If you want to take good pictures but knows next to nothing about photography then this post is for you.

Instead of formulas and computations and all that jazz, Lets break it down to a process that works most of the time. So instead of rolling dice and waiting for luck, we will be off to a logical direction and adjust/fine tune to reason as needed.


Step 1. Have something to shoot with.
For now, don't bother with what camera you have. Anything that shoot is good and we shoot this "whatever" camera until we learn what it can not do. Then that would be the time to choose your system. (*Note to future self; "System" not camera. You will know by then)

Step 2. Have something/somewhere/someone to shoot at.
Something has many other names, Somewhere is also known as landscape and someone is a portrait.

Step 3. IMAGINE & DECIDE how the photograph will look like (Composition 1).
3a. Imagine, Have a goal and aim to achieve it. IE if i want to have a picture of runner as he breaks the finish line, then prepare by visualizing what could happen and position yourself where you can capture that moment.
3b. People stand upright so in reference, we call upright composed images as portraits and Landscapes in reference to horizons, we call horizontal pictures a landscape
3c. Look with one eye- The camera see with one plane and when we close one eye and look at things, we replicate it making us imagine more clearly what the outcome will be.

Step 4. FIND A HERO and emphasize it (Composition 2).
A hero is the main focus/element of your photo. It might be a object. group of objects, a color, a person, a group of people, emotion, story ...sky is the limit. No matter what your hero is, it is imperative that it stands out and that everything else in the picture supports it. Emphasize, make it greater than life. So that when others look at the final photo, they see exactly what you envisioned.

Step 5. NO RULES (Composition 3)
You might have read or heard of certain rules like reciprocals, rule of thirds etc. The thing is, they are not rules. They are guides. They are like maps or words and just like those, a person needs to read and understand them fully to make the best out of them.
As a beginner, set them aside for the moment and follow your instinct. IF it looks good, it probably is. Because even if each persons sense of beauty is partially biased by their experiences, we all have this innate sense of looking for harmony and balance. Let those be your guide for the moment & learn the others in its own time.

Step 6. Adjust camera for the ambient light Color Cast & Intensity (WB - White balance & ISO - Sensor amplification)
As a beginner you may want to put both of these on Auto, hope for the best & proceed to step 4.
If you have something else in mind then remember first that color cast affects mood. bluish cast feels cold and lonely while reddish/warmer tones feels alive and homey.
6a. Our brain has its own white balance and automatically adjust the color we see so do not trust your eyes. The camera tells the truth.
6b. If you have manual WB in your camera, each settings produce the opposite in effect. If the ambient light is white and you adjust the WB to cloudy or shade (going to blue), the picture will become reddish. IE white minus blue=red
6c. If you adjust to incandescent lamp (going to red) and the ambient light is white, you photo will have a blue cast.
6d. So if the ambient light is cloudy and you set WB to cloudy, then the bluish ambient light will be normalized to white in the picture. IE blue minus blue=white
6e. High ISO numbers brightens the image but makes all underexposed areas dirty(Noisy)

Step 7. FOCUS IN FOCUS.
Give plenty of effort to focus correctly. What is in focus gets emphasized so it is good practice to put focus on what you intend to hero or to natural attention grabber, such as the nearest eye.
7a. How much element remains in focus is called Depth Of Field. DOF is dictated by Lens FOV, aperture size (f/stop) and your distance from the subject.
7b. Smaller f/stop number (actually bigger iris opening) and smaller distances (macro) makes small (narrow)DOF.
7c. A lens's FOV (Field of View) or the amount of space you can capture also affects DOF. Lens with wider FOV (low mm number) has a wider(deeper)DOF than those with high mm numbers (telephoto lens)
7d. Elements outside the DOF will be blurry. The amount and quality of blurriness is called BOKEH.

Step 8. DO NOT BE A JERK.
Movement unless intentional will wreck a picture with motion blur and streaks so learn to be a smooth operator.
8a. Support the camera properly and Refrain from jerking the trigger.
8b. Use a proper tripod and remote trigger if needed.
8c. Fast shutter speed will freeze moving objects but also make the image darker so Use the lowest shutter speed you can get away with.
8d. Slow shutter speed can be used intentionally to creates fancy movement blurs, invisibility or softness.
8e. Give the everything in view a quick scan including the exposure meter and if everything looks ok, then click away.

Step 9. CHIMP
Let us recap;
Have camera & Subject OK
Composition OK
White balance & ISO OK
Focus point OK
Aperture/DOF OK
Shutter speed/Motion blur OK
Smooth clicks OK
CHIMP - Check Cast, Histogram, I (eye - some may have their eyes closed, re do the picture) & Manipulate the Process. You may need to adjust the subject themselves, not only your camera settings.
As you get better, you will chimp less and less.

