Reading On A Star

Hello bookworms, summers coming up, and I will be back to taking more photos than ever! Coming from an EXTREMELY amateur photographer, I would love to grow my knowledge of photography, and share it with all of you at the same time. This is the first post to the start of my “Official Guide to Photography”, coming from an amateur!

Here are some tips on improving your photography skills!

1. Shoot as often as possible
2. Keep your camera near you
3. Read the manual
4. Know your camera
5. Use a tripod
6. Experiment
7. Have fun!

Getting to know your camera! 

The three most important basic functions/setting are : aperture size, ISO and shutter speed. These all work to help adjust the amount of light entering your camera.

Display – As you adjust your settings, the camera will show most of them on the screen. You can turn this display on and off using the button to the right of the screen marked DISP.

Image alignment – Tells you when your image is perfectly horizontal.

Manual settings – M, Av/A, Tv/S and P are the main user controlled shooting modes. M  allows you to adjust aperture and shutter speed. Av is aperture priority, Tv is shutter priority and P is programmed auto.

The top dial – The more important setting are : Tv or S (shutter priority), A or Av (aperture priority/value), and M (manual).

Aperture size – Aperture or F-stop – the hole in the camera that lets light in. Aperture controls your depth of field, the lower you can get your f-number, the shallower the depth of field  so the blurrier your background will be . The lower the f-number the lighter your images will be as the hole that lets the light in is larger.

ISO light sensor – The ISO measures the sensor’s sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO number is, the less sensitive it is and will create sharper images. In lower light levels, you can turn up the ISO to capture brighter photos. But the image will probably have a lower quality. You always want to shoot in the lowest ISO possible for the best shots.

Shutter speed – The length of time the camera’s shutter is open is used to control the amount of light entering the camera. The slower the shutter speed, the more time is available for movement to be recorded, which can ruin an image. The faster the shutter speed, the sharper the image will be.

And if you are still figuring out whether you should get into photography, here are a few reasons why:))

1. Photography allows you to capture a memory
2. Allows you to see the beauty in everyday life
3. Its a creative outlet
4. You can express yourself
5. One of the best souvenir ever
6. Helps you learn more about yourself
7. Make others happy
8. Capture raw emotion
9. Helps you develop a love for life