Everyone on this planet wants to click better pictures than there friends and wives, we all know that, and let's be honest. Clicking good pictures seems easy while knowing one or two rules but after the click, the photo seems just a snapshot of your memory.
What's the difference? Cameras were invented for the same reason right, "Snapshot"? but it's entirely different from the word "Photography". And if you think that by clicking good snapshots of your life you are performing so called photography, then you are completely fooling yourself.
Photography is the art of conveying a strong meaning or an artistic expression via a snapshot. It is the art of practising to develop a simple snapshot into a strong expression. And this requires a great photographic eye that can be developed over years of experience and practice, transforming a snapshot to a photograph.
And why the hell do we click pictures out of a camera? Basically to store somewhere safe so that we can revisit those memories and share among our friends, relatives and colleagues later on.
And how does a photograph serve a different purpose ? Usually a photograph is not meant to be a memory or a snapshot instead it serves the purpose to provide a meaning or provide visuals to a plain text for better understanding if we talk at the base level. It also helps in showcasing your photographic and artistic ability to convey the degree of intensity of an emotion or a message.
Congratulations so far you have understood the answers of the following questions :
- What is a snapshot and how it is different from photography?
- What purposes do they serve in their own territories?
Now you can dive deeper into how can you turn a simple snapshot into a better photo. To do so you need to understand some basic measuring units used for photography across the globe.
Photographic Measuring Units and Terms
- ISO
It is the sensitivity of your camera sensor towards light, we can leverage this to increase the lighting visible in your photo which is basically to control the brightness of the image.
Every camera has a base ISO which is useful during bright sunny situations where the lighting is way brighter than you want, in such situations a lower ISO can help you.
Are you wondering how the ISO works under the hood ?
Every camera sensor has a component known as a photo diode, and this diode is responsible to convert light into a format in which camera and other electronic devices like phones, computer etc.. are able to read and write which we all know is the 1s and 0s (Binary).
So this small diode converts light into electrical energy and the intensity of each color on a pixel is shown by the level of voltage generated by this diode. Lot to take in but understanding this really makes you an engineer if your are not one :> - White Balance
This represents the temperature of the environment by leveraging the amount of blue and orange hues involved in an image. This makes our images warmer or cooler. It is measured in Kelvin(K) the same as temperature.
Why do we need it?
Well a camera isn't capable enough to capture same as our eye because our eyes can capture up to 10 million colors whereas cameras do only 4 million technically less than half, this gives a big hit to the dynamic range (the ability to balance the whites and blacks) of the cameras which is lot lesser than our eyes.
This results in warmer or cooler images than the reality and we can adjust it according to the environment. We have various modes in a camera to achieve our desired color temperature which are listed above. - Shutter Speed
It controls how slow the shutter closes (not at the time of opening) or we also can say that how long the shutter stays open for the light to fall on the sensor. It is usually measured in seconds and ranges from 1/2000th of a second to 30 seconds.
It also controls the amount of lighting captured into an image, greater the shutter speed more the brighter image. But it too has a side-effect which is quite useful, higher shutter speeds results in blurry and hazy images which looks like this
This unique effect known as light painting is loved by the photography community a lot and is used widely among photographers across the globe. To achieve such effect the camera needs to be very stable and cannot be clicked using your shaky hands, always take a tripod with you whenever you go for clicking photographs !
And lower shutter speeds result in an image that is able to freeze the moments like this
- Aperture
This refers to how wide open is your lens and controls the amount of light that enters into your camera. This is measured in F-stops which basically means
= f (Len's focal length) / certain number
Usually lenses come in variety of focal lengths and range from f/2.8 to f/22, and a quick tip - the lower the focal length like f/2.8 the expensive and bulky it becomes. f/2.8 lenses allows us to capture more light for great low light photography and f/22 lenses allows us to capture perfect images even in brightest sun lights.
And this too has a side-effect known as depth of field, a higher aperture (wider opening or lower f-stop) like f/2.8 has a shallow depth of field which makes the background blur and the foreground crisp and sharp (Bokeh Effect or Portrait mode as for a smartphone). The photos look something like this
This effect is the one and only reason for which every smartphone photographer thinks of switching to DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. Since the smartphones do not have a variable aperture they tend to use their software skills to achieve a similar effect known as portrait. And these images look software processed with digital edge detection and sharpening which are no match for a professional camera.
Lower aperture (smaller opening or higher f-stop) like f/22 gives a overall sharp image and has almost everything in focus. These aperture numbers are usually used in landscape photography - Exposure
This is the degree of measure of the intensity distribution of whites and blacks across the image and is not same as the brightness. A over exposed image suggests that an image has more whites and less blacks and other colors and vice versa.
It can be controlled by adjusting the combination of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. In cameras it is measured using different metering modes and ranges usually from -3 to +3 and 0 stats that the image is properly exposed.
Congratulations again now you how understood the basic terminology, now you are ready to dig into photography by experimenting and understanding the exposure triangle for better photos.
You can also dive deep into the art of mastering photo compositions for making your images look more interesting and convey a stronger meaning.
DISCLAIMER: I am no photography expert and have no solid experience to share with you but, I too am an enthusiast who can clearly differentiate the knowledge gained through experience and technical aspects. Sharing the technical aspects of photography which are no brainer and the same for everyone.
Feel free to leave comments below and I am happy to digest your invaluable feedback!