Be a Better Photographer in 45 mins

hi thanks for signing up for this free course on how to become a better photographer Inc I am Sudhir sharam founder and director of so this film photography Private Limited basically an engineer by background electronics and communications engineering who worked in the software industry for close to 18 years the first nine years I can say more of a pure technical software programmer working at the device driver kernel programming that kind of work and the remaining part more into the corporate section of management level I would say of handling the software division itself so I come with a pretty strong technical background and on top of that 25 years of photography so I've been doing photography and most importantly I've been teaching photography for close to 15 years and in the photography field itself if I had to say some of my achievements so I have been a Canon brand ambassador for close to eight years on top of that the sanctuary Asia wildlife photographer of the year and then even with respect to National Geographic I have one or rather my cover shot of this beautiful image has won the National Geographic yellow border award so this cover short featured in the National Geography traveller India and then the internal competition within Nigeria across the 14 countries and this one the first press for India beyond that when it comes to the recent Asian photography I was touring for 2017 I have been recognized and awarded as the third most influential person in the photographic industry in India so the first has been the Canon MD and CEO the second has been the Nikon MD and CEO and I have been at number three so when it comes to photographer probably the most influential photographer for in in India itself for 2017 and then again for 2016 I was placed at number two and then the year before that I was placed at number five so the last three years consecutively I have been rated as one of the most influential people in the photography industry itself and then in the recent survey concluded in the top 100 photographers on the web the most talented famous photographers on I've been placed at number 12 across the globe so number one in India I would say and then when it comes to wildlife photography across the globe in the top hundred list I've been placed at number one so the awards and recognition it goes on and on and on so that basically gives me the confidence to teach the kind of credibility I have and that is where the big brands like Canon Nikon Samsung Adobe a lot of this big brands they work with me because of the trust they have in me with my capabilities with my technical knowledge on photography and everything related to photography so I've been conducting photography twos workshops all these four years together and in the last three years alone I have thought for more than thousand five hundred students so I come with this very very strong background when it comes to photography teaching that's about me now let's come to the course itself what is this course about now in the next 40 minutes I am going to teach you everything you need to know on the basic fundamental aspects of photography fair enough you have bought your new camera and you look at all the various settings in the camera doesn't matter beat a cannon or a Nikon or Sony or a Pentax or a reco the brand it just does not matter it's the concept which is more important so what the camera you look at the camera the settings it's very complicated there are way too many buttons in fact if you see the current is digital cameras they're very complex the photographic manual itself if you see like I mean 200 pages 300 pages I don't expect you to go through those 300 pages to start operating this camera or how to become a better photographer so in this course what I'm going to do is like I am going to help you understand if you look at the very basic things what gets displayed at the back of the camera I am going to help you understand what each of those things are how they impact photography how you can start using that so I am going to teach you all those even though in the course I'll be using a Canon camera to explain the concept it holds good for any brand of the camera so what I want you to do is charge your camera completely and then hold the camera in your hand go through the course one step at a time and start experiment along with me and now comes another important point go at the end of the course I mean once you finish the entire course I want you to stick with me for the full course that is very important once you finish the entire course at the end of this course I am going to give you some very very useful information and tips so don't cut it across stay till the end go through it and hear what I have to say at the end of the course which is where it is going to be very very important for you when it comes to your photography learning and now comes another very very important point now as a part of this course this is what around 40 minutes of course that's all it's not a very very big course now if you look around you have a lot of distractions your cell phone your email is coming up you have your Facebook or Instagram account you keep looking at all those things so if you want to learn if you want to be a better photographer before you start this course what I want you to do is switch off all those things no distractions nothing you give me your undivided attention for the next 40 minutes and I'll guarantee you you are going to become a better photographer your understanding about photography will change like anything so switch off all those things pay complete attention to what I have to say it's a part of this course experiment along with me and most importantly as I said at the end of this course I have some very very important information to share with you go through that as well and then you can feel the difference in your images and then you will be very happy looking at the images the wow factor in the image all those will start coming in so let's get started with the course hi in this tutorial I am going to take you through the core concepts the fundamental concepts of photography and give you my recommendations so that you can start making some awesome images the other good part about this tutorial is like I'll be conveying some of the settings and in your camera you should be able to try it out and do the things do the things practically along with me so in the next 30 minutes stay tight follow the concepts experiment along with me and you will see the difference in your image just where you will understand what it takes to make those awesome images so let's get started I have currently connected my car 1,200 D an entry-level camera to the TV so that you will see the various displays the settings what the camera does and you should be able to follow me now as a beginner in photography you don't have to go through very in-depth or any advanced settings or any of those things forget about all the various advanced features whatever the camera supports let's get some of the very basics right so for example aperture so since I am shooting in aperture priority mode the very basic exposure triangle parameters bit your shutter speed your aperture your ISO what are they what impact it has on your image we will see that next comes your exposure compensation about when to underexpose when to over exposed make the image brighter or darker what to do your picture style what kind of pictures tell you should be using we will look at that your white balance so what is white balance what kind of white balance you should be using I am going to help you understand those concepts next comes the other set of parameters be it with respect to your shooting mode so whether you want to shoot it in one shot mode servo depending on what is happening in yours in your scenery the focusing options will see then even the metering so what kind of metering you have to use be it spot metering evaluative so what are those various metering options and then of course what kind of image quality you should be using I'll be guiding you with that and of course the last point is obviously with respect to your focusing points when to use what fine what kind of focusing points so here this is the very basic thing but what you see in your Canon cameras now the same concept applies to your Nikon cameras as well where if you look at the info the display what your Nikon camera gives even that will have your exposure triangle parameters about aperture ISO shutter speed the same things then you even have your compensation exposure compensation your white balance parameters and in case of your focusing mode whether it is like autofocus single autofocus continuous so what kind of focusing you more do you want to use then comes even the metering the concept is the same and even your image quality the raw or the JPEG what kind of quality you should be using and then the focusing points so if here if you see beat Canon Nikon or any brand it doesn't matter so let us go through each of this basic concepts and see what they are what impact they have on the image and what is the setting which you should be using to get some good images as a first step let us understand about the image quality so here as you can see from the display in the info you can quick you can press on the Q axis the Q button at the back and access this or you can go into the menu option in that you have the image quality if you go into the image quality you have various options right from the large to the medium to the small and then you have a combination of replace large and then just the rock so here you are welcome to use any of this combination and each of them as you can see here the resolution will ready so if I keep moving so as you can see the resolution will keep changing which is the print dimension if you are trying to print the images so it's more to do with your megapixel the resolution so here one of the main things is a as a beginner I understand that raw probably may not be the right option because you may not be comfortable on how to process the raw images so chances are you end up using just the JPEG so but my recommendation would be to use a combination of raw plus large depending on the size of the memory card so yes please go ahead buy a larger sized memory card so that it can store more images now one of the key advantages of the raw file is even if you make minor mistakes in the field be it with respect to the various settings with respect to your white balance exposure so even with respect to the picture style any of those various combination you make a mistake still there are ways in which you can very easily fix if it is Rob raw is very very powerful so go ahead use the option of raw plus large and then keep that as your standard setting if you look at your Nikon setting even Nikon has something very similar where you can have a combination of any F so that is the RAW format for NIC on any f+ the different options of JPEG so go ahead choose any of these things but as I said as a beginner please go ahead with the combination of raw is large because in future once you learn our crop processing you can come back to these images and process the raw files so go ahead to start with put the setting as raw Plus large or any F plus any of the JPEG oxygen option and keep that as your standard-setting let us now understand the next important parameter which is your white balance so in case of cannon I can access the white balance using the quick access button at the back by pressing Q and going into this or I have a direct access button check your camera and you'll have a direct access white balance I click on that and you have this various parameters various white balance setting rather what is white balance in simple terms white balance is one of the key parameter which decides what kind of colors you want in your image white balance is nothing but telling the camera to get a white color as a proper white depending on the lighting situation now white balance is expressed in Kelvin so here if you see with respect to the white balance for my Canon 1280 I have all this various white balance setting I have the auto white balance where the camera decides what kind of colors to put what kind of Kelvin value to put depending on the lighting then I have the daylight so daylight has an approximate value of five thousand to two hundred Kelvin then I have the shade shade is approximately again seven thousand Kelvin I go further I have the cloudy which is six thousand Kelvin then the tungsten light which is more of 3200 Kelvin then again the white fluorescent light flash four out those flashes in the range of five thousand four hundred Kelvin and then the custom white balance so depending in on depending on your camera model you may have the advance setting of the manual white balance where the K will be displayed and these values you can manually put it let's go each of this let's look at each one of them now when it comes to outdoors if you use a white balance setting of anything about five thousand or below five thousand Kelvin say for example daylight then tungsten or even fluorescent any of these parameters where the values less than five thousand Kelvin you will get more of bluish cast in your image so where as same outdoor conditions if you go into the option of say shade with this seven thousand Kelvin cloudy which is six thousand Kelvin anything above 6,000 Kelvin you'll get more l-lois colors in your image now let us look at this particular image so this image has been shot outdoors so what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you like how by putting different white balance values the colors of the image basically changes so I'm going to just put it in auto mode so Auto the camera decides I have no control then if I'm going to put it in daylight at 5200 Kelvin this is what I get then I move it from five thousand two hundred to five thousand four hundred Kelvin which is more of your Flash outdoor five flashes five thousand four hundred this is the kind of color she'd get then