what's the basic technique of photography?

You have recieved some good advice. More can't do any harm.

1) Know your camera. Read and study the Owner's Manual. Find an on-line discussion group - or a local group - devoted to your camera. Join a camera club - or start one. Know all the controls and functions and how to use them. Your camera should be an extension of you. If you aren't comfortable with it you'll find it difficult to use.

2) Learn how light, ISO, aperture and shutter speed interact to make a correct exposure. Learn that it is best to only change one of the three camera variables - ISO, shutter speed, aperture - at a time. Observe how changing the aperture affects shutter speed. Study this hypothetical example based on shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day at an ISO of 200, with your camera set so you choose an aperture and it selects the shutter speed (called Aperture Preferred Mode):
f2 @ 1/1000
f2.8 @ 1/500
f4 @ 1/250
f5.6 @ 1/125

Note what is happening? As we let in less light with a smaller aperture the shutter speed gets slower. An aperture of f4 admits 1/2 as much light as f2.8 so the shutter speed is twice as long. All four of the exposures in our example will be identical.

3) Why would we change the aperture as we did in the example? For what's called Depth of Field (DOF). What is DOF? Its loosely defined as that part of a scene that is in acceptable focus in front of and behind our subject. DOF is a joint result of lens focal length and aperture. A wide-angle lens (10mm, 18mm, etc.) at f16 and focused at a subject 5' away will give the appearance of everything in front of and behind the subject being in focus. If we decide to isolate the subject from its background then we'd use a wide aperture, perhaps f2.8. A longer lens (100mm, 300mm, etc.) will have a very shallow DOF at all apertutes. It might be beneficial to find a DOF table and study it. It doesn't matter which camera company published it.

4) Learn to "read" light and how it affects a scene. The light at 7am is different than the light at 10am, at 1pm, at 6pm. Learn how to effectively use light to show depth and texture. Learn that an overcast day with soft shadows can be a good day for photography. It can be used effectively for outdoor portraits since the light is soft and flattering. It can produce a mood of quietness. To better understand this, find something you see everyday, preferably a building with vertical corrugated siding (or a power transformer with vertical fins) and look at it - better yet photograph it - with strong morning sidelighting , again at 1 or 2pm, and again on an overcast day. Print them out and compare them. (Sidelighting is light coming from either side of you and your subject. If you imagine you are standing on a clock face and your subject is at 12 and the sun is at 9 or 3 you have sidelighting.)

5) Learn how you can control light using your camera controls. The meter in your camera "sees" the world as 18% gray. That is the mid-tone and for most scenes produces correct exposure. The meter is easily fooled though. You have to know when its being fooled and how to correct it. Imagine you're on a sunlit path with lots of trees and foliage along either side. You compose and take the picture. The result is a path with little or no detail. It looks "washed out". Your camera's meter did exactly what it was supposed to do BUT it was fooled by a very contrasty scene. You, having learned your camera and its controls and functions, know what to do. You know that the path needs less exposure and that simply using the next smallest aperture will give the same results (Example 2). So now you have to "fool" the meter. Use the EV function* on your camera and set it to -1 and make an exposure. Now set the EV to -2 and make another one. What you've done is given 1 and 2 stops less exposure which will give detail in the path. The dark areas to either side will have little detail. The settings on the camera may be f8 @ 1/125 and that's what the meter says will give correct exposure but at -1 EV the exposure is equivalent to f11 at 1/125. -2 EV is equivalent to f16 @ 1/125. The meter still "thinks" it is making exposures at f8 @ 1/125 but you've taken control and outsmarted it. If your subject was standing against a bright background and you let the meter set the exposure your subject would be a silhouette. Unless that's what you want, you know to set the EV to +1, make an exposure and then +2 and make another. The bright background will be blown out but your subject will be perfectly exposed.

6) As someone previously said, learn the Rules of Composition**. Using them will help get you started on making good photographs. Then, after you've learned them and used them, you can choose to ignore them. If you slavishly adhere to the Rule of Thirds your images may be "technically correct" but they may also be boring and predictable. The late Robert Capa once said: "I would rather have a stong image that is technically bad then vice versa." He also said: "If your pictures aren't good enough you aren't close enough." So if your personal vision says to put the horizon dead center in the frame, do it. If your vision says the subject should be perfectly centered in the frame, do it. We all see differently. There is no right way or wrong way to take a photograph. There is only our own individual vision.

7) Read books on photography. Find a photography magazine you like and subscribe to it.

8) Practice practice practice practice. Practice until reading light and making exposure adjustments and composition and DOF are second nature to you. Then practice some more.

If you have any questions feel free to email me. In 36 years of enjoying photography I've learned a few things.

* If your camera does not have an EV setting then you have to use full manual control. Let the camera meter the scene and make a note of the settings it chose. Switch to manual control, set the shutter speed the camera chose, and then change the aperture as required to give -1 or -2 stops or +1 or +2 (depending on which situation you're faced with) stops.

** I really do not like using the term "Rules of ..." when it comes to photography. I prefer to think of them as "Guidelines".

Oh, heheh! When I got to this question, I would have been the first one to answer if I had just sent an answer in immediately, but by the time I had typed in all this, several other people have already answered! Whow!


Okay, well, there might come someone with more expertise than me to answer you, too, and show me up. I'm not the most professional photographer/videographer, but I believe I can still help you out. Let's see here:

Well, you're just asking for the basics, so I'll try to stick with those. And it sounds like you're just talking about still photograpy, so I'll ignore the motion pointers for now. (I can come back and edit this later if you want more.)



JUST THE BASICS
(as you've asked for, so far):


1. THE "RULE OF THIRDS,"
a.k.a. a Guideline of Thirds

A lot of people seem to think that centering the subject in a photo--I mean right SMACK in the center, in both dimensions--is a good idea. I don't know why they think this, because it actually doesn't look good. Well, if youhave a portrait, then it's probably good to center the person horizontally, but don't center them vertically. Instead, put their eyes on an imaginary line that's about a third of the way down from the top of the picture.

When framing the picture, imagine a Tic-tac-toe grid over your picture. In fact, some models of digital still cameras or even video cameras will, at your option, show a grid (or at least center rectangle--and no, I don't mean the little one that's for focusing purposes) to help you place your subjects according to those thirds.

When not taking a portrait, but the picture is still of a person, it's usually a good idea to put the person about a third of the way in from the right or left, as well as having their eyes on the top third-line, putting most of the space from them in the direction that they're looking. (If they're looking straight at the camera, then just pick the side based on other things in the picture.) This tends to look better than just centering them.

If the picture is of something that doesn't include a person, you can put other things on the rule of thirds, and even imagine a "face" that the object might have, such as the front or prominent side of a house, or the front of a vehicle, etc.

Horizons are usually best photographed by being put on a third-line, too. Whether to put the horizon on the top third-line or the bottom depends on other things in the photo, but I believe that most of the time a horizon would look better on the bottom third-line. I don't know of very many times when vertically centering a horizon looks appropriate.


2. FRAMING

Okay, I already mentioned some about framing in #1, but this kind of framing is actually about creating a frame WITHIN the photo, around the subject, to help focus attention to it (and also maybe give it a nicer-looking environment). Good examples may be parts of a tree in an upper corner of the photo, or that the tree parts start on top and bend around the corner down the side, etc.


3. AVOIDING MERGERS

Okay, once I ask this question, the principle of avoiding mergers will probably be self-explanitory: Have you ever seen a photograph that makes a person looks like they have a tree growing from their head? Or maybe it looks like a fountain is spraying from their head! Or maybe it looks like they're a light pole (the arm holding the light seems to be sticking up from their head)! This is what a merger is! You don't normally want that, obviously. To avoid one of these silly problems can usually be done by just moving in one direction or another, often even just slightly.

Sometimes mergers are used as a photographic trick, to create a cheap special effect, such as having a field of some kind, with two people, and it looks like one person is holding the other on the palm of her (flatly-opened) hand. The holder is close to you, and the person "standing on the holder's hand" is somewhat far away (probably preferably at the horizon, if possible) and merging the two, if done just right, can create this illusion! But of course, usually you'll just want to avoid mergers.


Now, there are some things I could tell you that can make photos even more professional, such as having a shallow depth of field in some situations (widening the aperture--the camera's "light hole"--to create a blurred background while keeping the sharply-focused foreground, as a way of helping focus attention to the foreground; and it can also kind-of look just more... well "glamorous," in some ways in some cases, ya know), but those may be more advanced. So the above principles are what I'll leave you for now, but if you want more, you can add details to your question to ask more, and then I'll edit my answer here to add more. Or you can e-mail me (I've had my profile allow that).


Good luck in photography!
Mike A. Christensen

for sharp images use a tripod (like pros do) whenever posible

theres 2 parts to great photography

1. science - light, exposure, lighting, fstops, shutter speed, sensitivity (iso), flash, et cetera

2. the art - light, lighting, composition, depth, focus, colour etc

composition is the easy part the rest requires training/study/practice et centera


a

2

1

Can I just assure you DONT WORRY !!!!! Black and White is great fun you will enjoy it trust me, I done a B/W course about 10 years ago really enjoyed it, in fact I enjoyed it so much I set up my own dark room at home, another really easy thing to do. You can still get B/W film of the shelve, if you don't own a film camera purchase either a Nikon or Canon both these film cameras are cheap to buy now but are good quality. The basic book I would suggest you purchase is Basic Developing & Printing in Black and White, printed by Kodak, Cat No.E140 8966 it's cheap and it's good. I hope you enjoy it I know you will, and the best of luck !!.

1. Have a worthwhile camera. 2. Have a good "framing eye", i.e., what's the focal point of the picture. 3. Luck. Catching a rare moment or having a rare moment catch you.

Look at these features before taking a photo...

- Does the composition and perspective look "picture perfect"? So would you hang the photo on your wall, or buy it? If not, then the shot isn't perfect yet.

- Aperture

- Focal length

- Shutter speed

- Do you need to pan with a moving subject?

- ISO

- Flash

- Try to use a tripod where possible or extra support when using long focal lengths (zooming).

you'd batter detail read the help of the photo and do as the manual .I think that's best to learn it .

You can read books about photography but in the end the only way you are really going to get to know your camera is by trial and error. If you have a digital camera you can just delete the photos if they come out wrong.

Also a tripod can be very handy for some kinds of photos (expert photographers use them so they can't be too bad) I use my tripod when I try to photograph moving objects like at the race track, the moon, etc.

The links I have listed below are for free ebooks you can download about both digital photography and film camera photography.

Good luck! :)