Taking pictures of tips. Tips for taking pictures at home. tips to help you take good non-staged photos

Translator's Note: This article is introductory material that gives brief description simple but critical points for professional photography. Such tips will help beginners to avoid many mistakes and quickly get closer to professionals, as well as push them to further study the necessary materials.

If you want to take great photos, these tips, tricks and techniques from top-tier photographer Tigz Rice will help you improve your skills.

Whether you want to take pictures for design work, photograph models for illustration, or do anything else, these tips will come in handy for everyone.

In the next 15 points, Tigz talks about equipment, lighting and editing - everything you need to know to get the best photos.

1. Make a plan

Before you get to the camera, do a couple of sketches or storyboards of what you want to get. This will allow you to stick to a specific idea while shooting.

2. Background

A solid background color in the studio will make sure the subject is the focal point and will be easier to separate when composing is necessary.

Gray is a great color as it works well for most situations. You can also shoot against a white background if you want a lighter composition, or against black for dark shots.

Whichever background you choose, make sure the background color does not match the subject color.

3. Light sources

Also, if you plan on making a composite image, you need to have all objects / people on it shot with the same light source (s).

Before pressing the camera shutter button, think about where the subject will be located and at what angle the light will fall on him. Perhaps it needs to be lit from above or below?

It is also worth considering the type and color of the lighting. We will talk about this in the next steps.

4. Natural light: golden hour

Anyone can benefit from natural lighting, although the quality varies greatly depending on location, time of day and weather.

If you rely on natural light, the best time to shoot is during the golden hour. This is the last hour before sunset, when the sun is already close to the horizon.

5. Natural light: hard light

At noon, when the sun's rays fall almost perpendicular to the ground, harsh shadows are produced, especially under the eyes and chin. If you have to shoot at this time of day, place the subject in shadow, or use a reflector to diffuse some of the light and soften the shadows.

Alternatively, you can try shooting indoors near a window, using mesh curtains to diffuse the light. However, hard light can be used to your advantage - it's great for shooting textures!

6. Artificial light

If natural light isn't an option, you can always create it yourself. Light sources such as lamps can be great help in illuminating areas of the frame and are perhaps readily available at all times.

If you don't want to be stuck on a beginner's level, a flash along with wireless shutter remotes or even a set of portable lights is a good investment.

7. Camera

Obviously, if you want the best results, a DSLR or compact mirrorless camera with detachable lenses is indispensable. Both types provide complete control over the settings. How to properly dispose of it - read in the following paragraphs.

There are many camera options for any wallet, so you can always find the right model.

8. Correct lens

To some, this point may also seem too simple, but still it would be nice to remind about it. The lens is an important part of the camera and should be chosen wisely. Each lens has its own focal length, which ranges from wide (14 mm) to telephoto (200 - 400 mm).

50mm is the best option for most situations if you are just trying your hand at photography and want something cheaper, simpler and better than a whale camera lens.

The next step is to invest in 85mm / 135mm for portrait and detail shots, and 35mm for landscape photography.

9. Shoot RAW

If you're working with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, make sure you're shooting in RAW and not JPEG.

This will allow the camera to shoot and process images without compression, giving you more room for processing in Lightroom or Photoshop in case you need to correct exposure.

10. Working in the dark

If you are shooting with a DLSR or compact mirrorless camera, you are given a very flexible options sensor sensitivity control by adjusting ISO.

The higher the value, the more noise will be in the picture, so try to set the ISO to the lowest possible mark. Here are some rough figures for different situations.

Outside in sunny weather: 100-200
Outside in cloudy weather: 400
In a well-lit room: 800-1000
In a dark room: 1600-2000

11. Depth of field

The aperture not only adjusts the size of the hole that allows light to pass through, but also determines how much of the frame is in focus depending on the distance.

If you want focus to be sharp from foreground to background, shoot at f / 8 or higher. Otherwise, if you want a blurry background and a sense of depth, experiment with a value around f / 1.8.

12. High-speed shooting

Fast shutter speeds (1/200 s or faster) are great for freezing a moment, while slow shutter speeds (1 s or faster) can help convey a sense of movement or create a slow motion effect.