I moved to cloudy which is six thousand Kelvin and then even with respect to shade it is more of seven thousand Kelvin it goes up on the other side if I come where I put it for tungsten which is 3200 Kelvin as you can see it is more bluish in color compared to the cloudy and shade which is more alloys more warmer colors even white fluorescent light also gives you more bluish color so as you can see white balance varies the colors in your image my recommendation is do not go with auto white balance because in case of auto white balance the camera decides what colors to put as a photographer you need to be in control you decide what kind of white balance you want to use based on the actual lighting situation this is for Canon and if you look at Nikon option it is more or less the same where the terminologies may vary a little bit but the overall concept of using the white balance is the same so as I said as a beginner my recommendation when it comes to the using the values for white balance don't go with auto based on the lighting situation you use whether you want to go with daylight or flash or it is cloudy or with respect to shade those things for indoors probably it may be more of incandescent or fluorescent those options comes into picture so go ahead understand about white balance take the camera got in the field the same same image what you have go ahead and shoot that at various white balance and new personnel see what the difference is and you decide based on the lighting what kind of white balance makes sense so that's about white balance now comes the most important part of photography which is your exposure triangle parameters of shutter speed aperture and ISO let us study what these parameters are what impact they have on the image and what kind of settings you should be using I am currently in the shutter priority mode of my camera which is the TV mode for Canon and yes mode for Nikon so here what happens as a photographer I set the shutter speed so let us look at what is shutter speed now shutter speed is the duration of time your shutter is open for the light to enter and hit your sensor so if you look at the shutter speed so value of low shutter speed basically causes motion blur if you are shooting handled the shake which comes into the image that is because of slow shutter speed whereas if I take it up so all the way I keep going a higher shutter speed freezes action so what the shutter speed do low shutter speed is responsible for motion blur or camera shake which comes because of handle shooting high shutter speed freezes the action so if you look at this particular image so this I have shot it at a high shutter speed where you can see that the waterfalls the overall action has been frozen whereas the same image when I shot it at a very slow shutter speed of say 2 2 SEC 2 seconds 4 seconds at that slow shutter speed as you can see it's more of a silky flow of water so shutter speed is the duration of time the shutter is open and then you can basically decide how you want to take that image my recommendation when it comes to shutter speed if something is totally static if it's a person standing not moving it could be a landscape scene so anything which is totally static you don't have to worry too much about the shutter speed and of course for any beginners as I recommend always use a tripod to get the proper setting now that is about shutter speed now the other parameter the next parameter which were to understand is more to do with your aperture for that let me go into the aperture priority which is the AV mode for Kanon and then the a mode for nikon aperture is basically one of the parameters now okay first what is aperture aperture is the opening of your lens so if you look at this particular lens so this is basically the 1635 lens aperture is this opening so how large opening is so even if you look at this particular image so aperture basically has blades inside so a smaller aperture say if I go all the way down to f/4 an aperture a smaller f-number basically means a very large opening of your lens where as I move up all the way I go to f-16 F 20 f-22 that is a very small opening a very small opening means less amount of light coming into the camera so here if you can see a smaller F number is a large opening a larger F number is a very small opening now this again controls the amount of light entering your camera so the one of the key things about aperture is that controls the depth of field now depth of field is that area of your photograph which is in sharp focus so this particular image here if you see the depth of field what we call is very shallow I have used a very low F number and that is where as you can see the depth of field is very shallow now the same image if I move my aperture the F number if I make it very large and f-22 or like that then as you can see that same it means the depth of field is very large that means large area of your photograph is in sharp focus now as a photographer you have to decide where do you want to use shallow depth of field where you want to use a larger depth of field now let me give you a quick tip over here if more or less if it is just one single subject what you are trying to shoot in more situations a lowest F number supported by your lens will do whereas if there are more subjects one behind the other and you want all of them to be in sharp focus then your F number you have to increase now similar to the speed aperture is one of the parameters responsible for your depth of field your focal length of the lens then camera to subject distance also comes into picture but go ahead use the aperture based on the scene and as a photographer you decide whether you want a lower F number or a larger F number to get an appropriate depth of field and then the third parameter which is more of your ISO ISO is nothing but the sensitivity of your sensor so during our olden days when we used film so they were basically chemicals in the film and then that is what we called as the sensitivity of the film so the ISO or the a si what we used to call was more of how fast those chemicals can react to light so in our digital cameras it is more to do with your sensor so how fast the sensor can react to light that is what is so is all about now if you look at the IES so whatever is so you have in your camera so if you're going to the quick view option and go into the ISO here as you can see I have auto ISO then hundred two hundred have different is shows based on your camera model again here I would recommend your not to use auto ISO because when you put it in auto ISO the camera decides what value to use based on the other parameters not recommended so you go ahead play around with the ISO so remember if you increase the ISO so chances are you will get more noise what is noise in the image so this particular image if you see I have shot it at a little bit lower ISO and wherever there is dark shadow area as you can see the details quality is very good whereas the same scene if I increase the ISO so at this high ISO as you can see