Guide to Basic Photography [WIP]

I noticed that a lot of people on VP have gotten interested in photography lately... so I figured, why not make a simple sort of guide?<br><br>All images I will be using will be my own. I will probably use photos of lesser quality since I will just be drawing all over them anyway xD<br><br>This is a Work in progress, as it does take a while to do one section.<br><br>For now, I have <span style="font-weight:bold">subject quality </span> and <span style="font-weight:bold">placement </span><br><br><br>Quality is one thing that determines whether an image is considered enjoyable, or just a snapshot.<br><br>This image has snapshot quality:<br><br><img src="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/Snapshot1.jpg"; alt="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/Snapshot1.jpg"; class="bb-image" /><br><br>The background has some potential, but the lighting is horrible. It's too dark, and rather dull looking. It just looks like a regular backyard picture of a dog. There is no interesting lighting, nothing to hold any major interest. For the photographer, sure, it's my dog and I'll keep the image just because of that, but I would never post it as a photograph onto an art site of any sort. I'll just store it away in the folder for memories.<br><br><br>This photograph, on the other hand, has more detail, more brightness and more clarity. The eye stands out here, which is the main focus point to me, and the photograph just has overall better quality. This is the sort of image that I would post as a portrait for my dog somewhere.<br><br><img src="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/Photograph.jpg"; alt="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/Photograph.jpg"; class="bb-image" /><br><br>It is still a little dark, but that could be fixed with some simple edits (that I'm too lazy to bother with at the moment)<br><br>So, same dog, totally different quality of photograph.<br><br><br><br>Subject placement is a very important part of photography that oddly does get messed up a lot.<br><br>This is considered the rule of thirds. I purposefully cropped this image to be wrong, though it wasn't a good image in the first place anyway:<br><br><br><img src="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/thirds1.jpg"; alt="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/thirds1.jpg"; class="bb-image" /><br><br>Notice how the image focus is too heavily in the middle. Since some of the dog is leaning more to one side, this one isn't as bad as it can get. If you have a smaller image, say a butterfly, and it's right in that middle box, it's going to look even worse. This is an easy thing to fix when taking photos, because it's merely adjusting yourself to place the focus in a better placement.<br><br><br>This is how an image should be placed (or similar)<br><br><img src="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/RuleofThirds1.jpg"; alt="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/RuleofThirds1.jpg"; class="bb-image" /><br><br>The main focus is placed heavily in the top left corner, rather than being centered on the image. This makes the viewing much nicer.<br><br>Basically, you want your image to be placed more heavily in one of the four corner points. This is one thing it seems like a lot of people tend to mess up when they're first starting. Take the time to make sure your image is in one of the four corners before you take the shot.<br><br><br><br>Another important thing to take into consideration is the time of day to which you take your photograph. This also has to do with placement, because depending on where the sun is at, you will want to take photographs of your subject in different places.<br><br>You want to take your photographs where the sun is not behind your subject. If you are facing toward the sun while taking a photograph, your picture will end up incredibly washed out, and therefore, most times you will not get the effect you were looking for and quality will be diminished. You want your back to the sun when taking photographs, in other words.<br><br>This is an example of a photograph taken where my camera was pointed toward the sun:<br><br><img src="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/washedout.jpg"; alt="http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x6/Nickelsbanners/washedout.jpg"; class="bb-image" /><br><br>You can get good photographs with this if you are intentionally wanting your photograph to appear washed out (I have seen many photographers purposefully have washed out photographs) but it is most times avoided unless you are seeking it.<br><br>It is recommended to not take photographs at high noon or when the sun is incredibly bright. It is best to take photographs late in the afternoon (right now, for me, around 6-7 at night, or 7-8 in the morning are the best times). Obviously this will vary depending on where you live, so you should definitely experiment at different times until you can find the right time to take photographs.<br><br><br><br>If there are any particular subjects of photography you'd like me to post examples of or anything, please let me know ;D I'd also be happy to critique photographs if you are open to taking critiques. Don't ask me how a photograph looks if you don't want my honest opinion. (no worries, I back everything I say up with ways to improve and everything ^^)<br><br><span style="font-style:italic"><br><br>I realize I, myself, do not have the world's greatest photographs. I'm still in high school and still learning how to use my camera. I am currently in a photography class, so some of this I learned from there, some of what I will post will be personal experience. So, by posting this guide, I am in no way trying to say I know more than the next person =P Just trying to help people who are newer than me.</span><br><br><br><br>Also, if this belongs somewhere else, feel free to move it... I'm not 100% sure where this would belong ;D