Overview

• What’s photography?
• Camera types
• Technical basics
• Compositional basics

⚠️ Disclaimers

• I’m not a professional photographer!
• I will not cover photo editing, sharing, etc.

What’s photography?

Photography

• Photography = "Drawing with light"
• Creating durable images by recording light

One of the first pictures (1838)

One of the last pictures (2021)

Camera types

Compact camera

• Aka point-and-shoot camera
• Equipped with one lense
• Most popular type
• Small and easy to use

(D)SLR

• (Digital) Single-lens reflex camera
• Customizable hardware and lotsa nerdy settings
• Common manufacturers: Canon, Nikon, Pentax
• Big sensor = lotsa light coming in

Modern DSLRs

DSLR: What you see is what you get (more or less)

Mirrorless camera

• Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera
• Customizable hardware and lotsa nerdy settings
• Usually smaller than a DSLR
• Common manufacturers: Sony, Fujifilm, Nikon, Canon

Smartphone camera

• Always available, easy to carry, easy to use
• Instantly connected to many apps, services, platforms
• Holds up pretty well thanks to phone makers focusing on camera quality and software support

More types

• Analog cameras
• Instant cameras (Polaroid, Fuji Instax etc.)
• Action cameras (GoPro etc.)
• Movie cameras
• More stuff Sebastian doesn’t know about

Technical basics

Focal length

• "Zoom level"
• Some lenses zoom, others don’t!

The holy trinity

Shutter speed

Aperture

ISO

Shutter speed

• Aka exposure time
• Usually a range from 1/2000s to 20s
• ~1/50s usually works with a calm hand

Aperture

• Determines how much light can pass through to the sensor
• Example: f/2.0 → 50% of the light can pass through
• Determines the depth of focus ✨

Aperture examples

https://mygobe.com/magazine/aperture-guide/

Focal length and aperture values often dictate the price:

The market can get a bit overwhelming…

ISO

• Sensitivity of the sensor (setting in camera)

The holy trinity

Shutter speed

Aperture

ISO

Example time!

f/1.4

1/85s

ISO 160

(Automatic mode)

f/1.4

1/500s

ISO 800

f/1.4

1/2000s

ISO 3200

f/5.6

1/950s

ISO 25600

Every detail is in the files!

Compositional basics

Or: Random ideas about composition

Rule of thirds

Macros

Extreme contrasts

Double exposures

Even more exposures!

Bokeh

Interesting light conditions

In sum: Go crazy.