Learn Photography for Beginners | Full photography course

so i have a question for you and that is do you  want to start creating amazing photos that you'll   be proud of and photos that will be appreciated by  family and friends if so it all starts right here   right now with everything i wish i knew when  i started photography 30 years ago hello my   name is chris parker and it is my desire to help  you elevate your photographic skills so you can   fulfill your creative vision and if you're ready  to learn photography so you can start creating   amazing photos let's do it now real quick let's  go over some of the things you're going to learn   in this course as well as the structure of this  course so when it comes to mastering photography   there are four key ingredients you must master  in order to create amazing photos so those   ingredients are knowing your camera equipment  light composition and editing so everything   you'll discover over the next few hours are things  i wish i knew when i started my photography career   back in 1989 so the structure of this photography  course will follow those four key ingredients but   what we're going to do is we're going to start out  with a quick start guide on photography to help   you get started on the right track for creating  amazing photos so this is going to include my   five pro tips for starting your photography  journey and what it means to paint with light so   painting with light the video will be your  foundation for everything you learn in this   free photography course so don't skip it alright  so the first ingredient for mastering photography   is getting to know your camera gear your  equipment and how to use it to control the light   and the paint with light so this is going to  include detailed information about how your camera   works an overview of the type of lenses and much  more so it's vital to know how your camera works   to get the most out of it to create the type  of images you want so make sure you watch all   of that before you move on to ingredient two  which is exploring and harnessing the most   important gradient of them all which is light so  you're going to discover the four characteristics   of light and how they shape your subjects the  quality of light and more after that you'll be   introduced to composition and how it can elevate  your photography skills and your images to a whole   new level of appreciation and then finally i'll  provide some pro tips on editing your images like   why you don't need expensive software for editing  where your editing should start and more pro tips   to improve your photos now one more thing real  quick time stamps for this course are included in   the description below plus since this photography  course is so long i recommend saving it so you can   easily find it later on when you come back now  if you have any questions about anything covered   in this free photography course please post your  comments below and i'll be happy to answer them so   if you're ready to get started let's do it so when  it comes to cameras you can categorize them into   four main categories this includes compact  cameras slr or dslr mirrorless and smartphones   now for avid creative photographers an slr or  dslr camera is the most popular type of camera   so slr stands for single lens reflex and the d  in dslr stands for digital so in other words this   is a film camera or an slr and this is a digital  camera dslr so before the days of digital cameras   one of my first cameras was this slr camera so the  sl single lens simply means that the camera can be   affixed with a single lens but you can also remove  that lens and replace it with a different lens   so that's sl now r or reflex is in reference to  inside the camera body and just in front of the   film or the digital sensor you have this mirror  here and when you press the shutter release   button to create a photo the mirror moves up and  out of the way so the film or sensor can record   your photo so that's the reflex in slr okay all  right now when it comes to a mirrorless camera   a mirrorless camera is similar to a dslr or even  an slr camera in that you can change the lens   however it does not have a mirror inside the body  hence the name mirrorless now there are several   advantages and disadvantages to a mirrorless  camera versus a dslr so a mirrorless camera   in general usually are lighter more compact and  faster but it all depends on the make and model   that you choose now another type of camera is the  compact camera so these types of cameras do not   offer the option to change the lens the lens  is fixed and as you can see they are very small   or compact plus they have a lot fewer features  and options versus a dslr or mirrorless   camera they are mostly considered to be a point  and shoot camera since the camera is going to do   everything for you in regards to figuring out the  aperture shutter speed and all of that other fun   stuff and they're not designed for the creative  photographer so typically since you don't have   any way to control the camera settings like with  a dslr you basically point and shoot your subject   and that's why it's called a point and shoot  camera or a compact camera sometimes as well   now the fourth type of camera is a smartphone and  i remember my first mobile phone in 1999 it had   three main options i could get the sports news i  could get the weather and it had a digital rolodex   and there was no camera to be found on it and  fast forward today and some smartphones actually   probably all smartphones are more advanced  than my first point-and-shoot camera   which was the kodak disc camera circulation  around 1987 or so so it's amazing to me   how good these cameras are in our smartphones  and in fact a lot of times when i go on vacation   or when i take a walk with echo i leave my dslr  cameras and all my gear at home and just use   this instead it's so much easier and lighter than  all this other heavy gear and i'm more than happy   with the memories i capture with it but anytime  i'm doing portraits weddings landscapes or any   other type of paid work and for a lot of personal  work like some of these portraits of my kids here   on the wall i prefer my dslr or my mirrorless  camera now there is a fifth category of camera   you should be aware of since you'll probably come  across it in your favorite photography publication   or on social media or maybe if you're like me  you probably used one back in the days of film   and they are known as a medium and large format  cameras now these types of cameras are used   more by professional photographers that require  the highest quality image possible so think of   magazine covers commercial work and more most  of them use a medium format camera sometimes   larger when needed so in essence the digital  sensor is much larger in a medium format than the   sensor in a dslr camera and this provides a better  quality image overall in general it all depends on   your final output for the image you're creating  and the size of sensor needed whether it's   dslr mirrorless or medium or large format all  right let's take a look at how your camera works   because it's not much different from your eyes  because when your eyes are closed you can't see   what's in front of you it's not until you open  your eyes that the light filters through a lens   behind the pupil and then it provides a  sharp clear vision of what's in front of you   then when the vision reaches your brain it's  stored as a memory now your camera also has a lens   and the light is going to pass through this lens  but before it's recorded by your camera like we   talked about before if you have a dslr camera  it's going to hit that mirror and that light is   reflected into the viewfinder so you can see that  image in the viewfinder before you take the photo   so the mirror is like your eyelids when it's down  your camera sensor or film cannot see the image or   record it but just behind that mirror is another  element of your camera that restricts light from   reaching your sensor or film now this element is  known as a shutter which is also like your eyelids   now when the shutter is closed again no light  can reach the sensor it's not until you press   the shutter release button that the mirror  pops up and at the same time the shutter opens   and then the light is recorded by your camera  now once the sensor gathers the data it then   sends that information through a program in your  camera that will begin editing your photo based   on the settings you've chosen and then it will  save that data to a media card now the media card   is like your brain since you have memories of the  past and luckily media cards are better at storing   and replaying data than our brains or at least  mine anyways all right let's start off with five   quick tips for creating amazing photos to help you  get started sooner rather than later tip number   five so you can start using your camera right  now by putting it in program mode or auto mode   so this mode gives complete control over your  camera settings to well your camera so basically   your camera is going to make all the decisions for  you now this is an okay starting point however i   recommend shooting in aperture priority mode  instead now to get into that mode you're going   to turn a dial on your camera here to either a or  av depending on if you're using a nikon or canon   now if you're using a different brand check your  camera manual to figure out how to set it up in   aperture priority mode since i'm not familiar  with any other brands now the reason why   i recommend aperture priority mode is it gives  you some creative control over your camera   now in these two images you can see that one  has a blurry background and the other is sharp   so how did i do this well i want you to practice  in aperture priority mode so you can discover   the answer for yourself and then later in this  course you'll take a deep dive into apertures   so you know everything you need to know about  them okay so what i'd like you to do is take   two photos of every subject you photograph so  the first image you're going to set the lenses   aperture to the smallest number this could be 4  2.8 or smaller after you create the first photo   change the aperture to the largest number of  your lens this could be 11 16 or higher then   take another photo of the subject now what  i want you to do is compare those images   in your favorite editing software side by side or  on the back of your camera so i want you to take a   look at the background notice the background  when comparing the lowest aperture number   with the highest number which one do you prefer  and why let me know in the comments below   alright tip number four now my next  tip is to shoot in raw and not jpeg   and the reason why is one will provide  more details of your scene versus the other   as you learn to use your camera and master  light you will make mistakes even i still make   mistakes after 30 years and that's sometimes due  to finding yourself in a situation where the light   is changing fast and either your camera can't keep  up or maybe you just need to get the shot before   the opportunity disappears and this results in an  image that is too dark or too bright like this one   so for this image since my camera has a feature  to capture both raw and jpeg files i'm going to   show you why raw is better so here are both file  formats with the final edit which one looks better   well i think the one on the left here is better  it has more detail and the colors are more vibrant   and overall the image is crisper on the other  one you can see a lot of detail was lost and the   colors look unnatural so raw files are better than  jpeg and this is why i recommend shooting in raw   alright so tip number three so sometimes you  might end up with a blurry image and there's   a couple of things you can do to reduce this from  happening one is to use a very fast shutter speed   and you'll discover more about them later on first  let's review how to properly hold your camera   and some tips for stabilizing your camera to  reduce the chances of getting a blurry focus   now for those of you that have just taken your  camera out of the box for the first time to focus   on your subject you're going to press the shutter  release button down halfway and your camera and   lens will then begin working together to focus  on that subject so once it's focused you're going   to press that shutter release button all the way  down to create your photo now the key to reducing   blurry photos is to stabilize your camera in  your hands so here's a photo i took with one   hand which isn't recommended and as you can see  the photo is blurry now this happened because   i wasn't able to hold that camera very steady  with one hand and the result is a blurry image   now here's that same subject with the tips i'm  going to give you right now and as you can see   it's no longer blurry so the easiest trick  is to use a tripod or you can be the tripod   here's how so first you need to properly grip  your camera next you're going to take your   other hand and place it under the body so this is  going to help support the camera and stabilize it   but we're not done yet because this hand can  also be used to manually focus the lens and or   adjust the zoom of the lens so you can zoom in  or out if you're using a zoom lens next what   i recommend doing is bringing your elbows into  your body real tight this is going to add more   stabilization but there's one problem you're  breathing and this is going to move your arms   in and out and if you're out of shape like  i am then your arms are going to move about   like a flying bird so to further stabilize your  camera focus on your subject and then as you're   about to take that photo hold your breath and then  squeeze that shutter release button all right so   that should help in some situations and when you  don't have a tripod but there is a camera setting   that can ensure you never take a blurry photo  ever again and that is your shutter speed and   like i mentioned you'll learn more about that  later on in this photography course all right   tip number two so you use the previous tip to  avoid creating blurry photos but for some reason   when you look through the viewfinder the images  are blurry even after you've tried to focus on the   subject so this happens because on most digital  cameras there's what's called a diopter setting or   diopter setting that works like well your glasses  so your glasses have a specific prescription   to help you see things in focus but if you look on  the back of your camera here next your viewfinder   on the side or right behind it here you will see  a dial that you can change the prescription of the   viewfinder to again help your eyes see things and  focus now this doesn't affect how sharp your image   is it's just for previewing your scene in focus  inside of the viewfinder before you create a photo   so if you're having trouble seeing through  the viewfinder and things aren't in focus   make sure to adjust that dial until everything  becomes much clearer right tip number one   to accelerate your photography learning curve  so you can start creating amazing photos   sooner rather than later i have one special tip  that can make all the difference and that is   have your photos reviewed by other like-minded  photographers now i know that sounds scary but   i guarantee you will learn from others faster  than trying to figure it all out on your own   even i need a fresh set of eyes when i'm editing  a photo i've created because i might be boxed in   and i can't see what's missing so to help  you along this photography journey i've   created the friendliest private facebook group  this side of the milky way this group includes   thousands of other photographers that i've trained  and you're more than welcome to join the group   to get feedback on your photos now i'm in the  group almost daily and if i'm not there's always   another friendly photographer willing to help  you out to join the group find the link in the   description below all right so one of the most  asked questions i get from students is what   camera should i buy and the answer is probably  not going to be what you expect so at this point   i don't recommend buying any camera at this  point in your photography journey instead use   whatever camera you currently own whether it's a  budget camera high-end camera or just a smartphone   now if you have none of these that's okay just  borrow something and the reason why you don't need   any expensive gear at this time is there are two  things you should master or at least understand   before shelling out thousands in gear and those  are two of the four key ingredients to creating   amazing images which are light and composition  both of them require no money so the sunlight   it's free and it's perfect for understanding  how to use light to fulfill your creative vision   and when it comes to light there are a few  important elements to know and master like the   quality of light the four characteristics of light  how the size of your light source affects your   image and more we're going to cover some of those  later on in this free photography course and the   other thing is composition which also doesn't cost  anything so think of it this way if you golf or   know someone that golfs do you think you or they  could beat tiger woods or maybe phil mickelson   well what if you gave either one of them only  one club let's say a nine iron could they still   beat you for the majority of us i'd say yes  and that's because it's not the equipment   it's knowing your equipment and knowing how to  use it so the same can be said for photography   light and composition are the tools of the trade  in photography so you need to understand them   and how they can help you create amazing images  once you do it doesn't matter what kind of camera   you have it doesn't mean that camera gear isn't  important because higher end cameras can provide   higher quality images but if you don't understand  how to use light and composition then it doesn't   matter if you have a twenty thousand dollar camera  or a hundred dollar camera so long story short   use whatever camera you have right now and as you  elevate your photographic skills you'll then be   able to decide whether or not a better camera  is justified alright so the second most asked   question i get from photography beginners  is which lens should i buy and my answer is   a 50 millimeter lens now that's probably not the  lens recommended by the sales clerk at your local   camera store usually they'll recommend that you  get the lens kit since it includes a lens and   it takes some stress off of you from having to  make a decision in that regard now that lens kit   usually includes a zoom lens like an 18 to 55  or 35 to 70 or something like that now there's   nothing wrong with that kit lens or is there  well back in 1989 i2 picked up that lens kit   and here's that lens now if i can go back in time  with what i know now i'd say no thank you to the   kit lens and i would use the money saved to get  the 50 millimeter lens instead why is that well   this lens here it's pretty much garbage it's  slow and the photos i take with it are not as   sharp as with a 50 millimeter lens okay but  your salesperson recommends getting the kit   lens and buying one or more additional lenses  why is that well once upon a time i worked as   a sales clerk at my local photography store now  as a sales clerk i was rewarded by the gross   sales so that reward was higher commissions and  bonuses from third-party lens manufacturers like   sigma tamron and others i made more money selling  a sigma lens versus a nikon or canon lens in fact   nikon and canon gave out zero bonuses so  there was no incentive to push their lenses   now when it comes to kits the price is usually  more than buying the camera body by itself sweet   more commissions well maybe not sweet for  you okay so my point is if your sales clerk   works on commission you'll need to think about  why they're pushing a specific lens or lenses   or even camera kits now there are a few reasons  why i recommend this lens to photography beginners   and that is for two main reasons one the images  will be sharper than a zoom lens whether it's a   nikon manufactured canon sigma or the kit  zoom lens it's going to be much sharper   and two the overall quality of your image will  be 10 times better with the 50 millimeter lens   versus your kit lens and i'll prove it when we get  to that section about lenses let's find out what   i mean by painting with light since i'm going to  use it throughout this photography course a lot   so let's think about what you're doing as a  photographer you're creating a photo right   but how well the number one ingredient for any  photo regardless of the type of camera is light   without it you can't capture an image or at least  a good quality image if the light is low and i'm   going to prove it right now can you see me maybe  but probably not as good as he did before am i   right and yes i can make adjustments on my camera  so you can see me better and to save us time i   captured this image of me with the new camera  settings and as you can see the quality isn't   the same as it was with my main source of light  turned on so light is important very important   all right so think of light as your paint  then your media card is your canvas then your   camera equipment is your brush now when it comes  to your camera gear you have a lot of ways to   paint with light control it and even alter it  this includes options with your camera body   and one of those options will allow you to  alter the color of light and you'll discover   all of those options in the next section now when  it comes to your lenses you have a lot of choices   as well so all lenses give you control over  how much light to paint with or in other words   to capture more or less light and you'll learn  about those options in this photography course too   so if you're ready to harness the power of  painting with light to fulfill your creative   vision let's do it in the next nine minutes i'm  going to share the secret tools i've used for the   last 30 years for every photo i've ever created  and you'll also be using them for every photo you   create in your lifetime so this is an introduction  to those tools and then later in the course you're   going to take a deep dive into each one of them  so you can master them to create amazing images   so this is the foundation for painting with light  so here we go so there are three main elements you   must understand that are the building blocks  for everything else you will ever learn about   photography and these three elements when properly  aligned will ensure a proper exposure but what is   exposure well your photo's exposure relates to  how bright or dark your image is if it's too   bright it's overexposed and if it's too dark it's  underexposed now here's the properly exposed image   so the question is how do you capture an  image with the correct exposure based on   your creative vision well you have to understand  and i mean fully understand the three elements   of your camera that affect your exposure and  those are your iso aperture and shutter speed   so those are the secret tools for every creative  photo i've ever taken and once you fully   understand them you will then be able to paint  with light to create amazing images so one of   the first camera settings i decide on is iso but  what is an iso and why do i choose the first well   basically iso affects the brightness of the light  sent to your camera's sensor for recording now iso   comes in some standard settings like 200 400 800  and 1600 just to name a few there are a lot more   but in general the higher the iso number means  the light you paint with becomes brighter so how   does iso make available light brighter well first  you have to understand an important concept about   digital cameras versus film now unlike film your  digital camera sensor is not sensitive to light   it's impossible for electronics to be sensitive in  that manner and i'll prove it so i have some film   and i have some light and it's starting  to burn so it's sensitive that stinks all   right now we have a camera light and well  it's not sensitive it's not burning anyways   now i couldn't find a sensor that i wanted to  use for this demonstration but the point is   your camera's sensor will not burn under ordinary  light like the sun or a lamp or a candle but   because this film is unrolled it's exposed to  the light it has been exposed to the light and it   doesn't matter how much light exposes it because  it is sensitive to that light it's ruined forever   however with our digital cameras once we take a  photo that sensor is exposed to the light but you   can continue taking another photo again and again  and again because it's not sensitive to light like   film is alright so i still haven't answered the  question of how does iso increase the brightness   of the available light so here we go look at it  like this you know when you're listening to the   radio and one of your favorite songs comes on what  do you do yep you turn up the volume and it gets   louder the larger the number on the dial means  your music can get even louder something similar   happens when you dial the iso higher in your  digital cameras the higher you go the brighter   your image becomes and this is the key your camera  sensor will make the light brighter by turning up   the volume or in other words it amplifies the  light to be brighter and the higher the iso   the more it's boosted which seems pretty awesome  at first on limited light pretty cool am i right   until you realize your photos begin to  look grainy this grain is also known   as digital noise see how i did that volume  noise they're kind of like distant cousins   all right so this image was captured at iso 100  and i shot it again at iso 800 now notice how   it's not as clean as the first one it has some  grain or noise or however you want to look at it   all right i then retook that photo again at  iso 1600 and it's even noisier than before   and then one more time at iso 6400 which is very  very loud like my teenage daughter when she thinks   she's home alone all right so the more you dial up  the iso the louder or noisier it gets so how does   a higher iso create a noisier photo well there  are two reasons why a photo becomes noisier and   you'll discover the answer to that with the  iso deep dive coming up later in this course   all right next up my favorite topic the aperture  so what is an aperture well it's nothing more than   a hole in your lens that's it well other than  the fact you can control how big that hole is   which can affect your exposure and it has  creative powers now the bigger the hole   the more light that is sent to your camera and  the smaller the hole the less light that travels   to your camera now inside your lens you can see  this hole and depending on the lens that you have   when you rotate the lens barrel you can see the  size of the whole change now the size of the hole   is represented by a number like 2.8 4 8 or 16 to  name a few however in photography these numbers   are presented like this f 2.8 f 4 f 8 and f 16.  