From my father showing me how to use his blue, point and shoot camera at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga when I was 9. From my cousin Jake showing me how to use his Canon DSLR camera at our grandmother’s house when I was 13. From my yearbook teacher showing me how to use the school’s Nikon DSLR camera at one of football games when I was 15. From my photography teacher showing me how to use my own Nikon D3500 DSLR camera during my second year of college when I was 19. All of these instances, from various stages of my life, have all contributed to my love and to my experience with photography. Through all of these stages in my life, I have learned so many things about cameras and photography that most people don’t know. Most people think that all you have to do is push a button and your photos will magically turn out amazing. Most people don’t realize all that goes into making their photos. Most people don’t realize that photography is not just a hobby, but rather a form of art.
One thing that I have learned is that photography is not as simple as just pushing one button on the camera and being done. In fact, there is almost always more than one button on the camera, and they are there for a reason. It is very difficult to take good pictures without a basic understanding of what the “Three Kings of Photography” are and how to use them.
The first thing you need to know about is ISO. ISO stands for the International Organization of Standardization and is a way to brighten your photos if you are unable to use a longer shutter speed or a wider aperture for the particular photo you are taking. The ISO is measured in numbers with the lower numbers representing a darker image and the higher numbers representing a brighter image. On DSLR cameras like mine, these numbers start at 100 (which is the default setting) and go up to 25600. However, I typically like to stay within the 400 level and only going up to a higher ISO if needed because as the level rises, so does the chance of your photo turning out really grainy.
The second thing you need to know about is Aperture. Aperture is a hole inside of your camera’s lens. This hole allows for light to travel into the camera. The larger the aperture, the larger the hole, the more light is passing through to your camera’s sensor. Aperture also controls the camera’s depth of field, which is how much of a picture is sharp. For example, when you are taking a portrait of someone, you want the background to be there and noticeable enough, but the focus is supposed to be on the person. To achieve this, you can use a large aperture to make the background appear a little fuzzy and not be the main focus of the photo. If your aperture is very small, then your depth of field will be large and everything will be in focus. If your aperture is very large, then your depth of field will be small and only a certain area will be in focus. Aperture is expressed as focal ratio numbers. For example, if you see f/1.4, f/2.0, f/4.0, f/5.6/ or f/8.0 than those are different apertures. Typically, I like to stick with f/5.6 to stay in the middle of that range, unless something else is needed to compensate for a lack of ISO or a lack of shutter speed.
The third thing you need to know about is Shutter Speed. Shutter speed is the length of time that a camera shutter is open to expose light into the camera’s sensor. If shutter speeds are under a second, then they are expressed as fractions of a second. For example, if you see 1/15 then the shutter speed is one fifteenth of a second. The slower the shutter speed, the more light is let into the camera’s sensor. The faster the shutter speed, the less light is let into the camera’s sensor. Typically, I like to stay around 1/250 which allows me to take multiple pictures at a time. If your shutter speed is too long, then you may only be able to take one photo at a time rather than 6 at once like I do. Also, if you get below a 1/60 on your shutter speed, then your photos more than likely will come out blurry unless you use a tripod. At that point you are using a longer shutter speed, and the photo takes longer. Therefore, your can cause the camera to shake before the photo takes and your image will turn out blurry.
The “Three Kings of Photography” all work together to make a great photo. You constantly have to adjust one or the other, sometimes you have to adjust two at the same time to get your photo just right. Also, if you use certain ISOs or certain Shutter Speeds, then your camera is physically incapable of using particular apertures. It is like a give and take with these three. If one is too low, then another may be too high. You have to use them all and adjust them all. They are all equally important to how your photo turns out. Typically, to help you out, there is a little bar on your camera screen that adjusts with every change you make to show you where levels should be to make the picture perfect, however that is subject to the photographer’s idea of what is perfect. Some photographers like photos that are bright and have a lot of exposure, while others like for the photos to be darker with more shadows. However, without knowledge of what that bar means or what any of the “Three Kings of Photography” means then it doesn’t really help much.
While these three things are extremely important to photography, there is so much more for you to learn about how to make amazing photography. For example, you need to know how to focus the photos, the various types of lenses you can use, how specific lenses can only be used on specific cameras, the different image resolutions, the different file formats (JPEG, RAW, RAW+JPEG), the focal length of your lens, your zoom ratio, the aperture range of your lens, your white balance settings, the different flash modes, and so much more! Furthermore, you also need to know how to edit your photos after you take them. You have to know how to use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom if you want to be a professional photographer, which means you need to know what about brilliance, exposure, highlights, shadows, brightness, contrast, black point, saturation, and white balance all work together to enhance your photos to make them your own form of art.
Like I said earlier, most people don’t realize that photography is an art form that takes a lot of skill and understanding of the technical terms listed above. Photography is not just some hobby. It is hard and frustrating, but it is also so incredinly rewarding when you work so hard and finally get that one, perfect shot.
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