i zoom in that area if you see you see those small grains that is noise so depending on your camera a low ISO is always preferable but again depending on mid-range or high-end cameras I also value you can actually take it up so these are the three very basic exposure triangle parameters now how do they work together so let me give you an example now you have various modes in your camera so let me go with the very basic one which is the complete auto mode so when you put your camera in complete auto mode the camera decides all the three parameters the camera decides the camera doesn't know what's in your shooting camera we'll take into account the amount of lighting and then it will put its own value of shutter speed aperture and ISO to give you a decent image probably that way that may not be what you want next comes and of course if the light is less the camera will pull out the flash as well the next is the P mode which is the program mode in program mode so when I half press my shutter release as you can see for a given ISO the camera decides both the shutter speed and aperture again you do not have control of course you can increase your ISO you can also put it in auto mode so if you increase your ISO I click on ISO I increase the value and then again half press my shutter release button so as you can see again the value should vary so you have no control on what happens camera decides the parameters now the other mode is basically the TV mode which is the setter priority mode or for nikon guy it is the yes mode so when you put it in TV mode as a photographer you decide what kind of shutter speed you want for a given ISO and when you half press the shutter release button camera will give a particular aperture not remember if the aperture is blinking which is happening in this case if the aperture is blinking that means that is not enough for this very high shutter speed in this low-light situation so I'm in my studio the lighting is very low so this high shutter speed for this ISO is not enough aperture is not enough it blinks if I shoot I will get a dark image so that is where I keep decreasing the ISO and then it is still not enough data see it's very dark in the room here I go all the way down and there he goes at one point it stops blinking and this is a good value of course remember if the movement is happening in the subject you will get shake blur okay if you're especially doing handle so you have to watch out for shutter speed so keep it in mind if any movement is happening in the scene then make sure to watch out for the shutter speed and try to keep a high shutter speed if you want to freeze the action and then if you want to purposely induce a motion blur go with a slow shutter speed that is about TV mode or the yes mode and then the other mode is AV mode which is the aperture priority mode and for nikon guys it is the a mode in case of aperture priority as a photographer you decide let me take it all the way down you decide what aperture you want for a given ISO and when you have press the shutter release button camera will give you a corresponding shutter speed now you vary your aperture then the shutter speed will vary so in case of aperture priority as it says the priority is more on aperture you decide what aperture you want for a given ISO camera decides the shutter speed so this is more recommended when there is not much movement happening in their scene if you are doing landscape photography or any of those areas of photography where your depth of field is more important then the shutter in that case go with your aperture priority then the other mode is basically the complete manual mode this is a little bit advanced mode for beginners I would not recommend that because you have to decide all the three parameters based on the metering and other complex things not recommended go with any of the other mode of aperture priority shutter priority or even for that more programmer also will work and then the other set of mode in your camera you have all this various portrait mode so portrait mode here if you see the ISO will be auto and then the default setting so more or less if you see portrait that camera gives more emphasis to the depth of field and then you have the landscape so even in case of landscape ok it is more of again the default settings are the single shot not the burst mode and then again the priority is given more for larger depth of field in case of a portrait mode the camera tries to give you a shallow depth of field in case of landscape it tries to give you a larger depth of field to give everything in focus then you have the close of for the portrait mode again in that situation it is more of trying to give you a shallow depth-of-field then comes your sports action photography action photography as you can visualize or you can think is more to do with action happening you want to phrase it so in this mode camera is going to give you a faster shutter speed then the other one is stars night photography so in this night situation is going to give you a long exposure now depending on what kind of camera model you'll have these are some of the very basic kind of shooting modes what you have so once you understand overall so let me go back to the a B mode so once you understand the combination of your shutter speed aperture and ISO then play around with the settings and as a photographer you decide what kind of setting you want so my recommendation again let me repeat so any of those genres where action is happening movement is happening you want to freeze it or you want to create a motion blur go with the shutter priority and decide what kind of shutter speed you want and then depending on whether you're shooting macro close-up portrait landscape anything static still where shutter is not of much concern it is more of depth of field what you want go with your aperture priority and decide what kind of perfection you want in all these cases please keep a tab on what is are using because a very high ISO will eat noise image okay so these are the very basic settings what you have to keep in mind on the exposure triangle parameters and then as a photographer you decide what you want and go ahead with those settings now comes the next interesting part which is your focusing board and the focusing points now again if I go back to the display here in your display currently I am in one short mode so even in case of Nikon so you have the different kind of focusing modes so let me go into this so I'm going to press the quick access button the Q and going to that of course so depending on your camera mode in fact even for me I have the direct access button which is AF button at the back I press that I go into the different autofocus modes now let us look at each of these autofocus modes the first one is one shot in terms of Canon and for Nikon guys it is AFS autofocus single typically one short mode is used for totally static subjects so what happens in case of one short mode is when you half press the shutter release button you hear the beep of course you