now this is where things get a little confusing   because a larger number doesn't mean you  have a larger hole quite the opposite   so f 2.8 is a larger hole compared to f 16. how is  that possible well there's some math involved and   we'll take a deep dive into apertures and you'll  learn everything you need to know about them later   in the course for now here's a hint look at  this number again and what does it look like   if you set a fraction you are correct we have  f divided by 2.8 so what does the f stand for   well again you'll find out later on in the  course as for its creative powers you probably   already discovered what they are when you followed  my five pro tips that you watched previously   you did watch it right if not check out this  time timestamps below to discover aperture's   creative powers for yourself or you can wait  until we get to the aperture deep dive tutorial   alright so the third and final element of  your exposure and creativity is shutter   speed now like we talked about before there is a  shutter directly in front of your camera sensor   or film if you're old school and that shutter  blocks the light from being recorded now when   you create a photo the shutter opens and your  sensor can then record the light or the photo   for you now how long the shutter stays open is  based on the speed you set for the shutter so if   you decide to open the shutter for let's say five  seconds it will do so for that duration and then it will close and your sensor will stop  recording now your shutter speed is like   apertures because they're listed as a fraction so  some common shutter speeds you'll use are 1 160th   of a second 1 125th 1 250th and 1 500th to name a  few now whole numbers are also used to represent   the speed of your shutter and they refer to  seconds instead of fractions of a second so like   one second five seconds seven seconds etcetera  and of course the longer your shutter is open   the more light you paint with and the shorter  the length the less light you'll record now   your shutter like your aperture also has some  creative powers now those powers include either   freezing the action or blurring the action you  can create a soft dreamy like water by using   very slow shutter speeds and for this image i  used a one second shutter speed to create that   milky effect on the water now if you're like  my wife and that's not something you're into   you can actually freeze the action with a fast  shutter speed so here's the same subject but a   shutter speed of 1 500th of a second that freezes  the water in place now how does this happen well   you're going to find out in the next section so  if you're ready let's do it all right now that you   have a good grasp on what an exposure is and the  three elements to achieve your desired exposure   it's time to take a deep dive into iso apertures  and shutter speeds so we're going to start off   with iso first since this is the camera setting  i recommend adjusting before the other two with   dozens of iso setting options which one should  you use and when well in the next few minutes i'm   going to share some pro tips on which iso settings  to choose under different lighting conditions but   first let's discover how grain is increased with  each higher iso setting as i promised previously   the first is based on the quality of your digital  camera and the size of your sensor in general   the higher the quality camera will result in less  noise at higher isos we're going to take a look   at a couple of images to compare older and newer  technology so back in 2001 i picked up my first   digital camera which is this fuji s2 right here  now here's an image that i shot with it at iso 800   you can definitely see a lot of grain in the image  this next photo i took with my nikon d500 which i   got around 2016 or so so that's about 15 years  after my fuji s2 now although there's a lot of   grain there isn't as much as there was before why  is that well the camera's processor in the d500 is   much better at reducing noise versus my fuji s2 so  the technology has vastly improved over the years   this next image i shot with a larger sensor in  this case this image was captured with my nikon z6   which is a mirrorless camera and the sensor  is larger compared to the d500 and fuji s2   just like the other images this was captured at  iso 800 the amount of grain once again is better   than the older and smaller sensors in general  higher end cameras or newer technology have   better noise reduction capabilities versus lower  end or older digital cameras and bigger sensors   also reduce the amount of digital noise the other  factor is today's digital cameras are well they're   electronic and when light enters your camera  the sensor records the brightness of the light   that reaches it this is different from the film  days when the film itself was sensitive to light   like i demonstrated previously so your electronic  camera will amplify the light when you choose   a higher iso setting this amplification  causes the grain to increase in size with   each higher iso setting that you shoot with  all right so another thing you should know is   unlike aperture and shutter speeds iso does not  have any creative options instead it's only used   to increase the brightness of available light if  you can't physically add more light with let's say   off camera flash or strobes or let's say you  have a creative vision for a photo that requires   a specific aperture or shutter speed in that  case you will add more light by that's right   amplifying it with a higher iso number and as you  now know the higher the iso will result in more   noise so my number one recommendation is  to use the lowest iso setting possible   at all times alright so here are some guidelines  to get you started since it's impossible   to give exact settings for specific lighting  situations since the possibilities are unlimited   all right when shooting outdoors on a bright sunny  day you'll want to use the lowest iso available on   your camera like 100 or 200. if it's partly cloudy  or completely cloudy you might have to use iso 400   to 800 and that's going to depend on how dark the  clouds are and how much sunlight it's restricting   now if you're going to shoot indoors you might  have to use iso 800 to 1600 or higher again it   all depends on how dark it is inside now when  you're ready to start taking photos you may   have some doubt about which iso setting to use  in that case your camera might have an option to   automatically set your iso for you and this camera  setting is often referred to as well auto iso so   does your camera have this option well you're  gonna have to check your camera manual to find   out if not just use one of the guidelines i just  mentioned to get you started now if you do have   auto iso it's going to make it easier for you to  start taking photos now without worrying about   which iso number to use since your camera is going  to auto magically choose the iso for you however   i must warn you that it's not perfect and  sometimes you may end up with a bad exposure   and later in this photography class you're  going to learn about exposure metering exposure   compensation and more to get the right exposure  if your camera doesn't do so automatically now   if you have auto iso refer to your camera manual  to learn how to set it up and here's how it works   depending on your camera you should be able to set  the maximum iso setting which will minimize the   amount of digital noise based on your choice also  depending on your camera you might also have the   option to set the minimum shutter speed setting  the minimum shutter speed will ensure your camera   doesn't choose a speed that will cause images that  are blurry more on that coming up soon now if you   do not have auto iso refer to the guidelines  provided earlier when you continue with the   following tutorials which is going to start with  the creative side of apertures coming up right now   all right we're going to do a quick recap on  apertures and i'm going to do a demonstration   that's going to show you when you use different  apertures it can alter how your image looks   then we're going to take a deep dive into  apertures so you can master everything you need   to know about apertures all right so something  interesting happens when you adjust the aperture   from smaller to larger or vice versa now as you  can see with these images the background goes from   in focus to out of focus more and more with each  change of the aperture i should also point out   that there are other factors that determine how  much the background is blurred out like the length   of your lens the distance between your subject and  the background and more you're going to learn all   about those and more after this tutorial now  all the way in the beginning of this class i   mentioned that i recommended starting to shoot in  aperture priority mode and if you didn't do that   that's okay because we're going to go ahead and  do that right now so let's go ahead and grab our   cameras and the first thing you want to do is you  want to set your camera in aperture priority mode   to do that you're going to locate the dial on your  camera that has the setting for aperture priority   mode and you can find it by locating either the  letter a or a v so in case you're wondering the a   stands for aperture priority and now you have  full creative control over the aperture and   your camera is going to automatically choose the  shutter speed for you to get the correct exposure   now if you don't have auto iso you're going to  need to set your iso according to the guidelines   i provided previously since your camera's not  going to do it for you when you're in aperture   priority mode now to choose the aperture you want  to shoot with you're going to need to turn a dial   on your camera to adjust it accordingly all  right let's grab any two items and set them   about six to 12 inches apart now for the  first photo we're going to set the camera's   aperture to the largest aperture for that lens  this could be something like f 2.8 or f 4.   it's all going to depend on your specific lens now  for this lens it's a 50 millimeter lens and the   largest aperture is 1.8 all right so what we're  going to do is we're going to focus on the front   object so the zebra in my case and we're going to  create our first image all right so once you have   that image done the next thing to do is to change  your aperture to the smallest hole for that lens   and that could be something like f11 or f16 and  for this lens it's f16 so go ahead and set that   let's refocus on the front object again and create  another photo all right now that we have both   images done let's compare them side by side so the  image on the left is the one that i shot at f16   and the other is f 1.8 in both images you can  see that the zebra is in focus and the elephant   is only in focus in the first photo and at f 1.8  it's not in focus at all so this demonstrates that   the larger the aperture the more the background  will be blurred out and this is also known as   well you're going to find out in the next tutorial  all right we're now going to take a deep dive into   apertures so you fully understand how they  work and how they can alter your final image   now previously i demonstrated that the larger  the aperture the more the background is blurred   out when it comes to the area in focus  this is referred to as the depth of field   so the depth of field is the zone within a photo  that appears sharp and in focus when focusing on   your subject that is considered the point of  focus beyond that how much appears in focus   corresponds to the depth of field so here are  two more images and the amount of the depth of   field in one is greater than the other the first  image i captured at 1.8 and it is considered to   have a small or shallow depth of field the second  image was captured at f 16 and this is considered   to have a large depth of field in essence a small  depth of field has less in focus versus a large   depth of field now to help you remember this a  small aperture number like 1.8 represents a small   depth of field and a large number like 16 means  you will have a large depth of field now you may   have realized a weird phenomenon and that is a  small aperture number like 1.8 has a very large   hole compared to an aperture of 16. why is that  well as we discussed earlier an aperture number   in photography is referred to as an f number and  as you now know the numbers are listed like this   f 1.8 f 2 f 2.8 and so on also just so you know  in case you're wondering not all cameras will   include a forward slash with the number when  you dial in an aperture either way you'll know   exactly which aperture it is what size it is  and how it will affect your depth of field now   there is a reason why a forward slash is included  and it will explain why f16 is smaller than 1.8   so if you're ready to demystify this phenomenon on  how 1.8 is larger than 16 let's first go over what   the f and your f number represents so the letter  f stands for focal length each one of your lenses   has a specific focal length that is represented  in millimeters so this lenses focal length is   50 millimeters and it has a range of f numbers  from 1.8 to 16. so let's take the focal length of   this lens 50 and we're going to replace the letter  f with it okay so now we have this math equation   50 forward slash 1.8 now no worries math is not  a requirement to create awesome photos just stick   with me for another 15 seconds and this will all  make sense okay if we divide 50 by 1.8 that equals   22.77 then if we take 50 and divide it by 16  that's 3.125 so which one is the smaller one   that's right 3.125 therefore in photography f16  is a smaller hole versus an aperture of f 1.8   so you might be wondering how can you use what  you've just learned to be more creative well   let's look at some more images to reinforce  what you've learned and then i have a video   that demonstrates that shows how different focal  lengths and distances can affect your depth of   field as well which i'll share in just a minute  now for this particular image i wanted to tell   the story of this couple's wedding day and the  location of that wedding day so i wanted to use a   fairly small but large aperture i didn't want to  completely blur out the background so i used an   aperture of f4 so not too big not too small and  that allowed me to keep some of the background   and focus and if you recognize this letter d you  know that's from detroit and in particular the   detroit tigers so their wedding day was in that  area and we were near the detroit tiger stadium   if i had completely blurred out the background  that information would have been missing and you   would have thought that this particular image  was shot at any major city across the world but   by including the d and keeping it in focus we now  have a storyline that lets you know exactly where   this particular wedding took place now for this  next image i also shot this at an aperture of f4   but the distance between our subject and the  background is much greater than it was in the   previous image and that creates a much blurrier  background because of that distance now in this   image i actually shot this at a small aperture of  f 11 and you would expect the background and even   some of the foreground here to be more in focus  than it really is and that's due to the lens   that i used which is a macro lens which is going  to change the amount of depth of field based on   it being a macro lens versus a normal lens so  your lenses can also affect the depth of field   not just a distance and not just apertures for  this next image i shot at an aperture of f8   so i have the foreground in focus the tree  lines here in the front are somewhat in focus   and each tree behind one another is less and less  in focus so we have a somewhat shallow depth of   field but not very shallow because again  i wanted to help tell the story of the day   and show the types of trees behind them i could  have completely blurted out so you couldn't even   recognize that those were tree trunks but that  would have eliminated that part of the story   so make sure you're selecting your apertures  based on the story you want to tell for this   next image i love this image it's a classic  shot of the guys the groom the groomsmen   walking towards the camera and it's a very  popular type of photo that all my clients want but   i chose the wrong aperture and i had to try and  fix it in photoshop my motto is to get it right   in camera and i didn't on this image and you  can definitely see in the background all the   details of the background and the cityscape we  can definitely read what's going on in the signs   and you could say that's helping tell the story  but there's too much in focus and it's taking away   from our main subjects which are the guys in  this case and it's kind of hard to separate   the foreground in the background because all of it  is in focus so let's take a look at the image that   i did in photoshop and now that the background is  blurred out you can definitely see that the guys   stand out a lot more than they did previously so  here's the before and after on the left side we   can read the signs on the right side we can't and  you can definitely see how the guys on this side   on the left side are harder to visualize or see  because they're not standing out as much as the   guys on the right now truth be told i probably  should have blurred this out a little bit more   to tone it down even more but the more i blurted  out the more unnatural it began to look which is   why i always recommend getting it right in camera  so you don't have to try and fix it afterwards all   right so here's the video demonstration that i  mentioned previously all right so we're going   to take several photos to demonstrate depth of  field and how you can control depth of field   with different factors so the first two images  i'm going to shoot at 1.4 which is the largest   aperture for this lens and then a second photo  at f16 which is the smallest aperture for this   lens and then we'll compare those two images  to see how those aperture settings affect   depth of field so i'm gonna go ahead and shoot at  f16 first and i'm going to have her hold out the   flower so i can focus on the flower which is going  to demonstrate the depth of field when i focus on   the flower versus her so i'm going to go ahead  and focus on the flower and take the first image   now i'm going to change to 1.4 and take a second  image all right let's compare those images now   and the first one is going to be the one shot at  f16 and we can see that there's a large depth of   field and a lot of the elements in the scene are  in focus now let's compare that to 1.4 we can see   that the flower the stem in our hand is in focus  but the rest of the scene is not so she's blurry   in this image as well as the elements in the back  the fence and the houses in the back are blurrier   than the subject and the further the elements from  her the more they become blurred out all right so   remember what we talked about before when you have  a small aperture number that's going to result in   a small depth of field or less of the image being  in focus when you have a large aperture number   like f16 or f22 you're going to have a larger  depth of field and more of the image is going to   be in focus now i want to demonstrate another way  you can control depth of field and what i'm going   to do is i'm going to step back about 15 feet here  and take two more images at 1.4 and then another   at f 16. okay so i'm going to go ahead and shoot  at f 16 first okay i'm going to switch to 1.4 now all right let's take a look at these images now  and the first one is at f16 and just like before   we have a large depth of field but check out  what happens when you shoot at 1.4 and you're   further from the subject so this time she's in  much sharper focus than before so she's not as   blurry but the background even though it's more  in focus it's still blurry all right so distance   is another way of controlling your depth of field  so the closer you are to the subject that you're   focusing on the shallower or the smaller the depth  of field or the less of the image that will be   in focus and the greater the distance between you  and your camera and the subject you're focusing on   the greater the depth of field or the  larger the depth of field or the more   of the image that will be in focus now another  thing that you can do is if you're photographing   somebody and you have a busy background like this  and you want to blur out the background but you're   not getting the amount of blur that you want what  you can do is you can move your subject away from   the background and then that will blur out that  background even more so we're both going to move   up here about 30 feet or so and we're going  to take another photo all right so we're now   about 30 to 40 feet further from the position we  were before and i'm going to shoot at 1.4 again all right let's take a look at this image and  compare it to the last one so as you can see we   have a fairly large depth of field but compared to  the last image the background is much more blurred   out than it was before so again distance helps  affect or control the amount of the image that   is in focus now another thing that you can  do to control the amount of depth of field   if you can't move your subject away from the  background because maybe you're photographing   a tiger at the zoo or you're on safari and for  obvious reasons you can't get closer to that tiger   or you can ask that tiger to move away from  the background what you can do instead is   change your lens from shorter to longer so i'm  going to change my focal length here from 50   to 200 and shoot another photo to compare that  to the image that we just took all right so i   have my 70 to 200 lens and i'm going to shoot  at the longest length which is 200 now for   this lens the largest aperture i have is 2.8 so i  can't shoot at 1.4 so technically it's a smaller   aperture versus the one we shot previously with  the shorter focal length so i'm going to have   her hold up that flower again i'm going to focus  on that flower and take another image let's go   ahead and compare this image now to the one we did  previously so as you can see the flower the stem   and her hand are in focus but she is no longer in  focus like it was with the last image at 1.4 and   definitely the background is more out of focus  than it was previously as well so that's another   option for controlling your depth of field by  using a longer lens all right now that you know   the creative aspects of apertures how it affects  the depth of field and how distance affects the   depth of field it's time to take your knowledge  and apply it since knowledge is not power   action is and that's because the best way to learn  photography is to practice what you've learned now   remember adjust your aperture based on the amount  of depth of field you prefer and don't forget to   adjust the iso if you don't have auto iso set up  now real quick there's one more thing you should   know and that is bokeh in photography we use  the term bokeh to describe the characteristics   of how the background looks when blurred out  the bouquet appears as little circles in the   out of focus areas and those circles can have  different shapes depending on the type of lens   you use so let's take a look at a couple of images  to see what it looks like all right so for this   image i captured this at a national park that we  live near and they were doing a demonstration on   birds of prey and i wanted to use a shallow depth  of field to blur out the things that were going   on in the background because there was people  walking by and i wasn't sure if i was going to get   the shot i wanted at the time because the bird's  head was moving so fast or i should say the owl   so i used an aperture of 2.8 and i used a long  focal length of 200 millimeters which helped   create a shallower depth of field and that  helped create these circles in the background   so that's the bouquet the circles that you see  in the background for this next image i used a   60 millimeter macro lens and i used an aperture  of f 2.8 and you can see the shape of the bokeh   is different from the previous image it kind of  has a outline on the outer edge of the circle   and it's not really a circle it's more oblong  versus circle now you can also get a hexagon   shape depending on the lens and the aperture that  you use now for this next image i didn't create   this image i actually found this on pixels.com  but i wanted to show you this image because the   bokeh on it is very unique to this particular  lens and you can see that the bokeh is more   of a bubble type shape and the outline on it  creates more of a bubble effect especially if   you take a look down here in the bottom right of  the image you can definitely see that bubble type   shape now this particular lens is called a  meyer gorelitz primitar or something like that   it's actually a lens from the 50s and you  will find older lenses like this will create   different types of bokeh so if you want  to create something different and unique   take a look at different lenses from different  eras to see if you can find something unique   all right now that you know everything you need  to know about apertures we're now going to take   a deeper dive into shutter speeds alright now  that you know how to use apertures creatively   it's time to take a closer look at shutter speed  since it also provides creative options to see   how the shutter speeds can help you achieve your  creative vision grab your camera and switch it to   shutter priority mode this setting can be set by  changing the dial on your camera to s you now have   full creative control over the shutter speed and  your camera will decide on the aperture to achieve   the proper exposure now remember you'll need  to set the iso setting manually unless you have   auto iso activated so what creative options does  the shutter speed provide well i'm glad you asked   the two options are to either freeze the action  or blur the action so for this image i froze the   action of the newlyweds jumping by using a fast  shutter speed now for this waterfall image which i   captured on a family vacation in letchworth  park new york i blurred the action by using   a slower shutter speed so the creative options  are achieved by how long your shutter stays open   although there are some other factors that can  affect how much motion blur is created for example   the speed of your subject can affect the amount of  blur and so does the distance of your subject from   your camera and you'll discover why that is in  just a moment first i'm going to demonstrate how   to freeze and blur the action with my wife's handy  dandy fan so we're going to take two photos at two   different speeds for the first image i'm going  to use a shutter speed of 1 8 of a second and   for the second image i'll use 1 8 000 of a second  all right i'm gonna go ahead and turn the fan on   to the slowest setting it has three different  speed options but we'll use the slowest one   for now so i'm going to set my camera to 1 8 of a  second and i'm going to record the camera's view   so you can see what i see prior to taking the  photo now we have one problem i'm hand holding   and at this shutter speed it's not going to work  and you'll find out why in the next tutorial so   i'm going to start over and put my camera on a  tripod alright so let's try this again now here's   the image i just captured and the camera sees the  blades the same as you and i they're blurry right   so what i'm going to do now is i'm going to change  my shutter speed to 1 8 000 of a second and retake   the photo to see if we can stop the action i think  i need to increase my iso as well so let's see wow iso 40 000 maybe a little bit more i might  need to change my aperture as well i'm going to   go down to f2 so i think i have a good exposure  nail so let's go ahead and try this again okay   so this time the camera froze the action and we  can actually see the individual blades so anytime   you want to freeze the action use a fast shutter  speed the only problem is how do you know which   shutter speed to use and when that and more will  be answered real soon but first i'm going to take   a third image with the fan at the highest setting  or the fastest setting so the blades move even   faster and i'm going to use the same shutter  speed of 1 8 000 of a second and this is going   to demonstrate the cause and effect of the speed  of your subject in relation to your shutter speed   i'm gonna go ahead and turn this up oop wrong  way all right there we go it's much louder now   let's go ahead and take that shot again all right  you now know how the shutter speed can either blur   or freeze the action but the question is how does  this happen and how do you decide on which shutter   speed to use and when well you are now going to  take a deep dive into shutter speeds that will   answer those questions and more all right so the  amount of blur in an image is dependent on three   things your shutter speed the speed of the subject  and the distance of the subject to your camera   let's review a couple of images of the fan blades  we captured previously the first image here on the   left is the photo captured at 1 8 of a second and  the one on the right is 1 8 000 of a second this   is a classic example of freezing or blurring the  action now let's compare the faster shutter speed   with the third image i captured that you haven't  seen yet now you may remember for this image i   had the fan setting set to the slowest speed and  here's the third image with the faster fan speed   and this time we have some motion blur this is  due to the blades turning faster this time so   this demonstrates how the speed of your subject  can alter whether or not you're freezing or   blurring that action with the same shutter speed  so this brings us to that question again about   figuring out which shutter speed to use and  when and that answer is coming up soon i promise   before i share that let's look at some more  images so i volunteered my daughter to assist us   at a local park for this demonstration and we took  three photos two at a distance of 10 feet from the   camera with the shutter speed of one second and  one one thousands of a second then the third image   i captured her 500 feet from the camera at one  second so this image was at a distance of around   10 feet from the camera and a shutter speed of  1 1000th of a second which shows we froze the   action this next image was captured at one second  and this time we have some motion blur all right   now let's see how distance affects whether or  not the action is blurred or frozen also in case   you're wondering i didn't shoot a fourth image  at the faster shutter speed with this distance   since it would still freeze the action but check  out what happened with the slower shutter speed   and a distance of around 500 feet now it's hard  to see how much of the action is frozen or blurred   because she is much further from the camera than  before so let's go ahead and zoom in and although   the action is not frozen the amount of blurring  that occurred is less than when she was only 10   feet from the camera so this demonstrates that  the distance can play a role in whether or not   the action is frozen or blurred or by how much  so the further your subject is from the camera   the less blurring will occur why is that well  let's jump into photoshop here and find out   so we have both images here and they both have  guidelines applied to them which represents   the opening and closing of the shutter the  right guideline represents the opening the left   represents where the shutter closed so in  between those guidelines she traveled from   one to the other as she was being recorded on the  sensor but as you can see the amount she traveled   in our first image here was greater than the other  image which reduced the amount of motion blur   so try and think of your subject traveling across  a sensor the closer they are to your camera the   further they're going to travel along that sensor  and the longer the motion blur is going to be   the further they are from your camera they're  going to travel a shorter distance on that   sensor creating less motion blur so keep that  in mind the further they are the less motion   blur you will have all right now for the moment  you've been waiting for i'm going to share some   guidelines on deciding which shutter speed to  use and when when it comes to photographing   your kids or people in general sports or even  wildlife and you wish to freeze the action   a good starting point is 1 500th of a second if  the action is really fast and you're close to it   then you may want to go up to 1 2 000 of a second  or faster like 1 4 000 of a second but sometimes   adding motion blur can help create something  unique for example in this image i used   a shutter speed of 1 30th of a second to add  some motion blur of my daughter riding her bike   at that shutter speed it should have caused a  lot more motion blur on her than what actually   occurred and that was achieved because i took  my camera and i panned and i followed her as   she went by and doing this creates motion blur in  the background versus on my daughter so panning   is a photography technique to create motion blur  more on the surroundings than the actual subject   because you're focusing on that particular  subject when it comes to shooting landscapes   there's generally little to no action in the scene  unless of course you're shooting a waterfall or   a landscape on a windy day therefore you can use  any shutter speed you desired actually that's not   correct because if you remember the first photo  i took in the previous tutorial i tried to hand   hold the camera with a one second shutter speed  and that resulted in a blurry image due to camera   shake by using a tripod i was able to eliminate  the blurriness caused by the camera shaking   so one of the things you can do is use a faster  shutter speed but if you want to blur the action   then you'll need a tripod to avoid camera shake  so it's safe to say that a faster shutter speed   is required the faster the action is and or  the closer you are to the subject with your   camera now the problem is all of those factors  can include an infinite amount of possibilities   so what i recommend is testing and practicing  prior to the actual day of the shoot or when   you first arrive at the scene take some test  shots to narrow down the shutter speed you want   for your creative vision alright so here's  another pro tip for deciding on the minimum   shutter speed to avoid camera shake or  blurry photos when you don't have a tripod   so based on the lens that you're using you're  going to take the focal length and double it   if it's a zoom lens like this 28 to 70 you're  going to use the longest length so in this case   that would be 140 and then we're going to convert  that to a shutter speed which would be 1 140th of   a second now if your camera doesn't have that  shutter speed then round up so in this case 1   150th of a second is the minimum shutter speed i  should use for this lens now for my 70 to 200 the   minimum shutter speed would be 1 400th of a second  now keep in mind that this is a rule that can be   adjusted based on how well you're able to hold  the camera for example my daughter is a smaller   in stature than i am she's like five foot three  and a hundred pounds so this lens and the weight   of the camera is probably going to be harder for  her to hold still and avoid camera shake which   means she might need a faster shutter speed than  1 400th of a second she might need something like   1 1000th of a second so you're going to need  to experiment with all your different lenses   to find the ideal minimum shutter speed to avoid  camera shake another thing you can do when you   forget your tripod at home like i do when i go on  vacation is to use your surroundings to stabilize   your camera for this waterfall image i wanted to  blur the motion of the water to create a smooth   silky type of effect but with no tripod in  sight i ended up with the dreaded camera shake   blur luckily there was a small stone wall in front  of me that i placed my camera on and i was able   to get the shot now if you don't have the same  type of luck you can try leaning against a wall   or bring your elbows in tight and hold your breath  as you squeeze the shutter release button so the   better you're able to hold the camera still the  better chance of getting the shot or better yet   don't leave your tripod at home alright now it's  your turn to take this knowledge and practice by   shooting in shutter priority mode and discover  for yourself the creative side to shutter speeds   now coming up next is the answer to something you  might have already discovered and that is why does   your camera sometimes get the exposure wrong  when shooting in aperture or shutter priority   mode or even full auto let's find out so you  can continue elevating your photography skills   what i'm about to share is going to elevate your  photography knowledge to a whole new level this   information is vital for mastering your camera to  create amazing images with your desired exposure   this knowledge will also make it easier for you  to fulfill your creative vision once you know   your camera's limitations which by the way it does  have limitations because it's not perfect like you   and me all right so far you've been shooting in  aperture and shutter priority modes but not all   of your exposures have been perfect have they some  are overexposed some are underexposed and then   some but not all are exactly what you were hoping  for why is that well in essence your camera is a   computer and it gives you results based on how  it's programmed so let's review how your camera   has been programmed and this will answer why it  sometimes gets your exposure wrong so the best   way to demonstrate this is with some photos so  let me introduce you to one of our family members   fuzzy bunny and i photographed him on a white  background to demonstrate how your camera is   programmed to see light so this image was shot  in aperture priority mode and it's under exposed   now here's the image with the correct exposure and  i'll explain how i achieved that with an auto mode   in a moment first let's explore why the camera  gave me an underexposed image in aperture priority   mode let me point out the obvious your camera has  a body but it doesn't have a brain like you and i   instead it has a computer chip therefore your  camera determines the proper exposure based on   yes like i mentioned how it's programmed so your  camera has no idea if you're photographing a bunny   a tree or something else all it sees is light  and the color of that light and the computer chip   in your camera transforms that information that  the sensor received into digital data to reveal   your image so how is your camera programmed  to see the proper exposure in auto mode well   i'm glad you asked so your camera is programmed to  assume the brightness level of light is a mid gray   tone depending on your camera that's around 10  to 18 gray so think about that for a moment some   scenes could be dark and moody and then another  could be bright and vibrant but your camera   has been programmed to assume that the brightness  levels in both of those situations should be   18 gray so when you're shooting a very bright  scene or a subject like fuzzy bunny your camera   is going to over compensate for this brightness  level and in this case we have a bright white   bunny on a bright white background all right  try and say that 10 times real fast all right   so the result is an under exposed image when  your camera compensates for this brightness level   and converts it to a mid gray this happens any  time the light is very bright or when the elements   in your scene are highly reflective like snow  and the opposite happens when you have a very   dark location or dark subject like with myrtle the  turtle i photographed her with a black background   and she too is dark and in auto mode my camera  overcompensates and over exposes the image now   the question is how do you fix your camera to give  you the proper exposure when using an auto mode   like aperture priority or shutter priority well  you have two options and they will be revealed   next all right we are now going to literally jump  into a photo to dissect it to understand how your   camera is giving you the exposure it does and  you'll learn the two solutions for getting better   exposures when using an auto mode previously  you learned that your camera is programmed   to set your exposure based on a mid gray of  around 10 to 18 percent but the question is   how does your camera see the light or measure it  well since your camera doesn't have eyes like you   and i your camera uses a light meter to see the  brightness levels of the available light then   the light meter measures how bright it is based  on how it's programmed will determine the camera   settings it chooses for you now when your camera  gets the exposure wrong you have two options   that include either changing the default light  metering mode or adjusting the exposure value   also known as exposure compensation so let's go  over the metering modes first there are three   popular types of metering modes that include  matrix metering also known as evaluative mode   if you're a canon user the other two are center  weighted metering and spot metering now depending   on your camera you may have more options but  for now let's go over the basics of those three   now in essence you can control how your  camera meters the available light based on   one of those three metering modes so the matrix or  evaluative metering mode is designed to evaluate   all the light you see in your viewfinder of the  metering modes you have this is the most complex   and what it does is it evaluates the light in five  different zones it then calculates the different   light levels in each section to give you an  exposure now i find this metering mode works   for most instances it's when you start shooting  portraits for example with the light behind them   that you'll find it doesn't give a good exposure  at least for the subject you're photographing   next you have the center weighted mode which  evaluates the light more towards the center of the   viewfinder and it ignores the light outside of it  the spot metering mode is even smaller at around   three to five percent of the viewfinder area  and basically it only evaluates the light in   that small spot in the center of your viewfinder  although some cameras will move the spot meter   based on where your focus point is so if  you change the focus point from the center   to the right or to the left the spot meter  will evaluate the light at that point in your   viewfinder and we're going to cover focus points  in more detail later in this photography class   now to see how these different meter modes  work let's watch this pre-recorded video   alright so for this photo shoot i am shooting in  aperture priority mode again and i'm shooting at   2.8 and i have matrix metering set for the first  image and i'm going to compose her so she's on   the left side so we get some of the light from the  background in the image as well so we can compare   how the light is metered with the three different  metering modes so i'm gonna go ahead and take the   first image here all right so for this first  image it is a bit under exposed but overall   the exposure isn't too bad the skin tones look  pretty good the background looks pretty good   but i think i would like it a little bit  brighter so what i'm going to do is i'm   going to switch to center weighted mode  to see if that gives me a better exposure   all right so this time the image is overexposed  in regards to the skin tones and that's because   the metering is being applied more  towards the center and the light   around the image is not being metered at  all so that background there in the back   is much darker than the skin tones which  creates an overexposure of the skin tones   so this time i'm going to switch to spot  metering mode and because i have the focus point   on her face it's going to also meter the  light in that area so her skin tones her hair   and maybe a little bit more around her as  well so let's see if we get a better exposure   with spot metering all right so for this image  we did not get the exposure i wanted the overall   image is now underexposed and the skin tones  are darker and that could be the way the light   is being metered in that area where i focused so  overall i believe the matrix mode gave us the best   exposure so we're gonna head back into the studio  and take a closer look at these images to compare   them a little bit more so i can give you some more  guidelines on which metering mode to use and when   so this was the first image we took and i used  the matrix metering mode for this particular image   and as you can see it did a really really good  job in giving me a good exposure in camera however   i do find that the image is around two-thirds  stops underexposed and i base that on the   brightness levels of her skin and this area  right here which is really dark and we're losing   some detail in the hair and that's because it's  under exposed so the one thing i can do is i can   increase the exposure compensation to make it  brighter at time of capture which you'll learn   how to do very soon or i can try and fix it in  post-production the problem with that is when   you have an underexposed image like this you're  going to create new problems when you increase   the exposure in your favorite editing software  for example when underexposed it can become   muddy the skin can become muddy and you'll lose  some detail the skin color can shift and become   unnatural looking you will also introduce digital  noise and artifacts all of which now require your   attention and time to be fixed in post-production  so it's my recommendation to start your editing in   camera by getting the exposure right at the time  of capture versus fixing it after the fact so   when it comes to the matrix metering mode and this  type of lighting condition you'll often find that   the exposure is close to perfect like for this  image however if the lighting of the scene is   backlit and we don't have all these trays or these  buildings here and it's really bright in these two   sections up here then the matrix metering mode  is going to over compensate for this large amount   of brightness levels in those two sections and  will further underexpose your image so remember   the matrix mode is evaluating the light in five  different sections and if one or more of those   sections has a dominant brightness level that  is very intense it's going to over compensate   for that and will give you an exposure that will  be more over or underexposed versus what i have   for this image that being said the matrix mode  is great for lighting situations like this   or even on cloudy days when the light is muted  so here's the second image we took and i used   the center weighted metering mode and this time  the light meter was restricted to the center   area and all the light outside of it has been  ignored and because we have a fairly dark area   right here that is affecting the light meter and  what the camera ends up doing is over compensating   for this dark area right here and gives us an  over exposed image based on how it's programmed   so trying to fix the overexposed skin you can  see it's a lot brighter than it was before and   trying to fix that in post-production is going to  create new problems that you'll have to try and   fix and just like with an underexposed image  you can end up with color shifts muddy skin   tones and if too overexposed you could lose  detail that will be nearly impossible to fix   now in regards to using the center weighted  metering mode honestly i've never used it   and don't have any recommendations for it  personally i stick with matrix or spot metering   all right so here's the third image we  took and i used the spot metering mode   for this and the exposure is nearly identical  to the matrix mode even though the metering was   restricted to her face here as well as some  surrounding areas and that's because my camera   allows the spot meter mode to move with  the focus point which of course was placed   on her face overall though the main area being  analyzed is the skin since it makes up a larger   portion of the section being metered and this  resulted in the camera compensating for those   brightness levels and under exposing the skin  around two thirds stops so your spot metering mode   and the other metering modes could give you  different results versus my camera based on how   your camera has been programmed and you may not  have issues with over or under exposing the skin   or you could end up with the opposite of my  results and have over exposed skin so you're going   to need to test out your metering modes prior to  shooting in order to get the results you want so   it's now time to discover what and how to use the  exposure compensation tool built into your camera   which is coming up right now previously i promised  two options for helping your camera get the right   exposure based on your creative vision you learn  about the first option which is to change the   metering mode now let's explore the second option  which is manually adjusting the exposure when your   camera doesn't give you the results you want or in  other words compensate for your camera's mistakes   and this second option is known as exposure  compensation and although you have to adjust this   setting manually when using any of the auto modes  it is easier than it sounds but before we get into   manually adjusting your exposure you first have  to understand a vital component of exposure in   photography and that is you need to know what a  stop is in photography and no i'm not referring to   physically stopping or stop signs instead a  stop in photography is the terminology we use   to describe what happens to the amount of  light reaching your camera for your exposure   based on when you change a camera setting from one  to another in essence a stop refers to doubling   the amount of light or cutting the amount of light  in half so when you switch from iso 100 to 200   that is considered one stop going from f4 to f 2.8  is one stop and so is going from one second to two   seconds so let's say you have a one second shutter  speed and decide to use two seconds instead   doubling the shutter speed from one to two seconds  means you're doubling the amount of light since   your shutter is open twice as long or you could  say that you're increasing the light by one stop   which is faster than saying all the things  i just said so if you hear someone say they   increased their exposure by one stop that means  they've doubled the amount of light or if they say   i've stopped down by one stop that means they cut  the amount of light in half all right so this is   still confusing no worries because it will be at  this point in your photography journey i'm giving   you information that is essential for mastering  exposures and in time and practice this will all   make sense i promise now if you're wondering what  does this have to do with exposure compensation   well everything so grab your camera and your  camera manual to determine how to compensate   for the exposure given by your camera now most  cameras at least on the nikons i've owned have a   button on the camera's body with a plus and minus  sign so you're going to press and hold that button   and your digital screen will change and will look  something like this now when