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Photography - Painting with light

The features of photography

By Manik RoyPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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Photography - Painting with light
Photo by Akin Cakiner on Unsplash

We know that photography is to paint with light. Photography always develops visual imagination, lighting sense, details mind and design sense. The sources of light in photography are various. As it may come from the fabricated source or the cosmic source. The cosmic source (Sun or Moon) of light has greater intensity and accuracy. We can control it by the light meter. Natural light is very difficult to study, as it will shed you more toils. For controlling natural light, just make a habit to use the DOP (Depth of Field) preview before you finally release the shutter. Generally set the aperture at f8 and shutter speed at 1/60. As far as-fabricated lighting is concerned, this is generally flash lighting.

The main reason for flash lighting is to capture motion and work as a fill-in light. Controlling it is much easier than natural lighting. When you require using long shutter time during low light photography, keep yourself steady and hold your breath at the time of shutter release. If you are serious to take a sharp picture in any lighting condition, give up drinking, drug and other addictions, which are detrimental to your physical steadiness. A good photographer should have good health, a sharp mind and an accurate eye.

The composition in photography is one of the main features of a good photograph. When you are arranging your subject in such a way that can produce a nice photo then just use the rule of The Golden Section, as it will make your composition more easily. One interesting point to tell you is that nowadays all cameras have a Grid Pattern, which helps you to compose your subject easily. If you select Grid Pattern, the in-camera setting as you will see the nine square segments in the camera viewfinder. Always try to keep your subject outside of four intersections of the Grid Pattern.

A well-composed photo tells a million imaginations. As you understand light more deeply as you will make the photo more lively. When you are measuring the default daylight setting (6500K at Washington DC at noon) at your place as you will see that accuracy will be different from the default setting. The reason is that North America is situated in Northern Hemisphere whereas your place is in Southern Hemisphere. The intensity of sunlight is much higher in Southern Hemisphere than Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, there will be different lighting settings between the two Hemispheres at that time.

The Colour of a photograph is very much important. As we know, we see all the things around us as coloured ones so black & white is out of proportion. The subjects of photography are various like landscape, portrait, close-up, architecture, still life .etc. as all of these are required a different approach to shoot. For landscape photography, you will require a wide-angle lens, polarized filter, minimum aperture (f5.6), medium shutter speed (1/125) and a light meter. Whereas for close-up photography you will require a macro lens, long shutter (Bulb), minimum aperture (f11) and tripod.

As far as a portrait is concerned, you will require a zoom lens, maximum aperture (f4), medium shutter speed (1/125) and flash. For still life photography, you will require all lens range, all apertures & shutter range, flash and tripod. Colour is very much vital for photography as for photographers also. Controlling colour depends on intensity, tone, depth and purity. Colour always conveys some human emotions like joy, sorrow, anger, love, compassion, sexuality, greed, success .etc. as one colour or multiple colours make to interpret human emotions inaccurate way.

For joy, the colour will be red, yellow, or a mixture of it. As far as sorrow is concerned, the colour for it will be white or black. For anger, the colour will be pure red. The colour for love will be red or pink. As colour for sexuality will be red, pink, or a mixture of it. As far as greed is concerned, the colour for it will be golden. The colour of success will be green. If you go for compassion, the colour will be grey. When you like to express human emotion through a photograph, you have to use the exposure compensation of the camera wisely.

If you like to go into deep then you can explore the zone system of photography, as it requires some experience in tonal experiments. Nowadays digital evolution is everywhere as it is the sign of advanced photography. Megapixels of digital technology provide us with how many pixels will be available to get a sharp picture from a digital camera. It is not necessarily mean that maximum pixels will get an always-maximum sharp photograph, as you have to use photo-editing software like Photoshop.

Digital photo formats are generally two types one is RAW and another is JPEG. The RAW format is we call “Digital Negative” whereas the JPEG format is called “Analogue Positive”. Suppose you are using a 3 megapixels digital camera as you require to make an "11 x 8" print from it so you have to create a new file (11 x 8 size) with customize feature open and set 300 dpi resolution as you have to paste the file from the camera into the new file and save it. Now you will get a decent 11 x 8 print with much less noise.

As far as macro photography is concerned, getting too close to the subject makes focusing difficult as if you use the auto focus feature of your camera. It is helpful to use manual focus in this matter, as it will give you more control about focusing on the subject. When you are shooting macro subjects always use a solid tripod, as it will deliver a decent sharp picture. For photographic printing paper always choose glossy one as it has longer archival value than matte ones.

When you are choosing your career as a photographer, you have to remember that nobody can teach you how to shoot a good photograph as you have to teach yourself how you like to look in a photograph. Therefore, it is up to you how you can paint your imagination with light and make it a memorable one.

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About the Creator

Manik Roy

Writer | Photographer | Handwriting Expert | AI Artist

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