When using slow shutter speeds, be sure to take a tripod and a shutter release with you to avoid camera shake.

13. Different options

After you get the desired shot, take a couple more shots, varying the data. The main challenge lies in the staging, so when you're done, try photographing from different angles, change the settings and lighting styles. If a lot of time is spent on setting a shot, then this approach can save a lot of time in the future.

14. Color harmony

If conditions are limited and you have to use various sources lighting, color correction may be required to make the picture look harmonious.

This can be done using the tool White balance(White Balance) in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. Or you can read a tutorial.

15. Competent background cropping

After graduation Adobe photoshop CC 2015.5 cutting the background just got easier. Why not take advantage of this? Read about it in the article How to use the tools

Most take pictures for social networks on smartphones, many take pictures with professional and semi-professional cameras - this has become an art, a fashionable hobby and an everyday practice. Modern high-quality shooting requires special knowledge and skills.

How to learn to shoot

The success of a shot depends on the photographer, and not on the high cost of the camera and related equipment. The path to the perfect shot is through finding an interesting subject, beautiful light, creativity, and the ability to properly set up your camera and equipment.

Choice of technique: instruction

The first step towards quality work there will be a camera selection. The world of megapixels, sensors, apertures, shutter speeds and lenses seems confusing and complicated at first. A storm hits the newbie technical characteristics, in which it is difficult to navigate independently. What to look for first? A short video about the types of cameras, the principles of operation and the advantages of models will help you choose your equipment consciously.

Manual shooting mode

Having decided to become a professional, it's time to go beyond automatic mode shooting and mastering the manual. Understanding the design of the camera and its workflows helps you quickly understand the intricacies of manual adjustments. We offer a detailed lecture, where for clarity and memorization internal structure the camera and its performance are compared to the human eye. No complicated terms at the intersection of anatomy and photography. The video shows examples of settings and the result.

Composition in images

The success of the shot is 80% dependent on the composition. Knowledge and application special rules create depth, space and volume in photography. With the help of compositional techniques, pros are able to manipulate the viewer's gaze, draw attention to the desired object and create a certain mood. Remember the law of linear perspective from your drawing class at school? The master class will supplement school knowledge with two more types of perspectives: airy and tonal, and also demonstrate other ways to get a balanced shot.

Focusing workshop

Knowing the basics of composition for good framing is not enough. Due to camera and hand shake, incorrect focusing, the image may be blurry. Craftsmen prefer manual setting, the frame is as clear as possible. The lecturer notes more than fifty focus points. Which way to choose - everyone decides individually and experimentally.

Errors in working with light

The right lighting ensures bright shots. It is recommended that you monitor the light sources and their quality before each shutter clicks. Errors with light result in harsh shadows on the face, “dirty light”, greenish or faded skin color, “black holes” instead of body parts, blurry silhouettes. A beginner's lesson on the correct placement of light sources and objects in the frame will help increase the level and quality of work.

How to use an external flash

The design of modern flash units and their functionality are quite complex and hardly amenable to intuitive mastery. In the master class, blog host Mark Rybak talks about flash control, modes and buttons, reflectors and light diffusers, methods of shooting "through the ceiling", "through walls" and "head-on". After watching the video, you can adjust the flash depending on the width of the lens and focal length, height and width of the room, weather conditions. Learn to avoid overexposure, highlight highlights, and other professional effects.

Work in the studio

When shooting in a studio, you can immediately see who the photographer really is: an amateur or a professional. A real specialist is well acquainted with studio equipment and knows how to use it competently. There are several single and multiple light source lighting schemes to help you achieve harmonious images. The main thing is to place the light sources and reflectors at the right distance and point in the right direction. The result is diffused light and soft shadows. The tutorial video demonstrates a set of lighting schemes for different types filming.

Shooting a portrait on the street

Natural light may look bright even without post-processing. A few minutes spent learning the secrets of street photography will save hours of Photoshop work. The pro talks about the need to switch attention from place to light when choosing a location for shooting. How do you learn to see the light? What hours are prohibited for working on the street? How do I position the model in relation to the incident light? Find out the answers from short video with an example of a successful portrait taken on the street.

