The Golden Hour

You have probably heard the term “The Golden Hour” before, probably when admiring a spectacular landscape photograph that makes you marvel in the beauty of the light. Why don’t your pictures look like that? Well it is as simple as the time of day the photo was taken.

The Exposure Triangle – In Beginner Speak “The End of Auto Mode”

In previous beginner speak posts I have written about aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how they affect your photos. Understanding each of those aspects of photography is necessary to have creative control over your shots. “So what is this Exposure Triangle?” I hear you ask. The exposure triangle explains how the individual aspects of exposure (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) affect the final exposure of the photo.

What is exposure though?

The technicalities of exposure are rather convoluted and a bit mathsy, however the end result is that exposure refers to how bright or dark your photo is due to the amount of light that is recorded by your cameras sensor. A properly exposed photo should (normally) resemble the brightness of the original scene. A poorly exposed photo will either be too dark or too bright and may contain areas that are so dark or bright that they contain no detail (know as blown out). So how can we control the exposure of a photo? That is where the exposure triangle comes in.

What is the exposure triangle?

Appear to be better than you are!

Really simple tip this one!

If you want all of your friends, familily or anyone who you show you family to think you are a better photographer than you really are then…

Only show them your best photos!

To demonstate the principle here is one I made earlier. Just one!

Welcome to my Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is James and I like taking photos. I plan to begin posting as much of what I have learned over the last year and into the future.

Why?

Well last year I decided to become a bit more serious about photography, get myself a DSLR and start taking some “proper photos”.

As an intro to my journey here is one of the best photos I have managed to take with my old Sony P&S.

Hopefully by the time I get through my first year you will be able so see an improvement in my photos. Hopefully!

Please let me have your feedback on my blog or the site as a whole. Is there anything you would like to see? Anything you have learned that you want to share? Critique one of my photos. Just add a comment.