Take a Better Picture

Objectives of this class

Understand basic photography terms Camera Shot; size system Understand your camera Take, Download & Display images

Types of Shot

1. Extreme Long Shot or an establishing shot (ELS)

A It shows the surroundings, scenery, landscape and geography used as a scene-setting/establishing shot The subject is unrecognizable because it is a general view. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

2- Long Shot (LS)

A person is shown with the surroundings. The place is more important than the person/ people. The difference from ELS is, more emphasis on the subject.

3- Full Shot (FS)

The person is shown from the head to the
toe,

(Whole body or the whole action within the frame).

In full shot place is as important as person(s)

4- Long Medium Shot (LMS)

Person

appears from thighs up.

Do not crop from the joint, ex. Knees, neck and arms.

Do not crop from the joint, ex. Knees, neck and arms.

Bad frame because the photographer cut the knees of the girls.

Better one because he did not cut the knees of them.

5- Medium Shot (MS)

A person appears from waist up. Bring the subject closer to the viewer Very common in TV, newspapers and magazines Interview shot. It isolates the person from its surrounding

6- Medium Close-Up (MCU) A person is cropped from the chest. The shoulders, neck and head are shown. The surroundings are quite unrecognizable. Very common for example in TV, newspapers and magazines interview shot

7- Close-Up (CU)
The face is visible in this size.

This type is used in Passports and Identity Cards. No background Emotional interview shot Facial reactions, expressions Emotional

 To emphasize reactions,

8- Extreme Close-Up (ECU) emotions, feelings and expressions; ex. a part of a human body such as sad eyes, a smile or a part of an object. Not natural (We never look at anybody this close) Shouldnt be used too much

You do not have to show someones entire face or body. Do not be afraid to crop tight to create a more intimate, personal shot

Comment:
Long Medium Shot (LMS) and Medium Shot (MS) are usually used to photograph or film someone's speech or when an interview is conducted. Always remember to keep the Head Room (The estimated free space above a persons head, its length is half the persons forehead.) Never cut from joint (dont cut neck, knee etc)

Comment:
Never Dont cut people from their joint (dont cut neck, knee etc)

Comment: Head room

Good

Too much head room

Typical mistake is to leave too much space (headroom) above the head

Comment:
Mistakes

Things are growing from the object

Object is cropped from the neck

Object is leaning on the picture boarder

Comment:
Nose Room - leadroom

You should leave empty space (nose room) where the object is
looking or moving

Comment:
Which of these looks good to you?

Nose Room

Lead Room

The Camera angle

The Camera angle

Camera Angle The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles. This will give different experience and sometimes emotion.

These Angles Have Effects on the human Where the camera is placed in relation to the subject greatly affects the way the viewer perceives that subject. A high-angle shot makes the subject look small or weak while a low-angle shot makes the subject look powerful or threatening. A neutral shot Or Eye Level has little to no psychological effect on the viewer.

Standard Angle Eye-Level

This is the most common view, being the real-world

angle that we are all used to. It shows subjects as we would expect to see them in real life. It is a fairly neutral shot.

Low Angle
The subject seems

threatening, powerful and dominate superior

High Angle

The

X
Note: do not use when shot on children

subject seems small and insignificant. Make a person look helpless and weak inferior

Composition Rules
Rule of Third

One of the classic compositional theories is the rule of thirds. This is a simple but quite effective way of constructing your image so the viewers eye is drawn to one of several key spots. Applicable in both the art and photographic worlds, this helps you create images that are nicely balanced and pleasing to the eye. To visualize the rule, divide your viewfinder equally into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. Then compose the photo to allow the subject or center of interest to fall on one of the four intersection points. Never put your image in the center of the Frame

Composition Rules
Rule of Third

place the subject on the golden rectangle points The point at the screen, where you first take a glance remember the nose and the head room Place the important information in the sensory point

The sensory point: the point at the screen where you first take a quick look

simple photo is Much more pleasing than a heavily cluttered photo

Place important elements at the intersection points,

or along the sides, top and bottom of the grid.

or along the sides, top and bottom of the grid.

or along the sides, top and bottom of the grid.

or along the sides, top and bottom of the grid.

Try to avoid placing your subject in the middle.

Good composition is the strongest way of seeing.

Edward Weston

Safe Area The television monitor aspect is 4:3 Widescreen monitor aspect is 16:9 If you are out of the Safe Area 4:3 = Width 720 x Height 576 16:9 = Width 720 x Height 480

Framing :

Example

Leading lines :

Reflections :

Silhouettes :

Use of digital still camera

Canon PowerShot A420 Digital Camera 4.0 Megapixel, 3.2x Optical zoom Digital zoom 11x

Memory card

AA Size rechargeable battery

Charger

What is a Pixel?
The small picture elements that make up a digital photograph.