Macro lesson

Macro photography allows you to view the invisible world of nature. Plants and insects enlarged many times seem fabulous, and the frame catches the eye for a long time. Master class on shooting the macro-universe is given by master Ilya Gomyranov: he teaches how to create interesting color patterns and dynamics, shows equipment and the necessary items for such a walk.

Love photography but don't know the difference between HDR and SLR? Can't help but be unsure of what a tripod is? Sounds like you need some advice from professional photographers.

Photography is a broad field of activity with varying levels of expertise, from beginners to genius. If you're just starting out, you can take advantage of the knowledge that professionals have accumulated over the years as you learn and improve your skills.

We specifically spoke with several serious professional photographers who were happy to provide a couple of important tips. Use them!

Keep your camera closer: Many amateur photographers hold the camera with their arms outstretched, far from their faces. This can completely destabilize your entire posture and reduce image sharpness. Do not move away, keep the camera close to you while maintaining maximum stability.

Use a timer: for the untrained hand, pressing the button for a shot can create uncontrollable and unwanted vibrations that can result in blurry photos. If you are using a timer, you have a few seconds to regain stability after pressing.

Use flash during the day: it may sound strange, but it works. Flash photography in sunlight helps the camera cope with unexpected natural light in a position not favored by the subject. This works especially well if you are photographing against a bright light.

Take a step forward: want to enlarge the picture? Try to get closer. Magnification is a great feature (especially if you have a professional lens that most beginners don't have), but you've probably noticed that it diminishes the quality a little. Taking a couple of steps forward will shorten the required distance and get rid of possible defects in the pictures.

Try to photograph from different angles and positions: do not get used to photographing in the same position. Be flexible and experiment with shooting from different angles. You don't know which particular shot will be the most successful. Moving around will teach you to be strong and weaknesses those or other positions for shooting.

Learn to edit photos: it is not considered guile. Best photographers in the world use various technologies to improve their work. By using different editors, you will achieve better results and also learn to understand more about concepts such as contrast, color, light, and other important elements of photography. By the way, it will be said - with a wide range of different functions and capabilities.

Read: Photography is a combination of art, science and technology, with a lot of theory and knowledge. If you really want to understand - that there is a photograph, you will need to familiarize yourself with professional jargon and learn at least the basic necessary terms. Site and community

Do not delete pictures from the camera: Regardless of how unfortunate a shot may seem to you on the tiny screen of your camera, be patient and wait until you view it at normal resolution before making a hasty decision. Even if the shot turns out to be unsuccessful, you can learn to avoid mistakes in the future by looking at it.

Just shoot! Don't think too much, don't hesitate and save your time. Just shoot as much as you can. You will learn by experimenting and gain confidence by practicing. And also, for sure, you will do a lot for the hike. great pictures... If you use a digital machine, it will cost you nothing. Putting it to work is the best way to improve.

It's not easy to shoot indoors. Especially if you are a beginner. In this type of shooting, a lot depends on the technique. There is usually not enough light in the room. If it gets through a window or is emitted by lamps, then it falls at the wrong angle on the objects of shooting, so you have to redirect it with reflectors or compensate with flashes. Without a good, bright lens, there’s nothing to do indoors. Technique alone is not enough to start doing nice photos... You need to be able to use it and be able to use the environment.

How not to shoot indoors

Due to the small amount of light, you will have to use a flash. In order not to get a lot of noise in the picture, ISO is usually set to a minimum. What comes out of this. Most often, the photo looks like a white face against a dark background. The flash just doesn't light up the whole room.

Remember the background

The background in photography is just as important as the subject itself. The background may be blurred or out of focus. but it must be present. It doesn't have to be black. You need to fit the foreground, middle ground, and background in the photo. You don't have to build an interesting background during your workouts. First of all, you need to achieve a technically correct rendering of the background, and only then you can engage in artistic activities.

In a dark room, the first thing to do is to increase the shutter speed to the value at which no shake appears yet. There is a rule of thumb that in order to prevent blurry pictures when shooting handheld, the shutter speed should not exceed 1 / the focal length of the lens. For example, if you shoot with focal length 28mm, the shutter speed should not exceed 1/25 sec. If the focal length is 80mm, then the shutter speed should be 1/80 sec, etc.

