make your feedback actionable. Non-constructive feedback is something like “Love this!” or “I don’t like the color here.” Actionable and constructive feedback is more like “The person on the left of the frame is visually interesting, but gets lost in all the extra space to the right. Try cropping in closer to the subject so they’re more prominent.” This article on giving feedback will help you to get started.

#Don’t forget to complete your Learning Journals!

Learning Journal PDF | Paperback Learning Journal