Beginner's Guide To Photography

*STILL IN ROUGH DRAFT FORMAT!

So you got a camera, now what? It's got all those buttons, dials, menus and you don't know what they do. This will answer SOME of those questions. Every camera is different but most have the same basic features and generally work the same way with some exceptions (DSLR vs. mirrorless). 

Let's break it down into it's simplest form. Light comes in through the lens, is focused onto the sensor, and recorded. Of course, there's a TON more to it than that, so let's get started.

Here's a video that explains some basics and I'll try to explain things in more detail below- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7z7BAZdt2M 

AUTOMATIC MODES

Your camera probably has settings for action, portraits, closeups, and maybe night time/dark scenes along with Auto and Program modes and these are good beginner modes to use. P does NOT stand for Professional (old photographer joke). For the most part, the camera does all the thinking and you just push the shutter release button. EASY PEASY. But they may not give you the best exposure in every setting.
A (or AV), S, M modes are semi-automatic modes or fully manual mode (M) that allow you to control the shutter speed, aperture or both. What the heck does that mean? Read on.

*photo of camera dial

THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

Getting a properly exposed photograph is a little like juggling three balls. Everything has to be done right for a photo to come out right. The three main parts that go into making a correctly exposed photograph (not too bright or dark) are the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

*diagram

SHUTTER SPEED
I think this is the easiest to understand. Think of a camera's shutter as a curtain on your living room window. You can open it and close it to let light in or block it. That's what the shutter does, except it's really fast. Shutter speeds are listed in fractions of a second. It will open and snap shut in as fast as 1/30th to 1/8000th of a second! 
WHY SO FAST? When the shutter opens, light hits the sensor and anything that moves during that time will end up blurry. So the more something is moving, the faster the shutter speed needs to be to freeze the motion.

The other factor in that is the longer the shutter is open, the more light is hitting the sensor and that could be overexposure or too bright of a photo. The opposite is true as well, if the shutter is too fast and not enough light reaches the sensor in that time, the photo will be underexposed or too dark. It needs to be juuuuuuust right! If an image is too bright, set the shutter speed faster. If it's too dark, make the shutter speed longer. If there's blurriness from your subject moving, make the shutter speed faster. 

*diagram and examples

APERTURE
If the shutter is the curtain in front of the window, the aperture is the size of the window. The aperture is part of the lens and can be opened and closed by settings on the camera. Aperture settings are referred to as f-stops and are an inverse relationship so the smaller the number, the bigger the aperture opening. For example f2.8 is wider than f8, see the diagram below
*insert diagram

Now, the bigger the window, the more light is going to go through the shutter and onto the sensor so this is another ball to juggle. On a bright sunny day out on the soccer field, there's lots of light available and you may be able to use a smaller aperture. At a chorus concert in a dark auditorium, there's not going to be much light available and a wider aperture might be needed.
You've seen photos with the background blurred out (not the fake blur created with an iPhone)? This is a function of the aperture- a wide aperture like f1.4, f1.8 or f2.8 is going to create shallow depth of field (DoF). Depth of field is how much area is in focus between the lens and the furthest area in the photo. A very wide aperture is going to be able to create shallow DoF meaning you can get the background to be blurry whereas a small aperture is going to have wider DoF so more of the photo will be in focus. 
Aperture is a balance between letting enough light in and controlling the Depth of Field to suit your purpose. Usually, only portrait and landscape photographers really care about DoF, but knowing what it is can help you achieve the look you want.

*diagram/examples

ISO
This is probably the most difficult to explain. ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor to light. If you ever used film, you had to buy 100 speed film for bright sunny days, 400 speed film for cloudy days, and 800 speed film for indoors. ISO is the same thing except with the sensor. In bright light, you can set the ISO low, something like 100 or 200. On a cloudy day or at sunset, you might raise it to 400 to 600 and indoors you might go to 800 or above. ISO can go as high as 20,000 and more in a higher end camera.
As with shutter speed and aperture, there are tradeoffs for the different settings. The higher the ISO, the more digital noise there is in the photo. This will make the image grainy looking, so the lower the ISO you can use, the better. Most cameras have noise reduction built into them and they do a pretty good job so I generally tell people not to worry about ISO too much and use the best setting for the situation or...use Auto ISO and let the camera decide what it needs.

*examples

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
This is a shortcut to make a photo brighter or darker by pushing the +/- button and turning a dial on the camera. This works in ANY of the modes. Say you're taking photos and they're all coming out a little dark. Simply push the exposure compensation button and adjust it up and the camera will make the photos brighter. It's like overriding the camera's settings and a lot of professionals shoot on auto mode and use exposure compensation to get exactly the look they want.

I haven't even talked about metering modes or focus modes...that will have to be another blog post or two should I get inspired :)

Want a simple way to practice these settings without having to use your camera? Try this camera simulator website where you can change the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO to see the effects.

http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/

The best way to learn these settings is to try them yourself with your camera! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE :)

Camera buying tips

 I regularly get asked "what camera should I get?" and I don't mind at all, I just thought I'd make a blog post to refer people to. It's like asking someone what kind of car they should buy. There are a LOT of options out there for every budget and experience level so there's no single answer I can give everyone. 

Let's start by looking at manufacturers- Nikon, Canon, and Sony are the majors and there are several others like Olympus, Fuji, Leica, Pentax, and Panasonic to name a few. Some people you talk to are as brand-loyal as Chevy and Ford guys (you know those people with stickers of Calvin peeing on the rival's logo). Personally, I'm a Nikon person. I joke about Canon cameras to photographer friends, but Canon makes some great cameras and so does Sony. I just prefer Nikon because that's what I started with and for the most part, I can use lenses from the 90s on even my newest camera. If you're just starting out and don't have to worry about lens compatibility...pick a camera brand and model you like. Go to a store like BestBuy and try things out and see how the camera feels in your hand, how you like the menus, that sort of thing.

Next, there's three categories of cameras that you may be looking at- point and shoot, DSLR, and mirrorless. I'm assuming that nobody reading this post is thinking about medium format cameras and it's highly unlikely that you're considering a film camera so let's talk about the difference between a point and shoot, DSLR and mirrorless cameras.

Point and shoot- pretty much sums it up. This is an all-in-one camera without interchangeable lenses but almost always has a zoom lens and they allow you to just turn it on and shoot some photos. Setting options may be limited to presets like "sports", "portrait", "low light", etc. If you're looking for something to take on vacation, shoot some photos of the kids at holidays and birthdays and need something more than your phone...this option could be for you. Realistically, your phone might be better! Did I just say that? 

DSLR- digital single lens reflex camera. These are the cameras that have interchangeable lenses and more user control features. These can be entry level cameras up to professional grade like you see at weddings and major sporting events and are what I have shot with for many years. If you're buying a camera, it's most likely going to come with a "kit lens" which is a basic lens generally in the 17mm to 55mm zoom range. Some may come with two lenses and include a 55-200mm lens as well.
Having the ability to change lenses allows you to have lenses for specific things. I have a wide angle zoom lens that goes from 14mm to 24mm, a mid-range zoom that goes from 24mm to 70mm, a long zoom that goes from 70mm to 200mm, and one that is a 100mm to 500mm zoom. I also have an 85mm and a 105mm macro lens. Each one is used for different things. For example, the 85mm is my main portrait lens, the zooms are used at different parts of weddings, the longer zooms are used for sports or wildlife. The key thing to know is the longer the focal length (in millimeters) the closer your subject will appear in the photo. Generally speaking, anything under 50mm is considered wide and over 50mm is considered zoom. 50mm is considered the focal length that looks closest to what you see with your eyes. I'm not going to get into distortion or compression in this blog but it's something to consider as you get better at photography.
Besides changing lenses, DSLR cameras also allow you more control over the camera itself. They usually have preset modes like the point and shoot cameras, but they also have semi-automatic and fully manual settings. That's another blog post :)

MIRRORLESS- the newest kid on the block! I'll skip the technical stuff, but a mirrorless camera doesn't have a...mirror inside. It uses an electronic viewfinder that you see when looking through the camera like you see on the screen on the back of the camera. A lot of these cameras come with some great new features like eye autofocus where the camera will lock onto your subject's eye. This is something cell phones have done for a while but it's now making it's way into real cameras. 
Most mirrorless cameras also allow you to change lenses as well. Bear in mind that not all Canon lenses will work with all Canon bodies and the same is true for most manufacturers. Nikon does have an adapter to allow lenses designed for DSLRs to work on their mirrorless bodies. Canon may have that too, I just have no idea. 

SO...what should you get? It all depends on what you want to do and what your budget is! Going back to the car analogy- when buying a car, what do you look for? Do you need a pickup, minivan, hatchback, sportscar, luxury car and how much can you spend?
A camera body can be as little as $300 for a used one or as much as several thousand dollars. I'm planning on buying the latest Nikon mirrorless camera that is $5,500 but most people probably don't need all the features that camera has. Honestly, I don't need all the features but don't tell my wife that ;) I also got a grant to replace our cameras at school and will be ordering a $995 mirrorless body with a kit lens. Entry level DSLRs with a kit lens generally start at about $500 and you can get used cameras and from the big camera stores like B and H to save some money as well.

I pay attention to Nikon cameras and don't really look at the other manufactures. And I don't pay close attention to the entry level cameras either, so I can't say what the best options are, but the good people at B and H do a buying guides each year that I think are pretty thorough- here's the link to them (and I'll try to remember to update this each year but if it's not current, please email me)- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guides

WAIT, there's more!!! I didn't even touch on video which most cameras can do. I hardly ever shoot video with my camera, but it's a nice feature to have. There are many different options for video recording and I'm no expert on that so that's all I'll say. 

I hope that helps! Once you get a camera, check out my beginner's photography blog (link coming soon).