The aperture will help to brighten the scene a little, but if it is not enough, then only the ISO is left to increase the brightness. By increasing the photosensitivity by 2 times, a gain in lighting is obtained by one stage. This means that by increasing the ISO, you can slow down the shutter speed or close the aperture. Modern cameras allow you to take pictures with virtually no noise up to ISO 1600. This threshold is higher for full-frame models. With old cameras, you can work with ISO 800-1000 without much loss of quality.

A small amount of noise doesn't really hurt the picture. It may not be visible to the naked eye. Also, a small amount of noise can be hidden in Lightroom. You just need to shoot in RAW. In Lightroom, the noise and light sliders are responsible for adjusting noise.

Use flash wisely

Indoors, the flash should not be the main light source. It should only highlight the shadows, act as a fill light source, or slightly add foreground highlights. Aiming your flash at a ceiling or walls is not a good idea. the best way... The interior decoration of the room can be multi-colored, and the light reflected from green, blue, red, etc. the walls take on the appropriate shade. All photos will turn out in different colors, and the white balance correction will be excruciatingly long.

The ideal reflector color is white. Therefore, it is worth striving to use this particular color on reflective surfaces. The most common indoor flash mode is rear-curtain flash. This is easy to explain. If the flash is fired at the front curtain, blur will be visible in some situations. The flash fumes at the first moment, and then the frame is exposed, in which a wiggle may appear, and it will be superimposed on top of our subject. If you use the flash on the rear curtain, then the exposure will take place first, in which a wiggle may appear, and then the flash will puff, which will fix a clear and bright object on top of the wiggler.

Quite often indoors, you can do without a flash. Many wedding photographers in the registry office shoot this way.

When shooting, you should also think about the temperature of the light. Only the flash provides neutral light, close to natural daylight. All other lighting fixtures produce bluish, reddish, yellowish light. This will inevitably affect the result.

If used different sources light in the same room, they will mix and create an incredible cocktail. A flash in such a situation can only do harm. If the ambient light is greenish and you flash the foreground with a flash, everything in the background will be greenish, and objects a few meters away from the lens will receive natural white lighting.

Fixing lighting in Photoshop is a thankless task, especially if you have several hundred photos, so it's easier to take care of the light sources ahead of time. To ensure that different types of lighting do not mix, you need to have a set of color filters with you. After taking a test shot, you need to evaluate the color of the frame in natural light. Then you need to select a color filter for the flash with the same tint and set it. After that, the color temperature of the flash will not argue with the temperature of the light from the lighting fixtures in the room.

Choose adequate remedies

"Indoor photography" Is a broad concept that includes many different shooting styles and techniques. you can be reportage photographer at various events. If you are going to sell your images to various publications, then the photos should be of the highest quality. Otherwise, no one will buy them from you. Such work requires an expensive camera and optics. For wedding photographers it is permissible to have less expensive equipment, since the pictures will be collected only in a family album, but if you want to gain respect from your clients. then the photos must also be of the highest quality. You must be able to draw out all its possibilities from your technique. If you shoot at friendly parties and feasts, then there are usually no special requirements for photographs. For such shooting, the most important thing is to betray the atmosphere, to capture some events. No one will peer at the naturalness of the color rendering of sandwiches and salads on the table. For such shooting, the simplest DSLR or even an ordinary, but high-quality compact is suitable.

To make it easier to decide which camera to buy, you should read the recommendations for choosing a camera in the article How to choose a digital camera.

Professional cameras, which start at $ 3,000 or more, do more than just shoot accurately and quickly. They have full-frame sensors that allow them to get several times less noise compared to crop sensors. This means that the permissible (working) ISO values can be an order of magnitude higher than when working with crop cameras. Therefore, this makes it possible to receive more high-quality pictures in low light conditions, which is exactly what professional reportage photographers need.

