It's true that old-fashioned film photography is an art form. In fact, in this day and age, that's about all it is, which is somewhat ironic. After all, film photography started off in 1837 as something very few could enjoy or do. As it is turning out, people who enjoy film photography are becoming an exclusive club.
The artistic expression available through film is astounding. If you've never taken a film photography class, you should. It will ultimately make you a better photographer as you will have a full understanding of the art form in general.
However, unless you plan on investing in a darkroom (water, light, equipment), or if you plan on spending quite a bit of money at photo processing labs, you might concentrate most of your efforts on digital photography. In the long term, it's generally less expensive than film, since you print only the photos you want. Also, it provides quite a bit of artistic expression of its own.
Digital photography has often been looked at by film buffs as not being artistic. That simply isn't the case any longer. With the advancement in software programs such as Adobe Photoshop, the digital photographer can take their art as far as their knowledge of the software will take them.
The creativity involved with digitally manipulating an image isn't reserved to expensive programs like Photoshop (though the price of software will be far less than the cost of setting up a darkroom).
In fact, many digital cameras designed for kids and young adults now come with features that allow changes to be made to the digital photo while it's still stored in the camera. The picture can then be uploaded to a computer, in some cases wirelessly.
There are easy photo sharing websites that allow the photographer to manipulate the photo after it's been uploaded to the site. These usually allow for straightforward changes, such as adjusting contrast, taking out the dreaded red eye, cropping, rotating, etc.
Also, digital photographers have the whole world wide web at their fingertips. This isn't to say film buffs can't scan one of their photos in and get it out on the Internet. But let's face it, showing your work to the world is a whole lot easier if the image is already digital.
Once the image is on the Internet and has been enhanced, it's easy to share it with whoever you want. This is another advantage digital creativity has. In the blink of a camera's shutter, you can send your artwork around the world to friends, relatives, potential buyers.
Of course, such ease has its pitfalls as well. Unscrupulous types can copy your image, unless you take precautionary steps such as digital or visual watermarking.
Creativity is a very personal thing, and each person must express his or her self in their own particular way. However, given our busy world, and given the relaxation and contentment that creative expression provides, it's not a bad idea to pick an art form such as digital photography, one that allows you to express yourself quickly and easily.
In order to be a photographer, you must be able to make decisions, not simply point a camera and press a button. Photography can be an important activity as it can help people, adults and children, understand what the media projects every day. Besides that, it is a good hobby, and photography can help people understand the world around them, especially through someone else's eyes. It is a great way to bring together a community project as well.
When you buy a digital camera, you have to know how to take care of it to keep it in its best condition. In order to have the clearest photos possible, you must make sure to regularly clean your optic lens and keep from leaving fingerprints on it. If this happens, parts of your pictures will be blurry, and dirt can build up over time. Not all cleaning products are suitable for a camera lens, so make sure that you don't use tissue paper, any household cleaning solutions, and definitely not saliva. Instead, you should buy the proper products at a camera store, in order to keep your camera at its best.
Most cameras with autofocus provide a two-step shutter release. Depressing the shutter lightly half-way locks the focus; depressing it fully takes the picture. This two-step shutter release allows you to select the part of the picture you want to be in focus (especially if it is not in the middle -- usually the focus zone -- of the screen), depress the shutter release half-way to lock the focus, and then reframe the picture. Your main subject, even if it is not now in the camera's focus zone, will still come out in focus in the final picture. When depressing the shutter, do it gently, not with a jerk. Do not hammer it down with your index finger. Place your index finger on the shutter, and let it rest gently there until you are ready to take the picture. Then depress it gently half-way to lock the focus. Reframe, hold your breath, and then depress it fully, but still gently, to take the picture. This helps you maintain your composition and keep your horizon level.
When you look at a picture where there are objects in the foreground and in the background, you may notice that, besides your main subject, some objects in front of your main subject and going all the way back to behind your main subject are also in focus. This "zone of sharpness" is called the depth of field. The depth of field is dependent on the aperture you are using, the focusing distance, and the size of the projected image. The depth of field decreases as you open up the lens, i.e. as you move to a larger aperture. It decreases as you move closer to your subject. And, at a fixed image size, the depth of field is the same irrespective of the focal length used. You would want to use a shallow depth of field to isolate your main subject from its surroundings, as in a portrait. You can accomplish that by moving in close, by zooming in (again, because it makes the background appear larger and more out of focus) and/or by using a large aperture.
Pictures don't just come out looking right. If you look at some of the pictures you especially like, you will notice that the way the picture was composed probably has a lot to do with it. What we mean by composition is how you place your subject(s) on the blank canvas that's your 4x6. If you mentally divide your screen into three horizontal and three vertical sections, where the lines intersect are focal points. Focal points are what the eyes naturally seek out when they look at a photograph. It therefore stands to reason that a focal point is a good place to position our main subject. It's not a hard and fast rule, so don't go bonkers trying to place your subject right at a focal point.
Landscapes are the opposite end of portraits in the sense that you mostly want all the picture to be in focus. To achieve this effect, use as small a f/stop as your camera allows, say f/16. The smaller the f/stop, the greater the depth of field achieved, and objects near and far will be in focus (again, with consumer digital cameras and the short focal lengths of their lenses, good depth of field is achieved even with 'large' f/stop). You could use the Law of Thirds to capture 1/3 land and 2/3 sky, or the other way round, 2/3 land and 1/3 sky. You would surely want to use a wide-angle lens setting. Adding a foreground object might help achieve a sense of three dimensionality. If water is involved, a slow shutter speed will give the impression of flowing water. If the sea is involved, a polarizing filter will cut glare and give the 'transparent' water effect.
A tripod is a good investment in photography, especially if you want to take panoramic pictures. You'll have to set your tripod in a place where you can swivel the camera smoothly from left to right, and not up and down. You will have to figure out where you want your pictures to overlap, so that you don't have huge gaps in your resulting picture. Once you figure that out, you can swivel your camera in one direction, clockwise or counterclockwise, to take the pictures you want. Once you're done, all you have to do is put them together with a simple graphics program or photo-editing software.
Both Matt Smolsky & David Peters are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Matt Smolsky has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts, Digital Photos and Digital Photography. Matt Smolsky develops marketing programs and has written articles for a variety of clients, including Hoorray, a new website for and. Matt Smolsky's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.
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