FAQs

The three most important things in photography are Subject, Light and Composition

Subject: Your subject helps you capture the viewers’ attention – it could be a landscape, a person, a flower, a bird or an animal.

Light: Light helps you create the feel of your photo. Depending on the weather conditions/time of the day, you may have to do photography in warm light (Golden hour), harsh light or cool light (Blue hour). Read the blog on Golden hour photography here.

Composition: A good composition is one which conveys a story/an emotion without any distractions as it has all the elements of the scene arranged aesthetically within the camera frame. It includes from which angle you’re taking the photo, what is the relationship between the elements of the photo and the subjects that you emphasize or exclude in your frame.

Composition rules/guidelines/techniques of photography that help you create interesting photos are Rule of Thirds, Centred Composition, Leading Lines, Fill the Frame, Pattern & Texture, Rule of Odds, Colour Theory, Frame within a Frame, Simplicity & Minimalism, Rule of Space, Left to Right Rule, Isolate the Subject, Negative Space, Foreground Composition, