Composition

What makes an image attractive? not because of the camera and lenses. you need to think that both of them is merely a tools to take good photograph. Composition is what makes an image attractive. here are a few tips on how to compose a good photograph. 

1. Framing

This is one of my favourite technique. To put your main object between an object as a frame. This composition can add a dimmension to your picture.

2. diagonal lines Lines

A diagonal lines can somehow nice to see in a picture.

3. Repetitive texture or lines

A repetitive pattern in a picture is attractive to the viewer.

4. curve

Curve can also be interesting for the viewer. 

5. Perspective lines 

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Photographing Children

Photographing children

Most of us start buying camera to take a picture of our own child. Little are known that taking photograph of our own little people is one of the most challenging task a photographer have. They always move around and difficult to direct.

Here are a few tips to catch a great image of your child.

1. Play with them and follow them wherever they go. camera ready of course.

2. shoot when he / she is busy doing stuff.

3. The closer the better. The closer your camera to the child, the better it is. ( I usually use 85mm lens to get a better close up image. and use 35mm to shoot on different perspective such as from the top of their head)

4. The windows of human soul is through their eyes. children's eye is very attractive.

5. bribe them with candy. If you want them to do something for you to take a photograph, promise them some gift like candy r cracker.

6. Use minimum aperture of f4.With this formula, your depth of field is not too narrow, allowing a sharp picture when the object is moving while you can still have a good bokeh.

7. don't forget your minimum speed limit.

8. shoot when he/she eat or drink, feed his pets, trying to pick up fallen toys, throwing, running, jumping, riding bike, even sleeping.

9. stop asking them to pose when they don't want to pose. you better off taking a candid picture.

10. shoot a hell of lot. this is the marvel of digital world. you don't have to pay for film and the result is instant. Even when you shoot without looking at your few finder can make an attractive picture

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Connecting the dots.

The easiest way to learn the connection between the three exposure component is by experimenting. In DSLR camera you notice that you can have 3 main mode which are, aperture priority, Speed priority and Manual. Aperture priority is what I use most of the time. you decide which f value you want to use for the shoot, the camera will adjust the camera speed automatically.

For a start, set your camera ISO to 100 and set your camera mode to aperture priority. change the f value as low as your camera permit between 4.5 - 2.8 and press half of your shutter speed. You will notice the camera speed will change depending on how well lit your object is. the brighter the object, the more speed you can get.

Usually during the day you can test shooting outdoor and indoor. with the same setting, shooting outdoor will let your camera operate in higher speed then shooting indoor.

Note: the faster your camera speed, the sharper your image. this is because the faster the camera speed, the less shake produced from your hand.

Tips: Know your hand, know your speed. I experiment taking picture of one object with different speed to know my own shutter speed limit. My speed limit is 100. meaning that if I shoot using shutter speed under 100, my image will sharpness will be reduced. some people with steadier hand can shoot with shutter speed 30 without losing its sharpness.

case study:

You set your camera to ISO100 and you want to shoot an object with aperture value of f4. because the lighting condition is not that good, your camera detecting that you need 30 for your camera speed. Your speed limit is 100. what should you do?

You have 2 option.

1. If you can tolerance your depth of field, you can adjust it to f2.8 ( so your camera sensor can capture more light) but your depth of field will be shorter. If the is not an option, then choose option 2

2. increase your sensor sensitifity by adjusting your camera ISO to 200 or 400. with higher ISO, you can take a picture with higher speed without sacrificing your depth of field.

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Exposure triangle

The Word photography comes from a greek word of Phos( which means light), and graphe (which means drawing)  therefore the definition of photography is "drawing or Painting with light"

The most basic technical aspect in photography is the exposure where this determine how the camera sensor takes up information of light that bounce off an objects creating images containing color, tone, lines, etc

You will need to learn the connection between 3 fundamental component of exposure in rder tounderstand the basic theory of taking photographs. Those are ISO, Shutter Speed,  Apperture. Those relationship can be defined by exposure Triangle.  but first lets understand each of those component as an individual.

ISO.

In the old days when camera still use a negative film, ISO is the sensitivity of the film towards the lights that cames forom the lenses. the higher the sensitivity of the film, the more noise you will get in the image, Hence the image is not sharp.

In the digital world, your camera are able to have an ISO range 100-3200, being ISO 100 is the sharpest in terms of image quality and 3200 has the worst image quality. But noise is not necesserily wrong. In the old days the quality of the film is not as good as it is now ( before digital) so if you want your photo to have an old or antique feeling, you might want to shoot using high iso.

Apperture

An apperture is the diameter of the lens opening where it is being controled by 2 shutter curtain in the modern DSLR camera. The lager the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the sensor. Apperture is expresed as F stop in the photography terms. it can have range of F1.2 ( the widest aperture ) to F33 ( the smallest aperture).

In term of image result, aperture determine the depth of field in the image. That is the distance of the the object in focus. The higher the F value , the longer the depth of field, the smaller the F value the shorter the depth of field.

                         Camera aperture F2.8                          Camera aperture F 13

Shutter speed

Shutter speed determine How fast is the camera exposure to the light. the brighter the object, the faster the shutter speed of a camera to get a good exposure.

                        Camera speed 1/160                             Camera speed 1/2500

To see animation of modern camera shutter follow this link 

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Basic composition

The most basic rule for composing image is the rule of third. This is when you divide your viewfinder by 3 equal lines horizontally and vertically.

and the way to compose your image is to put your POI (Point of interest) on the line or on the intersection of the two lines.

Another guide in composition is the golden ratio which comes from the Fibonacci mathematical calculation. golden ratio is equal to 1,618 or in mathematical term called Phi. Golden ratio was invented since renaissance where it has been used by many artist like Leonardo Da Vinci, Dali, and so on. It is believed that a ratio 1:1.618 is the divine proportion in nature where it is believed that everything that we can called a beauty would have this ratio.

Now then, what does it have to do with framing? in photography we can use the ratio to compose an image that if you divide them according to the object or lines in the photograph, you will get a longer or bigger object on one side and smaller on the other side. 

To take the divine proportion further into the composition of an image we can use Fibonacci mathematical calculation. it start with 1 square, and Each succeeding number after 1 is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers. you will end up with 1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and so on. hence the Fibonacci spiral is created.

the Fibonacci sequence is believed to be the perfect sequence because if you divide one number by the number before it in the sequence, you will end up with roughly phi = 1.618. for example 34 / 21 = 1,619. to read more about phi you can also read in this link follow this link 

However, rules in photography is not a fix but it is rather a guide for the photographer to follow. photography is an art and there is no of saying an image is right or wrong if it does not follow the rules. What makes an image right is when the audience feel what you want them to feel, when they see your photographer. 

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Introduction to Photography

Nowadays most people took up the hobby of photography and every time 2 person comes to learn thet each have the same photography hobby they always ask " oo, what camera are you using?", " which camera is the best ?" .All of this question is the most basic technical which only contibute to the final image you producing.  They seems to miss the most fundamental question which is " what kind of photography do you like?", "what image do you like to take?" , " what kind of photography do you like to persue or experiment.

The only technical detail you need is the exposure.  as long as your camera can control the exposure triangle, then that is enough.

the first important aspect of technical photography is the quality of lens you are using ( this will determine the sharpness of your image, the color of the image and the flexibility of the apperture and speed of your camera).

the second one is the camera body which is the speed of processor (determine the time gap between 1 shoot to another), sensor quality ( determine by the noise of the picture in high iso shooting). the rest is just an additional feature that can ease your style of shooting.

In summary, you dont need a good camera to take good picture. so what do you need ? the answer is Composition.  With good composition, you can take good photograph even if you use pocket camera.

I took the picture on the left with my sony pocket camera.