SHOOTING IN MY

By Art Tibaldo

Have a camera, Will take pictures

“I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it.” ~Author Unknown

Module on Basic Photography By Art Tibaldo

PART I

Principles of Photography: (3-4 hours lecture and techno-demo) The Camera: Understanding the functions of;

Cameras, Lenses and Accessories Film Size and Image Format Shutter Systems Exposure-Setting Systems Depth of Field, Aperture and Shutter Speed Combinations Use of electronic flash

The Picture

Framing and Composing Photographs, the rule of thirds Adapting to Available Light Achieving Optimal Tonal Quality

Digital Photography Working with Digital SLRs Understanding Exposure Composition Essentials Flash and Lighting Taking Close-Ups Sports, Action Pushing Your Camera to its Limits File Formats Organizing, and Cleaning Up Your Images Creating Special Effects Printing and Sharing Your Pictures

Employment in the Photography Industry The Studio Photographer Specialty Photography Photojournalism & News Photography

PART II

Actual shooting by the participants (4hours) Indoor and outdoor Photo Shooting Finding a subject Camera angles and positioning Shooting, cropping and Sharing Basic film processing with Adobe Photoshop Basic photo captioning and uploading for publications

PART III

Image presentation, discussions, critiquing and closing program

There are no rules for good photographs, there re only good photographs. -Ansel Adams

Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a cam-era with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwitt You’ve got to push yourself harder. You’ve got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You’ve got to take the tools you have and probe

deeper. – William Albert Allard

No photographer is as good as the simplest camera. ~Edward Steichen

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has cre-ated. It is a major force in explaining man to man. ~Edward Steichen There are always two people in every picture: the photog-rapher and the viewer. ~Ansel Adams

The camera can photograph thought. ~Dirk Bogarde

10 Top Photography Composition Rules Balancing Elements Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule of thirds, creates a more interesting photo, but it can leave a void in the scene which can make it feel empty. You should balance the "weight" of your subject by including another object of lesser importance to fill the space. Leading Lines When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along lines. By thinking about how you place lines in your composition, you can affect the way we view the image, pulling us into the picture, towards the sub-ject, or on a journey "through" the scene. There are many different types of line - straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, radial etc - and each can be used to enhance our photo's composition. Symmetry and Patterns We are surrounded by symmetry and patterns, both natural and man-made., They can make for very eye-catching compositions, particularly in situations where they are not expected. Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal point to the scene. Viewpoint Before finally clicking your camera, look around for better vantage points where you can shoot it from. Every viewpoint has an impact on the totality of the photo and it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Consider grabbing a scene from high level, ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on. Background How many times have you taken what you thought would be a great shot, only to find that the final image lacks impact because the subject blends into a busy background? The human eye is excellent at distin-guishing between different elements in a scene, whereas a camera has a tendency to flatten the fore-ground and background, and this can often ruin an otherwise great photo. Thankfully this problem is usu-ally easy to overcome at the time of shooting - look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and compose your shot so that it doesn't distract or detract from the subject. Depth Because photography is a two-dimensional medium, we have to choose our composition carefully to con-veys the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene. You can create depth in a photo by includ-ing objects in the foreground, middle ground and background. Another useful composition technique is overlapping, where you deliberately partially obscure one object with another. The human eye naturally recognizes these layers and mentally separates them out, creating an image with more depth. Emphasize your scene's depth by including interesting subjects at varying distances from the camera.

Framing The world is full of objects which make perfect natu- ral frames, such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world. The result is a more focused image which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest. Here, the surrounding hills form a natural frame, and the piece of wood provides a focal point. Cropping Often a photo will lack impact because the main subject is so small it becomes lost among the clutter of its surroundings. By cropping tight around the subject you eliminate the background "noise", ensuring the subject gets the viewer's undivided attention. Experimentation With the dawn of the digital age in photography we no longer have to worry about film processing costs or running out of shots. As a result, experimenting with our photos' composition has become a real possibil-ity; we can fire off tons of shots and delete the unwanted ones later at absolutely no extra cost. Take ad-vantage of this fact and experiment with your composition - you never know whether an idea will work until you try it. Digital photography allows us to experiment with different compositions until we find the perfect one. Composition in photography is far from a science, and as a result all of the "rules" above should be taken with a pinch of salt. If they don't work in your scene, ignore them; if you find a great composition that con-tradicts them, then go ahead and shoot it anyway. But they can often prove to be spot on, and are worth at least considering whenever you are out and about with your camera. Rule of Thirds: The ―rule of thirds‖ has been around for centuries, and is the most recognized rule of composition used in photography and the arts alike. The rule of thirds states that the frame can be divided into three horizontal and three vertical sections. Photographs work better when the area of interest is placed off-center. I took this photograph using the rule of thirds. The balloon is off to the left. I usually put my center of focus on the left because in most parts of the world we read from left to right. This is more appealing to the viewer’s eye. They see the center of focus to the left and continue to look toward the right, taking in the rest of the image:

Simplicity: The ―simplicity‖ rule is just that. You should keep your photo relatively simple. If you’re zoomed in close to your main subject, make sure that the background is out of focus or make sure that nothing in the back-ground stands out, causing any distractions. You don’t want anything pulling your eye away from your main subject. Here I have a photo of a tulip’s base, a very simple composition. I came in close, and whatever back-ground you see is blurred out — there are no distractions:

Leading Lines: The ―leading line‖ draws your eye deeper into the photograph, and commonly to the main subject. The leading lines also direct your eye to an area of the photo that might not have been noticed otherwise. You have to be careful using leading lines. You don’t want them to distract the viewer or lead them away from the main subject. Here’s a photograph that I took in Death Valley, California. In this photo, there are a lot of lines leading up to the top of the mountain. The lines keep your eyes moving up the image. Lines can also go horizontal or vertical. Leading lines can also be rivers, roads, tree branches, bridges, or even building architecture:

Straight Horizon: Talking about ―straight horizons‖ may seem a little obvious and not necessary, but you’d be surprised to find how often it’s forgotten. Good thing this is an easy fix in most software programs:

Perspective: Sometimes a change of perspective can add impact to a photograph. Think about changing from your norm. Try crouching down, or moving to the left or right. Better yet, try to take a photo from a different an-gle, through a window, or a doorway, or even an archway. Experiment with lenses. You could even invest in a fisheye lens, which will give you a whole new perspective on everything:

Color: Color in a photograph can create emotion and mood. Blues and greens are cool. Yellow and orange are warm colors. You can also use colors to create certain effects. Like a ―wow‖ factor when colors jump out at you:

Symmetry: Sometimes you just have to forget about the rule of thirds, and just plop your focus dead center, just be-cause it works. Symmetry can come at a price; some may say it’s not interesting enough or even boring. Don’t listen to that. Subjects that work well with symmetry are landscapes and flora:

Telling a photo story Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that uses images to tell a news story.

It is one thing to photograph peo-ple. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the

core of their humanness.

-Paul Strand

It can be a trap of the photogra-pher to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get. -Timothy Allen

"The camera reporter makes a major contribution toward greater understanding among the people of all nations. Pictorial reportage is the most universal of all languages. It is an indispensable tool of free-dom in these days when so many people are oppressed and per-sonal freedom is restricted in many parts of the world" Dwight D. Eisenhower