1. Photography Skills
21ST JUNE 2013

2. Depth of Field
 Depth of field in photography is usually described as the amount of
the frame that is in sharp focus. When we look at a scene with our
naked eye almost everything appears sharp. But that is not the case
when we compose the same scene with cameras. Some part of it is
blurred out. The more the frame is in sharp focus, the more is the
depth of field and vice versa.

3.  Depth of field (DOF) depends on two factors:
aperture and distance of the subject from camera
(magnification). Wider aperture and closer subject give the
shallower DOF.
 There is an inverse relationship between the aperture of your lens
and the depth of field. Narrower is the aperture more is the depth of
field. Usually when you set your lens to f/1.2 or f/1.4 (in a prime lens)
or f/2.8 (in a zoom lens) a soft blur is created around the back and
front of the subject. This is also known as bokeh. When this happens
only a small part of the frame (depending on where you’re
focusing) is n sharp focus and the rest is blurred out.

4.  When you reduce the aperture the whole frame starts to get into
sharp focus. The narrower the aperture the sharper is the image. As
you move from of f/4 or f/5.6 all the way to f/11 and beyond the
images get sharper and sharper. The reason is the light rays
reflected against the subject and passing through the aperture gets
refracted by the front element of the lens and meets the sensor at a
precise point creating a sharp image. Narrower the aperture more
precise is this meeting of light creating a sharper image and thus
bigger depth of field. However, after certain point increasing
aperture number will give greater DOF, but you’ll start to loose
sharpness. This phenomenon is called Diffraction.

5. Depth of field also depends upon the kind of lens that you use. A wide
angle prime lens offers more soft blur because it has a wider aperture. But
if you stop down to f/8 and even narrower, a large depth of field can be
created. A wide angle lens reduces the perspective of the subject as it fits
in more inside the frame; also know as field of view. As such a hut on the
beach will appear smaller than the actual real life size when the picture is
finally taken. On the other tele lenses have an effect of increasing the size
of the subject on the final image. The higher magnification allows you to
capture more detail of the subject but also reduce the field of view and
the depth of field.

6. Basic tips to play around with depth
of field
 Set your aperture to a minimum of f/8 to make sure you have a
good platform to start with. Always ensure that you zoom out and
exploit the widest limits of your lens, even if you’re using a tele lens.
Tele lenses have a narrow maximum aperture so once you have
zoomed out completely you may still have an aperture of f/4 to start
off. Wide angle lenses can pack in a lot provided you can start at
f/8 or even narrower. When shooting landscape or any other
subject, never focus on the infinity. Always focus on something
closer so that you have a sharp depth of field behind the point
where you’re focusing.

7. Rule of Thirds(ROTH)

8. What is Rule Of Thirds?
 The rule of thirds is simple to describe but is not simple to
comprehend why it works. Imagine that your view through the
viewfinder is divided by four intersecting lines, two horizontally and
two vertically.

9.  The result is that the view is divided into 9 equal rectangles with four
points where the lines intersect. Imagine the grid lines of tic-tac-toe and
you will get the picture. Right, we are all set. Each intersecting point is
also known as the power point (some also refer it as the sweet spot). For
some reason the human eye always kind of gets attracted by these
imaginary intersecting points. Anything important on or around these
power points make the photo look perfect and in balance. This is the
part which is difficult to comprehend. Why the human eye does always
focuses on the power points? It is hard to imagine why so let’s just
accept it as a basic fundamental of a well balanced photograph.

10. How to apply Rule Of Thirds in
Photography?
 There are three easy ways to apply or playing with rule of thirds. Actually
they are quite simple & easy to master. They are: The Horizontal
lines, Vertical Lines & Power points.

11. The Horizon
 Let’s start with placing the horizon, specially if you shooting
landscape. The secret is, if you want to emphasize the foreground
place your horizon close to the top horizontal line.

12.  This way, the photograph is more balanced because there is
enough solid ground in the entirety of the scene without
overwhelming the lightness of the sky or the horizon. Same way
when the horizon is placed below the second horizontal line, it
emphasizes the background (for example sky), there is slightly more
sky showing, but the effect is still almost the same.

13. Vertical lines
 Dont forget the vertical lines as well. Simply placing the
main subject close to any one of the vertical lines may help you to
balance the frame & negative space.

14. The Power Points
 The next point is, the key elements of a photograph should be place on or
around these four power points. This automatically balances the
photograph and makes it more pleasing to the eye. Let’s take an
example. Most amateur photographers have an idea that to shoot a
perfect portrait the subject must be positioned bang in the middle.

15.  Well sometimes it works, but sometimes, if you can simply put the main elements such as
one of the eyes of the subject or may be something such as the setting sun in the
horizon (for a landscape shot) on one of the power points the photograph looks a lot
better.
 Try this, it works!
 Just that, you feel this is worth the while and going to seriously affect your compositions,
here is a small background. Even before photographers figured this out, artists,
sculptures and painters have been using this for hundreds and thousands of years. So
this is something that has been well tried and tested and if you can believe me it really
works.
 Breaking the Rule Of Thirds
 So is the rule of thirds the defining rule of photographic compositions and anything and
everything shot with a lens and a roll of film or a sensor must follow this? Not quite. While
it does make a more dramatic effect, there are plenty of situations where the rule of
thirds don’t apply or simply won’t work. Say when shooting a fast action photo which
catches a moment in time and freezes it. The absorbing moment in itself is a source of
pleasure. Of course in such circumstances it is impossible to actually follow the rule of
thirds (and glad that it is so). Another example is when you want to shoot motion blur.
Photographers who understand the rule of thirds never shy away from breaking it in
order to shoot more intriguing pictures. In photography at least, nothing is laid down in
stone and experimentation is what keeps things interesting.
 - See more at: http://digitalphotographylive.com/rule-of-thirds/#sthash.4O7KMaKT.dpuf

16. The ISO rating is the light sensitivity. (Like Joseph said, it stands for "International Standards Organization").
ISO is used for both film cameras and digital cameras. In fact, it was used with film LONG before digital cameras were around. A higher ISO rating means more light sensitivity
, and a lower ISO rating means less light sensitivity. So 400 ISO is more sensitive than 200 ISO.
The overall exposure of a picture is determined by the aperture, shutter speed, and the ISO rating. Let's consider what's called the "Sunny 16 Rule." It's a guideline for how to take pictures
outside with manual exposure. The Sunny 16 Rule says that on a clear, sunny day, you will set the shutter speed to the same as the ISO rating, and then adjust the aperture for the lighting
conditions. So let's say you are using a 200 ISO film (or you set the ISO on your digital camera to 200). Then on a clear day, you would set the shutter speed to 1/200 and the aperture to f/16.
If it's hazy or partly cloudy outside, you would open the aperture to f/11. If you're in the shade, you would open the aperture to f/8. Late in the afternoon, near sunset, you might want to open the
aperture to f/5.6. Does that make sense?
You can also leave the aperture on the same setting, and change the shutter speed. That's helpful, because you might want to have a long depth of field to keep the background clear, so you would
want to use a small aperture, like f/16 or f/11.
Now here's where the ISO rating becomes important. Let's say that you're in low light...maybe you're outside and the sun is starting to go down. Or maybe you're taking pictures indoors. Let's say that
you need everything to be as sharp as possible, so you have to use a small aperture. But what if you have to use a fast shutter speed? So your only option in order to still get a good exposure would be to u
se a higher ISO rating. Either a higher ISO film, or if you're using a digital camera, you would have to use a higher ISO setting, to increase the sensor's light sensitivity.
A higher ISO rating helps in low light conditions...but it's a compromise. Like Steve said, it's a last resort. It will increase the "noise" in the image. Noise kind of looks like the grain you get if you use a high ISO film,
except that digital noise looks even worse than film grain.
Only use a high ISO as a last resort. Your best option is always to use a tripod and a slower shutter speed, if possible. You will get better pictures if you try to keep the ISO rating around 100 or 200 ISO at the most.
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17. Fireworks photography tips and
camera setting tutorials.