Tag: learning photography

Manual Mastery – a beginner’s guide Part II

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Aperture.  

The aperture talks about the hole that the light passes through to get to the film, or the sensor, and is measured in “f stops” which will be what you see on your film camera lenses, or what you will see as a value in the viewfinder or on the back of the screen on your digital camera.

On prime lenses you will generally have a value of between f1.8 going up to f16, or even f22 or f32 on your digital lenses.  If you go below F1.8 to f1.4 or f1.2, you have a more expensive lens attached to your camera body.  If you can afford it then why not.

The opening or closing of the aperture blades will affect how much of your photo will be in focus and how much “bokeh” you will be able to get for your image.  You will hear people talking about depth of field (of view).  If I use a large aperture (with a lower f stop number) I will only have a small plane of my image that will be in focus or sharp, and the background will be blurry.  My subject will stand out.  If I use a smaller aperture (a larger number on the f stop setting), I will have a larger plane of my image that will be.

Application

So this exposure triangle thingy. In the previous sections you have seeen the effects that each element can have on your shot.  In photography, as in life, we have to learn how to prioritise.  What is the most important for us?  How will these settings help us get the photo “we” want and not what the camera thinks “we” want?  Do we need to freeze the action?  Do we need the creamy bokeh?  How much light do we have to play with?  What is most important to us?  Modern cameras are pretty good with their automatic settings, but when talking about being mindful in photography, it might just be an idea to keep a minimum of control.

Photography with a manual film camera takes this automation away,and brings us back to basics, hence my referring back to them all the time.  If you can get well exposed shots with a manual film camera, then using digital is a breeze.  In the viewfinder there will be a needle that goes up and down depending on how we change our settings.  As I said earlier the ISO value will be chosen by the film you use, and I explained the different values and how they work.  So that’s one less thing to worry about.  You can’t change your film mid shoot, well you can, but I need a new article to tell you how to do it.  So you’re left with aperture and shutter speed controls.  There’s no LCD screen with a preview, so you have to become an educated guesser.  But if I can, then you can.  This needle, or rather a snazzy modern version, will appear in the viewfinder, and you will see it move as you change your setting.  

Same tool, just a different format.  Or you can cheat, and look at the image preview on the LCD screen.  But that’s cheating, and gets you thinking rather than doing.   

Always bear in mind that as the light changes, then so will your settings to adjust for this changing light.  Just keep an eye on it and be aware as Jean-Claude Van Damme would tell us.

Scenario 1

I need to take photos of little Jimmy’s football match.  I need to have a relatively fast shutter speed (about 1/500th of a second with film as my minimum speed, or up to 1/4000th of a second to capture the action with a digital camera), so shutter speed is my priority.  That can’t move.  So I can play with either my ISO or my aperture to compensate.  I would probably take a 400 ISO (or ASA) film because even in sunlight that would allow me to have everything in focus by using f8, or even f16.  With digital I can really push up my ISO to around 6400 and not have too much visible noise.  The very recent cameras can go even higher without digital noise becoming a problem.

Scenario 2

I want to capture my subject and make the background blurry. Basically bokeh and also low light photography. This could be in street photography, or taking a portrait of somebody where I want the eyes in focus, but not necessarily the ears or back of the head.  I will want to use a large aperture (smallest f stop number, so my priority becomes my aperture setting which I don’t want to change. This will give me that creamy bokeh that everyone raves about.But, with a large aperture I’m going to have lots of light hitting my film.  I will have to bump up my shutter speed, and lower my ISO by using a slower film like 100 ASA or 200 ASA to compensate.  

Scenario 3. 

When ambient light is lower, opening up my aperture, lowering my shutter speed I can compensate for this lack of light.  I might have to use a tripod if there isn’t enough light, or add a flash to my camera to provide my own light.  I could use a higher ISO value and have a film more sensitive to light, but I will get much more grain etc.  Everything is about balance and weighing up what “you” want. 

Conclusion

Talking about film photography and film speeds etc, was very deliberate on my part.  I am convinced that if you can use a manual camera and get good results, then using a digital camera will be so much easier for you.

The exposure triangle is now something that is no longer an enigma.  We have talked about the ISO value, the shutter speed, and the aperture, and how these settings will effect your photograph. The ability to master these three elements gives you creative control over your images, allowing you to expose your image the way “you” want to, and you can go back to the articles about composition with a new eye.  I want you to enjoy your photography, and you now have the necessary tools and knowledge at your disposal to do so.

I would, as always, urge you to take your camera out and shoot.  You can experiment, and practice, and this manual lark will become second nature.  You’ve got this!

Manual Mastery – a beginner’s guide Part I

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How many times have I seen grown men go to pieces at the suggestion of using manual mode?  Or worse, how many times have I seen other grown men saying that to be a real photographer you have to master manual mode otherwise you’re not a real photographer?  Let me assure you that it’s not as complicated as it sounds.  When I took my first  photography lessons in 1984, I learnt it as a child.  You’ve got this, and I’m here to accompany you through the process.   As the Hitchkiker’s Guide so elegantly says, in comforting letters, “Don’t Panic!”

