Introduction:
Q: What kind of camera do you have? Do you use Nikon or Canon? Do you shoot .jpg or RAW? Do you use Bridge or Aperture or Lightroom?
A: Nikon or Canon, digital or film, .jpg or RAW … all are just tools in a photographer’s toolbox. The question I am most often asked is best answered in “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke. read more…
Lesson 1: Focal Length
Remember, we agreed that you’re looking to create images that are first and foremost in-focus and not too bright (overexposed) or too dark (underexposed.) Simple. First learn the rules, then learn to break them.
Lenses come in various focal lengths, the length or distance from the front of the lens to the camera’s sensor measured in millimeters. read more…
Lesson 1.1: Focal Length Lens Comparison (coming soon!)
All other things being equal, lens choice can dramatically change an image. Some photos simply aren’t possible without the right lens, just as sometimes the photo has more to do with a unique lens choice than with the subject. It’s not practical, affordable or likely that a photographer would have at his or her disposal every possible lens choice — therefore, it’s important to choose lenses carefully and to know exactly what you can expect from each lens.
Lesson 2: Exposure
Q: I chose a 105mm lens, but how do I get the flowers to go all blurry in the background when shooting portraits? I’ve got a 200mm lens so I can get close enough to him without getting wet, but how do I freeze the water that my son is splashing in the pool? My daughter is jumping on her bed; I have a 28mm lens. What do I use to make the other settings work so that I can freeze her in the air mid-jump?
A: Here’s the magic equation:
Exposure = ISO + Aperture + Shutter Speed read more…
Photo Tips for Moms: Lesson One
I don’t know who said it first, but I’m pretty sure it was Jay Maisel who first tried to impress it upon me:
Bring your camera; because it’s pretty hard to take a picture without it. read more …
Lesson 2.1: Histogram
The instant feedback of digital photography has made the process of learning to take great pictures infinitely easier. Did I get everybody in the frame? Check the LCD. Did anybody blink? Check the LCD.
Is my picture too bright/dark? This is where checking the back of the camera can get beginners into trouble.
It’s important to understand how to read a histogram. Looking at the LCD screen on the back of the camera might not render an accurate picture (your camera’s LCD screen might be set to maximum brightness, for example, which can give you the impression that your pictures are washed out or overexposed) and the LCD screen is also a very small representation of the big picture (pardon all puns.) read more…
Lesson 3: Aperture
Each stop on the aperture scale = one full stop of light.
Take our exposure equation that we learned last post:
Exposure = ISO (sensitivity to light) + Aperture (amount of light made available to record an image) + Shutter Speed (the length of time the light is made available to record an image)
How sensitive you’re making your camera to light + how much light you’re letting in and for how long. That’s it! That’s your exposure equation. How much light you’re letting in is controlled by aperture. Think of aperture as pouring light onto your sensor through your lens; at f/2.8, you’re just dumping it in wide open but by the time you stop down to f/22, you’re pouring it quite carefully through a small funnel. read more…
Lesson 4: Exposure (Review)
If I handed a beginner my camera in manual mode and asked the beginner to pick the settings to shoot a portrait of me, a beginner would search his or her brain for the “correct” exposure. That kind of thinking gets beginners into trouble. If you’ve been a beginner for a long time, you need to do an about-face; turn yourself around and slowly start backing out of the dark, optionless void of glorified Xerox machine photography. There is no “correct” exposure. There’s only the exposure the photographer chooses to make the image he or she wants.
Remember this:
Q: What kind of camera should I buy?
A: What kind of pictures are you looking to take?
I understand where it comes from: we’ve all taken photos that were technically incorrect. Perhaps we missed an important shot that can never be re-created — a baby’s first steps or a graduate accepting a degree, and that makes us fear photographic mistakes. We have a natural desire to learn how NOT to mess up a photo like that again. read more…
Nikon D700, 28-70mm lens at 56mm, f2.8 @ 1/2000 second, ISO 200
Lesson 5: Shutter Speed
Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of seconds. 1/2 is one-half second, which is pretty fast in general terms but actually pretty slow for a shutter speed. 1/8000 of a second is pretty fast in general terms and in photography.
Shutter speeds are important when you’re trying to show action, either by using blur to show movement or by freezing action. read more…
Lesson 6: ISO
Aperture controls the amount of light coming in through the lens, shutter speed controls the amount of time in which light is allowed to reach the sensor. ISO lets you control how sensitive your sensor is in reacting to that light. Just like the aperture and shutter speed scales, ISO moves from left to right, 32 being the lowest and 3200 being quite high, each stop along the way doubling or halving (depending on which direction you’re going) the amount of light sensitivity the sensor needs to properly record an image. read more…
Photo Tips for Moms: Lessons Two and Three
Learn to recognize and use the rule-of-thirds; and if your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough. read more …
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high-key studio white backgrounds
Metaphorically. I was lucky enough to stumble over the very talented and generous Zack Arias who filled my head with knowledge and ideas. My daughter drove with me to Home Depot and the two of us somehow navigated from store to parking lot with two very large tile boards; her Daddy carried them into the house for us and her brother, anxious to show off his new shark-tooth necklace (thank you, Groovy Becker family!), stood as model. read more…
sensor dust
print your digital files!
I fear an entire generation of today’s children are going to emerge from childhood with no photographs to document their journey. My son is 8; it took only eight years for the digital files of him, albeit backed up with great intentions, to disappear. The average photo CD has a lifespan of about 3 years. THREE YEARS! That’s barely enough time to regroup from having a newborn in my world, let alone getting around to properly storing images. Gold-plated CDs have a 10-year lifespan under optimal storage conditions. OPTIMAL STORAGE CONDITIONS. Raise your hand if you’re one of those people who has actually gotten around to optimally storing your negatives and CDs and digital files. (The rest of us can jot a note on our list of things to do someday, right under “learn French” and just before “trek across Europe.”)
print your digital files!
I fear an entire generation of today’s children are going to emerge from childhood with no photographs to document their journey. My son is 8; it took only eight years for the digital files of him, albeit backed up with great intentions, to disappear. The average photo CD has a lifespan of about 3 years. THREE YEARS! That’s barely enough time to regroup from having a newborn in my world, let alone getting around to properly storing images. Gold-plated CDs have a 10-year lifespan under optimal storage conditions. OPTIMAL STORAGE CONDITIONS. Raise your hand if you’re one of those people who has actually gotten around to optimally storing your negatives and CDs and digital files. (The rest of us can jot a note on our list of things to do someday, right under “learn French” and just before “trek across Europe.”)
2 comments
Nancy Adelman - Christine,
I bought a new lens – a 24-70mm 2.8. I love it. Not only can I take better photos in low light but all my photos are much more sharp than they were with my other lenses. Your recommendation that the lens is more important that the camera body was great advice.
Yesterday my daughter told me my photos are getting better lately. The lens certainly helps, and so does all the practice I’ve been getting. I was looking at a photo I took the other day of my grandson – the composition wasn’t that great, but what struck me was that the color was perfect, both for the baby’s skin, and especially his white blanket. I realized it was the first photo I’d ever taken that really captured what white looks like.
So I shoot every chance I have, with the camera set on “M” because I understand how to use that now.
I have a long, long way to go, but I have learned so much since meeting you, and again, want to say thank you for your help.
Nancy
Paul Metzgar - When I enrolled in Christine Gacharna’s class on the basics of photography I never expected to come away with more than just that, the basics. However, I found myself under the instruction of a very talented and passionate photographer who not only shared with me the technical knowledge, but also the philosophy behind creating stunning images. Unlike some photographers I have encountered, she was infinitely helpful in answering any questions I had. A day or so after class she would send a review email recapping what we covered but also diving deeper into the questions we students had asked. Her passion for photography is evident and very contagious. She takes a genuine, personal interest in each of her students. To this day, several years after taking the class, I consider her a great mentor. I completely blame her for my love of photography and my pursuit to make it my career!