A Quick Snapshot into Photography - Basic Photography Concepts

For this episode of photography, we figured that we would provide you with a quick guide of the basics of this discipline.

Why Photography?

Photography is a fantastic medium to work with when considering the way in which it allows us to capture beautiful moments in realtime.

The immediacy and the potential within its power also make this medium an incredibly impactful and satisfying type of artmaking.

Also, photography can easily be applied to other projects. Be it a collage, painting or even your own journal, photos can easily be worked into the process.

So let’s get started!

Photography - The Basics

Framing & Composition

One of the most important aspects of photography is, without a doubt, framing and composition. With clever composition, you can create a story that is compelling, interesting and unique to you.

Some key concepts leading to composition are as follows:

Leading Lines - This refers to the subtle inclusion of linear elements within photography that help guide the viewer’s eye to core points within the photograph. These lines create paths for the eye to follow.

Rules of Thirds - This refers to mentally splitting up space within a photograph into more tiny grids. An example of this can be seen below:

Once this kind of grid is applied to an image, you can then position the most important parts of an image in your scene along these lines. This helps create a compelling and sharp image. The grid setting can easily be applied to almost all kinds of digital cameras and phones.

Tip: If your phone does not have a grid option in the camera, you can use Instagram’s photo-taking option to take photos with a visible grid.

For more information on using the grids, check out this guide.

Repetition

Repetition in photography is a common technique in this practice that allows for the patterns that naturally occur in everyday life to create a beautiful aesthetic response. Some samples of repetition that can be seen in photography include repeating objects, lines and colours.

Sample:

Breaking repetition can also be an incredibly effective technique to use. See examples below:

Editing

Editing is also an incredibly important aspect of photography. With great editing, you get the chance to refine conceptualise your work in a whole new way. Think of editing as the final pieces in a photograph’s puzzle.

Some common aspects to consider when editing include:

Cropping - This basically refers to what you’re going to make visible and what you are going to remove from an image.

Exposure and Contrast Adjustments - Exposure adjustments affect the amount of light that are you are adding to the image. Adjustments can be made if an image is too dark or if you’re deliberately going for an overexposed effect.

Contrast Adjustments can also be applied. Changing the contrast affects the overall appearance of textures, highlights, shadows, clarity and colour.

Sharpening - With photo sharpening software, you can help improve the clarity of certain aspects within images. By working to improve sharpness, photographic subjects can appear more in focus.

White Balance - White balance basically refers to the removal of unrealistic colours within images. This helps adjusts the colour temperature. Colour temperature impacts the overall mood of a photograph as it provides a sense of warmth or coolness to an image.

Free tools for editing photographs can include:

- Note: This app does contain additional in-app purchases.

Basic DSLR Principles

When using SLR or DSLR cameras there is a need to consider the following three elements when taking photographs with these devices:

ISO - The measurement of sensitive to an image sensor. This is an element to consider when setting your camera up to shoot as higher increase exposure but can also increase image grains. The key thing is to set a balance.

Shutter Speed - Shutter speed refers to the amount of time that a digital sensor (or film if it’s an SLR camera) is exposed to the light. This longer the sensor is exposed to light the brighter the image gets.

Playing with this aspect of photography can also be great for night-time shots. If you have a tripod or a stand. You can use a longer exposure time to create cool effects like what can be seen below:

Aperture

This is a unit of measurement that determines the size of the hole (or opening) in the lens. Depending on the size of the hole, the amount of light, as well as the range of elements in focus can change.

It is important to ensure that all three of these components are proportionally balanced when creating works as this helps ensure that your images are as crisp and as in focus as possible.

See the guide below for more information.

Exercise: Take a snapshot

For this segment of the Table of Plenty program, we recommend a bit of a photographic expedition. Explore your local areas and try and find 5 scenes in the public that appeal to you and capture them on camera.

They can be portraits, landscapes, abstract photos - it’s really up to you!

Once you capture these, print them and place them in your journal. It’s all part of your process! You can also share them online or keep them in a private portfolio.

Some samples include:

Share Your Art

Once you’ve completed the exercise or if you just have something cool to show us, take photos, videos or scans of your journal or work in progress and share it via social media. Make sure you tag us @lostinbookssydney or use the hashtag #TofPArtStudio so we can see it.

You can also submit your artwork by emailing to art@lostinbooks.com.au to receive feedback from our artists Huy and Lili, and for a chance to be featured in our online Art gallery.

SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK

OPEN STUDIO

Cost: $100 per student/term | Location: Lost In Books, 2/4o Harris St, Fairfield, NSW 2165

Creative Kids vouchers accepted. Click here to apply.

Our TABLE OF PLENTY open access studio creates an encouraging, open and safe environment where individuals can gain a sense of agency through creativity and art with the intent to unify and strengthen the already strong ties within our community. We look forward to welcoming our participants!

Term 1 dates and times to be advised. Register to be on the waitlist.

Episode 3. Finding Your feet: Photography