Your digital camera builds pictures out of tiny blocks of color known as pixels, similar to the way an artist creates a mosaic using colored tiles. (Pixel is short for picture element)
megapixel The term megapixel is the number of individual pixels that go into making each image - means One Million pixels. Picture Element Digital images are made of pixels, or picture elements. A pixel is a tiny square dot "square dot" in your picture.

Pixels

Resolution:
Resolution of the picture means the amounts of pixels per inch (ppi) Select the suitable Resolution - is marked with dpi (dots per inch) The bigger the resolution is the sharper the image

Sharp image

Not Sharp image

Most commonly used: Web Resolution / computer screen =72 Print Resolution = 150 or 300 Film Resolution = 600
Document size of a picture Resolution influences pictures document size the most. Document size can be made smaller by compressing, but it affects the quality of the picture. Quality and size depends on compression Compression: Compression setting affects the overall quality of your image Compression effect the file size and image quality

Zoom There are two types of zoom on a camera Optical Zoom: Optical zoom is what I like to call true zoom When using optical zoom quality remains the same and the full resolution of the camera can be used on the zoomed image. Digital zoom: Digital zoom on the other hand is not a true form of a zoom function. What happens here is that the section of image that you are looking at becomes bigger, not closer. The image does look closer because it has been expanded however all that has happened is that the image quality has been reduced.

Zoom

There are two types of zoom on a camera Zoom out Zoom in When the zoom scale exceeds the 3.2x the camera uses the digital Zoom function Note: The zoom X differ from one camera to another and the shape of the zoom W/T 3.2x optical zoom - Digital Zoom approx. 11x If the Digital Zoom is not on, press menu button, choose Rec. (Recording) Menu and choose Digital Zoom option.

Standard Automatic Mode

Changing the recording pixels & Compression Press Func. Set Button using the 2 arrows (left & Right) to select recording pixels settings as the following: L (Large) 2272 x 1704 px High M1 (Medium 1) 1600 x 1200 px M2 ( Medium 2) 1024 x 768 px S (Small) 640 x 480 px Low (Sending images as e-mail attachment - Shooting more images) W (Wide) 2272 x 1280 px Press MENU button (approximate values range: High Quality to Normal Quality) Super Fine (shoot higher quality images) High Quality

Fine ( Shoot normal quality images)

Normal (Shooting more images) Normal

Flash
Add light Use flash indoor In dark places Cameras internal flash can include different functions: red eye reeducation & night flash Flash can be used when you are shooting towards sunlight ( Flash somehow is difficult to use you need to remember there are 3 different type light
day light = blue Florescent = green Tungsten = Red
RGB the primary color

Flash OFF

Flash ON

Red Eye reeducation

The symbol of this mode is an eye

Manual Mode Press Func. Set Button using the 2 arrows (left & Right) to select settings as the following:-

Macro ( shooting close-up) Sharp focus for close up, extreme close up and taking photo of any printed text The symbol of this mode is a Flower In macro photographing or close up photographing tries to take photos about small targets (bugs, plants, stamps, jeweler etc.) We have to bring our object as near as possible to our compact camera Cameras has limitations about that how near they can focus and how small object they can make larger to whole picture bring our object as near as possible to our compact camera

Shooting distance (from the front of the lens) Normal: 47 cm infinity (range) Macro: 5 47 cm (range) Wide & 25 47 cm (range) Telephoto Super Macro: 1X

Exposure (EV):
A cameras metering system can be fooled when taking pictures where large areas of a scene are very bright, very dark or contain strong contrast. To help prevent a photo from under or over exposure, adjust exposure values (EV). Exposure values, represented by numbers with a plus or minus in front of them, override settings automatically selected by a cameras exposure mode. When the main subject is darker than the background, increase exposure value. If the subject is much lighter than the background, decrease

The Right Light

Exposure (EV)

Overexposure = too light picture, the light parts of the picture are pure white Underexposure = too dark picture, you cant see the details Correct exposure =Cameras automatism measures the amount of light

The Right Light

Another example

White Balance

Special Scene Shooting mode

White Balance
White Balance:
White balance" is a feature which tells your camera what is white,

Blue

Yellow

Normal

 Play Back Mode (Preview Mode)- green arrow (Mode Dial) When you are in the play back mode, you can erase an image by pressing the trash icon (single image eraser). In this camera the FUNC. SET button is like ENTER key on the keyboard. To erase all images at once
Press menu button, and chose play menu then select erase all. Finally press FUNC. SET button

EXTREME LONG SHOT

LONG SHOT

MEDIUM LONG SHOT

MEDIUM SHOT

MEDIUM CLOSE UP

CLOSE UP EXTREME CLOSE UP

Comments
Every cut has to bring new information, in case it does not bring, always remember not to cut. Always cut over at least one type and at most over four, for example an extreme close-up is required: start with the following sequence:Full Shot Long Medium Shot Medium shot Medium Close-up Extreme Close-up

NEXT Class

Practical assignment

Thank you