Photography
Table of Contents
These are my notes while watch this Youtube video.
Composition
Horizontal horizons
Rule of thirds: Give subjects room to MOVE into or SEE into (nose room).
- Almost always better than just put the subject in the middle
- An exception is lake, where the symmetry is key.
Framing
- Have some stuff close but not in focus to show the depth.
- Otherwise, the scene far away looks flat.
Check your backgrounds!
- Change your view point to find a better background to make subject standout (contrast in terms of color).
- The ant with a green leaf as background to standout.
Fill the Frame
- No need to fit everything in.
Leading lines
- even better if the line start at the corner of the image
Anything but eye-level
- at least as low as you subject.
Look for details
Take vertical photos
Break these rules
Exposure
- Most time auto is good.
- Adjust manually when in snow, bright windows. No need to play with different metering mode.
- Use histogram to check exposure. Sometimes the small screen is hard to see.
- Spot meter is for studio when they have a gray card.
Modes
Rule of thumb
If you want to explicitly control the shutter speed, then S mode.
- Use when you want to freeze a moving subject (faster shutter speed),
- Or when you want a slower than normal shutter speed, e.g. water fall, motion blur.
When the ideal shutter speed (e.g. 1/100) is fast enough, then A mode.
- Stationary scene or portrait.
Aperture mode + auto ISO:
- Default shutter speed: Compute the slowest shutter speed based on focal length to be hand-shake-proof (e.g. 1/100s).
- The fastest shutter speed + the smallest ISO (e.g. 160) is the darkest it can get
- It will first slow down shutter speed until it is the default shutter speed, then increase the ISO until the maximum, and then future slow down shutter speed to unsafe value.
Shutter speed mode + auto ISO:
- The largest f + the smallest ISO is the darkest it can get.
- It will first reduce f, then increase ISO.
- The logic of this mode is simpler than Aperture mode because you control the shutter speed and there is no default shutter speed.
Manual mode: often used in studio
- When the environment does not change, so you do not want the camera to auto choose A, S, ISO every time.
- Also, when you have some way to measure you are having good exposure.
Program mode: different combo between A and S.
- You have to adjust the combo every time. It is better than auto mode, but not as good as S or A mode where you have direct control.
Lighting
- Close to (1 hour before and after) sunrise or sunset is good.
- Lighting in cloudy day is good. (Although the sky does not look good.)
- Find/create a shade in harsh sunlight.
- Fill-Flash: use flashlight in harsh sunlight to get rid of the shadow.
- Direct flashlight at night is too fake. Use some indirect light.
Focus
When you set a focus point/distance, if the depth that is in focus is d, the focus point is at 1/3 of d. This is why you focus on eyes.