Many people think that owning a good camera makes them a good photographer, but the truth is how much sophisticated the camera is it’s the photographer who makes the picture looks stunning. I am herewith sharing you my thoughts and experience related to it. For your understanding I am sharing a simple graphical look with an image. Let’s look into it.
1. Camera
The first thing anybody need is a good camera. Yes, you have seen it right, I said good camera. But that doesn’t mean costly one, you should have a camera according to your need and interest and of course you should have some technical knowledge too. For more info you can watch this Youtube video.
2. Sensor
This is the next thing you have to keep in mind. For this it’s important that size does matters. But again even if it’s big that doesn’t mean it always perform best. It have it’s characteristics though. Ok let’s cut into what actually sensor is important for. Sensor is the one which records the image. A bigger sensor can gain more information which gives better quality pictures than a smaller one. Bigger sensors are also better in isolate the subject in focus which makes the rest of the image blurred.
3. Lens
The next thing is about what lens you use. Generally any digital camera will come up with a lens called as kit lens and they are limited to some extent. But that doesn’t mean they are useless rather they are perfect if you know how to work on with them. So it’s about what type of photography you want go with accordingly type of lens you have to use. For more info you can watch this Youtube video.
4. Aperture
Aperture tells about amount of light that enters inside. It expresses the size of opening of the lens and expressed with f number. It’s like your opening your eye partial or full to make how much amount of the picture to be in focus. It not only controls depth of field but also controls how much bright or dark the picture will be in terms of exposure.
5. Depth of field
As discussed in the previous point aperture controls depth of field and its an important aspect when capturing different scenes. When you are capturing landscapes a smaller aperture can be selected(a larger f number) which gives deep depth of field and makes everything in the picture into focus and sharp. Whereas when you are capturing portraits or single subject to focus in a picture a larger aperture(a smaller f number) which gives shallow depth of field and makes the subject sharp and stands stunning with the background out of focus which often refers as bokeh.
6. ISO
It refers to sensitivity of sensor which makes the image brighter or darker by controlling it. Higher number mean your sensor becomes more sensitive to light which allows you to use your camera in darker situations. But the higher ISO you choose the higher the chance of having grain or noise in your images. We can avoid this with right combination of aperture setting.
7. Shutter Speed
It is the time constraint that sensor is exposed to light. It is responsible for two particular things- changing the brightness of your photo and creating dramatic effects by either freezing action or blurring motion. It is like a curtain in front of the camera sensor that stays closed until the camera fires.
8. Exposure Triangle
A perfect picture will be made when you have right exposure and will be made with correct combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
9. Flash
When the light conditions are not convenient even the correct settings will not give you a perfect picture. When you observe the above exposure triangle you can see that there is a chance of grain and noise at higher ISO. In order to avoid such situation we use flash, it may be the one which is with the camera or an external one. But in terms of flash it’s up to the photographer’s perspective to use it or use the natural light available in best possible way.
10. Remote
When you want to avoid camera shake while you pressing shutter button especially when are trying to capture blur motion a remote would be better option which gives a better chance of getting a good picture. Present cameras are coming with Wi-Fi connection to control the camera wirelessly or you can have wired remotes available in the market.
11. Filters
These are an extra attachment to the lens where it can control the light that strikes directly on to the lens glass and also help in minimizing glare, reflections and enhancing colors.
12. Metering
It determines the exposure to take better photos under unusual lighting conditions. There are different modes that defines metering which makes where actually the light should focuses on.
13. Bokeh
As discussed in aperture, the bokeh is referred to the out of focus background which gives beautiful effect to the subject which is in focus and make it sharp and stand out. When you are having more lights spread over in the background it creates more dramatic bokeh effect.
14. Tripod
When you hand held a camera there is a chance of camera shake and which will make less sharp images. To avoid such use of tripod can be highly recommended. Not only for this but to get sharp images and to click beautiful pictures a tripod is a must to focus right areas.
15. Rule of thirds
When comes to photography, it’s not just clicking by making a subject into focus. But it’s important that where the subject should be placed. Keeping it at the center not always appealing so the rule of thirds play an important role in making the picture more interesting. Vertical and horizontal lines are placed like a grid and when you place the subject at the intersection it makes more interesting and appealing.
16. HDMI
Why this is important? Why because the screen of camera doesn’t show you the clear details and it can be observed on a larger screen like a PC or Laptop. When you connected your camera through the HDMI it gives the clear picture of what you actually clicked instantly and it is more helpful when you are shooting videos.
So, having a camera not simply make you a better photographer but you need to know these things and if you can control everything the result will be outstanding.
Thanks for your time and do follow my photography journey through