The Big Three

It was a 1600's poet named Basho who had the motto:

"Learn the rules; and then forget them."But first he said, "Learn the rules."

So my first suggestion would be his.

So... after you have learned the fundamentals of photography, don't forget the rules as Basho said, instead try to break them. Break them on purpose.

Why break the rules? To make better photographs, of course.

Many beginners want to jump right to the breaking the rules part, but that's not a good idea, because you can't break them (not consistently) if you don't know what they are. You might accidentally create a good image that breaks the rules when you are first starting (as I did), but you may get frustrated that the rest of your images aren't as good.

What are the rules? I'm going to cover my favorite three - so that you can learn these and go straight to breaking them, but first let's learn them.

IMHO the best rules to learn first and (for now) follow are;

Lighting

(natural or physical rules/laws of light are kind of hard to break!)

What is light? What are the rules of light?

Light is electromagnetic radiation. it is emitted from a source. It (normally) travels in a straight line. When it encounters and object or subject, it basically does one (or two, or all) of three things.

It bounces off of the object. (reflection)

It is stopped by the object. (absorbtion)

It goes through the object. (transmission)

Knowing what the light is going to do when it hits the subject you intend to photograph is the main key to obtaining better photographs.

Assignment #1. Make three photographs illustrating each of these principles (reflection, absorption, and transmission), then make a photograph that illustrates all three principles in the one image.

Composition

(Rules intended to help improve your photography - easy to break)

What is composition? What are the rules of composition?

In photography, composition is the placement of the subject(s) in your image or frame. Some of the most common rules used by photographers are;

Rule of thirds. Divide the frame into thirds horizontally and diagonally, and place your subject(s) at one of the intersections.

Diagonals and "S" curves. Use straight or curved lines in the subject in a non straight way (not parallel to the top bottom or sides of the image). Curves can "Lead" the viewers eye into the photograph.

Frames (within the frame). Surrounding the subject with something - anything - so as to frame it with an element in the photograph before you frame it in the viewfinder.

Some people (Artists often) have an eye for composition, and when people see their beginner photographs they might say, "oh, your a natural" but really they just understand good composition - you can too.

Assignment #2. Make three photographs one illustrating the rule of thirds, one illustrating diagonals or "S" curves, and one illustrating a frame within a frame. Also, make a photograph illustrating all three composition techniques in one image.

Extra credit. Study my favorite master of geometric proportion (composition), Henri Cartier-Bresson, and create an image using the Golden Ratio. I'd explain it, but it has already been expertly done <here>

Exposure

(Automatic rules normally imposed by your camera equipment - very easy to break)

What is exposure? What are the rules of exposure?

Boring but good explanation <here>

We'll get into stuff like multiple light sources and HDR later (see exposure example photo and caption below), before we get into that, let's focus on 2 main things for now.

1.) Correct exposure, with the emphasis on correct. Correct is different than accurate. Correct exposure is when the proper amount of light reaches the film or digital sensor, so that the subject is rendered as neutral in brightness. Not too dark, not too light. This is also referred to as normal exposure. Accurate exposure is the amount of exposure that you want. Correct exposure is what the camera "thinks" you want. Where this "automatic" or correct exposure metering can fail is when you are photographing a subject that is not neutral in brightness. Green grass and blue sky are good examples of things that have a relatively normal and neutral brightness value. But what about a bride in a white dress? If you photograph a bride in a white dress, that dress is reflecting or bouncing more light than normal - that's what white does. If you photograph a man in a black tuxedo, that tux is absorbing more light than normal - that's what black does.  If the camera compensates to try and make those subjects neutral in brightness, it will underexpose the dress making it look more light gray than white. Notice the wedding dress in the photo above is not pure white. In the case of the tux, the camera would overexpose, making it dark gray instead of black. So the camera has a rule in it to make everything normal. Normal may not be what you are after! Fortunately, these days you have the ability to preview the exposure (photograph) on the back of the camera, and can make adjustment s to the exposure by overriding the camera's default settings (called exposure compensation), or by putting the camera in "manual mode".

2.) Exposure time. Cameras have the ability to capture a very short moment in time, but you can also capture a scene or subject over a length of time. These are called long and short exposures and are controlled by the camera "shutter speed". We'll get into the relation between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO later - for now we will concentrate on shutter speed or exposure time. The general rule with shutter speed is this; you want to use a short enough exposure time (shutter speed) so that the subject or image is not blurry (known as motion blur and completely different than focus blur or depth of field blur). Generally 2 things can make the subject blurry, you moving the camera, or the subject moving during the exposure. If the subject is standing still (or happens to be a mountain) but is blurry, barring any focus problems, the movement would be you (or your camera). Use a tripod so that the camera does not move, doing so will minimize motion blur from holding or pushing the shutter button! What if you don't have a tripod? Just like proper exposure, modern cameras try to pick a correct exposure time (shutter speed) so that there will not be any motion blur when using the camera hand held.

Assignment #3 Make 4 separate photographs with your camera set to full auto. 1.) A very dark or black object in bright light. 2.) the same dark object in dim or low light. 3.) a very bright or white object in bright light. 4.) the same bright object in dim or very low light.

Assignment #4 Take a series of photographs of a moving object at different shutter speeds. Start at 1/500th of a second and continue with 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 second. (Use shutter priority mode if your camera has it, try variable program mode if it does not.)

Summary

Without light, we would not have photographs.

Light is what is really captured. There are three main ways light interacts with a subject, each of those ways can be captured by your camera, and changes the way the subject is seen or perceived.

Composition is the placement of the subject in the frame. Good composition adds interest to even the most "normal" of subjects.

Exposure is how much light appears to be falling on the subject.

When you start to combine different variations of these basic principles - Light, composition, and exposure - you can make dramatic and varied differences in photos of the exact same subject. Understanding the implementation of these principles can help to broaden your photographic skill, create additional interest, and diversify the "style" of your images.

Tutorial #2 Breaking the rules; lighting, exposure, and composition