i rotate the dial to   the left i get a negative number to the right  i get a positive number each turn increases   or decreases the amount of light by roughly  one-third so i have plus .3 which is one-third   turning again i get .7 or two thirds and again  it gives me one stop if i continue i get 1.3 1.7   and so on and a positive number would be  increasing the amount of light and a negative   number would be decreasing the amount of light so  when you're using an auto mode and you discover   that your image is still under or overexposed  you can change the metering mode like i showed   you in the previous tutorial then if you find  the image is still under or overexposed adjust   the exposure compensation accordingly for example  in the last images we took outside of my daughter   they were about two-thirds stops underexposed  so manually adjusting the exposure by plus .7   brightens the image by two thirds stops but how do  you know when your image is over or underexposed   in camera while you're out and about shooting and  why does it matter if it's off by a little bit   great questions that when you know the answers  to will elevate your photographic skills and the   answer is coming up next you are now going to take  your photographic knowledge to the next level and   this and the next two tutorials that follow since  they are the foundation to transitioning from   auto modes to manual mode i guarantee shooting  in manual mode will be easy if you watch   this in the following tutorials it all starts  with understanding dynamic and tonal ranges   in photography since they both relate to your  exposure and you'll soon find out your camera's   limitations to the dynamic range and how to  overcome them to get the exposure that you want   so dynamic range and tonal range what are they  let's find out by exploring dynamic range first   in essence the dynamic range in photography refers  to the range in which your camera can successfully   capture the brightest and darkest areas of a  scene without losing detail in nature you can   say there's an infinite level of brightness  from blacks to whites and grays in between   this brightness range can be measured in stops  now we did cover stops in photography previously   so if you need a reminder go back and watch  the previous tutorial okay so both your camera   and your eyes are not capable of seeing every  level of brightness depending on the intensity   of the light in your scene when it comes to your  eyes you can see around 24 stops of brightness   levels high-end cameras range from 10 to 14 stops  and then lower end or older cameras like my fuji   s2 are closer to seven stops so this means your  camera is not capturing detail in the darkest   areas of the shadows or the brightest areas in the  highlights now if you expose for the highlights   you'll capture those details but you  will lose more details in the shadows   this is known as exposing to the right  which is better than exposing to the left   or for the shadows now the reason being is  it's easier in post-production to bring back   some shadows versus highlights now let's  compare dynamic range to tonal range so   the tonal range also refers to the brightness  levels of a scene but it is directly related   to the tones captured by your camera so here's  another way to think of the dynamic versus tonal   range imagine your ferrari has a range of zero to  255 miles per hour that's its dynamic range now   imagine your spouse installs a speed inhibitor and  changes the range from 0 to 60. that's its tonal   range since it's been limited to a smaller range  all right now that you know your camera has the   limitations here are some solutions to overcome  its inability to give you the exposure you desire   one of the things you can do is control the light  by diffusing it or maybe you can add more light to   the shadows now if you're a landscape photographer  it's going to be more difficult to control the   light in this way so what you can do is use  a polarizing filter to darken up parts of the   scene or the landscape or you can use a graduated  neutral density filter which is going to darken   up the sky and the scene even more which is  going to reduce the number of stops in your scene   now another thing you can do is what is known  as hdr photography which consists of taking   three exposures one underexposed one overexposed  each buy one stop and then a third exposure   in between then in post-production you can  merge the three exposures to get more detail   in the shadows and highlights now if none of those  options are ideal for your situation then you have   to decide what is more important in the scene or  easier to deal with in post-production then you'll   have to expose to the left for the shadows if  they're the most important or exposed to the right   which is what i recommend now the question is  how do you know what tonal range you're capturing   now although your camera doesn't have a gradient  tool it does have another tool that can show you   visually the tonal range you've captured and  whether or not you have the correct exposure   for that scene more on that coming up next all  right it's now time to elevate your photography   knowledge by once again jumping into a photo to  explore the tonal range captured in an image and   to dissect the five zones of your histogram  so what is a histogram well stay tuned because   you're about to learn everything you need  to know about histograms to ensure you never   ever end up with an over or underexposed image  now previously we went over the dynamic and tonal   range of exposures but how do you know whether or  not you have the exposure you desire well although   you can view the image on the back of your camera  with the lcd screen there are numerous reasons why   that's not the best way to determine if your image  is over or underexposed one the quality of your   lcd screen may not be able to show all the detail  actually captured or if you're shooting outside   on a bright day it's going to be difficult to see  your image so my recommendation is to learn how   to read your histogram to ensure you capture  the right exposure for your creative vision   otherwise you're going to spend more time fixing  your image in post-production since you didn't get   the exposure right at the time of capture and we  can't forget about the lower quality of your image   that you're going to create if the exposure is off  by a lot like two stops or more so trying to fix   that is going to cause a lot of headaches and it  may not be worth keeping the image so we're going   to fix that by elevating your histogram knowledge  so what exactly is a histogram well a histogram is   nothing more than a graphical representation of  data using bars of different heights those bars   represent the different tonal ranges or brightness  levels captured by your camera all right let's say   you go on vacation and wish to record the number  of images you took each day on a graph on day one   you took 50 photos the following day you took 150  then 100 and on day 4 you took 200. now imagine   your vacation was 256 days long your graph would  look like this and now it's starting to look like   a photo's histogram since in photography your  photo's histogram includes 256 bars of data   but the real question is how do these bars of  information help you capture the proper exposure   the answer will be apparent after you and i  take a deeper dive into the histogram itself   so the histogram represents the pixel data of  your image depending on your camera and your   editing software this data can be presented to  show information about the colors in your image   and or the brightness levels or in other words the  tonal range in your image for now we're only going   to cover the tonal range of a histogram in this  tutorial so the tonal range goes from zero percent   or pure black all the way up to 100 percent  or pure white everything else in between   is a shade of gray so these different shades  of gray are divided up into five zones within   your histogram so each zone of your histogram of  course represents a different level of brightness   in addition to those zones there's also a black  point and a white point all right we're now going   to take a deep dive into the five zones the black  and white points and we're going to jump into one   of my favorite images all right the very first bar  of your histogram is number zero and is pure black   the last bar is number 255 and it's pure white  so the first and last bars are known as the black   point and white point they are the darkest  or brightest parts of your image and contain   no detail so in this image we have a lot of  blacks on the inside of this cave around here   along this railing and pathway down here as  well as behind me now as far as the white   points they're mostly contained within the water  here and this mini waterfall right there now   next to the black point we have 25 more bars known  as the blacks in essence the blacks are a lighter   shade of pure black and unlike the black point  contains detail in that tonal range so for this   image there are lots of blacks from the inside  of the cave along the edges we can't really see   them and kind of hard to see right now we would  have to zoom in to see them but we do have blacks   along those areas as well as this area behind  me as well so the blacks are followed by what is   known as the shadows and it includes 51 bars again  we have some lighter shades of black or shadows   on the inside of the cave right here we also have  some on these steps here and then of course in   different parts of the image here here and down  here those are all shadows next you have your   mid tones which include a whopping 102 bars that  represent a large portion of mid gray tones and   these can be found along the path here along the  steps the railing these rocks back here those are   definitely mid-tones as well as some of the darker  greens up here in the leaves and the trees up here   those are all mid-tones the next zone is known  as the highlights and it also has 51 bars   and those are located along the path here where  it's much brighter those would be highlights   we have some in the water some of the bricks  on the bridge here would be considered   highlights as well as these brighter leaves right  here all of those would be considered highlights   so the final zone is known as the whites and it  consists of 25 bars so the whites are basically   a darker shade of pure white and those can be  found in the water here as well as some of these   very bright bricks on the bridge all right now  that you know what the bars represent in regards   to the tonal range the next question is why does  this matter well previously i mentioned that your   histogram represents pixel data or the brightness  levels but it's more than that the pixel data   itself is the detail or texture in your image  you have 256 possible bars of texture to capture   along the dynamic range of the scene you're  photographing so imagine what would happen   if your histogram only has 200 bars out of 256.  what would that mean well that means you did not   capture detail or texture in this part of the  dynamic range so i'm about to share a technique   that will help you see the exposure before  you actually create it to ensure you capture   all the detail in your scene so if you're  ready to discover this technique let's do it   let's say hello to myrtle the turtle again and in  case you're wondering about her name our daughter   has wanted a turtle forever but we settled on  a cat instead alright so i photographed myrtle   on a black background and as you can see she too  is dark but she does have some bright highlights   around her fur and her eyes are brighter than  the fur based on the histogram we can see the   tonal range captured which includes lots of blacks  shadows and some mid-tones and very little to no   highlights or whites so this histogram is vital  to understanding them in regards to whether or   not you have the proper exposure and whether or  not you've captured all the detail in a scene   let's jump into another photo and explore how  to see your dynamic range before you capture an   image so you can compare the histogram to what  you see so this next image here i captured on a   family vacation in northern michigan of all places  so let's check out the histogram for this image   so it looks like i captured detail in all 256  bars or the full dynamic range of the scene   so would you agree that this image is properly  exposed great the only problem is that was a   trick question since this is the histogram of the  final edit now here's the histogram of the image   straight out of the camera and it looks like a  lot of the bars are missing in the blacks and some   in the shadows so this is an indication that the  photo is over exposed and here's that same image   straight out of the camera with no editing and  it does look overexposed wouldn't you agree   so if i had reviewed the histogram before packing  up i could have retaken the photo to get the   correct exposure this would have resulted  in a higher quality image and it would have   saved me some time editing now it's time for  you to elevate your photographic skills with   the following information are you ready good  because this is what's going to separate you from   every other photographer on this planet so here  we go so only looking at the histogram by itself   isn't enough it is only confirmation of what you  see prior to creating your photo so before you   click that shutter release button you first have  to visualize your final image so what do i mean   by that well you have to see the subject you  want to capture and you have to see the light   in order to determine your exposure and that  simply means you have to see the dynamic range   or the brightness levels of that light throughout  your scene for example in this image it's very   bright along the horizon and it gets darker  on the way up and then the sand here is fairly   bright as well but the tree itself is darker than  the sky and the sand so we have a shadow down here   of the tree and darker areas within the tree as  well therefore we have some blacks and shadows   in and around the tree and in the sand and the sky  we have some mid-tones up here then we have some   highlights here inside the sand and then we have  our whites along the horizon and then some whites   and highlights on this end of the image as well  so seeing all five zones before you take the photo   tells you that if you want to capture detail in  the full dynamic range of your scene you will   need a histogram that has bars in each tonal range  if not and it looks like this then you know your   image is overexposed but if the histogram looks  like this then you know it's underexposed or is it   remember myrtle the turtle she had a histogram  that looked like this one and here it is again   but we know based on the dynamic range of that  scene there will be more bars on the left side of   the histogram and little to none on the right side  that is why it's important to see the brightness   levels of your scene so you know what to look  for in your histogram to ensure you're getting   the exposure needed for your creative vision our  next image is another family member and his name   is fuzzy bunny this time we have a mostly white  bunny on an all-white background and as you can   see fuzzy has some light grey spots and his eyes  are almost pure black so picture in your mind   what the histogram should look like is this what  you had imagined awesome because the bars of the   histogram this time are heavier on the right  side where the highlights and whites are and we   have some information or detail in the mid-tones  and very few to none in the shadows and blacks   so remember the histogram will confirm what  you see before you take the photo and if   the histogram matches those brightness levels  then you should have a properly exposed image   all right so far we've explored the tonal ranges  within a histogram and you now know what to look   for to confirm you have the right exposure but  the histogram can also warn you if you're not   capturing all the detail in a scene let's look  at a couple more histograms that will warn you   if you haven't captured all the detail and  or exceeded the dynamic range of your camera   since it's only capable of 7 to 14 stops of light  so this image looks very dark and it could be   underexposed according to the histogram there are  two warning signals that can indicate whether or   not the image is underexposed the first is the  left side of the histogram where there's lots   of bars all bunched together so this could be  an indication that the image is underexposed   the other is the right side where there's  a gap in the highlights and the whites   this is another warning that your image could  be underexposed or this image in particular and   not all the details were captured so here's  the properly exposed image and its histogram   and notice how the histogram no longer has a gap  and the left side isn't as heavy as it was before   this is why it's important to visually  evaluate your scene's available dynamic   range before taking the photo then match it to  your histogram to get the proper exposure and   just as important capture all the detail alright  so here's one more image that is overexposed   and its histogram is confirming that this time  we have a gap on the left side and the bars are   bunched together on the right side and here's the  properly exposed image along with its histogram   alright so the one thing we haven't covered yet  that you might be wondering about is the height of   the bars in our vacation example the height of the  bars changed based on how many photos were taken   each day so the bars in your photos histogram can  also change heights based on the number of pixels   in a specific tonal range if there's a predominant  brightness level you'll see a spike for that   specific tonal range in this image i photographed  a couple against a dark wall and the histogram   shows a huge spike in the blacks and shadows  those black and shadow values are located   within the dark green wall and this is why those  bars are very tall since the wall takes up the   majority of the image and as you can see the  bars for the mid-tones highlights and whites   also have data but the bars are much shorter since  there are fewer details in those tonal ranges   and the small spike to the right represents  the details in his shirt and her dress   alright so i have one more tool to share with  you to help you achieve your creative vision   and you'll be one step closer to ditching auto  modes and shooting in full manual mode i'm about   to share some vital information that will help  you take full creative control over your camera   and help you finally understand the relationship  between iso apertures and shutter speeds then   you'll be ready to ditch auto and shoot in  manual mode guaranteed so when it comes to   capturing a photo you have two options you  can either choose one of the four auto modes   and your camera will set the iso aperture and  or the shutter speed to get a proper exposure   which you learned how to do in previous tutorials  or you can set your camera in manual mode and   manually set each of the three camera settings  why would you want to do that well if you want   full creative control over your camera and wish to  set the aperture size and the shutter speed then   you'll use manual mode which you'll learn how  to do in the next tutorial first you need to   understand the relationship between iso aperture  and shutter speed before attempting to shoot   in manual mode once you understand this concept  shooting in manual mode will be easier guaranteed   in photography there is something known as the  exposure triangle and it explains the relationship   between your different camera settings with a  visual tool so here's a typical exposure triangle   and on each side you have one camera setting with  information about how each affects your exposure   and whether it freezes or blurs the action the  depth of field and possible digital noise so   i've put together this pdf for you so make sure  to download it so you can use it to follow along   and for future reference now the purpose of the  exposure triangle is to help you visually see   what happens when you choose or decide to change a  camera setting and at the bottom we have apertures   and the larger the aperture the more light you'll  have and as you move to the left you decrease   the aperture size and end up with less light the  creative outcomes of your aperture is also listed   so a smaller aperture results in a large depth  of field and the larger the aperture becomes the   smaller your depth of field on the left side is  your iso again the amount of light and the effect   of that light is listed so more or less light  and less or more digital noise shutter speed also   shows more or less light depending on the shutter  speed chosen and the creative effect of the speed   chosen so each of these camera settings has a  tight relationship with each other in essence if   you change the camera setting of one you may have  to adjust one or both of the other two settings   to get the exposure needed for example let's say  you're photographing a landscape and decide on   iso 400 a shutter speed of 1 500 of a second and  since you want a large depth of field you choose   f11 after taking the photo you realize that  there is too much digital noise so you change   your iso to 100 this in effect reduces the  brightness of the available light in half   twice or in other words two stops less light  and the exposure triangle shows you that   400 to 200 is one stop and 200 to 100 is another  stop so two stops less light in order to get the   correct exposure you have to change the aperture  by two stops by adjusting it to f5.6 so f11   to f8 is one stop and f8 to f 5.6 is another stop  or you can adjust the shutter speed by two stops   with a slower shutter speed of 1 125th of a second  so 1 500th to 1 to 50th is one stop and then 1 1 1   25th of a second is another stop or you can adjust  both the shutter and aperture by one stop each   in that case you can go to f8 and 1 250th of a  second for two full stops and the choices you make   to your aperture and shutter speed depend on your  creative vision for the shot and whether or not   you can hold your camera still at a slower  shutter speed alright now that you understand   the relationship between your camera settings and  how it affects your exposure you're ready to shoot   in full manual mode but first i have to reveal a  secret tool that will make it super duper easy to   do guaranteed so if you're ready to discover  that secret tool to finally ditch auto and   elevate your photographic skills so you can shoot  in full menu mode let's do it now it's time to   take full creative control over your camera by  learning how to shoot in manu mode it sounds   like a daunting task doesn't it where do you start  which camera settings should you start with first   iso aperture or shutter speed then once you figure  out one setting how do you decide on the other two   to get the right exposure fear or not once you're  done with this tutorial you'll know exactly how to   shoot in full manual mode to achieve your creative  vision and get the proper exposure because i'm   going to give you step-by-step instructions let's  get started by grabbing your camera and let's put   it in manual mode to do so change your diode to  the letter m and now you're in manual mode so   here we go step one choose your iso based on  your available light remember try to use the   lowest iso number possible based on the brightness  of the available light step two next you have to   decide on your creative vision for the photo you  want to create do you want to freeze or blur the   action do you want a small or large depth of  field which one of those is the most important   step 3 if the depth of field is the most important  element set your aperture accordingly or if   freezing or blurring the action is more important  then choose your shutter speed step 4 now it's   time to set the third camera setting based on your  creative vision to get the proper exposure and   the secret tool you'll use to help you do this  is well it's not really a secret so what is it   well we talked about this tool in a previous  tutorial and it's called a light meter so look   through your viewfinder to locate it which is  displayed with multiple dashed lines and it   looks something like this right here so that's  the secret tool to help you determine if you   have the correct exposure and depending on your  camera you might have a plus sign on the right or   it might be on the left so here's how it works if  the marker is dead center then you can expect that   your exposure will be good if the marker is on the  positive side then your image will be overexposed   and it will be underexposed if the marker is on  the negative side so the goal of course is to   have a good exposure and you need to adjust your  camera settings until the marker is in the center   the challenge is to balance the camera settings  based on your creative vision so what i recommend   doing is starting with the camera setting  that will not affect what you want to achieve   creatively for example if a shallow depth of field  is the most important then adjust your shutter   speed until the marker aligns to the center but if  you end up with a shutter speed that is too slow   then you can increase the iso instead or a  combination of both the shutter speed and iso all   right now that you know how to shoot in manu mode  your exposures will be perfect every single time   nope not really because remember in previous  tutorials we covered how your camera sees things   differently than you based on 18 gray and the  different metering modes that alter how the light   is well metered that's why it's imperative  that you understand the dynamic range of a   scene and use your histogram to confirm the  existing range of light to ensure you have   a proper exposure based on what you're trying to  photograph so if you skipped any tutorials then i   recommend going back and watching everything to  fully understand your camera and then and only   then will you be able to master your camera and  exposures alright so we've covered all the tools   