P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

Understanding Camera Lenses

A camera lens is an optical device that helps to focus light onto a surface. It is the most important part of a camera, as it is responsible for capturing the image. Camera lenses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and can be used for a wide range of photographic applications.

Understanding Focal Lengths

Focal length is the distance between the lens and the image plane. It is measured in millimeters and determines the angle of view of the image. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the more magnification the lens has. On the other hand, a shorter focal length gives a wider angle of view and less magnification.

In general, smaller focal length numbers will be best for landscape images, large focal length numbers are best for wildlife images, and the spectrum of focal lengths in the middle can be great for portraits or everyday lenses.

General recommendations:

• Less than 25 mm – wide-angle lens, best for landscapes
• 25 – 84 mm – general lens, good for everyday use
• 85 – 199 mm – general lens, good for portraits
• 200 mm and up – telephoto lens best for wildlife

Different Types of Camera Lenses

Generally, there are three main types of lenses: prime lenses, zoom lenses, and macro lenses. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and are great for capturing sharp images with shallow depth of field. Zoom lenses have a variable focal length and are ideal for capturing images from far away. Macro lenses are designed for close-up photography and are perfect for capturing details.

Pros and Cons of Different Camera Lens Types

Each type of lens has its own advantages and disadvantages. Prime lenses are usually smaller and lighter, but they don’t offer the same flexibility as zoom lenses. However, prime lenses often offer superior quality than zoom lenses. Zoom lenses are more versatile, but they are usually heavier and more expensive. Macro lenses are great for capturing small details, but they can be more difficult to use.

Choosing the Right Camera Lens for You

Choosing the right lens for your photography needs can be a daunting task. It’s important to consider your budget, the type of photography you’ll be doing, and the type of images you want to capture. It’s also important to consider the pros and cons of each focal length before making a decision.

Conclusion

Knowing the basics of photography lenses and various focal lengths is essential for any photographer who wants to get the best results from their shots. With the right tools and techniques, you can create stunning images that will capture the beauty of the world around you.

I hope that this article about understanding camera lenses was beneficial to you. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Additionally, if you did not see my introductory post about this tutorial series, check it out here!

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

The post Understanding Camera Lenses with an overview of focal length appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.

In this guide, you are going to learn how to control depth of field by covering these topics:

• Depth of field definition
• Importance of depth of field
• Factors affecting depth of field
• Controlling depth of field to create amazing photos
• Etc.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

What is Depth of Field in Photography?

Depth of field is essentially the region within a photo that is in focus and sharp. Wherever you place your focus point within a scene will be the point that is tack sharp, but a percentage in front of and behind your focus point will also be acceptably sharp.

It is also important to know that it is not an equal zone in front of and behind the focus point that’s in focus. Rather, approximately ⅓ of your depth of field will be in front of the focus point and ⅔ behind.

The main factors that you can manipulate to control depth of field are aperture, focal length, and distance between you and your subject. These will be discussed further below.

Why is Depth of Field Important?

Controlling depth of field is super important because, at least in my opinion, it gives you the most artistic control of an image. Using the proper depth of field is the make-or-break aspect when it comes to vast landscapes and dreamy portraits.

For example, using shallow depth of field for a dreamy portrait is what allows for the subject to be tack sharp while the background is pleasingly blurred (bokeh). With a shallow depth of field, only a small portion of the scene will be in focus, which allows for excellent background separation. Using a deep depth of field in this scenario would result in the background also being in focus, likely resulting in many distracting elements throughout the scene.

On the other hand, with the vast landscape, you would want a deep depth of field to ensure the photo is sharp from corner to corner. This is an important thing to consider when you are facing a beautiful vista. Nothing would be worse than getting your photos onto the computer and realizing that the mountains in the background are soft.

Other shallow depth of field examples could be isolating an animal in wildlife photography, flower pictures in macro photography, or if you want to isolate a single subject in street photography.

Alternatively, you may choose to utilize a deep depth of field in wildlife photography if you also want to capture the animal’s habitat or in portrait photography if you are photographing a group.

Factors Affecting Depth of Field:

What controls depth of field is a combination of three variables: aperture, focal length, and the distance between you and the subject. It’s important to understand how these three variables work together because there may be times that you don’t have control of one of them.

For example, you don’t need to feel limited if you don’t have the money to buy these big expensive lenses (side note, the best gear is the gear you already have). If you don’t have a lens that opens up to f/2.8, try getting closer to your subject and you will see that great bokeh!