need to have the beep enabled in your menu options once you hear the beep that means the camera has locked focus onto that subject so even in this case so if you look at my camera here if I just loosen the camera here at the head so I am at a particular place i half press it I'm in one-shot mode say ok and then depending on where I am shooting you have to be in the auto focus on mode okay so once I press I half press it I hear the beep keeping it half pressed even though I move the camera left and right the focusing will be locked at that particular point so this option is quite useful when it comes to locking the focus and then recomposing depending on you want to move the subject within your frame one shot is obviously a good mode so that is one shot in Canon and autofocus single in case of Nicole next comes the let's look at the air servo so if I come to the last option that is a servo for Canon and in case of Nikon it is AFC which is autofocus continuous now as the name says autofocus continuous here what happens you can keep the focusing point on the subject and keep moving the camera along with the subject so typically AI servo or autofocus continuous is used in cases where the subject moving so any kind of moving action photography any kind of situation where the subject is continuously moving in that situation keep the camera in air servo or autofocus continuous mode in this case what happens when you have pressure shutter release button the camera will be continuously focusing it will not stop so there is no concept of locking focus at that place it locks to focus but when you move the camera along the subject it continuously focus so as you can see it is suitable for anything which is moving next comes the other middle one which is here I focus or for Nikon guys it is a FA autofocus auto here what happens so in this particular model if the subject is stationary internally the camera will move to one shot try in case of air focus if the subject is stationary internally it will move to one shot and you'll hear that beep sound in case of air servo you will not hear that beeps on because it is continuously focusing air focus in turn it moves to one shot or autofocus single you will hear the beep but then if the subject starts to move of course in this situation you can again do the recomposition keeping it half press move the camera and then click in case of air focus if the car is the subject is still and then it starts to move and you move the camera along with the subject internally it will move over from one shot to a servo so that continuous focusing will start happening now of course if you look at the situation you feel that this is probably the best option and we should use it as a beginner but my recommendation is don't go with this option because there are certain situations where it takes time for the camera to detect that yes the movement has happened subject has started to move and this switch over from one shot to server or from autofocus single to auto focus continuous there may be a lag there may be a delay and you may miss those important shots so my recommendation is go with either one shot for totally static subjects macro photography landscape portrait you are doing close-up so any of those product photography fashion photography portraits monuments ok so any of these things go with one shot and a servo or autofocus continuous go in those situations where there is continuous movement happening somebody running cadres happening in case of wildlife photography action any of those things go with a servo so this is more about the focusing mode of the camera next comes the focusing points so if I come out of the screen so if I press of course in Canon the rightmost button at the top and even in case of Nikon you have the button in the friend depending on your camera model where you can choose what kind of focusing points you want so it may come in 1200 e if I press on the focusing points you will see all these various focusing points now this is where you will have to decide and my recommendation again here is do not enable all the focusing points because what happens is these focusing points are responsible for getting the subject in focus now if you enable all the focusing points what happens is the camera decides where and how to focus or on what subject within your frame it has to focus based on how much light is falling on the subject based on the contrast of the subject the camera decides so that is obviously not a good option because if there are two people standing one behind the other you want to focus at the front person chances are if it's not properly lit that camera will focus at the back person we just model it and that is not what you want so avoid going enabling all the focusing points and you decide so move your options around and based on how you want to compose you go ahead move the focusing left right wherever you want to focus and honestly speaking the center focusing point is basically the most powerful one where which is the fastest which is which basically focuses on the subject very fast so go with the center focusing point for faster focusing even in low-light situation concept is the same even in case of Nicole now even depending on your camera model the number of focusing points also will vary so depending on the number of focusing points you can decide as to like form a composition where you want to move how we want to move the focusing points okay so again as you said a word enabling all the focusing points go with one focusing and manually move it around depending on how we want to compost so that is more about the focusing mode of the camera and then using different focusing points on how to compose the image so remember you go ahead you decide what kind of composition what kind of focusing mode you want put those parameters in the camera and then take it forward now comes the most complex part of photography which is metering a metering is quite interesting and that is actually the heart of photography based on which the exposure triangle parameters are decided now beat Canon Nikon or any camera model the concept is again the same here what I'm going to do again I use the quick access button on my common camera and then come down and go into the metering so there you go now metering there are different kind of material options this is the entry-level Canon 1200 D so where the spot metering is missing but here we have evaluative metering or in case of Nikon it is called as the matrix metering or we also call it as the multi segment metering then partial metering same in the con as well the Center weighted average metering and then this option if you see this is basically spot metering now let us understand what each of this metering option does now one step back what is metering the whole concept is now if I am in aperture priority mode okay so I am basically at an aperture of let's go down to say f/4 so for an ISO of thousand 600 at f/4 in aperture priority mode when a half press the shutter release button I get a particular