necessary for achieving your desired exposure but  we are not done with mastering your camera gear   and we'll continue with part two next and this  will include some additional modes your camera   has to help you achieve your creative vision are  you ready to continue elevating your photography   skills to master photography awesome the next  step to mastering photography is discovering   more tools your camera has to help you achieve  your creative vision and in this section you'll   discover additional camera modes we haven't  covered yet like focus quality shooting and   drive modes and then we'll wrap up mastering your  camera with white balance in the next section you   will continue elevating your knowledge of camera  gear with the deep dive into lenses filters and   accessories if you're ready let's do it focusing  modes what are they and how do you use them great   question let's find out all right real quick for  those of you that have just taken your camera out   of the box for the first time to focus on your  subject you're going to hold down the shutter   release button halfway your camera and your lens  will then work together to focus on your subject   once it's in focus press the shutter release  button all the way down to create the photo   okay when it comes to focusing that was pretty  easy but focusing isn't always that easy   and sometimes as you'll soon see it's  impossible to focus this is why most   digital cameras give you different focus options  and different focusing modes which focusing   options you'll use will depend on your subject  and your creative vision for the final image   although focusing's main function is to give you  a sharp image it can also be used creatively in   conjunction with your aperture for example  by selectively choosing a point to focus on   you can direct your viewers attention  to that specific location by focusing   just on that area or subject for this image i  chose to focus on the flower closest to the camera   then with an aperture of f 1.8 i was able to  reduce the depth of field so that flower i focused   on is the only one that is tack sharp so we're  going to cover the basics of five different types   of auto focus modes and i'll share some tips for  focusing manually as well so the autofocus modes   most digital cameras have are auto flexible center  and continuous or ai servo if you're a canon user   and another one that is fast becoming my favorite  is eye tracking mode unfortunately not all digital   cameras have this focusing mode so let's start out  by grabbing not your camera your camera manual so   you can follow along and discover what focus  modes your camera has and how to set them up   now before we look at each of these focus modes  there's something else vital to focusing and that   is the focus points so what are focus points well  i'm glad you asked let's take a look all right   now grab your camera turn it on and let's look  through the viewfinder now there's a lot of   information being displayed in your viewfinder  am i right the one thing i want you to focus on   no pun intended or was there and that is the  circles or bracket looking things covering your   subject those are your focus points so depending  on your settings one or more of those points will   be used for focusing also depending on your camera  you could have a few or dozens of focus points now   growing up i only had one focusing point on  my nikon 8008 slr so we're kind of spoiled   nowadays anyway there are several advantages to  having multiple focusing points one is the freedom   to choose manually which focus point to use or  to let your camera's artificial intelligence   auto track a fast moving subject more on that  coming up as i mentioned previously as you press   your shutter release button down your camera and  lens work together to focus on the subject based   on the focus point you choose once the subject  is in focus you'll see a focus indicator in the   form of a circle now most digital cameras will  have a built-in safety that will stop you from   taking the photo until the focus indicator  appears so the focus indicator in most cases   appears as a circle so if you're not able to  take the photo then the camera is telling you   that the subject is not in focus this could  be due to the subject moving too much or   maybe your camera is having a hard time focusing  due to the lighting or based on the subject itself   in that case if you can't get it in focus you'll  have to manually focus on the subject and you'll   learn how to do that in just a minute  all right let's do a quick review of five   common auto focus modes the first option is a full  auto focus mode where your camera will determine   for you what part of the image to focus on so  let's say you have a dozen focus points turned on   your camera will review your scene and will try  to locate the main subject and when it's found   it will auto focus your camera on that subject  but like most auto features in your camera   it's not always going to give you the results  you are hoping for one option to take control   over your focus point of choice is to use the  flexible focus mode this mode is sometimes   referred to as multi-point focus mode the  benefit of this focusing mode is it allows   you to choose a specific focus point within your  viewfinder based on where your subject is located   however this can be slow and tedious to manually  set your focus point and isn't recommended if your   subject is moving another focusing mode you'll  probably have on your camera is sometimes referred   to as a center focusing mode and this is the one  that i use 90 of the time so the focus point used   in this mode is the one that is dead center in  your viewfinder now although your subject may   not always be in the center once you're focused  on your subject make sure to keep your shutter   release button pressed halfway and then you  can move your camera to recompose the frame   based on what you want to capture as far as  the composition now if you find your subject   is constantly moving or fast in general like  your kids or wildlife you'll want to consider   continuous or ai servo this focusing mode has  artificial intelligence built in and will be   able to find and track your subject which will  make it easier for you to create the image you   desire when using this mode you'll need to  keep your shutter release button pressed   halfway down for the focusing mode to continue  tracking and focusing on your subject once you   capture the image this focusing mode will stop  tracking and you'll have to press it down halfway   again to start the tracking function all right  now let's check out how the eye tracking focusing   mode works also depending on your camera you may  have a different eye tracking mode for people   versus pets so you're going to have to check out  your handy dandy manual to find out what modes are   available in your camera alright so if you have  this mode the focus point will locate the eye   closest to your camera and will focus on that eye  which is pretty awesome if you ask me since the   eyes are the windows to the soul and the part  of your subject that should be tack sharp okay   so the last focus mode i want to share with  you is manu mode now you might be wondering   why would you want to manually focus your camera  that's a great question sometimes depending on the   lighting and or the subject your camera may not  be able to focus on your subject automatically   this can occur due to low contrast lighting  or when your camera can't determine an edge so   let's say you're photographing a flat surface or  the lighting is flat either way your camera will   have a hard time finding any texture to focus on  for example i captured this image during a foggy   morning the light was flat and the camera couldn't  pick up any textures or an edge to focus on   in this case i had to focus manually for  this image i also had to use manual mode   and the reason why is the camera wouldn't focus  exactly where i wanted it which were the eyes   it kept bouncing between the blades of grass and  other elements so i had to switch to manual focus   which is pretty easy on your camera you'll see  something like this and af is for autofocus and m   is for manual so switch to manual and then  depending on your lens you may need to switch   that to manual as well now to focus in manual mode  you're going to turn the focus ring on your lens   and this time you don't have to press the shutter  release button down halfway since you're focusing   manually now as mentioned previously look for  that focus indicator so you know the subject is   in focus and then take the photo next up you'll  discover some drive modes to help you achieve   your creative vision all right so your camera has  several drive modes that powers your camera to   take one photo at a time or multiple photos at a  time so we're now going to take a closer look at   three main drive modes and two alternative ways  to capture a single image our first drive mode is   known as single drive mode and it's pretty simple  in this mode you will be able to take one photo   at a time when you press the shutter release  button if you want to take another photo you'll   press that button again so this mode can be set  with your dial set to s depending on your camera   it can be located in one of several different  places so probably a good time to check out that   camera manual again okay so the continuous drive  mode on the other hand can be pretty amazing if   you're shooting fast action like sports wildlife  or any other type of fast action where you don't   want to miss the shot so the way it works is  when you press the shutter release button your   camera will continue to take photos as long as the  button is pressed down since not all cameras are   created the same some will be able to take more  photos than others it also depends on the speed   of your media card so if you take a look at your  media card on the front here you're gonna see the   speed of it and the higher the number the faster  your images can be written to the media card   so if you plan on shooting in continuous mode  you may want to get the fastest card available   for your budget and as far as the number of images  it could be a few per second or a dozen or more   at a time again it all depends on your camera  another thing your camera might offer is the   ability to choose how many photos in this mode  for example my nikon d500 has a continuous low   and a continuous high mode which is labeled cl  and ch and in the low mode it will take fewer   photos per second versus the high mode so just a  little bit more flexibility based on what you need   now we also have a self timer mode which is  considered another drive mode and you'll use   this when you want a selfie or when you want a  photo of yourself with someone else and there   isn't anyone around to take the photo for  you to access the self timer you'll need to   dig into your camera's menu to find it and set it  up for my camera i have different time intervals   to choose from or i can set the exact time needed  plus i can choose to shoot more than one photo   after the allotted time is up for example i could  do 10 photos every 10 seconds or every 5 seconds   depending on how i want to set it up alright  another option for capturing an image is to use   a remote release button so this remote release  trigger i picked up around 20 years ago or last   century and it's basically hardwired directly to  my camera but in the 21st century some cameras   use a wireless remote control either way in this  drive mode you can remotely trigger the camera to   capture your image okay so our final drive mode  is known as mirror lockup and this drive mode is   a little unknown mode since it's not always found  easily you may find it tucked away somewhere else   within your menu system so check your manual  to see if you have it and where to set it up   so this mode is essential for long exposure  photography or when you don't have a tripod   and you're using a long exposure and in this mode  it will help alleviate camera shake it does this   by waiting for the mirror to move up and lock  into position before it takes your photo and   the reason why this helps eliminate some camera  shake is because the mirror when it moves up will   tend to vibrate as it moves up and out of the way  of your shutter all right we've gone over all the   different drive modes next up is another exposure  tool to help you get your desired exposure this   is going to make it easier to get the exposure  that you want in case you're having a little   bit of trouble with all the tools we've covered  so far so if you're ready for that let's do it   all right so in this tutorial we're going to  explore an option to help you achieve your   desired exposure in the previous section i gave  you a lot of tools to nail your exposure however   it was a lot of information and maybe you haven't  really grasped everything presented so far this   is why i want to share a tool your camera  might have known as auto exposure bracketing   or aab for short so let's check it out so let's  say you're in a difficult lighting situation like   the light changing quickly or maybe you're  not sure which camera settings to use well   with aeb you can quickly take three or more photos  depending on your camera with multiple exposures   so the first exposure could be underexposed the  second could be the ideal exposure based on your   camera's light meter and then the third would be  overexposed so this is also a great way to capture   detail from a scene with a large dynamic range  and maybe your camera is only capable of capturing   10 stops of light when you really need 14 or  more so what you can do then is you can then   merge those three photos together to include all  the details and the shadows and highlights and   this is also known as hdr or high dynamic range  photography now the question is how many stops   does your camera offer well again you're gonna  have to check out your camera manual to learn how   to set it up including the different variations  or amount of stops that you can use for example   you might have the option to alter the exposure  brackets by one stop each or possibly two stops   each so if you have two stops available that  would mean your first and third images would   be two stops over and under exposed now if you're  shooting in continuous drive mode to take multiple   photos at one time and you want to shoot with  the auto exposure bracketing mode you can do that   with most cameras so as you press your shutter  release button all the way down and continue   to hold it your camera will take three photos at  different exposures and will continue to create   three more photos until your media card can't keep  up or if you've reached your camera's capabilities   to shoot multiple photos at one time all right  next up is quality modes so if you're ready let's   check out the options you have to help you achieve  your creative vision with quality modes alright so   quality modes refer to the file format that you  choose for your photos and previously i mentioned   how i recommend shooting in raw and that's what  i personally shoot in as well now depending on   your camera you may have another option known  as tiff files personally i think tiff files are   overrated and i've never used them myself so i'll  leave that up to you to decide if you want to use   them or not so one of the drawbacks to using raw  files is they are much larger in size compared to   jpeg files but i believe the price of media cards  and hard drives are at a point where prices are   very reasonable compared to where they were two  decades ago so for me the price of storage isn't   a problem and i have no issues with the larger  raw files and your situation might be different   so what i'd like to do now is give you more  information on the differences between raw and   jpeg files so you can decide for yourself which  file format is best for you so previously you   learned how your camera works and you may remember  how i said your camera edits your files before   it saves them to your media cards so let's check  out this graphic that shows you the steps of your   photo being processed in camera and we're going  to go over jpeg files first so you set your camera   to the jpeg quality mode and you took a photo  before it's saved to your media card your camera   processes the information it received from your  sensor and other camera settings you chose like   the white balance which you're going to learn  about soon you can also choose the color space   the bit depth and more so your camera takes that  information along with the exposure data like the   brightness levels of the light that was captured  and it sends it to your camera's processor   so the processor reviews all that information  and in order to save it as a jpeg file   it has to compress that data in other words  your camera's saying to you sorry the detail   in the clouds you don't need those so i'm going to  discard that information or that detail because i   can't fit it into the jpeg file or i can't fit  that detail in the shadows into your jpeg file   so i can't save that information either so  let's say you end up with an image that is   too bright with less detail than was visible to  your eye at the time of capture and since you   already took the photo you can't recover any  of that missing detail when you edit that image   since that detail was thrown out when you created  the photo and saved it as a jpeg file which means   you have a lower quality image now let's compare  that to how your raw files are processed this time   instead of throwing out that information all of  the data collected is bypassed by your processor   since the raw file isn't being compressed in  other words all the data or the detail in your   scene that was collected by your sensor is saved  in the raw file this means even if you open the   raw file in your favorite editing software and  notice it's too bright chances are good you can   recover some of that missing detail since it  was recorded and saved at the time of capture   you just need to know the secrets of reading your  histogram to know that detail is actually there   and if you completed the last section then  you should be practicing what you've learned   in order to master reading your histogram or maybe  you already mastered your histogram hopefully   all right so next up is an often forgotten camera  setting that can make drastic changes to your   image based on how you set up this next camera  setting all right so in photography white balance   is one of the most overlooked camera settings and  this is a mistake in my opinion because the white   balance is another means of expressing yourself  creatively and for storytelling so at this time   you're going to discover what the white balance is  and later in the course you'll take a deeper dive   into the white balance since it relates to the  color of light so what is white balance well   white balance in photography is about altering  the color of the light source to match the white   color you see in person so it's rendered pure  white otherwise the whites or grays like the   highlights and shadows will have a color cast  this color cast can be detrimental to your image   or it can be pleasing to the eye and even artistic  for example if the whites in your scene appear   yellow or blue they will be pure white after  choosing the correct white balance in camera   now although you can do this in post-processing  change the white balance it doesn't always give   you the results you want especially for those that  prefer shooting in jpeg so choosing your colors or   picking the white balance is part of the equation  for creating exceptional photos the others include   light and composition alright so there's a  few different ways to choose the white balance   in your camera and we're going to go over the  easiest ways for now and later in the course   i'll share some pro tips for dialing in the  exact white balance for your creative vision   and depending on your camera you're going  to find a dial that lists some common white   balance options and if it's not on a dial it  should then be available via a screen on top   or within your system main menu either way you'll  notice several icons that represent the lighting   situation you find yourself in all right so these  white balance options are known as pre-made white   balance settings these settings were created  by your camera's manufacturer and they have   determined the color of light based on those  situations some common white balance settings are   sunlight cloudy flash fluorescent shade and more  so when you're outside shooting on a sunny day   you'll switch the white balance to sunlight and  your image will be properly balanced based on   the pre-made setting now if you're not happy with  the color balance you can choose to manually set   the color with an option known as the kelvin  temperature or you can spend more time editing   your photo by dealing with it in post production  if you want full creative control over your white   balance make sure to check out the white balance  deep dive section all right so that's it for   mastering your camera we're not done exploring  camera gear though since we need to explore   lenses and we'll do that in the next section  alright it's time to explore another vital element   of the first key in creating amazing images and  that is to discover all that lenses have to offer   for capturing your creative vision because without  a lens you wouldn't be able to harness the light   of your scene to capture your photo in essence  all lenses have one basic feature and that is to   funnel light through the lens into your camera's  sensor there's a lot of options when it comes to   choosing a lens and we can place them into  two main categories which are prime lenses   and zoom lenses within those two categories  there's a variety of lenses that can be further   refined into four different topics three of which  are defined based on their field of view and those   are wide angle telephoto and standard lenses the  fourth topic is all other types of lenses that can   be referred to as specialty lenses if you're ready  to elevate your knowledge of lenses let's do it   all right prime lenses and zoom lenses what are  they well a prime lens consists of one fixed   focal length and a zoom lens on the other hand  allows you to choose from multiple focal lengths   so zoom lenses sound awesome since you have  multiple focal lengths and one lens and it makes   you wonder why you'd want a prime lens am i right  well there are some advantages and disadvantages   for both so let's review those so i have my  favorite prime lenses here which are the 50 and 85   millimeter and there's several reasons why i love  these prime lenses versus the same focal length   in a zoom lens and we'll cover those in a second  but first what do you notice about this 2870 with   this 50 millimeter lens that's available within  the zoom well the prime lens is smaller and it's   lighter but you're saying i have more focal  lengths with this versus this and you're   correct so with the zoom lens i have dozens of  lenses versus one with the 50 yet i prefer this   versus this and here's why so prime  lenses are much more affordable than   zooms so these prime lenses i think were  i paid around 200 for the 50 and i think   800 dollars for the 85 now for the zoom  lenses i paid around two thousand dollars   each so four thousand dollars for these two  lenses versus one thousand for these two now   as far as quality or the sharpness of your image  a prime lens will yield a sharper image overall   prime lenses will give you a better quality  image compared to a zoom lens and one of the main   benefits of a prime lens is that they typically  come with very large apertures which gives you a   couple of advantages one a larger aperture will  allow you to collect more light and shoot in low   light situations the other advantage of a larger  aperture is the ability to blur out your image   and this will help your subject pop much more  versus a smaller aperture which you learned   about earlier in this course now one of the  biggest disadvantages to a prime lens is if   you want to change the perspective of an image  or maybe you want to crop in tighter or to get   more or less of the scene you need to move closer  physically or farther away from your subject in   order to change how much of the scene you capture  and when it comes to a zoom lens the biggest   advantage is having those multiple lenses or focal  lengths built in which will allow you to zoom in   versus moving closer to your subject or zooming  out now when it comes to the aperture for   zoom lenses you'll find that some lenses will not  be able to use the largest aperture throughout the   different focal lengths for example this kit lens  that i bought back in 1989 has a focal range of   35 to 70 and the maximum aperture is 3.3 to 4.5  so what that's telling us is i can only use f 3.3   at the shortest focal length of 35. if i  want to use the longest focal length of 70   then the largest aperture size i can use is  4.5 so when you're looking at zoom lenses   that's one thing you'll have to keep in  mind now if you don't want that limitation   then the lens without that restriction will be  more expensive another thing about apertures for   both primes and zooms is the larger the aperture  the more expensive the lens will be for example   this 50 millimeter lens is a 1.8 lens and it  cost around 200 but a 50 millimeter 1.4 lens is   450 so more than double for a one stop larger  aperture all right let's take a deep dive into   focal lengths next since they're an important part  of your lenses so the focal length of your lens   is more than just the length basically the focal  length determines the angle of view the lens will   capture and we have three main types of lenses  based on their field of view those are wide angle   standard and telephoto lenses each will increase  or decrease the amount of the scene that will be   viewed depending on the type so let's go over each  of those let's start off with a standard type of   lens so a standard lens is considered to be normal  and normal refers to what your eyes see or at   least the field of view that you see so a normal  or standard lens is around 50 millimeters but   depending