Photography is one of the most expressive art forms that allows you to freeze time, evoke emotions and narrate visual stories. It is a blend of art and science, offering endless possibilities for self-expression and storytelling.
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The obvious and the most important tool you require is a camera. Today’s mobile cameras are quite advanced, but if you are interested in pursuing photography and nurturing your hobby, then you must start with a basic entry level DSLR or a mirrorless camera. Ensure you have interchangeable lenses so that you have the flexibility of changing lenses depending on what you wish to shoot.
In order to start, you need to learn the basics of photography like ‘Exposure’ which is dependent on ‘Aperture’, ‘Shutter Speed’ and ‘ISO’. All three of them control the brightness of your photo, although they do so in different ways. In other words, each brings its own “side effects” to an image. So, it is a bit of an art to know exactly how to balance all three for a given photo. Exposure is the most important basic and the first photography concept that you need to understand. Photography is about capturing light, and exposure is important because it is the amount of light collected by your camera.
What is exposure?
The photography exposure basics are composed of different elements. The fundamental thing to understand is the effect of exposure, which is to capture the image with a determined brightness. Ideally, the image should be correctly exposed. However, in photography exposure, there is no right or wrong. For now, we will focus on the elements to capture a correct exposure.
Shutter speed: The amount of time your camera sensor is exposed to while taking a picture
Aperture: Represents a ‘pupil’ in your lens that open and close to let in varied amounts of light
ISO: Technically a bit more complex behind the scenes, but similar to the sensitivity of film for taking pictures in different lighting conditions. Also similar to brightening or darkening a photo in post-processing
You also need to learn about technical elements like ‘Exposure Triangle’, ‘Depth of Field’, ‘Focal Length’, ‘Sensor Size’, ‘how to achieve sharp Focus’, ‘Metering modes’, ‘White Balance’ and ‘Histogram’.
What is composition?
It is the language of photography, and using different compositional elements and rules, you will be able to capture and shape your visual message. When you compose your image, you have to arrange the elements of the scene to make them attractive and help you represent your visual message in a impactful way.
Practice makes one perfect
Once you have understood the science and art, now is the time to practice and experiment on the field. You can specialise in any genre for instance, portraits, wildlife, sports, street, fashion, food, travel and many more. Now each of these has its ways to capturing the perfect shot. For instance, wildlife photography demands patience and a deep connection with nature. It is about capturing the beauty and behaviour of animals in their natural habitat, telling stories through images and also raising awareness about conservation and the delicate balance of ecosystems. The platform you shoot from is not steady and handling long focal length lenses is quite challenging. But, when you come up with even one compelling image, all the sweat and toil seems more than worth it.
To be a good photographer, you need to learn from your mistakes, ask for someone who understands the art to critique your images. Photography is a journey that helps you discover, create and learn from your very own experiences. By being patient you can create visual stories that fill you with a sense of fulfillment!
(Parag Bhatt is an award-winning, self-taught wildlife photographer. You can check out his work at: https://www.paragbhattphotography.com/)