Flash usually gives a gain of about ½ or ⅓ of a stop. This is not much, but often this is what is missing. In addition, shadows can be softened with flash. The quality and functionality of a flash is directly proportional to its cost. It is worth choosing a flash based on the tasks that you are going to assign to it. We can talk about the outbreak for a very long time, so it is better to refer to our articles on this topic:

Basic principles of working with flash
On the advisability of using an external flash
Flash Errors
Flash Photography: ISO Management Tips
Fill flash

Professional lenses start at $ 1000. Expensive optics differ from cheap ones in higher sharpness and aperture ratio. These are very important parameters that affect the quality of the resulting photos. High-aperture optics not only allow you to get good pictures thanks to the flawlessly built lens system, but also use lower ISO values, which also has a positive effect on the quality of photos. To determine the choice of lens, you can read our article on this topic: "Choosing a Lens".

Professional equipment makes it possible to obtain better results in any conditions. But the price of such equipment can upset many, therefore, when choosing a camera and accessories for it, you need to deal with the tasks that it will perform and, based on the available budget, select exactly what you will need.

Experiments

Everything you read in this article is just the basic principles of indoor photography. For each type of survey, there is own rules and nuances. If you are overcome by a spirit of rebellion and do not want to obey the rules, then you should still read them to be aware of what exactly you are breaking.

Artem Kashkanov, 2019

The article that you are reading has existed since 2008 and is thoroughly edited every couple of years in accordance with the current trends and trends in the field of photography - amateur and professional. This is due to the fact that we are now living in a critical era, when photography has turned from the lot of professionals and enthusiasts into a universal hobby. And not even a hobby, but an integral part of everyday life.

On the one hand, this is very cool, but on the other ... Photography, due to its mass character, ceases to be an art. Every day, millions (or even billions) of the same type of photos with flowers, cats, plates of food, selfies are uploaded to the Internet, and oddly enough, all this finds its viewer - “Instagram stars” gain thousands of likes for blurry photos like “me and mine cat". Simply because their pictures are understandable and close to the majority. Photos of recognized masters have a much lower rating among the general public - they do not understand them. Their creations will be appreciated by true connoisseurs of art. This is about the same as comparing two directions of music - pop and, say, jazz.

Let's go back to the question - why do you want to learn how to photograph? If you do this only because it is "fashionable", "prestigious" or "friends advised" - do not bother. This "fashion of being a photographer" will sooner or later pass. If you really want to "rise above the hustle and bustle", this article is for you!

What is the best camera to buy for teaching photography?

There is a choice of a camera on the site, so here I will list only brief theses.

If you really want to learn how to photograph, you need a camera, not a smartphone. It is highly desirable that this camera has interchangeable lenses. Smartphones are conceptually sharpened for automatic shooting. For creativity, you need a manual mode.
To learn photography, it is not at all necessary to purchase the most modern and expensive equipment. Now the amateur technique has developed so much that with a large margin it satisfies the requirements of not only amateurs, but also advanced photographers.
The main element in a modern camera is the lens. Buying a carcass is easier, but with a cool lens - a perfectly reasonable idea.
The standard ("whale") lens is not as bad as they write and say about it. He gets to the camera almost free of charge and you shouldn't give it up. Read more about optics in.
There is no point in chasing the most modern models. They are expensive and generally have no significant advantages over their predecessor cameras. Prices for new items are unreasonably high.
Frank "old stuff" is also not worth buying, well, perhaps used for a symbolic price.

Introduction to Basic Camera Features

So, the camera has been purchased, now we need to get acquainted with its capabilities. To do this, it is advisable to be patient and study the instructions for the camera. Unfortunately, it is far from always written simply and clearly, nevertheless, this does not negate the need to study the location and purpose of the main controls.

As a rule, there are not so many controls - a mode dial, one or two wheels for setting parameters, several function buttons, zoom control, autofocus and shutter buttons. picture style. All this comes with experience, but over time, you should not be left with a single incomprehensible item in the camera menu.

It's time to take the camera in hand and try to portray something with it. First, turn on the auto mode and try to take pictures in it. In most cases, the result will be quite normal, but sometimes the photos, for some reason, turn out to be too light or, conversely, too dark. The time has come to get acquainted with such a thing as an exposition.

Exposure is the total luminous flux that the sensor has caught during the shutter response time. The higher the exposure level, the brighter the photo. Photographs that are too light are called overexposed, and those that are too dark are called underexposed. This is very brief. If you want more details, read on. If you know all this - click the "skip boring theory" link.

A little boring theory - shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, depth of field.

