How to Capture

Angle of View

Angle of view is the position from where the photographer

took the picture. A photographer can point the

camera from below, above, or straight at an object. In other

artistic media, this is often called point of view. When

looking for subjects, especially in nature, a photographer often

shifts the angle of view to make interesting images.

Angle of view can also express emotion or mood. It can give

the viewer a sense of being small if looking up, or a sense

of being big if looking down.

Framing/Composition

Framing is how a photographer carefully

presents a subject. Unlike painters, who usually begin

with a blank canvas, photographers begin with

everything in front of them.Once a subject is found, a

photographer decides what to include in the picture frame.

The photographer then composes the image to draw a

viewer’s attention to the subject in a way that best

expresses the artist’s idea of it.

Color

Artists use color to achieve many effects. Color gives

viewers a sense of mood, place, and time of year. Color

can also move your eye around a composition and

create a sense of space on a flat surface. Some artists

achieve very saturated (strong, intense) color in their images,

while others intentionally use subdued or muted colors in

their subject matter.

TYPES OF LIGHTING

Sunlight

1.Direct sunlight is hard (point source)

2.Sky light is soft

Tungsten/halogen lighting

1.Electricity heats up filament which glows white hot

2.Small hard source, but easy to add modifiers to direct   

    light

3.High power usage and heat output

Fluorescent lighting

1.Around 5 times more efficient than tungsten

2.Complex/unpredictable colour spectrum

DIRECTION OF LIGHT

From the front:

1.No shadows, flat

From above:

1.Soft light can be useful for fill, like a cloudy sky

2.Hard light casts harsh shadows downwards

From the side:

Emphasises form and texture

From behind (rim lighting):

1.Emphasises the outline of the object

2.Typically use a grid to avoid light hitting the lens directly

SHADOW CONTRAST

A single light produces very deep shadows in areas where it

does not reach.

Reducing shadow contrast:

1.Add a reflector to bounce light into the shadows

2.Move the light further away

3.Add a less powerful light to fill in the shadows (fill light)

LIGHT MODIFIERS

We use light modifiers to:

1. change the apparent size and shape of a light source

2. change the colour of a light source

3. control where light falls

Examples of light modifiers:

1. umbrella (reflective or shoot-through)

2. softbox

3.diffusion screen

4. snoot

5. barndoors

6. flag or gobo

7. honeycomb grid

8. colour gels

EXPOSING FOR FLASH

Maximum shutter speed is the X-sync speed

1. Depends on camera, typically around 1/250s

2. At faster speeds, the shutter is never fully open, so only part of

the frame would be lit by the flash

3. Some flash systems have a high-speed sync mode which pulses

the flash

No minimum shutter speed

1. First-curtain flash: flash fires after shutter opens

2.Second-curtain flash: flash fires before shutter closes

Shutter speed has no effect on flash exposure

1. Flash much shorter than exposure time

2. Instead, aperture controls flash exposure