Photography Tips please share guys

The best way to learn the nuances of photography is by following the greats and finding out what's special in their clicks.Another easier way is to have a group and go on regular photowalks.

Let me know if anyone from Bangalore is interested for a photo walk and a photo discussion session.

Check this out if you like photojournalistic shots : http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

`Arnab

http://www.arnabmaity.com/

I am already a member of Bangalore Photowalk with Sandeep Srinivasan and gang, once a way i get to attend, thanks for your link Arnab Maity 

I am a complete amateur and I do not have a dSLR (long story about that). But I have a pretty good point and shoot and I am absolutely in love with it. I know this site   and it's pretty good and also very interesting.

Sometimes tiny little things help a lot while clicking. First of all, keeping the body as still as possible and for that what I do is I breathe, click the picture and then breathe out. I read somewhere that that way the body is kept very un-shaky.

Also, whether you use a point and shoot or a dSLR, it is always best to keep your left hand under the lens. People usually while using point and shoot keep the left hand on the left side of the camera. But that way while clicking the camera will always move.

Experimenting with the manual mode is the best way to get to know your camera. I remember one day I just went out in the garden and then the verandah and tried different setting to see how they work in the light. It is the best way to get to know your camera, really. And then things become easier.

Also, keeping a polariser at hand makes some pictures look AMAZING. I don't have one, but I want one badly.

And of course, having fun :D

Happy clicking sir!

Using a polariser is something new that you have taught me, go to try it one see how the picture will result, thank you Antara for the suggestion 

@Umesh

Flash is like a capacitor, it takes time to charge and releases all energy in the form of light in an instant. The inbuilt camera flash is not very strong and cannot be used contineously. So you may need to give a break to the flash for a few moments before firing it again. So do not worry if the flash is taking some time. 

For usual cases, in day light I would suggest that flash is kept off and normal light should be used to form pictures. In sun, a situation you shud use flash is when you are taking a potrait of a person wearing a hat or something which is casting a shadow on his / her face. otherwise go natural. 

@Kedar

Nice blog on Photography tutorial :)

I'm definitly a newbie into photography and love to share my experiances!!

Read about my very articles about photography. You may also like to see my photographs.

Thanks Umesh. Will keep updating smaller snippets. This one looked too long :)

ISO is a term taken from old film cameras where it meant the sensititivity of the film towards light (Rem camera rolls coming with 100, 200, 400 ratings ?)

So ISO in Digital Cameras is the sensitivity of the sensor towards light. The default lower setting is 100. We can boost up the ISO to have the ability to take pictures in low light, but the problem is, the higher the ISO is, the grainier or say noisier is the image. So if you want clear noise free pictures in dark, I would suggest that you do not go beyond an ISO of 400-800. Just use a tripod and long shutter speed, especially i the subject is stationary. 

So the two most important parameters to affect Exposure are : Aperture and Shutter Speed.

The cloudy, rain, sunlight etc settings are not ISO but White Balance. They are used to provide a proper color balance to the image in different forms of light. They are not related to exposure directly. My suggestion: Keep it at Auto for now. 

Thanks Purnedu for helping us to understand the basics, now i am having trouble with flash settings it does operate once a way, maybe the battery too is to blame, it must be weak i presume 

Oops ! It screwed the formatting ! :(

Purnendu, thanks for the first lesson in professional photography, i believe light plays a very important role in clicking good photography, now technically exposure can be adjusted through ISO settings if i am not mistake or different modes for example in cloudy, rainy, landscape settings of the camera...i mean digital camera.

Since we cannot give the blog links, am copying a few articles from my blog. Writing the whole series will take time, but will keep updating. 

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Part 1: Understanding Light

Contrary to the general perception, its not the Camera but the Light which needs to be understood as the first prerequisit for taking good photographs. Light is perhaps the most vital element of photography as it is the primary component needed to make photographs. This makes understanding light the first lesson in photography.Observe the Light  It goes without saying that you must be able to observe light and  how will it affect the photograph. You need to know whether enough light is coming on  the subject and whether it will be the correct amount and correct form of light that you  want in your picture. Start observing different forms of lights and see how do they affect  the way the subjects look. You can also notice how light changes throughout the day  and how do the same subjects appear different at different times of the day.Understanding Exposure Exposure is the degree to which the film or sensor of the camera allows the light to come on it. Exposure depends on various factors like the Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO settings of the camera. To measure the  exposure quantitatively, you can look at it on the Light meter available in the camera  where neutral denotes the apparently correct amount by which the photograph will be  exposed. However, as you understand light better and get creative, you will need to  manipulate the exposure to suit the way you want to make the photograph. UnderexposedOptimally ExposedOverexposedUnderexposed simply means that not enough light which is present outside is reaching the camera film or sensor. So the photograph will come darker than what it looks to the actual light, the dark tones will become darker and the blacks will have prominence. Underexposed photos may make beautiful silhouettes especially when capturing sunsets and sunrises, however if the Exposure is too less, it will cause loss of detail due to blacked out regions. Deliberately underexposed photographs can be very creative ! Optimally Exposed is the situation when the photograph is exposed in such a way that the light in the photograph is exactly same as the light on the subject. This makes the photograph technically correct and is usually what we get in the Auto Mode of a camera. However, being optimum makes us only technically correct, not necessarily beautiful. So we need to be fairly creative in order to graduate from optimally exposed to beautifully exposed. The key to this, again is, observing light. Overexposed is the time when the light coming on the film or sensor is much more than what was actually falling on the subject and getting reflected towards the camera. This leads to washed out effect which the prominence of whites and can again lead to loss of detail. However, photographs can be deliberately overexposed in a controlled manner to create wonderful effects. The skill to do this comes very handy especially when taking portraits and photographs of children, flowers etc.Under-Optimal-Over ExposureDirect LightDefused LightDirect Light is the readily available light available from natural and artificial sources like the sun, streetlight, flash light etc, which falls on the subject and is reflected back to the camera. Both the amount and the direction of light falling on the subject are very important. If the amount of light cannot be controlled, care must be taken to control the direction as it significantly affects the way the subject looks and comes in the photographs. The light may come directly from the front or from an angle or the subject may even be back-lit, every angle will present a different story of the subject. More on this in the coming articles. Defused Light is non-directional, flat and fairly neutral. An example can be the sunlight on an overcast day when the clouds take away most of the strength of the sunlight. Defused light gives an excellent opportunity to photograph people as there is an overall softness visible because of the light itself being soft. This brings out the best of facial expressions and features in the people. When the sunlight is too harsh, it can be diffused using shades etc.In the coming advanced sections, we will go through different kind of light conditions, angles etc and how to best utilized them for the photography, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this post and the related content.

There are websites like Digital Photography School which have awesome articles about Photography. I learnt most of my photography stuff from there only. Another one which I found good was cambridge Colors or something, please google for it.

For Camera and equipment reviews, there is none like Ken Rockwell. 

Compose and frame with your heart like a painter. Stop seeing the world from eye level. Get down or climb up to get a better perspective. Use the burst mode or continuous shooting mode when working with children or large groups of active people, such as sports or weddings or parties. Shoot without the flash wherever possible. Use post production editing to improve the framing, colors, and textures of the picture. Try and aim for a low wastage ratio, since it will force you to improve your photography.  Go out on photography outings, spending the whole day, or at least a fixed number of hours, doing nothing but taking pictures, and preferably all good ones.

I use a compact and have never felt that my pics are worse off for not being on a DSLR.  The most viewed post ever on my blog is a tips post on how to photograph children and it stays at the top of the popular post widget at all times.

Looking forward to some tips from the photography aces at IB.

Well that is basics, we have to get the real user experience of mastering the digital camera and their settings.  The best part is perfecting the mannual settings.

Firstly, +1 to Sorc. I think photography comes with passion and not a course. That said, I'm not much into photography, but I'd definitely agree with  Umeshji when he says best time is 8 to 10 am and 4 to 6 pm. :) 

Vinay i saw a good movie recently Mayakkam enna, it is about the soup boys and their travail on photography and passion thereof of Dhanush, go for it if your follow Tamil

Umeshji, I follow Tamil.. but I only watch Hindi & English movies in theater.. even Malayalam (my mother tongue) ones I usually avoid

Some of the photography courses with trips can cost a bomb above 10 k for 2 days trip.  Some class room lessons too can set you off by 5 k,