on your camera's sensor size the  actual focal length could be more or less than   50 millimeters and we'll talk more about  that later in the course now personally   i think a 50 millimeter lens is the perfect lens  for all levels of photographers and i highly   recommend having one now a lens with a larger  field of view is known as a wide-angle lens   so the amount of the scene you can capture is  much greater than a standard lens so this type of   lens is essential for landscape photographers and  even wedding photographers so lens is considered   wide angled when the focal length is around  12 to 24 millimeters and possibly 28 as well   now another type of wide-angle lenses is known  as super wide angle and these lenses have a focal   length of around 8 to 12 millimeters now when  it comes to very long lenses like my 70 to 200   these are known as telephoto lenses they're kind  of like mini telescopes that allow you to capture   subjects that are far away and the result  is a shallow field of view so focal lengths   of around 100 to 300 millimeters are considered a  telephoto lens but if you have let's say a 500 or   1000 millimeter lens they're referred to  as super telephoto lenses and they're very   very expensive now if you need one of these super  telephoto lenses and can't afford to shell out ten   or twelve thousand dollars for one you  can convert a smaller telephoto lens into   a super telephoto with the use of a teleconverter  so a teleconverter can double the focal length   of your lens for a few hundred dollars  but there are some serious drawbacks to   teleconverters and will cover teleconverters in  depth in the accessories section of this course   all right we're now going to wrap up the last of  the four lens topics which are specialty lenses   and you'll discover four popular types coming up  next all right so we're now going to cover the   four most popular types of specialty lenses and  this means there's actually more than just these   four and we may cover those in a future tutorial  so the first type of specialty lens is called   a macro lens and it's used for well macro  photography so macro photography is the   art of capturing a subject that is photographed  at a one to one magnification or in other words   the subject is life-sized in the photo but most  people use the term macro photography to refer   to any photo that is a close-up of teeny tiny  subjects or details of a subject for example   this image of a millipede was captured with my  macro lens and i often used a macro to capture   wedding rings when i was a wedding photographer  and i've even used it for other subjects as well   so later in this course you'll discover more  about the art of macro photography but first   let's go over some additional details about macro  lenses all right so in essence a macro lens allows   you to get really really close to your subjects  which has the advantage of letting you photograph   teeny tiny subjects like bugs the inside of  flowers and anything else that is micro in size   and in case you're wondering this macro lens is  also considered a that's right a prime lens since   the focal length is fixed at 60 millimeters but  it's more of a specialty lens due to its ability   to allow you to get really really close to your  subjects and in a way it's like a magnifier and   here's how that's possible alright so with a prime  or even a zoom lens the minimum focusing distance   is much longer compared to a macro lens so my 50  millimeter lens has a minimum focusing distance   of around 18 inches and my 85 millimeter is  around 30 inches and my 60 millimeter macro lens   has a minimum focusing distance of 7 inches so  again being able to get really close to your   subject allows you to capture smaller subjects so  macro lenses like prime lenses come in different   focal lengths and you can get them from anywhere  around 15 millimeters to 200 millimeters now one   thing to keep in mind when using a macro lens  versus a primed lens is the depth of field is much   shallower in a macro compared to a prime lens  and for this image i used an aperture of f10   and you would expect everything to be in focus  and it would have been if i used a non-macro lens   however i wouldn't have been able to get this  perspective since i would have been at least a   foot further away from the subject another type of  specialty lens is a fish eye lens so this type of   lens has a very wide angle of view and they come  in focal lengths of around eight millimeters to 17   millimeters one of the unique characteristics of  fish eye lenses is the front element or the glass   on the lens and as you can see the glass is round  and it pops out kind of like an eye which is where   the lens gets its name from another thing you're  going to notice with super wide fish eye lenses   like an 8 millimeter lens is that the image you  take is encompassed in a circle like this photo   here another characteristic you'll find when  taking photos with a fisheye lens is that they   tend to distort vertical and horizontal lines and  the shorter the focal length the more distortion   you're going to see in your photo for example  in these images you can see that the vertical   and horizontal lines are distorted now the thing  that i love about fisheye lenses is they do cover   a great angle of view and can provide another  creative option for your photos but then again   you do get that distortion and that's  why this is a specialty lens because   the use of it is limited based on what you're  trying to achieve or your creative vision so a   tilt shift lens is another specialty lens but  this one has a more practical use versus the   fisheye lens and it also has a creative aspect  to it so what is a tilt shift lens well i thought   he would never ask alright so a tilt shift lens  allows you to change the plane of focus which is   beneficial for architecture photography but you're  not interested in architecture photography you say   no worries i'll show you how you can use this lens  creatively in just a moment first let me show you   how it works all right so here's a tilt shift  lens and the bottom of it looks quite different   compared to all the other lenses we've explored  so far the main physical characteristics that's   separated from other lenses is the knobs the way  it's curved at the bottom there and those dashed   lines so when you tilt the lens on its axis it  looks like it's broken doesn't it so it's kind of   like a miter saw or a table saw where you're going  to change the angle of the blade if needed so   you're basically doing the same thing except  instead of a blade you're changing the angle   of the lens this causes the perspective of your  scene to change in relation to the focus plane of   the lens based on the angle you choose let's look  at some images to see the benefits and creative   ways you can use a tilt shift lens all right so we  have a photo here on the left that was taken with   a non-tilt shift lens and the one on the right  you can see the same building that was shot with   a tilt shift lens this time and take a closer look  at both images what do you see so the building   captured with the tilt shift lens is no longer  leaning or tilting so the tilt shift lens is an   awesome lens for architecture because it  does allow you to change the perspective   very easily within the camera versus trying  to have to fix it in photoshop or lightroom   so if you have a desire to become an architectural  photographer then a tilt shift lens would be the   tool of choice for that field but let's say  you have no desire to take photos of buildings   no worries check out some of these images that  were shot with a tilt shift lens and what do you   notice well the depth of field seems to be very  shallow however the depth of field was controlled   more from the tilt of the lens versus the aperture  by itself so one last thing you should know about   tilt shift lenses is the focal lengths available  and most have a small or wide angle of view   of around 24 to 45 millimeters and you can even  get a tilt shift macro lens with a focal length   of around 50 millimeters and larger now keep  in mind though that a wider tilt shift lens is   ideal for architecture especially when you're  shooting buildings that are close together   since you'll be limited on how far back you  can go to get the entire building in your frame   in those cases a wider lens works best our next  specialty lens has a funny name and it's called a   lens baby and they came out around 15 years  ago and at that time i picked one up for myself   so since then lens babies have multiplied and  there's a lot more options compared to the   original and to discover the different lens baby  options go to lensbaby.com alright so the real   question is what is a lensbaby and what can you do  with it well like i mentioned here's my original   lensbaby and you can see that it looks nothing  like any lens we've covered so far so there's   no focusing ring no way to control the aperture  since it doesn't have one consists of only two   glass elements the front and back and the body is  not round like a normal lens and looks more like   an accordion but don't let this funny looking lens  fool you it's actually quite addicting when you   begin to see the creative results from using this  specialty lens if you navigate to their website   you'll find a gallery of images taken with their  specialty lenses and this will give you a great   idea of the creative options available to you  when using one of these lensbaby specialty lenses   now the interesting thing about this lens is using  it it's completely different from what you're used   to with your prime lenses or even zoom lenses  like i mentioned there's zero way to focus with   this lens you basically point at your subject and  it's technically in focus automatically but don't   expect your subject to be tack sharp at least with  the original lensbaby then to control the depth of   field you have to press the outside of the lens  towards your camera in a way this is like the   tilt shift lens since you're basically changing  the focal plane which creates a shallower depth of   field but you have control over it by changing the  angle of the lens so if you want a shallower depth   of field at the bottom of your image you're going  to press and hold the top of the lens like this   all right now that we've covered the categories  and types of lenses let's dig a little deeper and   look at the different parts that make up your lens  all right so one of the most important elements of   a lens that can affect the quality of your final  image is the glass inside and outside of your lens   so the glass has a coating that is applied to  the surface which is designed to reduce light   reflections and increase light transmission and  they're also designed to reduce unwanted optical   degradation like moire patterns so the quality  of your image is a direct result of the quality   of your lens in my opinion investing in a higher  quality lens will give you better images versus   buying another new camera for example have you  ever heard of a hasselblad camera if not it's   a high-end film camera that was developed in  the mid-1800s now there were other film cameras   with the same film format or film size over the  last 150 years but a hasselblad is the cream of   the crop or the lamborghini or the ferrari of film  cameras not because of the camera body but because   of the quality of the lens and the results were  stunning versus what i could afford at the time   which was a mamiya rgb67 long story short invest  in your glass or lenses and you will thank me   later on all right so inside your lens you have  more glass that directs the light through it   plus as you learned about before there's a hole  inside of your lens that can control how much   light passes through and it can also affect the  depth of field and this is known as the aperture   all right since i'm not willing to take my lens  apart to show you what this aperture looks like   let's check out this image here so this mechanism  is known as the diaphragm and it consists of   multiple blades and when you adjust your aperture  the blades contract or expand to create the size   of your hole all right now let's take a look at  some other parts of your lens here on the outside   one is the focus ring and you'll turn this  manually to focus if you need to which we talked   about previously then if you're using a zoom lens  you'll have this ring here that you can use to   change the focal length of the lens and it  should include some numbers here that represent   the focal length so it's not going to show every  single focal length since there are over 100   options for this lens alone and instead it's just  going to show several focal lengths as a guide   now for your prime lenses this 85 millimeters  is an 85 and i know that because on the outside   here it's showing the focal length right here and  as you can see it says 85 millimeters all right   we're now going to cover name brand lenses versus  third-party lenses next all right so when it comes   to buying lenses you have two main choices when it  comes to the manufacturer of a lens you can either   purchase from brand names like nikon canon sony or  whatever the manufacturer of the camera that you   have or from third-party manufacturers like tamron  sigma and tekina to name a few so the question is   do you go with the name brand or off brand well  it all comes down to your quality expectations   and your budget overall brand name lenses are  going to be of a higher quality more dependable   and guaranteed compatibility lenses from sigma  tamron and others are going to be more affordable   but the sharpness of the lens may not be as good  as the name brand equivalent as for compatibility   third-party lens creators make lenses for the  most popular cameras like nikon canon and sony   now another advantage with third-party lenses  is you may find focal lengths not available   from brand names for instance sigma has an 18  to 35 zoom lens with a large aperture of 1.8   and the cool thing about this lens is regardless  of the zoom range you select for it you can use   the 1.8 aperture throughout the different zoom  ranges and as of this recording that option or   that lens choice is not available from some brand  names like nikon so when it comes to buying lenses   you'll have to do a little more research to find  out which options are best for you covering all   the different aspects of lens characteristics is  way beyond the scope of this photography class   but when it comes to buying a lens though you have  another option used or new plus if you're going to   be buying used do you get a modern or retro lens  let's explore your possibilities and then you can   decide whether or not used is good enough for  you alright so the main benefit to buying used   is the amount of money you'll save versus new  but there's more to consider when buying used   versus new and that is the age of the used lens  so older or retro lenses like this lens that   i picked up 30 years ago may not have features  available in the modern equivalent and this can   cause issues with aperture selection and or auto  focusing so if we take a closer look at this lens   you'll notice it has an extra number here with  some numbers on it so these are the aperture   values for this lens unlike its modern equivalent  the averages are fixed to these numbers whereas   the modern lens is capable of more aperture  values in between another difference between   retro and new is the quality of the image in  general a newer used lens will provide better   quality so if you can live with some of these  disadvantages or the compatibility with features   of your camera an older used lens will typically  be less expensive versus a newer modern   used lens so this 85 millimeter lens that i picked  up last century can be bought today for around 200   and it's used modern lens cousin can be found  for around 500 all right you are now ready to   begin exploring and discovering how to harness  and master light which is the second key in   creating amazing images if you're ready for  that let's do it what is the true meaning of   photography well get ready to have your mind blown  with the following fact the word photography was   created from greek roots so photos means light  and graphy means drawing together they mean   drawing with light or as i like to say  painting with light how cool is the hat   so photography is essentially an art form whereby  you use light to draw with or to paint with so   without light you cannot capture the scene and  won't be able to create a photograph and it's easy   to demonstrate so grab your camera and your  lens cap and put it on now try and take a photo   well you didn't capture an image did you i know  obvious but this demonstrates that light is   the number one ingredient for creating photos  now once you fully understand what light is its   qualities and characteristics you can then use  that knowledge to shape your subjects based on   your creative vision but i have some bad news  this is not something you are going to be able to   master overnight or even weeks months and possibly  years it's going to take time and practice but   when you get to the point where you're able to  control and see light like never before you will   then elevate your level of photography skills well  beyond 95 percent of photographers in the world   if nothing else this section should be the one  that you continue to study and come back to over   and over again and do so as long as you need until  you're able to achieve the status of light master   so my recommendation is to save this photography  class to watch again in the near future so every   lesson in this section is essential to  understanding how to become a light master   and each lesson is in a specific order to help  you understand light and build on the next lesson   so make sure you don't skip anything now in the  premium class i've included free pdf files that   include additional information about each section  to help you continue elevating your light mastery   next up is discovering where light comes from so  if you're ready to get started on that let's do it   all right we're now going to take a quick  look at some places where light comes from   we're not going to go over every possibility  otherwise we would be here all day so let's   take a quick look at some of the more common  sources of light and then we'll go from there   so light can come from two basic places it  can either be natural light or it can be   artificial light so some of the natural  light that we can use to paint with are   the sun and even stars as for artificial sources  of light we have a lot more options so artificial   light sources could include speed lights strobes  ambient light like lamps or fluorescent lights   each of those different types of light provides  different characteristics as far as intensity   quality and even the color of light all of which  should be observed prior to creating your image   and then with the knowledge that you're  going to gain throughout this section   you will be able to paint with that light based  on your creative vision all right now that we   know where light comes from let's take a look  at what light actually is in the next lesson   light what is it yes that's an obvious question  but what is it truly well i have to warn you we're   going to get a wee bit technical but don't worry  i'll keep it short and rest assured this will help   you better understand the characteristics of light  and then with this knowledge you're going to be   able to control those characteristics and you'll  learn more about that in an upcoming tutorial   so here we go light is part of the electromagnetic  spectrum which ranges from radio waves to gamma   rays electromagnetic radiation waves as the  name suggests are fluctuations of electric and   magnetic fields which can transport energy from  one location to another wow all right so that's   some pretty deep stuff right there wouldn't you  agree so what does this exactly mean in terms of   how you can use light for photography well light  is basically a range of those electromagnetic   spectrums that are visible to the human eye  and as you learned about in previous tutorials   your camera is very similar to your eyes therefore  those range of spectrums is also visible to your   camera and this is going to make a lot more sense  as you go throughout the rest of this section now   based on your eyes there are other ranges you  can't see those light spectrums would be x-rays   ultraviolet rays radio waves and some others as  well all right now that you know the technical   term of what light is let's take it a bit  further to better understand what light is   really all about okay you now know that what you  can actually see is based on an electromagnetic   spectrum range and within that range you can  only see a certain amount of that light so within   that visible light spectrum there are different  wavelengths of light and based on those different   wavelengths your eyes will transform them into  different colors then within those wavelengths   you have different lengths of light the shortest  of which is violet and the longest is red then in   between those two colors are the following colors  of light orange yellow green blue and indigo   now when all of those colors are combined  we end up with white light like from our sun   then when that white light goes through a prism  the different wavelengths bend in different   amounts and different colors start to appear  you will then see the full spectrum of colors   in order from longest to shortest and this range  of colors can be seen in nature when you take a   look at a rainbow now before we take a deeper dive  into lightroom itself i have a question what if   your eyes were a high-end camera sensor what would  your specs be let's find out in previous tutorials   we covered how your eyes are similar to how your  camera sees the world i'd like to delve into this   a little bit more to refresh your memory and as  a reminder to see the light before you capture it   and compare it to what your histogram is  telling you about the light you captured   so the basic fundamentals of how your eyes  and your camera sees light are very similar   and there are some differences as well so let's  take a look at both all right so check this out   both your camera and your eyes are basically  made up of the same parts to paint with light   you need a lens to allow the light into your  camera with the lens on your camera the light   is filtered through an aperture into the  sensor when the shutter opens of course   which is then recorded to your media card  or film if you're shooting old school   and then for your eyes they also have a lens and  the light is then filtered to the back of your   eyes into the retina and then transmitted to your  brain where it's stored as a memory so those are   the basic similarities and let's take a look at  the differences all right so in previous tutorials   you discovered that your camera cannot record  exactly what you see and it basically comes down   to the technical limitations of your camera's  technology versus your eyes and your eyes   are much more complex and can decipher larger  ranges of highlights and shadow details versus   your camera and there are even differences between  one camera manufacturer's sensor versus another   or even within the same lineup based on the  specifications of that specific sensor in   other words less expensive cameras will have  a much more difficult time capturing all the   data within the scene versus a higher end  camera but even the most expensive cameras   still cannot compete with your eyes so here's what  happens when you're viewing a scene with your eyes   as you look throughout the scene your eyes can  adjust to different levels of brightness within   that scene then depending on the brightness  the pupils in your eyes which are similar to   apertures will begin to get larger or smaller  to let in different brightness levels of light   then as that light travels from your eyes to your  brain it will then begin to decipher all the data   that's being collected so the data is the details  and the highlights mid-tones and shadows now   as we talked about before your eyes are capable of  20 stops of light or more depending on who you ask   now if you compare that to what your camera  sees and what it records it's much different   so when the light is recorded  by your camera's sensor it's not   really deciphering the data or the details that's  only collecting that information so the problem is   when you have a scene that has a large range of  brightness levels from dark to light your sensor   is not going to be able to record all the  detail in those different brightness levels   this is due to your camera only being capable  of seeing or recording 7 to 14 stops of light   so in a way your eyes are the top of the  line sensors and your digital camera sensors   are from the dark ages although there is some  hope with technology advancing at the rated   is it's possible digital cameras may one day  exceed what your eyes are able to see so imagine   the photographs you'll be able to capture  when that day arrives and hopefully it's   not that far out into the future back in 2002 i  picked up my first digital camera which is this   fuji s2 and it's only able to capture seven stops  of light fast forward 18 years and my nikon z6   is capable of 14 stops double in less than two  decades so hopefully i'll see or at least be able   to capture more than 20 stops in my lifetime until  then make sure to see the different brightness   levels of light within a scene and read your  histogram to ensure you're getting your desired   exposure or the details you need to fulfill  your creative vision next up how to see color   why do certain objects have a specific color well  when light hits an object that object will absorb   some wavelengths and at the same time will reflect  other wavelengths so in order to actually see an   object you can only see it when the light is  reflected from the object into your eyes and   at the same time the colors you see on the object  are from the wavelengths that are being reflected   back to your eyes for example here we have a  photo of an orange lizard and it's absorbing   most wavelengths but what it's doing is it's  reflecting back the orange wavelength and that's   the color that you see now take a closer look  at the lizard and you'll notice it's not pure   orange pretty obvious but what is that telling  us well although the majority of the color being   reflected back is orange there are some mixtures  of other wavelengths being reflected back as well   just not as intensely as orange and this gives  us the different color variations that we see   all right next up discovering the three behaviors  of light alright when it comes to light we can   categorize it into three types of behaviors and  it also has four unique characteristics now we've   already talked about some of these behaviors  previously but we didn't define them as we will   now so let's first go over the behaviors and we'll  cover the characteristics in the next tutorial   now you may be wondering why would you want to  know the behaviors of light and how does that   actually help you with your photography well when  you learn how to predict light's behavior that is   essentially the first step towards understanding  how to control it remember everything you've   learned about light so far builds on the  next lesson and each in turn will help you   better understand and master light so the three  types of behaviors are reflection absorption   and transmission so a reflection occurs when the  light reflects off of a surface now as you learned   previously as light hits the surface it basically  bounces off of it then the different colored   wavelengths that are reflected give the object  its color so the reflection of light can actually   happen in a couple of different ways depending on  the surface of that object as well as the texture   of the surface so we can define these types of  reflections into two categories specular and   diffused reflections so specular reflections occur  on very smooth surfaces like a mirror metal or   even water especially when that water is calm when  light hits a mirror it bounces off 99.9 percent   of the light and that's why you're able to see  yourself in a mirror other mirror-like surfaces   like the room of a car or the side of it will  not reflect as much light like a mirror that is   depending on the surface if it's shiny or dull  it's going to reflect the object more or less   depending on the texture of that surface but on  some level all objects reflect light which is   why we can that's right see them so let's take a  deep dive into specular reflection with a little   bit of a scientific explanation when it comes  to reflections there's a term called the law of   reflection which simply means you can predict what  angle the light will bounce back at so based on   this law of reflection when light hits your mirror  or another smooth surface like metal or water   it's not just reflecting the light it's actually  following a very simple law as follows the light   will bounce off the surface at the same angle at  which it hit so what are diffused reflections well   a diffused reflection occurs when light strikes  a surface that is irregular or something with a   texture you end up with a diffused reflection when  light hits a textured surface the light will be   scattered in all different directions instead of  at the same angle like with a specular reflection   and in most cases objects that do not have  a specular reflection are then considered   diffused reflections although most objects have a  combination of both a smooth and textured surface   and we can definitely see that in this photo  of my daughter the majority of this image is   diffused reflections but her jewelry would be  considered a that's right a specular reflection   not only that but if you take a closer look at her  eyes they too are specular since her surroundings   are being reflected in them so the type of surface  and the amount of texture will determine if it's   actually specular or diffused reflections so  here's a quick pro tip for those of you that shoot   portraits and pets one of the biggest mistakes  i see from portrait photographers are eyes that   are very dark or almost pure black if you lay  your portraits properly the eye should have a   reflection of the surroundings or at least a catch  light and you should be able to decipher between   the pupil and the iris since one has color and the  other is black all right so the second behavior   of light is being absorbed by the object or the  surface every object absorbs some wavelengths of   light and reflects others anything being reflected  as you know is the color you see but when it   comes to the light being absorbed it can alter  elements in regards to how bright or dark it is   for this image the available light is evenly  spread throughout the scene yet there's a large   tonal range of light values the water itself is  reflecting more light than the rock formations and   the rocks are then absorbing more light and that  makes them darker alright so the third behavior   of light is transmission so transmission is when  light hits an object's surface and then passes   through it for example when light passes through a  window that is transmission in action there's also   another type of transmission called diffused  transmission and this is similar to diffused   reflections in that the light will be scattered  but the difference is the light doesn't scatter   until it passes through a surface in this image  diffused transmission is occurring when the   sunlight travels through the clouds another thing  that can happen with the transmission of light   is when it passes through an object filled with a  color it will then pass on or transmit that color   onto another object and in this image we have a  large canvas tent covering our main subjects but   it's not blocking the light entirely some of that  light is transmitting through it and the color of   the canvas which has a bit of a yellowish tone  to it is being cast onto the subjects alright   so those are the three behaviors of light next  you'll discover the four characteristics of light   alright so far we've covered a lot about the  technicalities of light and it's all led us   to this point in elevating your mastery of light  what you're about to learn is going to change how   you currently see light and it all has to do with  the four characteristics of light this includes   the quality intensity color and direction of light  each of these is essential to understanding how to   use light to achieve your creative vision so let's  start off with the quality of light in essence the   quality of light is basically determining whether  or not the light is soft or hard but you're   probably wondering how can light be soft or hard  well let's take a look at two images and this will   better illustrate the difference between hard and  soft light so our first image here on the left is   considered to be hard light and the image on the  right is considered to be lit with soft light and   you'll notice that the highlights are very bright  and the shadows are very dark in the first image   plus the edges of the shadows have a hard edge  to them if you compare that to the other image   you can see that the highlights are not  as bright and the shadows are not as dark   and the transition from highlight to shadows has a  much smoother transition versus the hard light now   at first you may think that the quality of light  isn't that big of a deal that is until you have   to decide the quality of light that you may want  to use in order to set the mood of an image or to   fulfill your creative vision for example when  shooting portraits you should decide ahead of   time whether you want hard or soft light and again  that depends on your goal for the final image for   example let's say you're photographing a newborn  should you use soft light or hard light well think   back to images you've seen of newborns what was  the quality of light i bet that the majority of   them were lit with soft light why is that well  soft light tends to be more flattering for   newborns and portraits in general but if the mood  you are trying to create represents a strength or   maybe you want to create something mysterious then  a hard light would work better so the question is   how you create soft or hard light well one way  is based on the size of your light source and   in general the larger the light source the softer  the light will be and the distance of the light to   your subject can also change it from hard to soft  alright so the second characteristic of light is   intensity and light sources can have different  intensities this can include very bright to dim   and everything in between one of the most intense  types of light sources is direct sunlight on a   sunny day on the other end of the spectrum you  have stars that appear very dim light bulbs are   somewhere in the middle depending on how powerful  they are but there's a catch the closer you are   to a light source the more intense it's going to  be for example if you're reading a book next to   a lamp the light will be fairly bright but if you  move 100 feet away from that lamp it's not going   to be as bright or as intense so the intensity  of the light source depends on how close you are   to it and we have a new handy dandy law that  helps us better understand how this works   so let me introduce you to the inverse square law  this law states that the brightness of your light   on your subject will be less intense the farther  you move away from the light source and in fact   the light on your subject will appear twice as dim  as the distance moved away from the light source   no worries you don't have to be a math wizard to  utilize this law of light instead all you need to   remember is the distance and the brightness are  not linear in other words as you move away from   a light source it will quickly become less bright  and the reason for this is the light becomes less   intense because it's spreading out over a larger  area the further it goes away from your subject   another way to change the intensity of light is  by diffusing the light and this can be achieved   by placing something that is transparent or will  allow something to transmit light through it   and thereby diffusing that light as it passes  through and remember when light transmits through   something it becomes a scattered light  and the result is a softer light and a   common type of diffuser for photographers and even  cinematographers is what is known as a softbox or   umbrellas all right so the third characteristic  of light is the direction of the light and this   is another important consideration when  creating the type of image that you want   in essence the direction of light can  basically come from any direction but   in photography you'll find four basic lighting  terms to describe the direction of lighting used   this includes side lighting overhead back and  front lighting now these four basic directions   of light can dramatically change the appearance  of the subject in your photograph and this is   because the direction of the light will determine  where the highlights shadows and mid-tones will   be in your image now in general when lighting  your subject or your scene you have at least   one main source of light and it will generally  fall into one of those four categories however you   are not limited to just one light all of the time  and this can be due to having lights reflecting   off of different objects within the scene or  you can add additional lights to the scene   and then add them so that they come in different  directions now this brings us to some other terms   you're going to hear as a photographer when  we're discussing multiple sources of light for   your particular scene or your subject and those  terms are key fill and ambient light so if you   take an image outside from direct sunlight then  that light source will be coming from overhead   the sunlight is then considered not only to be the  main light but it's also referred to as key light   now this type of lighting is unflattering  because it can cause deep shadows in people's   eyes now what you can do in that situation is use  another light source which will be known as the   fill light and this type of light will come from a  direction either from the side or in front of the   subject and by doing this you will add light into  those shadow areas created by the overhead light   and it will create a more pleasing portrait  and it's even possible to have a third type   of light that already exists in the scene like  a lamppost or if you're shooting inside then   maybe there are lamps in the background and  this creates what is known as ambient light   all right so the fourth characteristic of light  is color now as you may remember in a previous   lesson we talked briefly about the technicals of  light and how different wavelengths create the   colors of light and what we're going to do now is  we're going to go over how different sources of   light will emit different colors of light what  it basically comes down to is different light   sources will produce different colors of light  and the general range of colors goes from red   to white to blue and in photography terms this  color of light is measured on a temperature scale   and one of the terms you're going to hear in  photography when it comes to the temperature   of light is the kelvin temperature so the  kelvin temperature is basically the scale   on which different light sources are placed within  that scale based on the colors they emit so red is   going to be very warm and on the opposite end  of the scale you will have blue which would   be considered cool now a sunrise for example will  emit a very warm color of light and the yellow to   orange to red colors tungsten lighting will also  emit a warm color in the yellow to orange range   now you could even get a different color from the  sun as well when you have direct sunlight it's not   as warm as sunrise or sunset and direct sunlight  in mid-afternoon is going to be closer to yellow   to white in addition to that the light from the  sun will change again on an overcast day when   that light transmits through the clouds it ends up  becoming not only softer but also cooler or bluer   then you're also going to notice depending on  the scene you could have a range of cool to warm   temperatures in that same scene for example you  could have direct sunlight emitting yellow light   and also have blue light in your scene as well  and you're going to notice these blue cooler   temperatures in the shadows so the next time you  go outside take a look at everything around you   and try and view the different colors of light  within the area that you're viewing and the thing   is you may not have noticed it before because  your eyes automatically adjust to these different   colors and we just accept it as it is but if you  make an effort to view those different colors   in the different areas of a particular scene and  you look for those colors then you will notice the   variety of blues and yellows throughout a scene  and here's the thing knowing and seeing this light   is important when it comes to your photography  and that's because the color of light can affect   the mood of your photos and there's a specific  camera setting that allows you to adjust the color   of light based on your creative vision that  camera setting is known as the white balance   and you may remember we did cover the white  balance previously to learn more about the   white balance and the kelvin temperature make  sure to check out the corresponding sections in   the premium course to elevate your mastery of  light alright it's now time to take a look at the   third key to creating exceptional images and that  is composition but what exactly is composition   well composition is the placement or arrangement  of visual elements and a work of art as distinct   from the subject it can also be thought of as the  organization of the elements of art according to   the principles of art in its simplest terms  composition means putting it together so what   exactly are we putting together well different  elements within a scene make up a particular   image and these different elements could  include lines like the horizon of a sunset   or steps leading somewhere shapes like statues  or works of art color throughout an image   or a main color scheme compositional techniques  known as the rule of thirds or rule of space to   name a couple of photography rules and there could  be other elements that make up your image as well   this could include people or other subjects  that you may be photographing and even light   can play as a compositional element so how you  put all of these elements together in your image   will determine if you're able to hold the  viewer's interest in the photo so when someone   looks at your photo does it grab their interest  and make them say wow that's an amazing photo   and they continue looking at it study it  even and possibly share it via social media   all of which is the goal of any image  you create isn't it to create something   so amazing that people are in awe of your artwork  composition can help hold that viewer's attention   by arranging the elements to create a mood or a  story now on the other hand if you get composition   wrong then you lose your viewers interest and your  photo becomes just another average photo among the   billions created every year so here's a poorly  composed photo i did for an engagement session   and for this image i used a technique known as the  rule of thirds and i placed a couple in the right   third of the frame and just so you know you'll  learn more about the rule of thirds later in this   photography course now although i used a so-called  rule in photography that doesn't mean i've created   a great composition and that's due to having  too many elements competing for your attention   so our primary subjects the couple are in the  foreground but there's a lot of stuff in the   background competing for your attention as well  so we have the detroit tigers logo the name of   the ballpark a bat coming out of the future  groom's head and a lot more it's a total mess   now based on what you've learned so far in this  photography course what could i have done better   for this composition well the main thing would  have been to blur out the background more with   a larger aperture to create more separation  between the foreground and the background and   there's other things that could have done as  well but we'll get into that another day now   when it comes to composition it's ideal to have  the main element as the focal point of your image   then you can use other composition techniques  to direct your viewer around the image and then   back to the main focal point when it comes to  composition techniques and rules there's over   30 of them each of them can help you create  amazing images so what i'd like to do now is   share the more popular techniques and my favorite  so we're going to start off with a quick overview   of each technique and then i'll share over 25  images and the composition techniques that i used   for each image all right one of the most popular  compositional rules that photography beginners   should know is the rule of thirds now keep in mind  when i say rule it isn't a hard rule it's more   of a guideline or rule of thumb now the rule of  thirds suggests that an image should be imagined   as divided into nine equal parts those parts are  created from two equally spaced horizontal lines   and two equally spaced vertical lines then we  have four points where the lines intersect so this   rule suggests that by placing your main element  along with one of these grid lines or better yet   intersecting at one of the main four points you'll  create a stronger more meaningful composition that   will grab your viewers attention by drawing  their eyes to the main element of your artwork   now you could also use the grid lines to divide  your scene into thirds which simply means you can   use one of these three horizontal rows to place  your main elements in and this works really well   for landscape images or instead of using one of  the horizontal rows you can use one of the three   vertical columns to place your main subject  in and this works well for numerous types   of subjects and i tend to use this a lot for the  portrait photography work that i do okay i'm gonna   share some more images that follow the rule of  thirds later on first let's take a look at another   composition technique known as leading lines this  is another easy technique to use to direct your   viewers attention to the main element and that is  because you'll find lines everywhere in your scene   so lines come in all different types shapes  and sizes so let's go over some characteristics   of these lines and we'll take a look at  multiple images later on so lines can come in   three different types of angles horizontal  vertical or diagonal they can also be long   short or anywhere in between and they don't have  to be straight either they can even have curves to   them and they don't have to physically be there  either a line can actually be implied but all   lines have something very similar and common and  that is lines will guide your viewers on where   to look within your photo and that's because your  eyes will naturally follow lines based on their   direction so you can use lines as a way of getting  your viewer to focus on the main subject and   other elements in a scene as well the next  compositional technique is one of my favorites   and it's known as framing in essence a frame is  something visual that surrounds your subjects   like a picture frame a frame doesn't have to  be anything specific you can use any elements   in your scene to frame your main subject all  right as you now know light is the second key   to creating exceptional images but light can do  much more than just illuminate your scene it can   also be a compositional element all by itself  so when it comes to your light source you have   an infinite number of options from the stars  to the moon studio strobes a lamp in your home   and much more and the source of your light  doesn't have to be part of the image itself   to affect the composition and this is due to  something you learned previously and that is   the characteristics of light which are intensity  quality direction and the color of light so   the characteristics of light can shape your  main subject and will affect the composition   but you can also include the source of light  or a secondary light as part of the composition   and i'll share images of both coming up real soon  first let's review one more composition technique   and this one is a little less known versus  the others however it can play a vital role   in telling a story about your subjects and that is  using expressions as part of your composition now   depending on your subject it can be easy or  difficult to get the expression you desire   to tell the story or to capture the true essence  of that person all right let's jump into lightroom   now and i'm going to share some photos showing  how i've used these compositional rules and   techniques all right so this first image of our  daughter is not a strong image when it comes to   some of the composition techniques we've talked  about but the expression is the main compositional   technique used by capturing her mood at  this point in time during the photo shoot   later on in the photo shoot about 20 minutes  later she was having enough and she was done   so expressions are a great way to tell a story  based on the subjects that you're photographing   this next image i captured with a mamiya rgb67  about 18 or 19 years ago and although i do   have the rule of thirds being applied in here  with the couple in the center it's not a very   strong composition based on the rule of thirds by  itself instead these leading lines on this wall   bring us into the image and direct us directly  to the couple so i believe the leading lines in   this image are the strongest composition technique  used in this particular image our next image again   not a strong composition really not using the rule  of thirds instead we have another great expression   telling us the story of this young man's day  and i've included enough elements in the image   to help tell the story and if you know exactly  what he's doing at this time let me know in the   comments below this next image is not a very good  image it's actually pretty poor it's out of focus   and that's because i captured this image at night  as you can see at a very slow shutter speed of   under one second so i was hand holding this and  it created camera shake but i include this image   because i want to talk about the composition  of this image and how it relates to   where you may be going on your vacations or images  that you capture in general so as you can see we   have a railing in the front we have some leading  lines directing us throughout the image as well as   these leading lines from inside the top and bottom  of the rails here they're kind of curving so if   your eye comes down here maybe it picks up one  of these curves and it comes back in through the   image at different points so it's allowing you to  travel across the image from one side to the other   top and down behind it you can see there's a  lot of lights going on it's kind of hard to see   what it is but this is niagara falls now in your  lifetime you've probably seen thousands of images   from niagara falls and they all pretty much look  the same don't they but this image is different   from anything else you've ever seen i decided  to shoot through the railing and use the railing   as a frame and to use the leading lines to direct  us throughout the image and i wanted to include   the niagara falls as a secondary element to what's  going on in the foreground but we still know it's   the niagara falls at least now that i've told you  or if you've been here before you know this is   niagara falls now this is on the canadian side  not the american side so my point is you've seen   millions of photos of this location and probably  other locations too like a lot of locations   at yosemite park the grand canyon the eiffel  tower etc so all of these locations that are   hot spots for tourists are receiving millions of  photos taken every year at these locations and   they all look the same so my point is try and find  something different to stand out from the crowd   think of a new different type of composition  technique that you can apply to your images   to capture that location but to show it in a  different light try a different angle different   perspective that way your images don't look  like everybody else's all right next image here   we have the couple on the right side of the  rural thirds and we have some leading lines   on this bridge that take us throughout the image  and back again towards the couple this next image   i'm using rule of thirds again her feet are  in this quadrant right down here on this point   and there's another compositional technique being  used as well which is contrast so her dress here   and the sand are contrasting from the skin  of her feet and the color of her toenails   so our eyes tend to come towards her feet because  they're different from the large areas of contrast   from the dress and the sand now the whiteness of  the dress itself is grabbing our eyes attention as   well so we come up here and we look around up here  but because of the contrast we come back down to   this area over here rule of thirds again we have  the couple in the left quadrant and the corvette   is taking up two thirds of that quadrant now this  image could be better the background should have   been blurred out even more it looks like i shot  at f4 at 28 millimeters so i should have used a   larger f-stop like 2.8 or even 1.4 with a 50  millimeter lens i just didn't have an option   to shoot at this angle with a larger focal  length because i couldn't back up anymore   so other than that i like the composition and of  course i could have blurred out this background   in photoshop but i haven't done that yet but  i do like how the couple is on the left side   and then the corvette has some leading lines  here bringing us back towards the couple   same couple same car rule of thirds again they're  up at the top and we have a leading line from here   back up towards the couple and then for this next  image we have the rule of thirds again but we also   have some leading lines in a few different places  so the main one would be this set of bricks here   that's creating this column so we have a leading  line bringing us back down towards the couple   we also have some shadows here so if our eyes  navigate away we can see that these shadows have   a diagonal line bringing us back to the column  here and then this one brings us back here you can   also say that i'm framing the couple between two  windows so there's a few different compositional   techniques being used as well as this leading  line down here as well this next one we have what   is known as a juxtaposition that's a composition  technique as well that we haven't talked about so   basically if you grew up in the 70s and you  watched sesame street then you may remember   one of the lyrics was one of these things belong  one of these things don't so that's juxtaposition   so we have this large building this architecture  here along with a couple so that's the   juxtaposition so we have a lot of different  things going on in here as far as composition   we have our rule of thirds we also have leading  lines coming back towards the couple on this   railing here there's some patterns in here that  have some leading lines coming back to them as   well but they're being blocked by these columns  but these large tall columns here coming back   down to the railing so in essence we can say that  if you come over here and look over here maybe   your eye gravitates back down towards this railing  and then back towards the couple and then we have   implied leading lines with the direction that our  couple is looking so naturally you're going to be   thinking to yourself subconsciously what are  they looking at well let me see well there's   really nothing going on over here it's a lot of  open space you see the architecture and those   leading lines bring you back this next image of  the groom getting ready for the wedding ceremony   was captured inside of this door frame so i'm  using framing to frame the groom we have some   leading lines inside of here as well that lead us  back to the groom as well and some on the outside   but the main composition technique is the framing  of the groom in this doorway i'm using framing   again for this bride getting ready this  is a back of a chair it had a hole in it   and i decided to use that to frame the bride so  again wedding photographers there's a ton of them   thousands in my area so i have to do  something different to stand out so my   images don't look like everybody else's so try  and find different angles perspectives again   and use different composition techniques to make  your work stand out rule of thirds for this bride   here and i'm using the leading lines here of  the bricks to direct us back towards the bride   again the background i didn't do a very good job  blurring that out i should have again i'm at f4 at   40 millimeters i should have done 200 millimeters  at 2.8 and that would have helped to blur out the   background sometimes you just got to get the shot  because you don't have a lot of time especially   when you're shooting weddings rule of thirds again  for this image we have a lot of leading lines   in these buildings here bringing us back towards  the couple leading lines again same couple so   the buildings top to bottom are the leading lines  bringing us back down we have a leading line here   and i'm also using light as a compositional  technique as well to help balance this image   as well as create these rays of light coming from  the sun diagonally to the right which is another   leading line right here now in this next image  i'm using light as part of the composition as well   and you could say that i'm using color as part of  the composition as well but it's being done poorly   in this particular image because we have this red  door in the background and it's competing for our   attention with this couple right here which is  the main subject so this is not a good use of   color in the composition so i could tone this  down or desaturate this door in photoshop to   lessen that color from competing for our attention  and there's a lot of leading lines here in the   bricks to bring us back to the main couple it's  just that color of door is kind of distracting   my daughter again we're using rule of thirds and  we have leading lines over here on the right side   directing us back towards her again  for this image i'm using the light as   the main compositional element but there's  some other things going on in here as well   we have a door frame so i am using framing as part  of the composition technique but because of this   light source right here it's so bright  that's the first area that our eyes   navigate to because of the brightness then  you begin to navigate around that light to   see what's going on and then you notice that this  bride's mate here and this one holding the light   are both looking down so it's kind of telling a  story of what's going on in this moment what are   they looking for well if you want to know let me  know in the comments below now behind them there's   two more stories we have the bride and another  bridesmaid or her mother right here and then   behind them we have two more bridesmaids doing  something else now i think these four people   in this image detract from the main story which  is right here so again a large aperture of 1.4   probably would have been better to blur out these  people here so that they weren't part of the story   but again you have to get the shot with what you  have available i would probably blur everybody   out in the background in photoshop to make  this a stronger composition for this image i'm   using action as part of the composition as well  as texture most brides dresses do not have this   amount of texture so i cropped in real tight  to focus on the dress itself and not the bride   with the dress we can see there's a lot of texture  she's doing something leaning lines of her arms   bring us into that action for this image again i'm  using a couple of different composition techniques   i'm using framing from this piece of furniture  here to frame the dress and then i'm using this   artwork here to balance out the image because  it's kind of heavy on the right side and i'm kind   of using the rule of thirds as well so this frame  here is balancing the side without it it would be   too heavy and unbalanced i'm also using light  as part of the composition which we can see in   the reflection right here which helps tell the  story of the day based on that light source and   the color of light we also have some light coming  over here which is a different color than this   light source here so this would be window light  which is bluer versus the yellow coming on this   side of the dress for this next image i'm using  leading lines and implied leading lines so we can   see the groom is gazing off into this direction  what is he looking at not quite sure so the bench   brings us back to the main subject and again i'm  using rule of thirds next image rule of thirds   again and i'm also utilizing the leading lines of  the hills and the trees here to bring us back to   the couple this one leading lines and framing as  well as rule of thirds so i'm using this bush here   in the foreground with the back one here to frame  them in this area right here one of my favorite   images of this wedding reception included images  of the bride and groom as well as family members   along this clothesline and i position myself in  a way to create a leading line from the couple   into the rest of the image but i wanted to blur  out these images so that the main focus was on   the couple here the use of color is bringing  us into this image and then we can see the   implied leading line of the groom looking off  but the color grabs our attention and then the   lines of that artwork bring us back to the groom  this image again i'm trying to create something   different during the ceremony i'm framing the  guess within this piece of work here artwork i'm   not quite sure what it was but i had an opening or  a little window right here that i peeked through   to capture the guests during the ceremony to  help tell the story and to frame them as the main   subjects once again i'm using framing of  this doorway here to frame the wedding dress   and the inside of the bride's room here where  she was getting ready the one thing i do not like   is this window right here it's very bright and  it's competing with the dress and it's kind of   a distraction so you're looking back and forth  between the two not quite sure what to look at   so if i were to do this over again i would close  these drapes and try and darken up this window   here so the focus would be more on the dress and  the rest of the things going on on the inside   alright so again i'm using leading lines of  the guitar here to get to the main action up   here at the top the one thing i do not like  is the back of these chairs here this was   at the ceremony so what i could have done is i  could have captured this at a different angle   or different perspective to crop out the back of  these chairs i could use the crop tool to crop in   tighter but i don't necessarily get everything in  there that i wanted when i captured it originally   so be aware of your surroundings the foreground  and the background and try and crop out anything   in camera before you take the photo that way  you don't have to worry about fixing it later on   now in this next image i like this image but i  don't like this image what i don't like about   it is this large post right here it's kind of  dominating the image so i had to do something in   photoshop to help bring out this couple a  little bit more so i used color to try and focus   more on the couple versus the surroundings so if  i were to reshoot this i would try and shoot it at   an angle where this post was not in the image but  i do have the framing of the couple going on here   as part of the composition along with the leaning  lines and the colors of their jeans quick shot   of a bug in our garden we have leading lines for  this image and the rule of thirds is heads right   in the middle there not a strong composition  other than the leading lines again i'm using   expressions to create something new and different  for this engagement session and their expressions   kind of give you an idea of their personalities  so when photographing people try and capture their   true essence by capturing expressions that tell us  who they are or what their personalities are like   and then this next image of the same couples  a little bit more somber traditional classic   however you want to say it so what i did is i  used the surroundings to frame them on the left   side which is the rule of thirds and i framed  them between this railing down here and this   railing up here and then if your eyes gravitate  away from them this leading line of the railing   will bring you back to the couple if you gravitate  to this side the top of the railing or down here   will bring you back based on this leading line  back towards the couple for this image we have   juxtaposition going on again we have a large  building taking up the majority of the image and   then the leading lines bring us back towards the  couple over here and i'm utilizing rule of thirds   for this next image i'm using two main composition  techniques any idea which ones i'm using   well if you said framing you would be  correct and i'm also using color as part of   the composition now for this next image it's  really really busy there's a lot going on here   but i do like this image because it's different  again you've seen photos of couples millions of   times but how many photos have you seen where  the couple are posed in this way probably   not very many if at all so what could i have done  better well the background here is really busy we   have a lot going on the lights are dominating  the top portion we have a number down here so   i could have blurred out the background and used  a shallow depth of field of 2.8 or 1.4 but again   i wasn't in a position or i couldn't use a  larger focal length or a shallower depth of field   based on what i was trying to capture at the  time which was the two numbers here plus the   lights in the background so as you can see i shot  this at 14 millimeters at f5 so it's a very large   depth of field so i would have to fix this in  photoshop other than that i like how the couple   are framed between these two lights here and then  we have the 50 yard line here as a leading line   bringing us into the main subjects here which are  the couple again i'm using framing to frame the   couple in the doorway and then during the editing  process i applied color as part of the composition   and then in this next image i'm using framing  and leading lines and for this one i'm using   framing plus color so there's two different colors  being utilized to grab our attention the first   is the same color tone that i applied here which  is a beige rustic retro type of feel or tone to   it and then we have the color of his tie which is  contrasting with everything else in the image and   that's grabbing the viewer's attention because of  that contrast and it's fine that we're focusing   on that tie because it brings us towards the  main subject which is the couple and the framing   inside of this doorway helps as well this  next image is the same building that i shot   here i just cropped in tighter this time and again  i placed each into the columns here to frame them   inside of there and then i had them look in  opposite directions to create implied lines   and those implied lines intersect with each other  and keep us focused on the couple leading lines   and framing again as well as that color tone that  i applied previously for this next image i'm using   color and texture as part of the composition  techniques but color trumps the texture because   it's so much brighter and different and contrasts  with the textures in the image that our eyes   naturally navigate to this area first because  of that color now this next image is one of my   favorite images i captured on a family vacation in  new york we were walking through this tunnel here   i stopped to capture this image so i could use the  edging of the tunnel here to frame this side of   the park and there were people on the stairs and  the bridge and i think my kids were on the railing   so i had to remove all of them to get this final  image this image i'm using a macro lens so a lot   of it is out of focus but i'm using color as  the main composition technique to bring us into   this image for this image i'm utilizing leading  lines as well as the rule of thirds they're both   right here on this point for this image i'm  using framing again to frame the couple within   the image again i'm using three different types  of techniques we have framing leading lines and   color so there's a lot going on but because of  each of the different composition techniques   our eyes always gravitate back towards the  couple in this image for this one i'm using   the leading lines of the background here  as well as framing the girl's legs between   her fiance's legs right here this next image  again probably different from what you're used   to seeing of couples on their wedding  day we were shooting downtown detroit   and there was a lot of construction going on so  i decided to frame them inside of the top of this   cone right here now in the background  we have this big bright red and yellow   sign it tells a little bit of a story about the  location but i think it's kind of detracting from   the overall image our eyes tend to look right  here first but then this sign is pulling us   into this side of the image so i'm not really  liking the sign in this image same couple again   and i'm utilizing color and framing better in this  image than i did in the previous image and again   same location and i'm utilizing this construction  here to frame them inside of these different   poles right here as well as framing them between  these two colors right here so we have a frame   within a frame as well as leading lines bringing  us back towards the couple nice leading line   leading into the couple as well as rule of thirds  using expressions again to tell the personality of   this couple no she is not a bridezilla they're  just a fun loving couple that wanted to do   something a little bit different and fun kind of  a boring photo i'm utilizing the rule of thirds   though and i blurt out the background to help this  part or this subject to stand out from the rest   another one of my favorite images i'm utilizing  leading lines and the rule of thirds to place   the tree on the right side and the leading lines  of these hills and the foreground here and the   background lead us back to the tree you could also  say that the color of the sky is contrasting with   the tree and that's helping with the composition  of the image as well again rule of thirds this   time i'm placing the gecko in the middle another  rule of thirds image the head of the millipede is   directly on this point right here landscape photo  with the rule of thirds i placed the shoreline   here directly in the center and then for this last  image again a lot going on not a whole lot you can   do when you're about five rows back 10 rows back  whatever it was at the time and you can't really   get a great shot a perfect shot so what do you  do well you do what you can with what you have   and there's some luck involved as well so we  have two different stories going on here we have   the main lead singer right here and we have our  guitarist over here so the lead singer is in   focus but we also have another story going on over  here with the guitarist he's not as sharp as the   lead singer and the guitarist is framed between  these hands all these lights up here have lots of   color and they're all directing our attention  back down towards the band itself which helps   with the composition of this particular image so  overall this was a pretty lucky shot i would say   to get these people in front of me to lift  their hands at the right moment to frame the   musician right here so utilize composition to tell  a story to direct your viewers to the main subject   and to create a stronger better image based on  placing the elements of the scene in a specific   order based on what you want them to see all  right so editing is the fourth key to creating   amazing images and editing is an art form all by  itself we could easily spend hours days weeks even   months talking about editing and you still might  not have mastered it based on your creative vision   not to mention all the different editing software  options and there are numerous editing tools that   will take months to master so i'm going to give  you some tips on what software to use and why and   then you'll have to explore my premium photography  master class to learn more about editing as well   as researching other artists to find out  how to edit your images with your software   of choice but first before we do a quick review  on some software let me show you how editing can   transform ordinary images into extraordinary  for this image it's a pretty boring location   and subject but by replacing the sky and changing  the colors to match a sunset we have a much more   interesting image that being said is this image  still a photograph in a way it is but it's more   of a composite than an original photograph  since i've used another image to transform it   now for this image there's been no editing done  to it yet so this is straight out of the camera   now here's a classic traditional type of editing  style but i wanted to mute the colors and create   a more retro feel which is my preferred editing  style to me this is still a photograph even though   the editing style does not include the natural  colors when i captured this image and i understand   that not everyone is going to like my editing  style which i'm okay with since i'm happy with it   that being said not everyone is going to like your  editing style either so how you edit your image   is going to be based on your creative preference  the problem is at this point you may not know what   your preferred style is or if you do you may not  know how to create it or even which software to   use to create it so the first step is deciding on  what software to use which can be difficult in and   of itself since you have a lot of choices then you  have to spend some time learning the software now   regardless of your choice i'd recommend trying  out two or three applications for a week or two   to get a feel for how the software operates the  tools available and which one you're comfortable   with and whether or not you want to shell out any  money for your editing software is something else   to consider so let's check out a couple of options  to get you started now when it comes to software   you have a lot of choices a lot more than i  had 30 years ago or even 15 to 20 years ago   and at that time photoshop was the dominant  software and i'd say it still is today now   getting photoshop at a decent price is much  more affordable now than it was back in the   90s back then i had a shell out around 800 or  so for a single license and that didn't include   updates which were a couple hundred dollars more  for each update now compare that today when you   can get photoshop for one starbucks coffee or  ten dollars per month plus the photography plan   includes both photoshop and lightroom for that  same ten dollars so basically five dollars each   now the main advantage to adobe software is  they're updated three to four times per year   and they have many more time saving features  versus software that you can get for free plus   much more now another cool feature about photoshop  and lightroom is you can use them on your ipad and   iphone for free which is a great way to try them  out before you pay for the monthly subscription   when it comes to using either one on your laptop  or a desktop you can download a free 7-day trial   now when it comes to which one you should try  first i'd recommend lightroom over photoshop so   photoshop even though it has a lot more tools  and features it's going to take much longer to   master than lightroom so editing your raw files  and lightroom is fairly simple once you get the   hang of using it but there are two different  versions of lightroom there's the desktop or   the classic version and then there's the mobile  version which you can also use on a laptop or   desktop which one you use is dependent on the  features you need to learn more about photoshop   and lightroom check out their playlist in the  description below now if you're more interested in   freeware you can actually get a clone of photoshop  for free and there's also a free alternative for   lightroom both of which i've included a link  to in the description below now one of the   most popular free alternatives to photoshop  is known as [ __ ] which stands for gnu image   manipulation program and [ __ ] includes a lot of  the same tools and features as photoshop although   you won't find all of the time saving artificial  intelligent tools to make your job easier like the   subject select tool which will instantly make a  selection of your subject for you auto magically   now if you're interested in learning more about  [ __ ] i have a [ __ ] for beginners playlist   in the description below to get you started  to continue elevating your photography skills   make sure to get my photography masterclass  that includes over 30 hours of content plus   check out some of my free photography  and editing tutorials here on my channel   via the links in the description below  thanks for watching and have an awesome day

Channel: Parker Photographic

Views: 478,197

Keywords: photography, photography for beginners, photography course, photography basics, learn photography, photography tutorial, beginner photography, free photography course, basics of photography, learn photography for beginners, photography tips for beginners, free photography course for beginners, photography courses, beginners photography course, basic photography course, online photography courses, free online photography courses, photography course for beginners

Id: yhAmMUi2NmM

Length: 241min 28sec (14488 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 25 2021