The picture is exposed when the shutter is opened. If fast moving objects get into the frame, then during the opening of the shutter they have time to shift and in the photo they turn out to be slightly blurred. The time for which the shutter opens is called endurance.

Exposure allows you to get the effect of "frozen motion" (example below), or, conversely, to blur moving objects.

Short exposure photo

The shutter speed is displayed as a unit divided by some number, for example, 1/500, which means that the shutter will open for 1/500 of a second. This is a fast enough shutter speed at which the driving cars and walking pedestrians will be clear in the photo. The shorter the shutter speed, the faster the movement can be “frozen”.

If you increase the shutter speed, say, up to 1/125 of a second, pedestrians will still remain clear, but the cars will already noticeably blur. If the shutter speed is 1/50 or longer, the risk of blurry photos due to shaking of the photographer's hands increases and it is recommended to mount the camera on a tripod , or use an Image Stabilizer (if available).

Night photos are taken with a very long exposure of a few seconds or even minutes. It is no longer possible to do without a tripod here.

To be able to lock the shutter speed, the camera has a shutter priority mode. It is denoted TV or S. In addition to the fixed shutter speed, it allows you to use exposure compensation. Shutter speed has a direct effect on the exposure level - the longer the shutter speed, the brighter the photo will be.

What is aperture?

Another mode that can be useful is aperture priority mode.

Diaphragm- this is the "pupil" of the lens, a variable diameter aperture. The narrower this diaphragm opening, the more DOF- depth of field, the aperture is designated by a dimensionless number from the series 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. In modern cameras, you can select intermediate values, for example, 3.5, 7.1, 13, etc.

The larger the f-number, the greater the DOF. Large DOF is relevant for when you need everything to be sharp - both the foreground and background. Landscape is usually shot with an aperture of 8 or more.

A typical example of a photograph with a large depth of field is the area of focus from the grass underfoot to infinity.

The idea of a small depth of field is to focus the viewer's attention on the subject, and blur all the background objects. This technique is commonly used in. To blur the background in the portrait, open the aperture to 2.8, 2, sometimes even 1.4. At this stage, we come to the understanding that the kit lens 18-55 mm limits our creative possibilities, since at a "portrait" focal length of 55 mm the aperture cannot be opened wider than 5.6 - we begin to think about a fast fix (for example, 50mm 1.4), so that get a similar result:

Shallow DOF is a great way to divert the viewer's attention from the colorful background to the main subject.

To control aperture, you need to switch the command dial to aperture priority mode (AV or A). At the same time, you tell the camera with what aperture you want to photograph, and it selects all the other parameters by itself. Exposure compensation is also available in aperture priority mode.

The aperture has the opposite effect on the exposure level - the larger the f-number, the darker the picture will be (a clamped pupil lets in less light than an open pupil).

What is ISO sensitivity?

You have probably noticed that sometimes there are ripples, grain or, as it is also called, digital noise... Noise is especially pronounced in photographs taken in low light. For the presence / absence of ripples in the photos, there is such a parameter as ISO sensitivity... This is the degree to which the matrix is susceptible to light. It is denoted by dimensionless units - 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc.

When shooting at the lowest sensitivity (eg ISO 100), the picture quality is best, but you have to shoot at a slower shutter speed. At good lighting for example, on the street during the day it is not a problem. But if we enter a room in which there is much less light, then it will no longer be possible to shoot at the minimum sensitivity - the shutter speed will be, for example, 1/5 of a second and at the same time there is a very high risk " stirring", So called because of the trembling hands.

Here's an example of a photo taken at low ISO with a long exposure from a tripod:

Note that the waves on the river were blurred by the movement and it seemed that the ice was not on the river. But there is practically no noise in the photo.

To avoid shaking in low light, you need to either increase the ISO sensitivity in order to reduce the shutter speed to at least 1/50 of a second, or continue shooting at a minimum ISO and use. Moving subjects are very blurry when shooting with a tripod at slow shutter speeds. This is especially noticeable when shooting at night. ISO sensitivity has a direct effect on exposure level. The higher the ISO speed, the brighter the picture will be when the shutter speed and aperture are fixed.

