Please refer to this resource to help you navigate your camera’s function and settings. You will learn how to apply these skills learning to various photo-shoots over the next few months…and you should aim to provide evidence of these skills throughout your coursework.
Remember to practice and experiment. Use your eyes and look. The more you look, the more you will see. How you see the world will determine what kind of photographer you will become.
A camera is only a tool, and it is down to you to get the best out of your equipment by becoming confident and comfortable
Camera Skills
You must experiment with each of these skill areas as we move through our sequence of photo-shoots. Remember to include / produce a blog post on each that includes evidence of your experiments and successes…
Remember to use What / How / Why / When when describing and explaining what you are experiencing and achieving with each of these…
- Using Auto-Focus
- Using Manual Focus
- White Balance
- ISO
- Aperture
- Focal Length : wide, standard and telephoto lenses
- Depth of Field
- Show / fast Shutter Speed
- Exposure and exposure compensation
- Exposure bracketing
Ansel Adams and the visualisation of an image
Exposure Triangle : ISO – Shutter Speed- Aperture
Depth of Field
Exposure Bracketing
Many digital cameras include an Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) option. When AEB is selected, the camera automatically takes three or more shots, each at a different exposure. Auto Exposure Bracketing is very useful for capturing high contrast scenes for HDR like this…
…by taking the same photograph with a range of different exposure settings
You can use Exposure Compensation to quickly adjust how light or how dark your exposure will be using these controls…
Or set the amount of “bracketing” like this…
Then you can create your High Dynamic Range images by using this process in Adobe Photoshop…
Understanding Composition
- The Rule of Thirds
- One of the fundamentals of painting and photography, the Rule of Thirds is a technique designed to help artists and photographers build drama and interest in a piece. The rule states that a piece should be divided into nine squares of equal size, with two horizontal lines intersecting two vertical lines.
2. Fibonacci Curve
3. Triangles / angles / Golden Section
Cropping / framing
Understanding Lenses and Focal Length
Perspective and Depth
Photo Shoot Plan
File Handling and printing...
- Remember when EXPORTING from Lightroom you must adjust the file size to 1000 pixels on the Short edge for “blog-friendly” images (JPEGS)
- BUT…for editing and printing when EXPORTING from Lightroom you must adjust the file size to Short edge for “high resolution” images (JPEGS) like this…
- A5 Short Edge = 14.8 cm
- A4 Short Edge = 21.0 cm
- A3 Short Edge =29.7 cm
This will ensure you have the correct ASPECT RATIO
Ensure you label and save your file in you M :Drive and then copy across to the PRINT FOLDER / IMAGE TRANSFER
For a combination of images, or square format images you use the ADOBE PHOTOSHOP > NEW DOCUMENT + PRINT PRESETS on to help arrange images on the correct size page (A3, A4, A5)
You can do this using Photoshop, Set up the page sizes as templates and import images into each template, then you can see for themselves how well they fit… but remember to add an extra 6mm for bleed (3mm on each side of the page) to the original templates. i.e. A4 = 297mm x 210 but the template size for this would be 303mm x 216mm.
Making a Virtual Gallery in Photoshop
Download an empty gallery file…then insert your images and palce them on the walls. Adjust the persepctive, size and shape using CTRL T (free transform) You can also add things like a drop shadow to make the image look more realistic…
…or using online software
How I did it:
Step 1: Go to www.artsteps.com
Step 2: Sign in / up.
Step 3: Create.
Step 4: Create your own location or choose a template.
Step 5: Upload your images, put them in your exhibition, name it and give it a description.
Step 6: Present / view your Exhibition.