There are some basic concepts to understand, the first of which is the exposure triangle which we were introduced to in the Photography 101 article.  Those three things to consider are, ISO, or film sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture, and balancing them together.

Are you ready?  We’ll go step by step telling you how each of these settings influence your shot, and how we will balance them to create the image that “you” want instead of the image that your “camera” wants to take.  You are the creative boss after all.  And that is the reason that people use Manual Mode.

ISO, or film sensitivity

When I started learning photography in the last century was I was a young boy, yes I was young once, we only had film as a means to capture our images.  You would choose your film in function of the light available.  And when using my film cameras I still work in this way.  100 ASA (which is the same as ISO on modern camera) for sunny conditions, sometimes even 50 ASA, where the film can be used in bright conditions, going through to 200 ASA when it’s cloudy, but with sun shining through, to 400 ASA when overcast, 800 ASA when inside or even 1600 ASA, to 3200 ASA for night photography.  

In the film days we would talk about the presence or absence of grain and this was part of the deal.  You would get less grain the lower down the ASA range you went, and more grain the further up you went.  And this grain was a result of the crystals on the film emulsion, and the chemical developing process.  The choice could be as much about lighting conditions as an artistic decision.  Once the film you chose was in the camera however, it didn’t change until you changed your film.

Nowadays with all this modern technology palaver, you can change this ISO (because it’s digital photography) and change it for each photo.  Unfortunately the higher up you go in these values, the more “noise” you will get.  This digital noise is in a random pattern and totally unlike the grain of film photography.

Shutter speed

Shutter speed, as the words suggest, is about the speed of which the shutter opens  and closes to expose either the film or camera’s sensor.  You see, I told you that this would be simple to understand.  If I can get it, then so can you.  So now we’re on to speed.  When changing the speed of which the light hits the film or the shutter, I can freeze motion, of get a conscious motion blur, where the photo will seem animated.

Let’s say I want to take a photo of somebody running towards me. I will use a higher shutter speed to freeze the action.  Think of sports photography, of catching a  pass of a ball in rugby, or a footballer stopping a ball etc.  Those factors will make or break your image.  Imagine a photo of a football match and you can’t see the ball because it’s going faster than your shutter.  It might not work out for you.  In this situation, on my film cameras I will let the shutter curtain open for just 1/1000th of a second.  Depending on which digital camera I can go as quick as 1/8000 th of a second.

Let’s go to the other extreme.  I’m taking photos of a landscape and I want to show the motion of trees in the wind, the movement of the clouds, or the movement of water. I will use a longer shutter speed, say anything from 1/8th of a second to one second…  The subject will be moving faster than the shutter curtain, and I will get that artistic blur. 

I could be somewhere very dark, so in order to get a clear photo, I will have to let more light through onto my film or sensor.There I might have to use bulb mode in order to leave the shutter curtain for longer than 2 seconds.

For shooting a subject walking I would use 1/125th to 1/250th of a second to freeze the frame.  When using a flash in manual mode, I would aim to be around 1/60th of a second (which depends on your camera’s flash sync value).  When talking about shutter speeds I’m thinking of my film cameras  and bearing in mind that most digital cameras will have wider ranges of shutter speed.  Another tip for you would be to not let your shutter speed go below the number of your focal length (the legendary reciprocal rule).  Let’s say I’m using a 50mm lens, then I would not use a speed under 1/50th of a second, or even 1/60th of a second.  If I have a 200mm lens I would not go under 1/200th of a second. This is to counterbalance the weight of the lens and avoid lens shake.

Conclusion

This article has a lot of information in it and I have decided to separate everything and have a Part II.  In this Part I we have talked about sensitivity to light be that film, and the different ratings of films for various lighting situations.  In digital photography we have a wider range of ISO settings and with the newer cameras, the noise in an ISO 3200 setting will produce a much less grainy image than with film.  However this “grain” can be used as an artistic choice and I will let “you” experiment and see what each film gives you.

We have talked about shutter speed, and the ability to freeze an instant with a higher speed.  And the opposite of this to create motion in our image.

Next week we will talk about Aperture and how this effects depth of field and discover the rich creaminess of bokeh.  We will also explore various scenarii and give concrete examples of the effects of this triangle and how to turn it into an advantage.

Prime vs Zoom Lenses: Choosing the Right Lens for Your Photography

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Good evening Dear Reader.  We’re back delving  into another series of articles where I will talk shop.  Mother, if that doesn’t interest you then consider yourself warned.  I will, as the title of this article suggests, be talking about the differences between zoom and prime lenses.  I too, many moons ago, was a beginner photographer, and just starting out with a Praktica MTL3, with a 50mm F1.8 lens, and a Helios 135mm F2.8 lens.  An SLR because in 1987 a DSLR did not exist.   This was my first lot of “gear.” That was then and this is now.  2024.  When buying a “starter” camera, “they” will try and flog you, or offer in a bundle what has become known as the ubiquitous “kit lens.”  Otherwise you will be gazing upon a “huge” array of lenses with some “huge” prices to go with them.  This will generally be included in the more “accessible” range of cameras.  It certainly was for my Fuji XT2 18-55mm zoom lens (24-70mm equivalent for full frame sensor).  Don’t get me wrong, I use my 18-55 lens on my Fuji XT2 and like using it.  BUT, when I bought that camera I bought a 24mm equivalent prime lens for it.

This raises the question about what is a prime lens and what is a zoom lens.  A prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length.  A zoom lens allows you to vary this focal length and “zoom” in and out.

Advantages of Prime Lenses

Superior Image Quality

You will generally find that you can obtain a “sharper” image with a prime.  Some of the older lenses and ones that we used in film photography are slightly softer, but we were fine about it then, and this quest for modern sharpness seems to have become more important.  In digital photography, this new and thoroughly modern technology will lead to less distortion, and chromatic aberration, which is indeed an aberration where you might get a blueish outline around the subjects in your shots.

Wide Aperture Capabilities

I touched on the concept of aperture in my Photography 101 article.  The aperture is the hole that allows light to expose the film or your camera sensor.  The larger aperture (indcicate by a smaller f number) allows two things.  More light to hit the film, therefore allowing us to shoot in lower light,  and the separation of the subject from the background by getting that “creamy” bokeh beloved by so many of us. 

Compactness and Portability

The “average” prime lens is more “compact” than the average zoom lens.  Effect number one of this is that you can fit more primes into your camera bag and it will probably be lighter.  Think about what I said in my street photography article.  A camera with a smaller lens is also less threatening than having a massive thing thrust in your face.  Being less threatening is always good, and makes the photographic experience more pleasant for everyone.

Creativity and Artistic Expression

When using primes every shot becomes more deliberate.  The choice of which prime to use becomes more important.  You “zoom” with your feet and not with the lens. I have talked about this mindfulness in my photography tutorial series.   

Advantages of Zoom Lenses

First of all we have to talk about what a zoom lens is.  Well, it’s a lens that allows you to zoom.  Sorry about that, I couldn’t help myself. On a more serious note, it is a lens which glides through a series of focal lengths on the same lens.  I have three zooms for my DSLR, a 16-35mm f4, a 24-70mm f4, and a 70-300 f4 – f5.6, and the 18-55mm (24-70 full frame equivalent) kit lens for my Fuji XT2. With three lenses I am covered from 16mm to 300mm, which for me is a big deal.  My 16-35mm has me covered for wide angled vistas of the Place Cambronne in Nantes, and those distorted obligatory bike shots, to general street photography.  My 24-70 f4 even has a macro function offering me even more versatility.  I would class it as my events lens and can double for street photography, and even street portraits.  It’s a veritable work horse of a lens and was what I used when I talked about spring.  My 70-300 lens is for when I can’t get near enough to my subject without spooking it, be that my children messing around next to the river, or taking shots of cormorants sunbathing on the river Erdre in Nantes.

Convenience and Ease of Use

In my previous paragraph I talked about the different focal lengths that I have with each zoom lens.  At the moment in my camera bag I have my Fuji X100F and its 35mm equivalent f2 lens and my Canon 6D Mark II and my 24-70mm f4 lens.  It means carrying less equipment and being prepared for a variety of shots when on the streets or taking photos for my work.  It also provides for less “faffing about” which is something I love to avoid in general, unless I am prepared mentally and ready for it.

All-in-one Solution

Instead of having a different lens for each situation, I have a solution in my bag that allows me to adapt.  Why buy three lenses when I can have a multitude of possibilities with just one lens?  They might seem expensive, but when you are not a professional, cost is something that has to be taken into account, otherwise you have to be very good at communication with your spouse justifying all these purchases.  Happy wife, Happy life.  Happy Husband, we’ll see about that!

Image Stabilisation

In the last paragraph, I talked about stable marital life, and on my zooms I have image stabilisation, which will allow me a more stable shooting of an image.  In the Photography 101 article I talked about having an exposition of nothing lower than the focal length.  IE with a 50mm lens I should not shoot lower than a 50th of a second to avoid camera shake and therefore a sharper image.  This stabilisation offers me about 4 stops extra to play with, be that having a longer shutter speed, or having a larger aperture and therefore getting more in focus in my image.  

Conclusion

I have talked about how this photography lark is all about give and take.  This is so true in the exposition triangle where everything is a question of balance, but also true in the case of lens choice.  Some will be more expensive but give you more control, and others will offer you more ease of use and versatility. You are the one who ultimately has to decide on what camera gear you need (more than want).  What is most important to you?  How will the lens help you?  What is your budget?  

When all these questions are answered honestly then you will be well on the way to having the kit you need, to do the type of photography that you want to do.  

What would I advise a novice for their first acquisition?  I would say the nifty fifty.  The 50mm is closest to what the eye sees.  This prime generally offers an opening of F1.8 which gives you that sexy bokeh.  

Ultimately the choice is yours alone.  But this simple guide may help you reflect and question yourself and allow you to make a deliberate well thought out decision.  The most important thing is to get out there with your camera, start making memories and training that beautiful eye of yours!