Beginners photography tutorials by Paul L.G. Morris - Lesson 1: Getting Started
I have a (digital) camera, now what?
A printable version is available as this PDF file (1.3MB).
Getting Started - Lesson 1
I have noticed that when teaching my courses on digital photography for beginners, many of the students have not ventured beyond the initial stage of pressing the shutter button and hoping for the best. The manual may as well be written in a foreign language (in fact one student's manual was!) for all the use that is made of them. The purpose of this series of tutorials is to get you past this initial step and help you get more out of your photography and possibly even understand the manual!
A glossary describing many of the terms that I use has been prepared.
A selection of basic and older cameras that I use in my courses
Taking the photos - pressing the button.
The first topic I wish to discuss is that of using the shutter button to take the photograph (not to be confused with the on-off button or switch). Most digital cameras now on the market are autofocus - this means that the camera selects a part of the scene to focus on so that it is the sharpest part of the image - often this is the closest thing to the camera or the centre of the scene.
Many cameras have a two stage shutter button. If you press it gently and slowly down you may feel a slight resistance before it takes the photo. This first stage is where the camera focuses the image and sets the exposure. If you continue to press the button down, the picture is taken.
Often the camera will indicate which part of the image it has focussed on - such as showing a green square over part of the view on the viewing screen. This enables you to focus on part of the subject by half pressing the shutter button and then recompose the image. Why would you want to do this?
On holiday you may want to capture a photo showing a member of the family at a scene with a dramatic background, or by a stately home. Having them stuck right in the middle would obscure the view. Have them stand to the edge of the scene, point the camera at them and use the shutter button to get the camera to focus on that person. Then recompose (keeping the shutter button half pressed) so that they are towards the edge of the image with the scene taking centre stage; this often gives a far better photo - why not try it.
A family snapshot taken using this technique
Face detection: This is a feature that is becoming more widely available. The camera attempts to find a face in the scene to focus on. If it works for you, then you may not need to use the above technique.
But there are also fixed focus cameras. These have simple lenses where everything is sort-of in focus. Cameras with this kind of lenses tend not to have the ‘two-stage’ shutter button as there is no need for the camera to focus. It would still help to take the photo composed as described above.
The self timer
Many cameras have a self timer. With this enabled, you can set the camera up, set it going so you have time to get into the shot before the camera releases the shutter itself.
How do you find it? Many have a button indicated by a small image of a timer or clock face. Sometimes you may have to use the menu system to find it. Normally, you press the button to activate the self timer function then, when you press the shutter button you have a few second to place yourself in the photo.
Self timer buttons from 3 different cameras and a menu option from a 4th camera
The delay time varies between cameras, with some allowing you to vary the time. 10 seconds is quite common.
Copyright & disclaimer:
Please refer to the notes on the tutorials page.
The Author and Photographer:
One of Paul's photographic activities is to teach beginners how to use their digital cameras. Most of these people have quite basic cameras although some have more advanced models. Topics that Paul teaches include the mechanics of using a camera, to composition, to loading the images to a computer and preparing them for email and printing.
