Photography is an art and activity of capturing images using proper lighting effects. In early days, it is done by using light sensitive materials like photographic film. It is a strip of transparent plastic film base. One side of the sheet is coated with gelatine emulsion. The captured images are framed into the photographic films in negative mode. Thereafter the films were developed in a darkroom. After a complex chemical process, we used to get the pictures in positive mode, printed on photographic papers. It was truly a complex method of photography those days, and of course out of reach of many. But now a days, with advancement of technologies the photography basics has been enormously evolved. Photographic film development has become almost obsolete. Digital photography has completely taken over the art with photographic film. Thus now-a days photography is within the reach of many people around the world.

These days there is no need of any darkrooms for picture development. Just some basic settings are required. The pictures are stored in hard drives and printed as required. Some expensive DSLR cameras have wireless features, for instant file transfer. Therefore a beginner or amature photographer must go through some modern photography basics for skill development and advancement in future.

Exposure

While clicking an image, it is necessary to provide perfect amount of light to the sensor. This is known as exposure. It is the amount of light per unit area reaching a frame of photographic film or the surface of an electronic image sensor. It is determined by shutter speed, aperture, and scene luminance. Exposure is measured in lux seconds. It can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance in a specified region.

Radiant Exposure

Radiant exposure of a surface, denoted H e (“e” for “energetic”, to avoid confusion with photometric quantities) and measured in J/m2, is given by

H e = E e t

where

E e is the irradiance of the surface, measured in W/m 2 ;

is the irradiance of the surface, measured in W/m ; t is the exposure duration, measured in s.

Luminous exposure

Luminous exposure of a surface, denoted H v (“v” for “visual”, to avoid confusion with radiometric quantities) and measured in lx⋅s, is given by

H v = E v t

where

E v is the illuminance of the surface, measured in lx;

is the illuminance of the surface, measured in lx; t is the exposure duration, measured in s.

over exposed photograph

less exposed photograph

Perfectly captured photograph

As shown in those above pictures you can clearly observe the differences. In the first photograph much light than necessary, provided. Likewise the second picture has been provided less light, so that it is less exposed. Whereas the third one is perfectly crafted as the correct amount of light has been provided. Some important terms related to photography basics are discussed bellow.

ISO

In Digital photography, ISO is a measurement unit of image sensitivity. It is an essential tool for photography. Image sensor is the most important elements of a digital camera. This can adjust the sensitivity of a camera in available light. Sensor gathers the light reflected from objects to be photographed and transform or convert that into digital image.

While the ISO is higher, it means higher sensitivity. Likewise, the sensitivity is low while the ISO is decreased. With increased ISO, photography in low light without flash is possible. For doing that, shutter speed can be increased. It is measured in numbers. These are 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc. The ranges of most of standard DSLR cameras are 100 to 6400.

Aperture

In digital photography aperture is known as the adjustable opening within the camera lens, through which the light passes through to the sensor. The amount of light can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the aperture. Thus brightness can be adjusted.

In much light aperture can be decreased to control the amount of light that hits the sensor. In less light it is necessary to increase the aperture. Aperture is measured with an f-number. It means it is shown as “f/” followed by a necessary number, such as f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, /f4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 etc.

Focal Length

In digital photography the term, focal length means the distance between camera’s image sensor and the lens. Focal length is generally measured by millimeter unit. Lenses of different focal length variants are available.

Lenses are usually labeled with focal length (eg. 55-310 mm). Using this feature, it is determined that which object or point to be the focused to capture a photograph.

Shutter Speed

In digital photography, the term shutter speed refers to the unit to measure the time duration, in which the shutter of a camera remains active.

Image clicked with low shutter speed

Image clicked with required shutter speed setting

While the shutter is pressed, it gets opened and starts recording the image. As the shutter get closed, it stops recording. The in-between duration is measured by the unit, shutter speed. The shutter speed is indicated as 1 sec, 1/2 sec, 1/4 sec, 1/8 sec, 1/16 sec, 1/32 sec…..1/125 sec…..1/250 sec and so on.

White Balance

White Balance in digital photography means adjusting colors, so that the image looks more natural. We go through the process of adjusting color to primarily get rid of color casts in order to match the picture with what we see when we look with opened eyes.

Photograph captured in Bulb White Balance

This function of digital camera is used to compensate for different colors of light being emited from different sourses.

There are many white balance modes. Universally photographers use 4 modes. These are i. Sun mode, ii. bulb mode, iii. flash mode, iv. auto mode.

Color Temperature

The term color temperature in digital photography refers to a characterization of the spectral properties of a light source. It is commonly used during the production phase in digital photography industries. Low color temperature is the warmer. It is more yellow to red light. While high color temperature is the colder, more blue light.

Higher color temperature

Lower color temperature

All light has a color which has a temperature. Different colors of light create different temperature hues in your image. Kelvin is the color temperature scale used for light. At the lower end of the scale, 2000-4000k shows warm light of reddish yellows. At around 5500k, the color is pretty much what we see at noon on a sunny day. As the scale climbs, the light gets progressively bluer. At about 10,000 K we reach the very blue light of a typical flash gun.

Conclusion

Career in photography is lucrative indeed. But it is necessary to learn the photography basics in order to capture a perfect and durable image. If you have interest in photography, go through this article and learn the basics of this visual art to become a successful professional photographer.