shutter speed so that value of shutter speed is decided by what kind of metering mode I am in now in simple terms for you all to understand metering is nothing but it's more to do with the amount of light which is reflected from the subject so the camera calculates how much light is reflected from the subject and to give you a very basic exposure to give you a exposure where it's not very dark where it is not very bright it will give you the shutter speed of 1 by whatever so that is metering okay so based on our various metering options now when it comes to spot metering what the camera does is when it comes your focusing point you see this centered focusing point what happens is the camera when you look through the viewfinder wherever the center focusing point is aiming at camera calculates the amount of flight over there how much light is getting reflected from that and it will give you a decent exposure not very bright not very dark okay the medium exposure what we call based on that amount of light being reflected from that Center focusing point of course there are options where you can move the focusing point and make sure you take the reading from there but let's not get into that so in simple terms in terms of spot metering wherever the center focusing point is looking at camera sees how much light is reflected and then based on that it is going to give you a particular shutter speed now this is rate if you look at that image it will give you a decent medium exposure now this is where your exposure compensation comes into picture so in my Canon camera I have the plus/minus button even in Nikon you have the plus/minus button find out how to access the exposure compensation button in your particular model I press it and then that dial if I move it around there you go it becomes darker or brighter if I go into the quick access mode into the exposure compensation there you go see there I move it to the left the image becomes darker if I move it to the right the image becomes brighter at this point auto exposure bracketing keep it aside so darker or brighter so this is where as a photographer you have to decide the camera you give a decent medium exposure looking at the scene if you feel you need you need to cut down light you can make it darker you want to get in more light you can make it brighter so that is about the exposure compensation metering using the center focusing point which is the spot metering now let us go into the other options of matrix now the other one is evaluative metering or for nikon guys it is the matrix metering or even multi segment matrix so in this case what happens it doesn't take it from the center at all like spot metering okay so here it's the evaluative or matrix that means or the multi segment that means what what the camera does is basically takes the average of the whole scene so it divides the entire segments how that is basically coming into the camera from the entire scene not at that one single point so from the entire scene how much that is coming into the camera it will calculate it will average it out and then it will give you a medium exposure same again use the exposure compensation to make it darker or brighter that is evaluative next the other metering is basically partial meeting the third one is partial metering partial metering is very very similar to your spot metering where again from the center focusing point what we have so typically in spot metering that Center focusing point is an area of around 2 to 3 percent compared to your entire frame whereas partial metering it takes a value about 12 to 13 percent of that focusing point at the center that is about your partial metering and then the last one is the center weighted average metering so here what it does it gives more emphasis to the center portion of the image how much light is reflected from the center portion of the image and then it gives you a particular shutter speed to give a medium exposure so this is what metering does now the overall complexity of the metering is quite high so what I would recommend you as a beginner my recommendation is to go with evaluative metering okay so currently go with evaluative metering mode so obviously in case of Nikon it is multi segment or matrix metering what we call and then what you have to do as a photographer look through the viewfinder see the tonality so one of the key things is about finality what you have to look at what is tonality nothing but darkness or brightness okay so if you look at the TV display here from a tonality this is dark whereas this shirt if you see from a tonality this is more bright the backdrop the screen here if you see tonality it is dark so from it from a metering point of view as a photographer don't look at colors but look at it from a tonality is in dark is it bright now let me give you a very quick tip over here okay so when it comes to your evaluative or matrix metering or multi segment metering what kind of exposure compensation to use okay so that a quick tip if you had to go into this it's basically if you are shooting something very dark if the overall average tonality of the whole scene is dark then you have to under expose okay so of course it's a little confusing wait if the tonality is already dark why should I again under expose of course that's because the camera it doesn't make a dark image as dark it will make it as a medium exposure okay so that is where to recover or get back the dark tonality x' you have to under expose so if you are shooting something bright make sure you basically overexposure so keep it very simple if you go into this again if you are shooting something dark you under expose if you are shooting something bright you over expose by how much that by trial and error by experimenting over a period of time you are going to learn it so as I said my recommendation it comes to metering is to make sure use evaluative metering or multi segment matrix metering and based on the tonality go ahead underexpose or overexpose so what I would recommend yours take your camera get out into the field and then use this options okay so don't try to experiment with every single of the matrix option try to master one particular metering options understanding it depth understand it in depth and then continue to the next one so put your camera in matrix or evaluate your multi segment metering same scene okay put it on a tripod put the camera on a tripod same scene shoot it with your exposure compensation at zero so it doesn't matter whether you're in AV mode TV mode so obviously the corresponding value the camera will give you okay it's okay go ahead with a V or the a mode then go ahead same shoot shoot it at zero then if you feel that the over the overall tonality the average tonality is more on the darker try to under expose you see this dots over here try to under expose by each dot so one step two step so keep under exposing one step at a time the same scene then again get on to the other set so the best way to learn as a beginner is to experiment experiment exper and don't experiment on different scenes that's another important point experiment on the same scene with different values make a note of it and of course the very good point is the EXIF information is available in your camera come back copy to the computer and then keep looking at each image and see what is it that you have done and that is how you can master the whole concept of metering and you decide depending on the situation what kind of metering what kind of exposure compensation you want to use and then decide so that's the best way to learn experiment one step at a time and then master the concepts good luck with me drink all right so in the last 40 minutes or so so I have explained to you some of the very basic fundamental concepts of photography honestly speaking these are the cool things which you need to know as a beginner in photography there are a lot of advanced things that is for later but get these fundamental concepts right so to conclude or to summarize what is that you have to be doing the main thing obviously what kind of image quality as I said go with the combination of rope less large and then comes obviously your white balance setting so avoid the auto white balance go with the white balance based on the lighting situation and then go with that particular preset or if you have the manual white balance go with that particular manual white balance and then comes your exposure triangle parameters shutter speed freezing the action motion blur handshake those things comes into picture your aperture the depth of field comes into picture and then obviously your ISO is to do with noise obviously this whole combination you have to get it right based on what kind of metering use so depending on the metering what you use this combination comes into picture and then the exposure compensation making it the darker making it brighter depending on the tonality that you have to keep it into consideration and then the other very important aspect is regarding the focusing so with respect to your focusing options whether you want to use one shot or autofocus single airserver or auto focus continuous this is a static subject this is for subject which is moving combination of both this air focus but as I said my recommendation is avoid that and then that then the other important point obviously is here focusing options so what kind of focusing points you want to use with Canon or Nikon you have different kind of focusing points understand what those are and for composition you will have to move the focusing points around decide what is it that you want to do so if you look at all these various combinations this is the very basic and the other one which I actually skipped is more to do with your picture style and honestly speaking don't worry too much my recommendation is to go with the standard in case of Nikon you have your vivid which gives you more vibrant colors even the standard is there even in case of Canon you have the landscape mode way to get a little bit more vibrant colors so again picture style is again more to do with what kind of photography you're doing what you're shooting and as I said if you're shooting the wrong mode then you can change those picture Styles at a later point of time during post-processing so these are the very basic fundamental concepts of photography experiment each of these things learn the concepts by heart of course no need to by heart anything over here is more of experimenting understanding and hopefully the session what I just gave it to you hopefully you're going to like make use of it practice practice practice experiment experiment experiment and then once you master this then comes the advance session and that's for a later point of time so good luck with your learning and good luck with your photography all right welcome back so I am sure like you had a fantastic session going through all the various concepts pick up your camera now start taking those amazing images but as I said what I what you just saw the course what you went through is just the tip of the iceberg so as a part of the portfolio of services what I offer on my website so online video tutorials is one of the very very important things of course like if you look at the various courses which are available on my online tutorials the first important one is the basics and advanced photography course along with post-processing now this itself is a very very huge chapter where I take you through all the fundamental concepts the advanced concepts connecting the camera to the TV screen what you went through what you saw and then I take you out into the field and practically show you how to basically implement that so all those various fundamental things and even the advanced concepts I teach you over there make you perfect in all those things and then of course at the end of that session you will understand as to what it takes to become a very very good photographer and then you can experiment it out there those things hands-on you can try it out it doesn't end over there then comes the other very important aspect which is post-processing so if you look at the overall photography it's just not about understanding about your camera how to take good pictures fine you got the images you copied it to a computer next what so how do you basically present those images even if you have to go to a party I mean you just don't get up and then just get off to the party you make sure you are in a presentable situation you go to I mean you freshen up you have bath whatever shave I mean make up little bit of cumbia so basically it's the same you but you make yourself more presentable so how do you do that your images that is where the post-processing tutorials comes into picture and as a beginner in photography again as I said great a Canon user a Nikon user just does not matter so I have targeted post-processing tutorials right from using the very basic Adobe set of products using Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw to process your RAW files if you are a Canon photographer I have the Canon DPP digital photo professional course for you online learning if you are in the khonshu tur then I have the capture NX D tutorial as well I mean depending on what kind of photographer you have you have all these various learning tools available at the tip of your hand or at the tip of your mouse just online learning you can just follow through and learn photography so once you finish your basic course once you understand about all the post-processing concepts all those things next comes the other thing fine if you want to buy a new camera upgrade your camera what is it that you should be doing so I have a separate course on that your ultimate guide to camera and lens buying so equipment buying what is that you need to watch for I have that separate course for you so that you can become master expert in basically understanding what it takes to buy your next camera or upgrade your camera and of course like if you are a very very entry-level photograph for a beginner the course what you just