I’ve mentioned in my earlier post that exposure is the most important aspect of photography. Now let’s see the various parameters that affect this variable (Exposure).

1. Aperture.
2. Shutter speed.
3. ISO(Sensitivity of the sensor)

Depending on message that you want to convey with the photograph, you can vary of the above parameters to the desired level to achieve correct exposure.

When do I control the Shutter Speed?

To achieve this effect I need more control over the shutter speed. In this case I set my camera to Speed priority (Marked as S in the most of the cameras) and let my camera choose the desired aperture to achieve the right exposure.

When do I control the aperture?

Here the objective is to capture the beauty of the Blue tiger butterfly, so I do not need anything in the background to distract the main subject, in other words I need a shallow depth of field. I can achive this by setting my camera to aperture priority and let the camera decide the shutter speed.

But there is a catch here, I do not have a macro lens to shoot a closeup shot, so I depend on my Nikon 70-300 non VR (Vibration reduction)lens that gives me a minimum aperture setting of 5.6 at 300 mm. Since this is a non VR lens I need to solely depend on a important thumb rule to avoid camera shake spoil the sharpness of the image. The thumb rule is to make sure that the shutter speed is always be grater than the focal length of the lens.

Example: If I have to shoot at a focal length of 300mm I need to make sure that the shutter speed is grater than 300 ie,. 1/500

Since I have ample ambiance light to illuminate my subject I did not worry about the shutter speed so I let my camera chose the shutter speed.

In this sutuation if I do not have enough light then I need to depend on the ISO level. To gain more fstops of shutter speed I can increase the ISO level to achive the same with the expense of noise.

The semiconductor has a valance electron in the outer orbit that is loosely bound to the nucleus of the atom, the electrostatic force between the nucleus and the valance electron is very less, so if the energy required for the valance electron to move from the valance orbit to conduction orbit is supplied as light energy, the electrons in the conduction orbit starts conducting electricity and emits a electrical pulse equivalent to that of the intensity of the light.

I’ve tried to explain this fact as simple as possible, I didn’t want to use any technical jargons and confuse. I think this explanation is up to the point. Just to add to the above explanation, I want to mention 3 most commonly used visible light detecting sensor, they are photo diode, CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxisw Semiconductor), CCD (Charge Coupled Device).

A photo diode is used has only two states ON & OFF, ON when there is light and off when no light. Where as CMOS sensors are designed for still photography and CCD is designed for video cameras. After reading this explanation the obvious question that pops up in our mind is how do we distinguish the color of the light.  Hold on I’ll explain this in my next post.

Are you a photographer?

Can we consider anyone who has the intent of photographing is a photographer? My answer will be NO.

Photographer is a person who possess a complete control over the amount of light that is allowed to fall on the image sensor/ flim.

So the maturity or the  skill set a photographer possess is directly proportional to the degree of control over the amount of light that falls on the camera digital sensor/flim.

Having said the above, How do we classify a Good photographer from a Bad photographer?

Frankly no one can term a photographer as bad.. because that any photograph will look good or convey the necessary message from the point of view of the photographer who photographed it. So just because a observer finds a photograph to be boring or couldn’t get the message out doesn’t mean that he/she who photographed it is a bad photographer.

But only a photographer himself can rate himself as good or bad if his…

Expected results = Actual results —-> Good photographer.

Expected results ≠ Actual results —-> Bad Photographer.

* When I mean results, I mean the photograph.

So If I feel I have done a excellent photography and I love the photograph I shot, I can indeed consider myself as a good photographer. I do not need anyone to acknowledge my work as excellent piece of art, as long as I proclaim it within myself. So lets stop thinking about the comments we received for our photo as good or bad and start following our heart. Any photo is not bad unless you tag it as bad and no photo is good unless you really got what you expected.

But in case you need to publish your work and want others to admire and acknowledge your work, then you need to follow some standard set protocols and make the message in the photograph very much clear for the desired audience  to understand.

Photography

Let me define what is photography in my own words.. It’s very self explanatory indeed. Photo-graphy, Photo = light (Derived from ‘Photon’ the particles of light, if we assume the particle nature of light to be true ) graphy= writing something, a work, an art, or a field of study. Having defined what is photography, let’s move into the subject and learn more on what is what on photography.

Photography constitutes three things:

1. The photographer (who photographs the subject).

2. The Medium/Tool used for photographing.

3. The Subject (What is being photographed).

Classical photography techniques revolved around the above 3 components of photography. Until recently the fourth element was introduced into the world of photography “Computer”, however I wouldn’t call it a forth element but a technology that changed the tools used by a photographer. This technology changed the life of every photographer and made everyone as photographer, I mean the simplification of the tools used for photography made even a layman to be able to point and shoot a photograph.

To begin with let’s consider two factors/elements as constants (The medium/tool and the subject) then the only element that plays a important role in determining the what is being photographed is the photographer.