Lesson 1 The Camera
What you will get from today will depend on what you already know. For some it will all be new - for others it will be ridiculously obvious. Hopefully you will all be better photographers in 90 minutes but of course where you go from here and how you continue to learn will determine where you end up. We will concentrate on the Camera, looking at simple handling techniques, the use of Focus Lock to get sharp images and simple composition ideas. We will also look at Camera Modes
What about you ?
Would you say you are a complete beginner
Do you think of yourself as a photographer already (of any kind - inc phones )
How do you use your images Instagram, Facebook ?
How many have their own modern Dslr or Bridge camera ?
Are you frightened by the buttons ands menus on your camera ?
Have you taken a course before
#1 you'd all like to take better family pictures at the very least
#2 you'd like to understand a little about the bewildering array of buttons on the outside of your camera and even more confusing rows of menus and sub menus if you venture inside
Photographic firsts
How far we've come
Who we are Sheridan and I both come from Newspaper and Magazine backgrounds. Sheridan was a Fashion Photographer - on the staff at Today newspaper and then freelancing for the Observer & Independent and Magazines like ES Magazine and Australian Vogue. I worked as News and Features photographer for the Daily Telegraph for 20 years and then as a freelance photographer for Time magazine and Channel 4.
The Newspaper world we joined 30 years ago is changing rapidly. Newspaper sales are dwindling and very few papers now employ staff photographers. This the age of the freelance in photography as in many other industries. Lots of work out there still and and digital and online means more news images are seen than ever before, but it's a hard world for new photographers beginning a career in photo-journalism. The Fashion industry is still a good place to work. The Magazine racks in newsagents may be smaller than ever but Commercial photography is as necessary as ever but the magazine
Click Photography Workshops From the start the philosophy has always been to encourage creativity without getting bogged down with technique. Modern digital cameras allow students to turn on the camera and just start shooting. Most of the time the image will be great. We encourage students to use viewfinders - and teach compostion to make them think about how the elements of their picture come together.
Young people are very good with technology and when we do ask older students to understand a little more and take control of their cameras they manage it with ease.
We teach young students in 2 ways
1. Location trips
Roaming far and wide across London and our local area. Using specific techniques and equipment for each particular session. Encouraging imagination and experimentation and to adopt the correct mental approach ot each task. .
2. Studio or local sessions exploring a wide range of photographic topics and techniques.
The techniques we teach and the equipment we use are essential, but they are never the point of the exercise. Students use whatever is necessary to get the picture and we assist with this. Some of them enjoy the technical aspects of the lessons and leave with a firm grasp of camera technique and some are not really interested and just enjoy taking pictures. In this case the modern Dslr is remarkably forgiving and great pictures can be made with little knowledge.
Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. Henri Cartier-Bresson
How to be a better photographer
1. Take some pictures
2. Look at them
3. Take some more pictures
4. Look at them and try to understand what worked and what didn't
5. Read a book about Photography
6. Go to a Photography exhibition
7. Take a photography course
“You can’t teach people photography, they’ve got to learn how to do it the best way possible for them. They can learn from looking at pictures... but they don’t really get intimate with the medium until they’ve made a few bad shots.” Cecil Beaton
The Camera
Compact Bridge Mirrorless Dslr
It's important to have an expensive camera
No it isn't you idiot !!
The camera is not important or at least it's only part of the equation. Photography attracts equipment anoraks and geeks and this is fine if they have a specialist interest but the truth is that a great camera never took a great picture on it's own and plenty of brilliant and important pictures have been taken on the most basic camera. Against this is the fact that digital photograpy is still in it's infancy and has only been with us for 25 years and every generation of digital cameras is an improvement on the last. Basic functionality remains constant but Sensors improve and cameras become more user-friendly. (with built in tutorials and a wider range of Modes ) An important point to remember at the start is that the Lens is just as important as the choice of camera amd of course YOU are the single most important part of the equation.
Which Manufacturer is best In the early days of digital or even before in the old analogue film era professionals used just 2 systems CANON or NIKON. Before we met Sheridan was a Canon user and I had Nikons. Now we both have Canon cameras. So it goes.
Since the 90s many more electronics companies have entered the game and they all produce amazing cameras. The choice for professionals may still be mostly from the big two - but the amateur market has great cameras from Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Minolta, Panasonic and Fuji.
The Rise of the Machines At the same time Super Compacts - Bridge and Mirrorless cameras have become viable alternatives to Dslr systems. Cameras with built in ultra wide to telephoto lenses which replace a whole bag full of heavy glass.
New cameras also have wifi and bluetooth built in to allow faster connection to social media and many have filters to create the kind of post-processing effects you find on Instagram
Time to get the cameras out
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1. Right hand on the body. Find the shutter button
2. Left hand on the lens - underneath or over the top. Your choice.
3. Practise with the zoom. Choose. Wide-angle - or Short telephoto ?
4. Change from Landscape format to Portrait Format. Release the lens with your left hand as you turn the camera. Turn the camera whichever way feels natural and grip again.
2. Left hand on the lens - underneath or over the top. Your choice.
3. Practise with the zoom. Choose. Wide-angle - or Short telephoto ?
4. Change from Landscape format to Portrait Format. Release the lens with your left hand as you turn the camera. Turn the camera whichever way feels natural and grip again.
Focus Lock Practical Cupcakes and Pineapples
Tea and biscuits
Part 2 the only bit of serious technique today
Your Camera and how it works
Hopefully this won't be the most boring presentation in the world - but it might be.
You need to get to grips with the 3 elements that make your exposure. Aperture Shutter & ISO
It's important to start thinking about this fairly early on because the 3 elements are connected and determine how successful your pictures are.
The Exposure Triangle
Every photography geek or tutor makes their own Exposure Triangle. It's the first thing and the last thing you need to know.
. For today if you understand it a little bit oit will be enough and it will help you in the future when you want to take control of Shutter speed or do celever stuff with Depth of Field (explain )
Every photography geek or tutor makes their own Exposure Triangle. It's the first thing and the last thing you need to know.
. For today if you understand it a little bit oit will be enough and it will help you in the future when you want to take control of Shutter speed or do celever stuff with Depth of Field (explain )
Camera Modes Modern Cameras are built for idiots -etc etc
Program (P for pissed )
Auto
Manual
Shutter Priority
Aperture Priority
Practical. Practise Modes
Sports Mode cars or cyclists (Fast Shutter - Follow Focus - Motordrive )
Close-up Mode - Leaves or whatever (emphasises Green - allows close focus)
Portrait - of other students ( Shallow depth of field enhances skin tones one shot focus )
Landscape - Great DoF - natural colours - low ISO
“Try to understand not just that we are living in a certain building or in a certain location, but to become aware that we are living on a planet that is going at enormous speed through the universe. For me it’s more a synonym. I read a picture not for what’s really going on there, I read it more for what is going on in our world generally.” Andreas Gursky
To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression
Henri Cartier-Bresson