Now let me explain them.

Aperture (f-stop):

Aperture is a key factor affecting depth of field. I discuss aperture in greater detail in my exposure triangle article, which you can find HERE.

However, to recap, the aperture of your lens is the hole that allows light to pass through the lens to the sensor. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture, and vice versa. The larger the aperture, the more shallow the resulting depth of field will be, and vice versa.

The way I think of it is:

• Small f-stop number (large aperture hole) = less in focus (shallow depth of field)
• Large f-stop number (small aperture hole) = more in focus (deep depth of field)

So in general, if I am photographing a landscape and want a deep depth of field to produce an image that is sharp from front to back, I will often select an aperture (f-stop) of around f/11. On the other hand, if I am taking a portrait I will open up the aperture (f-stop) to somewhere around f/4 or f/2.8 to blur the background somewhat.

Distance Between Lens and Subject:

The next variable that will affect your depth of field is the distance between you and the subject that you have focused on.

The closer you can get your lens to your subject, the more shallow the depth of field will be. For example, if you take a portrait at f/4 from 50 feet away and from 5 feet away, the depth of field will be more shallow in the photo taken from 5 feet away.

What this means for you (assuming the subject is cooperative or stationary) is that if you are not seeing the bokeh that you desire and your aperture is already wide open (lowest f-stop) you can try moving closer.

Focal Length:

The third and final variable that controls depth of field is the focal length of your lens. The longer the focal length, the more shallow the depth of field will be.

For example, if you take 2 photos of a subject from the same position, one at 300 mm and the other at 85 mm, the image taken at 300 mm will have a more shallow depth of field.

This is one of the reasons that using a telephoto or short telephoto lens for portraits can be appealing. With the longer focal length, it is much easier to produce pleasing bokeh with a more shallow depth of field.

Putting it All Together:

To recap, manipulating aperture, distance to the subject, and focal length are what controls depth of field.

Shallow depth of field:

• Large aperture (small f-stop number)
• Closer to subject
• Longer focal length

Deep depth of field:

• Small aperture (large f-stop number)
• Farther from subject
• Shorter focal length

So if you want to achieve the shallowest depth of field that you can, get close to your subject with your longest lens (higher focal length) with the widest aperture. Hell, if money isn’t an object grab your 400 mm f/2.8 lens and walk right up to the person you’re photographing. Now that’s a shallow depth of field!

Thankfully, you don’t need $10k to achieve a shallow depth of field. That was just an extreme example. In my case, I also don’t have that kind of money for a lens. For the majority of my wildlife shots, I use a 150-600 mm lens. At 600 mm the widest aperture is f/6.3, which of course is not that large of an aperture. But with 600 mm of focal length, if I can get relatively close to an animal where it is separated from the background, I can still achieve a narrow depth of field.

This goes to show that these are additive variables. You don’t necessarily need all 3. On the other hand, you can manipulate the different variables to cancel each other out. For example, if you need to use f/2.8 due to low light but don’t want a shallow depth of field, then as long as you are using a wider angle lens (shorter focal length) the result will be a more moderate depth of field.

Hyperfocal Distance and Calculations:

I am not going to go into detail about this at this point. Honestly, I just don’t think they are necessary or beneficial to consider, at least at this point.

With that said, the hyperfocal distance is a certain focus point within your scene where you will have the maximal depth of field. This also depends on your selected aperture and focal length. Some charts and apps can help you with this if you must investigate, but I don’t ever determine this for my shots and have yet to feel hindered because of it.

Instead, I just operate on a tried and true rule of thumb of focusing about ⅓ of the way into the scene. This is in reference to landscape shots by the way. Assuming you are using a wider lens and an aperture of f/8, f/11, etc. you shouldn’t have an issue with this method.

Conclusion:

Depth of field is essential for you to master. It plays a dramatic role in your creative process. As discussed previously, this is why I recommend that you use aperture priority mode at least 95% of the time as you will be locking in your aperture. As we discussed, aperture is one of three variables that controls depth of field.

Now get out there and start practicing! Make depth of field a conscious decision, not an afterthought. When you look at your subject, decide if you want a narrow depth of field or deep depth of field, and adjust the variables that you are physically able to. If you are unsure, take photos with shallow, deep, and moderate depth of field of the same subject. Afterward, you can compare what looks better to your eye and you will become a pro at controlling depth of field in no time!

If you missed my previous article about camera/shooting modes, check it out Here!

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

The post What Controls Depth of Field in Photography appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.

It’s time that we actually discuss how to use a DSLR camera.

I know that it can be confusing, but I will take you step-by-step through the different camera functions. By the end of this, you will be permanently off of “Automatic” mode and completely understanding camera modes.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

What are Shooting Modes?

Shooting modes are what allow photographers to manipulate the exposure triangle. In other words, the different DSLR camera modes are what allow you to control aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Essentially, you have automatic, semi-automatic, and manual modes. Automatic modes fully automate the exposure and you don’t adjust any of the settings. On the other end of the spectrum, manual mode requires you to set all of the settings to achieve your exposure. Lastly, there are the semi-automatic modes where you set some of the settings and the camera adjusts the rest to optimize exposure.

Manual is “Manual”.

The automatic modes are “Automatic” and the “Icon Modes” (which we will discuss).

Finally, the semi-automatic modes are “Aperture Priority”, “Shutter Priority”, and “Program”.

How to change DSLR camera modes:

This may vary slightly by your camera brand and model, but is typically the same amongst entry-level and semi-professional DSLR cameras.

You should see a large dial on the top of your camera body. It will have the modes listed as “A”, “S”, “P”, “M”, etc. for most cameras. Or if you have a Canon camera (they need to feel special I guess), you will see “Av”, “Tv”, “P”, “M”, etc.

If you happen to have a professional camera, the method of changing camera modes may be different. For example, there may just be a “Mode” button.

The Flaw of Auto and the Icon Modes:

You may be using “Auto” at this point in time and that’s okay. We will change that. “Automatic” mode may do a good job at selecting settings (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) that result in a properly exposed image, but that’s about it.

A major problem with “Auto” is that your camera can’t tell what you are photographing, and it certainly isn’t capable of reading your mind. For example, your camera isn’t smart enough to determine if you want to capture a portrait with a narrow depth of field and blurred background, or if you are going for a landscape shot with everything in focus. “Auto” will not react to these scenarios with f/2.8 or f/16, respectively, rather it will likely end up somewhere in between.

As you can see, “Auto” mode makes it difficult to be creative and capture shots exactly how you want them. Plus, nothing pisses me off more about “Auto” than when it automatically pops up the flash in my face. Just saying.

So if not “Auto”, what should I use for portraits then? I see a mode with a picture of a person! Hold up, let me stop you there. Welcome to the “Icon Modes”.

The “Icon Modes” are similar to “Auto” where the camera will adjust all of the settings for you. The difference is the camera will “optimize” the shot for the given scene you select. I know this sounds great, but you should also resist using the “Icon Modes”, and I’ll tell you why.

Number one, the “Icon Modes” have a similar issue to the example we discussed with “Auto”. There is a lot of variety with similar types of scenes. For example, if you select the mode with the person the camera will likely select a small f-stop to blur the background. However, if you were attempting to capture a photo of multiple people you would actually want more depth of field (larger f-stop), and using this mode would result in some people being out of focus.

Number two, the “Icon Modes” are manufacturer specific. Even if you figure out how to use them effectively, if you change brands you will likely need to start from square one.

So what to do now? Well first off, welcome to the big leagues. I’m going to come right out with the mode that the pros use the majority of the time (Hint: it’s not manual). Also, I’ll tell you a secret that it’s barely harder to use than “Auto”. Welcome to “Aperture Priority” mode.

Aperture Priority Mode (“A” on most, “Av” on Canon):

With “Aperture Priority” mode you manually select the aperture and the camera will automatically select an appropriate shutter speed to let in the right amount of light for proper exposure. I think of this as a “semi-auto” mode because you need to adjust the aperture, but don’t need to worry about the overall exposure.

The biggest advantage of having control over the aperture, rather than shutter speed, is that the aperture affects depth of field. When it comes to producing creative images, aperture (and therefore depth of field) is the most important aspect of the exposure triangle in the vast majority of photographic scenarios.

Carrying on with our example of photographing people, “Aperture Priority” is excellent. Want that blurred background portrait look? Turn the dial and select a low f-stop. Need to get a bunch of people in the shot? Select a higher f-stop. Once you get the hang of your camera and how photos with varying f-stops look, this will honestly be easier than selecting “Icon Modes”.

One of the best parts of “Aperture Priority” is that it is fairly difficult to have over or underexposed results. The reason for this is that your camera has a very wide range of shutter speeds it can select. This is from 30 seconds – 1/4000 of a second (1/8000 on some). This allows for very fine control of the amount of incoming light and the light meters on modern cameras are very good.

Shutter Priority Mode (“S” on most, “Tv” on Canon):

I’m sure you can guess how this one works now, but with “Shutter Priority” mode you manually select the shutter speed and the camera automatically selects an aperture value to achieve proper exposure.

I’ll start with one of the major drawbacks of this mode and why I rarely use it. It’s too easy to end up with under or overexposed images. Remember when we talked about the huge shutter speed range that “Aperture Priority” had to work with? That’s not the case with aperture. If the widest aperture of your lens is f/5.6 and you select a shutter speed of 1/4000, if you don’t have great lighting you will end up with an underexposed image. Unlike shutter speed, aperture can be very limiting in this regard.

If I am shooting wildlife or action and require a higher shutter speed, I will still often use “Aperture Priority”. This way I can make a conscious decision about the depth of field I’m going for. When I’m shooting this way I will just keep an eye on the shutter speed that the camera is calculating. If the shutter speed isn’t adequate for the action I’m shooting, I will simply bump up the ISO to compensate.

Program Mode (P):

So “Program” mode is a little bit of a weird mode. I will say that I never use it and I don’t think many others do either. However, that’s not to say you shouldn’t at least play around with it. I stand by my opinion that you should be practicing with “aperture priority” but feel free to play with “Program” as well.

At first glance, “Program” mode may seem like “Auto” and that’s because these two modes have a lot in common. If you set your camera into “Program” mode, it will automatically attempt to achieve a balance between shutter speed and aperture that results in a properly exposed photo. The difference between “Auto” at this point is that you have total control over ISO and focusing modes. Depending on your camera model/manufacturer, you may not have any control over these aspects in “Auto” mode.

Where “Program” mode really differs from “Auto” is once you start to rotate the rear dial. In “Program” mode you can fiddle around with aperture or shutter speed and the camera will automatically adjust the other factor to end up with a properly exposed photo.

If you rotate the dial to the left the camera will increase the aperture and automatically decrease the shutter speed. The opposite is also true, where if you rotate the dial to the right you will have an increased shutter speed and decreased aperture.

Manual Mode (M):

Lastly, you have “Manual” mode, where of course you are in charge of everything. You have full control of your exposure through manipulation of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. This may sound daunting, but it’s honestly not that difficult to end up with a properly exposed photo (if you have time on your hands!).

The reason I say it’s not difficult is when you switch the camera into “Manual” mode you will see the light meter pop up on your screen. If you adjust the elements of the exposure triangle so that the marker is centered on “0” on the light meter, the overall exposure of the resulting image will be the same as if you shot a photo in one of the other modes.

The difficult part is, as I also mentioned, time! Sure, if you are taking landscape shots and your subject isn’t going to move (or get annoyed that you’re taking too long) then go ahead and mess around with setting your exposure in full manual.

The reality is just that in the overwhelming majority of cases you can achieve the same results in a mode like “Aperture Priority” and do it so much faster.

In my book, “Manual” does have a few roles though. The time that I use it most often is in bird photography, where aperture and shutter speed are crucial. I will use “Manual” with “Auto ISO”, so it’s honestly not true “Manual” (this is a bit of an advanced topic that we can discuss at a later date). Otherwise, “Manual” can be useful for when you want to lock in a constant exposure, like if you’re shooting a panorama across multiple shots.

Conclusion:

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to learn how to use a DSLR camera, but understanding camera modes doesn’t need to hold you back. As you can see, it’s actually very manageable and you only really need to master a couple of the modes.

I’m sure I already made this clear, but I STRONGLY recommend that you put your camera in “Aperture Priority” mode right now and leave it there for 95% of the photos that you take. I firmly believe that if you get yourself out of “Auto” mode you will see how easy these other modes actually are and will never go back!

If you missed my previous article about composition in photography, check it out Here!

Or read the next article about What Controls Depth of Field.

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

The post DSLR Basics: Understanding Camera Modes for Beginners appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.

I remember when I first started I was overwhelmed and had many questions.

What are the elements of composition in photography? Why is composition important in photography? I thought photography was supposed to be creative; why are there so many damn rules!?

It’s all good. Photography composition “rules” are really just guidelines. Plus, rules were made to be broken anyway, right?

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE. If you’re curious, check out my current Gear List.

Definition of Photography Composition:

According to SLR Lounge, composition is “the way that contents within the frame are arranged or laid out. It is what you choose to include in the frame and where it is placed.”