Below is an example of a photo taken at ISO6400 late at night outdoors without a tripod:

Even in web size, it is noticeable that the photo turned out to be quite noisy. On the other hand, the grain effect is often used as an artistic technique, giving a photograph a filmic look.

The relationship of shutter speed, aperture and ISO

So, as you probably already guessed, there are three parameters that affect the exposure level - shutter speed, aperture and ISO sensitivity. There is such a thing as "exposure step" or EV (Exposure Value). Each next step corresponds to an exposure 2 times greater than the previous one. These three parameters are interrelated.

if we open the aperture 1 step, the shutter speed is reduced by 1 step
if we open the aperture by 1 step, the sensitivity is reduced by one step
if you reduce the shutter speed by 1 step, the ISO sensitivity increases by one step

Programmable exposure mode

Programmed Exposure Mode or “P Mode” is the simplest creative mode. It combines the simplicity of the auto mode and at the same time allows you to make adjustments to the operation of the machine - to make photos lighter and darker (exposure compensation), warmer or colder (white balance).

Exposure compensation is usually used when the frame is dominated by either light or dark objects. Automation works in such a way that it tries to bring the average exposure level of the image to an 18% gray tone (the so-called "gray card"). Notice that when we take more of the bright sky into the frame, the earth turns out to be darker in the photo. And vice versa, we take more land into the frame - the sky brightens, sometimes even whitens. Exposure compensation can help compensate for shadows and highlights that drift beyond black and white.

Even in the programmed exposure mode, you can adjust the white balance, control the flash. This mode is convenient because it requires a minimum technical knowledge, but at the same time it is able to provide a much better result than a full automatic machine.

Also in the programmed exposure mode, you should get acquainted with such a thing as bar graph. This is nothing more than a graph of the distribution of the brightness of the pixels in the picture.

The left part of the histogram corresponds to the shadows, the right one - to the highlights. If the histogram looks "cropped" on the left, there are black areas with lost color in the image. Accordingly, the "cropped" histogram on the right indicates the presence of light areas "knocked out" in whiteness.

Most modern cameras have a “live histogram” function - displaying a histogram over the image in the viewfinder in real time. When adjusting the exposure, the histogram will shift to the right or left, and the picture will brighten or darken, respectively. Your task is to learn how to control the histogram and not let it crawl outside the limits allotted to it. In this case, the exposure of the picture will be correct.

Manual mode

In manual mode, the photographer has the ability to control everything. This is necessary when we need to firmly fix the exposure level and not let the camera show "amateur performance". For example, darken or lighten the foreground when more or less sky falls into the frame, respectively.

Manual mode is convenient when shooting in the same conditions, for example, when walking around the city on a sunny day. I adjusted it once and all photos had the same exposure level. The inconvenience in manual mode begins when you have to move between light and dark locations. If we go from the street, for example, to a cafe and shoot there with “street” settings, the photos will turn out too dark, since there is less light in the cafe.

Manual mode is indispensable when shooting panoramas and all thanks to the same property - keep exposure constant... When using autoexposure, the exposure level will be highly dependent on the number of light and dark objects. We caught a large dark object in the frame - we got an illumination of the sky. And vice versa, if the frame is dominated by light objects - the shadows have faded into blackness. Gluing such a panorama is then one torment! So, to avoid this mistake, shoot panoramas in M mode with an exposure in advance that will ensure all the fragments are correctly exposed.

The result is that when stitching, there will be no “steps” of brightness between frames, which are likely to appear when shooting in any other mode.

In general, many experienced photographers and photography instructors recommend using manual mode as their primary mode. They are somewhat right - by shooting in manual mode, you have complete control over the filming process. You can choose the most correct combination of settings for a given from hundreds of options. The main thing is to know what you are doing and why. If there is no clear understanding of the principles of manual operation, you can limit yourself to semi-automatic - 99.9% of viewers will not notice the difference :)

In reportage conditions, the manual mode is also not very convenient, since you need to constantly adjust to changing shooting conditions. Many do it cleverly - in mode M they fix shutter speed and aperture, while "releasing" ISO at the same time. Although the mode selector is set to M, shooting is far from being done in manual mode - the camera itself selects the ISO sensitivity and flash power, and can change these parameters within huge limits.

It might be helpful to read: