80% Of Photography Basics In Just 10 Minutes

Summary

This video offers a concise introduction to the fundamentals of photography, focusing on the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. It explains how these elements control the amount of light in an image and influence creative outcomes such as motion blur and depth of field. The video also addresses common beginner mistakes and provides practical tips for achieving sharp images and balanced exposures, encouraging viewers to explore further photography skills and courses.

Takeaways

• 📸 Photography is fundamentally about controlling and managing light, measured in stops of light.
• 🔄 The Exposure Triangle is a concept consisting of Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO, which control the amount of light in an image.
• 🚦 Shutter Speed determines the duration light hits the sensor and affects whether action is frozen or blurred.
• 🌀 Aperture, or f-stops, controls the size of the lens opening and subsequently the depth of field.
• 👀 A larger aperture (lower f-number) results in a shallow depth of field, focusing attention on the subject with a blurred background (bokeh).
• 🏞 For landscapes or architecture, smaller apertures (higher f-numbers) are used to capture a deeper depth of field, keeping more in focus.
• 🔋 ISO represents the sensor's sensitivity to light; lower ISO values are preferred to minimize noise and maintain image quality.
• 📈 Increasing ISO brightens the image but can introduce noise; it should be adjusted last after optimizing shutter speed and aperture.
• 🎯 When approaching a scene, prioritize freezing the action with appropriate shutter speed, then adjust aperture for desired depth of field.
• 🔧 Use Auto ISO if available to let the camera automatically adjust ISO within a set range for convenience.
• 📚 For a comprehensive understanding, consider enrolling in a photography fundamentals course to dive deeper into the technical and creative aspects.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The main focus of the video is to teach the basics of photography, specifically the technical principles of using a camera, by covering the exposure triangle which includes shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

How does the concept of 'stops of light' relate to photography?

Stops of light are used to measure and control the amount of light in an image. Each stop represents a halving or doubling of light, which is crucial for achieving the desired exposure in photography.

What is the exposure triangle and what are its three components?

The exposure triangle is a concept in photography that describes the three fundamental components of exposure: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. These components work together to control the amount of light that enters the camera and affects the exposure of the image.

How does shutter speed affect the image in terms of motion?

Shutter speed determines whether the action in the image is frozen or blurred. A faster shutter speed is used to freeze motion, which is ideal for subjects in movement like in sports or street photography. Slower shutter speeds can create a blurry effect, which can be used creatively or for long exposures in night or landscape photography.

What is the relationship between aperture and depth of field?

Aperture controls the depth of field, which is the range of distance within the image that appears sharp and in focus. A larger aperture (indicated by a lower f-number) results in a shallow depth of field, keeping the subject in focus while blurring the background. A smaller aperture (indicated by a higher f-number) increases the depth of field, keeping more of the scene in focus.

How does ISO affect the image quality and exposure?

ISO determines the camera sensor's sensitivity to light. A lower ISO results in less noise and better image quality but requires more light. A higher ISO can brighten the image in low light conditions but introduces more noise and reduces dynamic range and color quality.

What is a common mistake beginners make with shutter speed?

A common mistake beginners make is not using a fast enough shutter speed, which can introduce motion blur or camera shake into the image. Understanding the necessary shutter speed for the subject's movement is crucial for achieving sharp images.

How can the 'auto ISO' function help photographers?

The 'auto ISO' function allows the camera to automatically adjust the ISO setting based on the lighting conditions and the photographer's defined limits. This can be helpful for managing exposure without having to manually adjust ISO, especially in changing light situations.

What should a photographer do if the image is too dark or too bright?

If the image is too dark, the photographer can increase the ISO or use a slower shutter speed to allow more light into the camera. If the image is too bright, adjusting the shutter speed to a faster setting can help reduce the amount of light without compromising the desired depth of field.

What is the significance of the 'f-stop' in relation to aperture?

The f-stop refers to the lens aperture settings. A lower f-stop number indicates a larger aperture, allowing more light into the camera and creating a shallow depth of field. A higher f-stop number indicates a smaller aperture, which lets in less light and results in a deeper depth of field.

What are the next steps for someone who wants to continue learning about photography?

For those who wish to further their photography skills, they can enroll in a 30-day photography fundamentals course or explore playlists on creative aspects of photography such as visual patterns to deepen their understanding and application of the principles taught in the video.

Outlines

00:00

📸 Introduction to Photography Basics

This paragraph introduces the video's purpose, which is to teach the basics of photography in a short time span. It emphasizes the technical principles of using a camera and the importance of understanding these to dive deeper into the art of photography. The video is part of a new series called 'Beginner's Guide 2' aimed at teaching creative skills for new content creators. The video also mentions a 30-day photography fundamentals course for those wanting to fast track their learning. The main theme revolves around the control and management of light, measured in 'stops of light', and introduces the concept of the 'exposure triangle' consisting of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

05:02

🚀 Understanding Shutter Speed and Aperture

This paragraph delves into the first two components of the exposure triangle: shutter speed and aperture. Shutter speed is described as the duration for which the camera's shutter is open, affecting the amount of light that reaches the sensor. It discusses how faster shutter speeds can freeze action, while slower ones can create blur, which is useful for certain types of photography like landscapes. Aperture is then explained as the size of the lens opening that controls the amount of light entering the camera. It is linked to 'f-stops' and how different apertures affect the depth of field, which determines what parts of the image are in focus. The paragraph also touches on the creative use of a shallow depth of field for drawing attention to the subject and the aesthetic appeal of bokeh.

🌟 Mastering ISO and Balancing Exposure

The final component of the exposure triangle, ISO, is discussed in this paragraph. ISO is described as the sensor's sensitivity to light, with lower ISOs providing less noise and higher ISOs brightening the image but introducing more noise and reducing dynamic range. The paragraph advises on the order of adjusting the exposure triangle settings when approaching a scene: starting with the desired motion (freeze or blur), then depth of field, followed by aperture for light gathering, and finally ISO as the last resort for exposure adjustments. It also suggests using auto ISO functions for convenience. The paragraph concludes with a reminder that these are foundational rules for beginners and encourages viewers to explore further resources for a deeper understanding of photography.

Keywords

💡Photography

Photography is the art, practice, or process of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. In the context of the video, photography is presented as a creative skill that can be learned and developed, with a focus on understanding the technical principles that underpin it.

💡Exposure Triangle

The Exposure Triangle is a fundamental concept in photography that describes the relationship between three core components: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. These elements work together to control the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor and thus determine the exposure of a photograph. Balancing these settings is essential for achieving the desired brightness and mood in an image.

💡Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed refers to the length of time that the camera's shutter remains open, allowing light to reach the image sensor. It is one of the key elements of the exposure triangle and can be adjusted to capture motion either as a sharp, frozen image or as a blurred, dynamic representation. Faster shutter speeds are typically used to freeze action, while slower speeds can create an effect of motion blur.

💡Aperture

Aperture refers to the opening in the camera lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is measured in f-stops and determines the amount of light that reaches the sensor, as well as the depth of field in the resulting photograph. A larger aperture (designated by a lower f-number) allows more light in and creates a shallow depth of field, while a smaller aperture (higher f-number) allows less light and results in a deeper depth of field.

💡ISO

ISO measures the sensitivity of the camera's image sensor to light. A lower ISO value indicates less sensitivity and results in a cleaner, noise-free image, while a higher ISO value increases sensitivity, allowing for better performance in low-light conditions but introduces more digital noise. The ISO setting is the third component of the exposure triangle and can be adjusted to control the exposure of an image.

💡Depth of Field

Depth of Field refers to the range of distance within a scene that appears acceptably sharp in a photograph. It is influenced by the aperture setting, with a shallow depth of field typically resulting from a large aperture (low f-number), keeping the subject in focus while blurring the background. Conversely, a deeper depth of field, achieved with a smaller aperture (high f-number), keeps more of the scene in focus.

💡Bokeh

Bokeh is a term used to describe the aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image, especially as produced by a lens with a large aperture. It is often characterized by a soft, smooth, and pleasing blur that can enhance the visual appeal of a photograph by drawing attention to the in-focus subject.

💡Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range in photography refers to the ratio of the maximum luminance (brightness) to the minimum luminance (darkness) that can be distinguished in an image. A higher dynamic range indicates a greater ability to capture detail in both bright and dark areas of a scene. Increasing ISO can reduce dynamic range, leading to loss of detail in extreme highlights or shadows.

💡Noise

Noise in digital photography refers to the random variation of brightness or color information in the image that degrades the quality of the photo. It typically appears as grainy, speckled, or snowy patterns, especially in shadow areas. Noise is often a byproduct of increasing the ISO setting, as it amplifies the sensor's signal, which also amplifies the inherent electronic noise.

💡Creative Intention

Creative Intention in photography refers to the photographer's purpose or goal in capturing a particular image. It involves making deliberate choices about the visual elements, such as composition, lighting, and subject matter, to convey a specific mood, message, or artistic style. Understanding one's creative intention helps guide the technical settings needed to achieve the desired outcome.

💡Auto ISO Function

Auto ISO Function is a camera feature that allows the camera to automatically adjust the ISO setting within a pre-defined range to achieve the correct exposure. This can be particularly useful when shooting in changing lighting conditions, as it helps to ensure that the image is properly exposed without the photographer having to manually adjust the ISO.

Highlights

The video teaches 80 basics of Photography in 10 minutes, covering technical principles of camera usage.

Photography is about control and management of light, measured in stops of light.

The exposure triangle is a concept used to control stops of light, consisting of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Shutter speed determines the amount of time the camera sensor is exposed to light, affecting motion capture.

Fast shutter speeds (e.g., 1/250, 1/400, 1/800, 1/1600) are used to freeze action in various scenarios like street, portraits, sports, and wildlife.

Slow shutter speeds (e.g., 1 second, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, 8 seconds) are used for effects like night photography and landscapes.

Shutter speed affects image sharpness, with slower speeds introducing blur if the camera is not stabilized.

Aperture refers to the lens opening size and controls the amount of light that passes through, known as f-stops.

Aperture affects the depth of field, with larger apertures (smaller f-numbers) creating a shallow depth of field and smaller apertures (larger f-numbers) a deeper one.

Depth of field can be manipulated to focus attention on the subject with bokeh (out of focus blur) for aesthetic appeal.

ISO controls the sensor's sensitivity to light, with higher ISO values increasing brightness but also introducing noise.

A low ISO setting is ideal, but adjustments may be necessary based on the creative needs of the shot.

The video introduces a method for approaching a scene by prioritizing shutter speed, then aperture, and finally ISO.

Auto ISO function can be used to let the camera automatically adjust ISO within a set range for convenience.

If an image is too dark, increase the ISO until the desired exposure is achieved, unless aperture and shutter speed are already optimized.

For overexposed images, adjust the shutter speed to a faster setting if the ISO is at its minimum and aperture is set for creative purposes.

The video emphasizes the importance of understanding and applying the exposure triangle principles for photographic success.

The 30-day Photography Fundamentals Course and Visual Patterns playlist are recommended for further learning on photography basics and the creative side.

Transcripts

in this video I'm going to teach you 80

of the basics of Photography in just 10

minutes these are the technical

principles of how to use your camera and

hopefully by learning this you'll be

inspired to dive into all the other

wonderful skills about learning

photography because there's so much to

learn this video is the very first video

on my new series called beginner's guide

2 which is a new series teaching

creative skills for the new content

creator and if you're a beginner

photographer really wanting to Fast

Track Your development when it comes to

skills then check out my 30-day

photography fundamentals course which I

will leave a link to in the description

box below so photography is all about

the control and the management of light

and we measure that light in what's

called stops of light Now to control

these stops of lightning no images we

use a concept called the exposure

triangle now the exposure triangle has

three main components shutter speed

aperture and ISO all three of these

components have different different

technical ways of changing how much

light is in our image but they all share

the same thing in common in that they

all control stops of light that we have

in our image so they share a common

language now let's talk about the first

component of the exposure triangle

shutter speed and when we take a photo

light comes through the end of the lens

hits the shutter and then hits the

sensor the shutter is the thing in front

of the sensor that opens and allows the

light to come through onto the sensor

and then it closes making our exposure

and the faster the shutter speed you

have the faster that shutter opens and

then closes and this means that less

light is able to make its way onto the

sensor because it's open for less time

now the slower shutter speed you have

the longer the shutter is open for and

the more light is then able to make its

way onto the sensor now creatively the

way to think about shutter speed is to

think about whether or not you want to

freeze the action in your image or

whether you want your image to be blurry

to freeze the action which is going to

be most of the time especially if you're

shooting you know Street or portraits or

sport or Wildlife Etc you want a faster

shutter speed typically so you know one

over 250 one over 400 one over 800 one

over 1600 and so on when it comes to

freezing the action there's no such

thing as too fast of a shutter speed

now if you have a tripod to rest your

camera on then you might be doing night

photography or Landscapes and you might

use slower shutter speeds such as one

second two seconds four seconds eight

seconds or more

now all of these denominations are

actually One Stop of light difference

between each other and for shutter speed

this is how we talk about it in time one

common mistake that people make when

they first start out with photography is

that they complain that their images

just aren't sharp and most of the time

that isn't because they don't have good

gear you know most cameras are actually

pretty good nowadays but actually it's

because they don't have a fast enough

shutter speed and they're introducing

micro Jitters and therefore blur into

their images check out this video I made

here if you want to ensure that your

images are absolutely tack sharp every

single time the second component of the

exposure triangle is called aperture the

aperture refers to the size of the

opening at the end of the lens the

larger this Iris the more light comes

through the smaller the RS the less

light comes through for aperture we

refer to stops of light that it produces

as What's called f-stops the closer to 0

that number the larger the aperture will

be the larger the number the smaller the

aperture will be so common aperture

stops look like f 1.4 F2 F 2.8 F4 F 5.6

f8 f11 F16 and so on

and for example lenses that have a

maximum aperture of f01.4 will have a

very large aperture like this one

now creatively aperture is most commonly

associated with controlling What's

called the depth of field simply put

depth of field refers to how much of the

image can be in Focus so large apertures

like f 1.4 will produce what's called a

very shallow depth of field this means

that the area of focus is quite thin or

is quite shallow and it's typically used

to draw your eye into the thing that's

the most important thing in the

composition while the rest of the image

goes out of focus and this out of focus

blur is commonly known as bokeh and many

people find it to be very aesthetically

pleasing these effects are very often

found in a genres such as portrait or

fashion photography now on the opposite

end if you do Landscapes or architecture

for example you'll probably want a much

deeper depth of field so you would use

smaller apertures such as F 5.6 f8 f11

so that you can get everything in focus

now depth of field can get really really

detailed and complicated because it has

many many other factors such as subject

distance focal length and so on but this

is definitely enough to get you started

just remember if you want less things in

Focus but more available light than a

lower f-stop number like f 1.4 will do

the trick if you want more things in

Focus but less available light than a

higher f-stop number like f11 will do

the trick okay if you're enjoying this

video so far I would really appreciate

it if you would hit that like button for

me so that I know it's good enough to

make even more free videos like this in

the future and the last component of the

exposure triangle is ISO so ISO refers

to the amount of gain the image has so

think of it like giving the sensor more

power to brighten up the image if need

be common stops of iso are ISO 100 200

400 800 1600 3200 to 6400 and so on

now ISO doesn't have an implicit

creative effect on our images like

shutter speed or aperture have and so it

should also be treated in that way with

ISO the more you increase it the

brighter your image becomes but also the

more noise or visual artifacts you

introduce as well you also end up

decreasing dynamic range and color as

well but that's a very Advanced topic

for perhaps another time

ideally you want to have as low of an

ISO setting as possible so long as your

other two settings are correct first one

very common mistake that beginners make

is that they think ISO and noise is a

huge huge deal so they keep it really

really low at the sake of getting their

shutter speed or their aperture

Incorrect and this is a mistake you know

messing up your shutter speed or your

aperture means that you may get an

unintentionally blurry image and you can

never unblur a blurry shot but you can

remove noise from a noisy shot and

because of this think of iso last when

it comes to setting up your shots and

that leads me to bringing all of this

together so when I'm approaching a scene

I want to take a photo of I'll always

think about doing it in this order first

I will think about whether or not I want

my subject in my image to be blurry or

be frozen 99 of the time it's going to

be frozen so that's my decision made for

me and I'll adjust my shutter speed

according to the scene and usually I

will go a little bit faster than I think

I'll need just to be on the safe side

then I'll think about depth of field do

I want many things to be in Focus or do

I just want one thing to be in focus and

usually this change will happen

depending on what I'm shooting like

whether or not it's a landscape or it's

a portrait or if I have a subject in the

foreground and so on most of the time I

actually shoot as large as I can get in

terms of aperture because I like to have

as much light Gathering as possible and

I'm either using prime lenses for

portraits or I'm shooting things very

far away with Landscapes and then lastly

a look at the image and I'll adjust the

iso accordingly a tip here if your

camera has it is to use the auto ISO

function and have your isos set in a

bracket so that you don't even need to

think about it and you can let your

camera handle it all now what do you do

if the image is either too bright or too

dark now if the image is too dark you

need more light so usually I will have

my shutter speed in aperture dialed in

and based on my creative intention which

means all I need to do is just turn my

ISO up until I get the exposure I want

if the image is too bright however and

my aperture is locked in from a creative

standpoint and my ISO was already at the

lowest that it can go then I'll actually

adjust my shutter speed to go even

faster because remember if you're

freezing the action there's no such

thing as too fast of a shutter speed

okay and that's the technical basics of

photography of course we're just

scratching the surface here really but

when it comes to the beginner Basics

these are the basic rules to follow and

over time you'll be able to deeply

understand them and see where you can

stretch and bend these rules as I'm sure

some of you people in the comments are

going to point out but these are the

rules that I teach to all of my

beginners and I think that they're a

great place to start and again if you

want to learn the rest of the

photography Basics then check out my 30

day photography fundamentals course

where I talk about focus and shooting

modes and light and gear and all of that

other good stuff or if you want to learn

about vision and creative side of

Photography then check out my visual

patterns playlist for some free videos

about that over there otherwise stay

tuned for the next videos on this

beginner's guide 2 Series and I will see

you in the next video peace