Now, what exactly does this mean in the real world? Here are some common elements of composition:

• Position of the horizon
• How many subjects to include
• How much of the sky to include
• How much of the foreground to include
• Centered vs off-center subject

Not so bad so far right?

Why is Composition Important in Photography?

To put it simply, having an understanding of photography composition rules is what can make the difference between a bad photo and a masterpiece. Oftentimes you can greatly improve a photograph of the same subject by altering the photograph’s composition.

Playing with the elements of composition can transform the everyday shot of your cat into a best-selling print! Maybe that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves; but as a side note, if your cat is anywhere as energetic as mine, they can make great practice if you’re interested in wildlife photography!

Using wildlife as an example, it’s important to consider the entire scene when selecting your photography composition technique for a given photograph. It’s easy to get excited when you see a black bear, a bald eagle, a domestic chicken, or whatever else gets you excited.

But take a second and breathe!

Remember, your goal isn’t simply to prove to your friend that you saw your favorite chicken! Your goal is to tell a story about the subject. This is what makes for a great photo. I used to be a prime offender of getting excited and just simply capturing a quick photo. Something I now often remind myself is I’d rather take the best photo of a chicken than the worst photo of a bald eagle.

Okay, enough rambling. Now let me walk you through some of the most important photography composition techniques. These are great for beginners but I’m always coming back and reviewing them as well.

Rule of Thirds:

Ah, the rule of thirds. Even if you haven’t heard of the rule of thirds, I bet you have already seen it. Many cameras (including our phones) come with a built-in grid overlay for the rule of thirds.

If this isn’t ringing a bell don’t worry. This grid is simply two vertical and two horizontal lines which are evenly spaced. What this does is divide the frame into thirds.

The idea behind this compositional rule is that you should aim to place elements of your frame along these gridlines. If you want a quick and easy way to improve your next landscape shot, don’t place your horizon in the center of the frame. Instead, either place it along the top or bottom horizontal line. Boom! Your photo is now probably better than 75% of your friends’ photos on Instagram.

It doesn’t stop there though. Want to take a photo of a palm tree on the beach? Rather than centering the tree, place it along one of the vertical gridlines.

This may seem simple because it is! Honestly, practicing with only the rule of thirds initially will get you pretty far. And it doesn’t need to end with trees and horizons. Try applying this to everything and you’ll be surprised.

To kick it up a notch, now try placing an area of focus on one of the intersecting points. If you finally tired out your cat chasing them around the house, take advantage of this moment and capture a stationary portrait with their outside eye of one of the intersecting points.

Now that you’re an expert on the rule of thirds, I’m going to remind you that rules are made to be broken and we are going to talk about symmetry.

Symmetry:

Okay, so symmetry is pretty much the exact opposite of everything I just told you. Now you’re going to take your subject and place it in the center of your frame.

But won’t this make my photo look boring and sub-par? The short answer is maybe, but when used properly symmetry can be a powerful compositional element. Plus, if you’re using a digital camera with free “film” just take a shot using the rule of thirds as well and decide what looks better after.

There really isn’t a rule of thumb about which scenes work best with symmetry, so definitely experiment. However, I personally like it when there is either a single subject centered in a vast scene or there is a central clearing centered in a busy scene.

Leading Lines:

Remember when we talked about telling a story with your photos? Leading lines are one of my favorite elements of composition for this as they direct the viewer’s eyes through your image.

One of the most common examples I’ve seen of leading lines is a windy road through the mountains. But your leading line doesn’t need to be a road and doesn’t even need to be windy.

Straight lines work just as well as curved lines. What is important is that your leading lines need to actually lead somewhere! You want your leading line to lead to your area of interest, not out of the photo. If you have a line in front of you that you like but doesn’t feel right, try moving your feet. You’d be surprised by the dramatic effect that changing the angle of the line can have on the overall composition of the photo.

Rule of Odds:

This one is easy. Odd numbers only. If you are photographing boats in the harbor, find a group of 3 or 5. If you are taking a family portrait for a family of 6, you need to have them pick a kid to sit out. Kidding of course because these are just guidelines!

However, for whatever weird reason humans are wired to prefer odd numbers in photos. It’s a fact. Even I can attest to this as one of those freaks that needs the volume to be an even number.

Even volume numbers. Odd numbers in your photography composition. It’s just how it is.

The number I often choose is 3. However, 5 and 7, or even 1 also work. Plus, I think you get extra bang for the buck because planning your shot this way forces you to be selective about your subjects.

Negative Space:

Negative space as a compositional element is one of the easiest to understand but hardest to master. Well at least for me.

The idea is that you utilize an empty area to optimize your scene. Examples of this are the sky, ocean, snow, or grassy field. When used properly, negative space can be very creative.

Rule of Space:

Now that we’re talking about space in your photos, another important composition technique is the rule of space.

Again, remember the story! Animals, people, and vehicles are dynamic subjects so we should aim to portray them that way. It’s actually quite simple to do so.

If a subject is gazing to the right, capture the energy of the moment and give them some space to look.

If a subject is moving to the right, give them the space to move!

Fill the Frame:

The opposite of negative space composition. Now you want to really focus on your subject. You can do this in a variety of ways. Whether it’s a zoom lens, getting physically closer, or cropping in post-processing, the result is similar.

Your goal should be to make your subject distinct and to minimize any background distractions. This can have a huge impact, especially when photographing small subjects.

This can be utilized with any subject but you will often see this with wildlife photography.

Conclusion:

Now that you understand some of the most important photography rules it’s time to get out and practice! It may seem daunting now but trust me it will become second nature in no time.

My recommendation would be to try each of them next time that you are out. Spend a little while getting acquainted and then pick one to use as your “base composition” until you have them all mastered. Probably the best to master first is the rule of thirds. Then think of the other compositional elements as modifications and/or alternatives.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite compositional method is! Also, this blog thing is new to me so I would appreciate any feedback!

If you missed my previous article about the exposure triangle check it out Here!

Or read the next article about Understanding Camera Modes.

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through my site I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you. I only promote products that I 100% support.

The post 7 Top Photography Composition Rules appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.

In the majority of situations, the photographer’s goal is to achieve a balanced exposure where the resulting image is an accurate depiction of what is visualized in “real-life”. While utilizing the automatic exposure modes, this is what your camera aims to achieve. Your camera contains a light meter that analyzes incoming light and adjusts exposure for the scene depending on your selected metering mode (which will be discussed in another post). If you decide to tackle manual mode, you will notice the light meter at the bottom of your screen.

There are other situations where your goal may be to manipulate the exposure triangle to obtain either an over or under-exposed image for creative effect. This can either be obtained by adjusting your exposure triangle settings accordingly in manual mode or by adjusting exposure composition in automatic exposure modes.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

What is the exposure triangle?

The exposure triangle may seem confusing and a bit daunting to approach. However, bear with me and I will explain the exposure triangle and show you why it’s really not that bad! Visualizing the triangle makes things easier to grasp. Having a good understanding of the exposure triangle will lead to vast improvement in your photos!

The 3 components of the exposure triangle are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These elements combined determine the exposure of your photograph. Alterations in these settings will also affect other aspects such as noise, depth of field, and motion blur.

What is aperture?

The aperture is contained within the lens and is a diaphragm composed of multiple overlapping blades. This has a small opening in the center. Adjusting the aperture value (f-number) determines the size of this opening and the resultant amount of light that is let through. Think of the aperture as equivalent to the pupil in your eye.

The wider the aperture, the more light that can pass through. It’s just the opposite for a narrow aperture. It may seem counterintuitive, but a larger f/stop number (such as f/22) correlates with a tiny aperture where a small f/stop number (such as f/1.4) will be a large aperture.

As you will also see with shutter speed and ISO, there is always a trade-off when adjusting these settings.

Large aperture (f/1.4):

• Great for low-light
• Very shallow depth of field

Small aperture (f/22):

• Poor for low-light
• Deep depth of field

We will go into greater details about depth of field in another post, but this is essentially how much of the image is in focus. 

If you wanted to take a portrait of a white-tailed deer around dusk, a small f/stop number (large aperture) can be great. In this scenario, the large aperture will help provide the light needed for proper exposure, and the trade-off of a shallow depth of field can be visually appealing as you will have a blurred background behind your subject.

On the other hand, say you wanted to capture a landscape image of the fields that you saw the deer in. If you were to utilize the same large aperture to maintain proper exposure, only a thin plane of your image would be in focus. This is why landscape photographers often use small apertures (large f/stop). In this scenario, you would likely need to either decrease your shutter speed and/or increase the ISO to balance out the smaller aperture.

What is shutter speed?

Your camera is fitted with a shutter that is normally closed and covers the image sensor. On DSLR cameras, when the shutter release is pressed, the mirror is raised and the shutter opens. This allows light to pass through the aperture and hit the image sensor. The resultant amount of light depends on how long the shutter is open.

Fortunately, shutter speed is much easier to understand than aperture. It is simply the time that your shutter remains open for light to hit the sensor. There is a wide range you can choose from, like 30 seconds – 1/8000 seconds. 

Long shutter speeds like 30 seconds will let in a ton of light, where fast shutter speeds like 1/8000 will only let in a little.

In many photos, where your aim is not to capture motion blur, it’s never bad to utilize the fastest shutter speed allowed by the exposure triangle. As you become more advanced, you may encounter a situation where you’d like to capture long-exposure photos in the daytime. This is where this becomes an issue but we will cover ND filters later for this scenario!

More often, the trade-off with shutter speed is the motion blur associated with slower shutter speeds. This is dependent on the speed that your subject is moving at. For example, you may need a shutter speed of 1/2000 to capture a bird in flight but only require 1/200 for your dog walking around. I think the best thing to do here is just get out and practice.

What is ISO?

ISO is essentially the sensitivity of your image sensor. According to Nikon, “Digital cameras convert the light that falls on the image sensor into electrical signals for processing. ISO sensitivity is raised by amplifying the signal. Doubling ISO sensitivity doubles the electrical signal, halving the amount of light that needs to fall on the image sensor to achieve optimal exposure.”

What this means is that increasing the ISO will increase the brightness of the image. Raising the ISO can help you obtain the perfect exposure without having to decrease the shutter speed and introduce motion blur. However, this comes at a price being digital noise. Noise is the introduction of grain into your image and results in lower image quality.

This is where considering the balance of the exposure triangle for obtaining the optimal exposure in your photography becomes crucial. Say you have a given scene with low-light. Without adjusting the aperture, your options are decreasing shutter speed or increasing ISO. Whether potential motion blur or noise is worse for your photo can be debated. However, you can’t remove motion blur in post-processing but there are tools for reducing noise. Oftentimes I will take multiple photos with varying settings and review them after to decide where the best trade-off was. Practice, practice, practice!

Putting it all together:

Now that you have an understanding of the fundamentals when it comes to the exposure triangle, practice is key! I know I keep saying this but it’s truly the best way to grow as a photographer. By manipulating these 3 variables and visualizing the results you will develop the strongest understanding. 

As a starting place for manipulating the exposure triangle, this is how I would typically go about adjusting my settings in manual mode. Alternatively, try aperture-priority or shutter-priority modes depending on which variable is more important for what you’re photographing.

• Set ISO at the lowest setting (often 100)
• Select a f/stop that works well with the subject
• Adjust shutter speed until the light meter reads dead-center (reflecting proper exposure)
  • Adequate shutter speed = great, take the photo!
  • Too slow? Can I use a tripod to compensate?
  • If not, this is where I will increase ISO while trying to maintain the slowest shutter speed that I can get a crisp shot with.

I hope that this article about exposure in photography was beneficial to you! I am relatively new to these write-ups so please comment with any suggestions for the future. Additionally, if you did not see my introductory post about my plans for upcoming articles in this series, check it out here!

Or go on to the next article about composition Here.

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

The post What is Exposure in Photography | The Exposure Triangle Explained appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.

Have you been wondering how to get started in photography? Felt overwhelmed? That’s normal! I’m here to show you why learning photography doesn’t need to be so stressful.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

Why I love photography:

Oh man, there are so many reasons to love photography. I think it’s important to start this beginner’s guide to learning photography with some of the associated joys, as it can certainly feel overwhelming when you get your first camera. I still remember the countless times that I said to myself, “what the hell is this button for again?”, always timed perfectly to miss the shot. However, all of the frustrations are well worth it!

Digital photography is a creative hobby with next to no restrictions, and minimal required materials once you have your beginner’s kit. Compare photography to painting. With painting you need to constantly purchase paint, whereas with photography you “simply” manipulate light. With painting, you must purchase your canvases whereas with digital photography you can just format your SD card (hopefully you already backed up your photos!).

My favorite aspect of photography is that it trains your eye to recognize small details that others will miss. I mainly focus on nature photography but I have always been an outdoorsy person. Since starting photography, I’ve noticed that I now recognize beauty in nature in places I didn’t previously. The ability to hone in on a seemingly small detail and capture an image which truly tells a story, is extremely satisfying and addicting.

How long does it take to learn photography?

I suppose this depends how you look at it. On one hand, you could spend years in formal schooling to earn a degree in photography. On the other hand, you could pick up the camera next to you and hit the shutter button. Say your shutter speed is set at 1/60, then I guess that’s how long it took you to become a photographer

All joking aside, I believe that the best way to get started in photography is to just start. As I mentioned earlier, all you have to do is format your memory card if the pictures look horrible. It may take many years for you to reach “professional quality” but you can’t improve without practice. So grab your camera (any will do for now) and start photographing what’s around you right now.

What equipment is needed for photography?

You can go crazy trying to figure out what the best photography gear is and potentially spend a whole bunch of money that you didn’t need to. When I was starting out I obsessed over DSLR camera bodies and lenses and ended up buying a bunch of stuff. It’s the strangest thing, no matter how many new things I bought, my pictures still sucked!

I can’t stress this enough, technique outweighs gear any day of the week!

The best thing that you can do as a beginner is simply practice with what you already have. If you have a DSLR, excellent! if you have a point and shoot or another type of digital camera then great! Yes, even a cell phone when you are starting out is perfectly acceptable. Once you’ve mastered the basics and have a better grasp of what type of photography you enjoy, then consider upgrading your camera. I will put together an article dedicated to choosing a DSLR.

What we will cover in the course:

I will be releasing a series of articles that will teach you how to get started in photography for free. In the meantime, the best thing you can continue to do is practice. Below is the basic overview of what is to come. I will also add the links to this post as they are published.

Exposure:

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. The three components of the famous exposure triangle! These control the amount of light captured from a given source. A knowledge of these three properties will get you permanently out of auto mode. We will cover these in detail, including how to leverage each aspect of the exposure triangle to get your desired photo effect.

Read the article here!

Composition:

The rule of thirds is probably the most often cited compositional rule. Essentially, imagine your viewfinder is broken up into thirds and try to place items of interest along these lines. This can be very helpful for framing your photos as a beginner. However, Think of it less as a rule and more of a suggestion! We will discuss multiple other compositional “rules” and overall provide some tips for you to create great photos!

Read the article here!

Shooting Modes:

Automatic, program, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, or manual. Oh so many choices! We will review all of these in detail, as well as which scenarios are best for each. If you are only comfortable with automatic for now that’s okay! We will change that soon. Play around with program mode as well, as this will allow you to play with some settings but won’t let you screw up too bad!

Read the article here!

Focus + Depth of Field:

Similar to shooting modes, there are multiple focus modes. We will review these in detail as well. Depth of field essentially has to do with what percentage of the photo will be in focus. This can certainly be used in creative ways, but can also be detrimental to your photo if you are not careful! Depth of field mainly has to do with your choice of aperture.

Read the article on Depth of Field here!

Lens Basics + Focal Length:

We will cover the different types of lenses, such as prime lenses and zoom lenses. Also, we’ll review what all of the different numbers and markings on the lenses mean. This includes focal length, which is the number in millimeters (mm) that you will see. It’s widely known that more focal length = more reach, but we will also discuss additional effects of focal length.

Read the article here!

White Balance:

White balance affects the color cast of the entire image. For now, and honestly my preference the majority of the time, I would leave this on automatic. The reason being that this can easily be altered in post-processing (which we will have you doing as well).

Read the article here!

Metering Modes:

Exposure has to do with the amount of light. Metering modes on the other hand tell your camera how you want it to look at the light. Utilizing different metering modes on the same scene, will result in a different exposure. Feel free to leave this on matrix/evaluative mode for now as this will be adequate for the majority of scenes.

Histogram:

Essentially shows you the exposure of a photo in a graphical representation. Useful for seeing how evenly exposed a photo is. Depending on the brightness of your LCD display, the exposure of an image can be misleading so the histogram is helpful to double-check.

Read the article here!

Post-processing:

Your main goal for now should be practicing capturing the photos rather than editing them. However, we will certainly get to this point! You don’t need to worry about the intricacies of post-processing at this point, but if I can make one suggestion it’s to set up your camera to capture JPEG + RAW. RAW files are significantly better for making post-processing edits and having the RAW version of your favorite photos at a later date can be very valuable!

Read the article here!

Thanks for reading to the end. Your support means the world to me! If you’re interested in seeing some of my best photography work, check out the Gallery or my Instagram. Some of my images are also available as photo prints, with a selection of my favorites HERE.

The post How to get started in photography appeared first on Mathew Macey Photography.