Digital Photography Complete Course: How to Capture Visually Stunning Photos

Digital Photography Complete Course

HOW TO CAPTURE VISUALLY STUNNING PHOTOS

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................2

Chapter 1: Different Types of Cameras.............................................................................4

DSLR—Digital Single Lens reflex........................................................................................4

Mirrorless Cameras.............................................................................................................5

DSLR or Mirrorless Camera?..............................................................................................5

Why Not Buy a More Expensive Camera?...........................................................................6

Chapter 2: Discovering Your Camera................................................................................8

Camera Design..................................................................................................................10

Chapter 3: How to Set Up Your Camera to Get the Most from It...............................11

RAW vs JPEG.....................................................................................................................11

The Mode to Use................................................................................................................14

Focus on Focus..................................................................................................................14

Setting the Focus Point..................................................................................................14

Picture Styles.....................................................................................................................15

Quick Exercise – Set Up Your Camera Now!.....................................................................15

Chapter 4: Popular Photography categories..................................................................16

Food and drink..................................................................................................................16

Cityscapes..........................................................................................................................16

Landscape..........................................................................................................................17

Concept..............................................................................................................................17

Composite photography.....................................................................................................18

Aerial.................................................................................................................................18

Backgrounds......................................................................................................................19

Seasons, holidays and events............................................................................................19

Lifestyle and people...........................................................................................................20

Corporate...........................................................................................................................21

Chapter 5: Photography Equipment and accessories...................................................22

Batteries............................................................................................................................22

Stabilization.......................................................................................................................22

Flashes and lights..............................................................................................................22

Camera bags......................................................................................................................23

Hard drives........................................................................................................................24

Chapter 6: Lenses...............................................................................................................26

Lens Types.........................................................................................................................27

Normal Lenses...............................................................................................................27

Wide Angle Lenses.........................................................................................................27

Telephoto Lenses...........................................................................................................28

Zoom & Prime Lenses....................................................................................................28

Fixed Lenses vs Zoom....................................................................................................29

Chapter 7: Lighting............................................................................................................30

Natural lighting.................................................................................................................30

Artificial light.....................................................................................................................31

Shooting with your camera’s flash....................................................................................32

Quality of Light..................................................................................................................33

Hard and Soft Light...........................................................................................................34

Mixed Light & the Sun......................................................................................................34

Modify the Light................................................................................................................35

Off-Camera Flash...............................................................................................................36

Lighting Ratios..................................................................................................................37

Multiple Lights..................................................................................................................37

Chapter 8: Exposure..........................................................................................................39

Exposure Compensation and Light Values........................................................................39

Exposure Time...................................................................................................................39

Exposure Time and Blur....................................................................................................40

The Aperture......................................................................................................................41

ISO Sensitivity...................................................................................................................41

ISO Sensitivity and Noise..................................................................................................42

Chapter 9: Color management.........................................................................................44

Working with Virtual Images.............................................................................................44

Calibrating and Profiling Your Monitor.............................................................................44

White Balance....................................................................................................................45

Using Color Charts for Color Management.......................................................................46

Chapter 10: Focus..............................................................................................................47

Autofocus and Manual Focus............................................................................................48

Autofocus Fields................................................................................................................49

Focus Tracking..................................................................................................................50

Contrast Autofocus............................................................................................................50

Advanced features.............................................................................................................51

Autofocus Memory.........................................................................................................51

Lock-On..........................................................................................................................52

Release and Focus Priority............................................................................................52

Autofocus Trap...............................................................................................................52

Autofocus Points.................................................................................................................53

Autofocus Lock..................................................................................................................53

Hyperfocal Distance..........................................................................................................54

Chapter 11: Understanding composition..............................................................................56

Composition Tips...............................................................................................................56

Rule of Thirds................................................................................................................56

Change the Angle...........................................................................................................56

Simplicity.......................................................................................................................57

The golden ratio- Fibonacci spiral.................................................................................57

Use Leading Lines.........................................................................................................58

Break All the Rules............................................................................................................58

Chapter 12: Editing your image.......................................................................................60

Shoot in RAW format.........................................................................................................60

Set the white balance on the camera and in an image......................................................61

Identify images to edit.......................................................................................................61

Import Images...................................................................................................................61

Apply RAW-based adjustments, including PreSharpening................................................61

Apply Lens-Based adjustments..........................................................................................62

Crop the Image..................................................................................................................62

Apply Noise Reduction......................................................................................................62

Create Panoramas and Stitched Images...........................................................................63

Merge HDR images and tone mapping.............................................................................63

Retouch dust and other imperfections..............................................................................64

Balance light and color......................................................................................................64

Final Cleanup.....................................................................................................................64

Save Master Image in Photoshop......................................................................................64

Resize Your Image in Photoshop or a Similar Program....................................................64

Sharpen Resized Image in Photoshop...............................................................................65

Save Sharpened Working File...........................................................................................65

Removing blemishes..........................................................................................................65

Making adjustments..........................................................................................................66

Moving an unwanted item from a photograph..................................................................67

Chapter 13: Displaying your digital images...................................................................69

Printers..............................................................................................................................69

Outsourcing Printing.........................................................................................................69

Print Materials...................................................................................................................70

Framed Prints....................................................................................................................71

Web Images.......................................................................................................................72

Photo Books.......................................................................................................................72

Slideshows.........................................................................................................................73