Step 10. ADJUST
Chimping allows us to see if we did right. As a beginner, this is one of your best tool. Hopefully your problem by now is only about exposure. If then, the exposure compensation button, is our first goto adjustment. Shutter speed & Aperture will be adjusted depending on our need for Motion Blur or DOF.
Since we have chosen our aperture and shutter speed deliberately, we will then adjust ISO to compensate for over or under exposure. If Adjusting ISO is not enough, then keep ISO up and adjust Aperture to allow more light. If not enough the we lessen shutter speed for more light. We set Shutter speed first on our first shoot and adjust it as our last resort.

Step 11. SHOOT UNTIL RAW
Shoot again and again. Do not be a sniper unless that is all that can be done. Change composition, DOF, Exposure etc. Make good adjustments and keep shooting. Shoot a variety of situations and subjects. Each one has their own challenges. From JPG, shoot and learn until you know and become comfortable with RAW. By this time, you will know enough of your tools that you can decide your for your system.

Step 12. ANALYZE EDIT SHOW
Study your images and see how it can be improved. Study other photographers images. Swap stories, Print your favorites etc. Learn editing soft-wares but most of all, keep the fire burning.

Photography is not a burger that can be downed in a single bite. It is a more like a pizza, whose little slices need to be nibbled and enjoyed. It is about seeing thing in another light and capturing that so others may see it too.

Thank you

If we analyze the problem as ballistics, any material that our moving object encounters specially when it breaks, takes energy away from the projectile and lessen impact velocity/penetration. Bulletproof glass are many layers of thin glass glued together. As each sheet breaks, it slows the bullet to the point it stops and the last sheets are not damaged.
UV filters will help with dirt and impacts. How much will depend on the circumstance. On the other hand, how much it affects the image will highly depend on the quality of the filter. A good quality UV filter should be negligible.

Thank you

Thanks a lot.

They each have their own challenges;
1.The moored boats were all bobbing up and down every time another boat passes by and it took i while to get a sharp image with a long exposure.
2.The Marina -camera was a point and shoot.
3. Cyclist under the bridge was the hardest to capture. no tripod, no flash, mixed light source, too much light contrast, capture movement in low light and no control of the subject (passersby). It was luck and technique in equal amounts.

Here are some more. Sunset under a bridge; Taken last December with a Huawei celphone, edited with PS

Thanks

Thanks.
It is one of my favorites as well because of how technical (and lucky with the passing cyclist) it was to get it right.

Some old low lights from D5300 a Canon point and shoot and a D7100.

:-) I claim to be both- a scientist and an artist and many things else LOL.


Been trying, but it seems the world does not really want peace.
I propose the CODE (Communal Democracy) as a universal form of government, Iscariot as a way of life and Self rule without harm as the soul & core of existence.
Anybody interested please contact me for details :-)


Hmmm, i believe that would be Jesus, because even Adolf's moves was connected with the guy.
But if Adam and Eve was real, the person we should blame for all the problems in the world is a woman :-)


Not for me it though. I'm pretty much an oddball when it come to beliefs and point of views. I tend to see things as spheres instead of coins.


My take is that generally, good or bad is just a preferential point of view. Innovation is always a step up but people tend to view or fooled to view commercialism as innovation.


You have me confused here. Consumerism is the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers.

That is the truth. Very few understand what art is but everybody is a critique/opinionated.
Even some of those who trained are more concerned with their own taste than what art really is. Such as calling a light-bulb that goes on and off in an empty room or a peeing statue art. Worse, they believe and push it as high art and is the future of artistic endeavors.

Yes, and we have been adept at reading negatives too, choosing which ones to print from there :-)

I use Photoshop to go straight to editing because i have little free time and edit only photos i find interesting. I revert to the native brands software if its not possible to open the files directly with PS.

This fit me because I shoot RAW only if i'm getting paid.
For my own use, i have allocated one button on my camera to shoot Jpeg+RAW so i have an instant option if i want to because generally, i shoot with my own picture control settings directly to Jpeg.

:-) RAW is how the camera saw the image and saved it. But we can not see raw files. we need to interpret those files to something in the monitor for us to see. That process of interpretation is what some judge as "manipulation". The difference is, that interpretation is subjective and only temporary. Done for the sole purpose of enabling us to view the digital data.
Different soft wares and settings can change how that interpretation will appear even without our intent or control.
On the other hand, JPG or other file images are the saved interpretations. Many of the data still available in the RAW file would be lost when we save the interpreted images. That is why these file sizes are smaller in comparison.

Thus it is indeed true that the raw files are unchanged and not affected by settings, it is also true that whatever you see is affected as it is already an interpreted data.

On the other hand, intentional editing and modification is the crux of manipulation and is totally another matter.

:-)

Sure they do LOL. The truth is that a lot of people think themselves are artist but in reality, they are just b*llsh*tting to benefit themselves.



Critique is one of those where little knowledge becomes really dangerous, most specially when spoken by prominent figures of society.

Actually my comment was a general overview. Specifics will happen only if i know exactly what you are doing and what software you are using. Perhaps you can give a little more detail?