went through the free course about how to become a better photographer a little bit next step on that is basically an entry-level course called as how to make better just from the canon 1280 so a Canon 1200 if you are having an entry level camera how to get started wit can not become it just does not matter so you can go through that course and then comes a little bit of Advanced Course if you are an econ d500 shooter if you have an econ defy one right then your ultimate guide to making really good images out of that nikon d 500 I have a huge entire course dedicated for that so all these things if you see each one of them step by step you can start learning all this are online based video tutorials what I offer okay so of course as I said it's a combination of classroom as well as basically the field learning in fact I asked my friends once I came up with all these things I asked a few of my friends saying like see this is what I offer online okay and then like what do you think so what kind of costs do you think you are willing to pay for this so they said Suzy I think if you look at this whole gamut of learning what you put online easily you should people should be able to pay ten thousand rupees that's close to one hundred and fifty US dollars so this is what we are willing to pay for this kind of an offer what you have online learning that's it okay fantastic that's good I mean like they were okay so there what is the offer you're giving it at I said hold on let me finish the whole story so you sign up for my video tutorials you go through all this various courses you become a better photographer just imagine I mean like obviously you can start creating amazing images fantastic pictures you can start clicking from whatever kind of camera what you have and then even once you become an expert shooter move to the pro level of shooting I mean look at the kind of applause you'll get from your friends family colleagues at office I mean nowadays if you see like even at office photography is such a kind of a hobby for everybody that you start making good images you can share with your friends and like you you get that happiness out of that so you can become that fantastic photographer no more looking at others camera and seeing like I mean how is it that he is able to make very good images have the same kind of camera I am NOT able to get those who get those images none of those things so say goodbye to all those things and then start making your own fantastic fantastic web major so if you see all the various things the kind of future things what you can expect from these tutorials I believe the ten thousand rupees is just steal easily you should be able to afford again hold on it doesn't stop there once you subscribe for this video tutorials it's a one-year subscription period what we have once you sign up for this video tutorial subscribe to it then you become part of the solution photography community the SSSP community I have a separate dedicated Facebook group just for my video tutorial subscribe us nobody else has access access to that only you folks will be part of that and then there you can post your photographs me along with my team and then other photographers who are there already like hundreds of photographers are part of that community you come in you start posting your images over there you can start getting feedback critics about your images on how you have to improve or what are the things you have to do to improve and me I'm gonna personally handle people over there okay even reviewing your images help you build your portfolio so we have the album concept where you start building your own portfolio start improving on your photography so the learning continues it's just not the end after you sign up and watch the videos online you learn photography it doesn't end there the learning continues within the private photography group our own community and then again as a part of that private community I'll be doing very regular Facebook live broadcasts so a lot of people are already aware about my facebook Photography chat which I do the live broadcast is extremely popular in the last couple of years more than four million people have viewed those free online Facebook broadcast so for your group is going to be specified a more private one just for the video tutorial subscribers and then I'm going to be teaching some of the advanced concepts clarifying your doubts on photography so all the various tutorials you would have gone through I am going to give up all the answers to the various doubts what you have guide you through photography and then apart from that even when it comes to calm petitions so I'm going to guide you as like okay what kind of images you have to submit for the competition what are the things the judges basically look for in the competition so all these various things again I'm going to handhold as a part of that ssp community on Facebook so it's just our own Facebook group if you see the kind of benefits what you have all these various things this is where I think ten thousand rupees is absolutely easy go on that that said now comes the surprise element the cost of this entire package is not ten thousand rupees all this for a limited time period I am going to give you an offer of just four thousand 997 that is all it costs this entire thing if you see right from the various basics and advanced photography tutorial what you have advanced post-processing what you have your ultimate guide to basically camera lens buying that guide post processing using the Adobe set of tools Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw capture NX D then even Canon DPP and then even the nikon d 500 how to basically make good images from that the 1280 for beginners all this various tutorials what you have for online learning then everyone private Facebook community our own SSP community to learn photography take it forward the live broadcast a lot of this bundle if you look at the whole gamut of services what I offer all this at a steel of a price of just rupees four thousand nine ninety seven so what are you waiting for the link is right down here go ahead click on the link explore the various tutorials sign up for that and I'm going to see you on the other side in our own SSP community so don't wait any longer as I said this is going to be a limited time offer go ahead sign up and start learning photography and I am going to help you become a better photographer that's my guarantee

Channel: Sudhir Shivaram Photography

Views: 7,002,576

Keywords: photography learning, basics of photography, online photography tutorial

Id: WXdAX0No2hM

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 22 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/ubermon]

That was a great tutorial. The last 7 or 8 minutes is a hard sell of a subscription to his website. However the rest of the video is a great explanation of your camera settings and how, where & why to use them. Also a great motivation to go out and take some shots using the information gained. Excellent. 📷