Pixoto.com.........................................................................................................................73

Chapter 14: Specialty software and plug-ins.................................................................74

NIK Software Plug-ins.......................................................................................................74

Topaz Labs.........................................................................................................................74

Photomatix Pro..................................................................................................................75

MacPhun Software............................................................................................................75

Chapter 15: Photography as a Business.........................................................................76

Marketing Strategies for the Photographer......................................................................76

Immediate Local Impact................................................................................................76

Your Marketing Plan......................................................................................................77

Market research............................................................................................................77

Unique marketing points...............................................................................................77

Exploit potential.............................................................................................................78

Competition...................................................................................................................78

Identify your target audience........................................................................................78

Primary customers.........................................................................................................79

Articulate your short, medium and long-term objectives..............................................79

Strategies.......................................................................................................................79

How to create stock photography that sells.........................................................................80

Make sure your background is sellable.........................................................................81

Try to produce differentiated images............................................................................81

Perfect your images in postprocessing..........................................................................81

Chapter 16: Tricks to Help you capture Visually Stunning Images...........................82

Portraits element...............................................................................................................82

Consider sunlight...............................................................................................................82

Getting up close and personal...........................................................................................83

The difference when you move things from central..........................................................83

Taking vertical shots.........................................................................................................83

Try to stop being boring....................................................................................................83

Consider Waterfalls...........................................................................................................84

Try Panning.......................................................................................................................84

Practice Patience and Planning.........................................................................................84

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................85

Introduction

Today even the most amateur photographer can access professional equipment without taking out a second mortgage. Throughout this eBook, we’re going to look at the basic functions in your camera and how you can best use them to your advantage. We’ll start with very basic, boring skills and move up to the more advanced concepts.

If you’re tired of getting lackluster results from your photography, and you’re feeling a bit disappointed you need to read this guide.

Along with this trend is the sudden popularity of photography. With more and more professional-level cameras being made available to the public, more and more people have begun to pick up on this strangely satisfying hobby.

But just having a camera doesn’t make someone a photographer. Anyone with a camera can take a picture. It takes a real photographer to take a good shot. This is what this manual was made for. It’s worth noting that there is much money to be made with photography these days since all websites have a need for pictures and picture suppliers simply can’t get enough. Thus, if you can show consistently good results, you can join the professionals in the trade and use your photographs to earn you money.

There is so much to learn about taking the shots, framing them, getting the camera set up and snapping that perfect image. Plus, you need to learn all about the software that can also help you with the presentation of your photographs and the correction of those which are not as good as you wished them to be. It’s never too late.

Chapter 1: Different Types of Cameras

With the advancement of digital photography, the world has been opened up to many various types of cameras. It can be quite confusing and intimidating to stand in a store and see all of the cameras lined up. Many of them look identical, yet the price difference can be hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars between various models. So, what is the difference? Why do two cameras that look identical sometimes vary in such extreme costs? This is why it is important to understand camera design and what the manufacturers are trying to sell to you, the consumer.

First, you must understand that to gain creative control, you need a camera that allows you to adjust the manual settings.

This means that you can control the three elements of exposure you will be learning about in the Elements of Exposure chapter. These elements are the ISO, the shutter, and the aperture. If your camera does not feature those manual settings, you will be unable to make the needed adjustments to harness the light for what you want, rather than what the camera wants. You will find that this is the key to being able to control the aspects of your photography outside of composition.

DSLR—Digital Single Lens reflex

The traditional workhorses of quality photography are DSLRs or Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras, and you will not go wrong with one of these. The first question will be which brand to get, and here you should stick with either Canon or Nikon, which have been the gold standard of DSLRs for many years. It doesn’t matter which one you choose as it is like deciding between Home Depot and Lowes – they are basically the same thing but set up a little differently.

DSLR cameras are typically more expensive but offer a much greater ability to control the results of your final images. There are several brands that manufacture exceptional cameras in various price ranges. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax and others all offer great DSLR cameras. Canon and Nikon tend to be the most popular and are highly respected brands.

Mirrorless Cameras

This is the fastest growing segment of digital photography at this time. This is due to the fact that you can get an amazing quality system, with less weight than a DSLR in many cases. All the manufacturers are producing these nowadays; however, Sony, Pansonic, and Olympus are in the forefront with Sony far ahead of the game as the leader in mirrorless technology and quality.

At the lower quality camera spectrum that can still give you great results and even include manual settings, are the point and shoot models. These are a great value. They are geared towards the person who does not want to spend a lot of money, yet wants the ability to gain some control over the photography. They do not include the ability to interchange lenses; however, they can be a low cost, excellent quality alternative. They are also very easy to take with you anywhere!

Another important note is that cameras, just like computers, are becoming outdated much sooner than they used to. However, a good camera can and should still last most people for years. One thing you will find is that lenses become the item you tend to hold onto for a life time. The camera bodies themselves, much like any other electronics these days, become what you change out every four to five years based on new technology available at lower costs than ever before.

If the size of the camera is a big issue for you and you want the smallest camera possible, either because you are getting on in years, you want to carry the camera in your purse or large pocket, or are hiking many miles a day, get a mirrorless camera. They are very small, and the quality has improved markedly in recent years so that they are very close, if not equal, to that of DSLRs. Because of their small size, they are also a little cheaper.

If you decide to buy a mirrorless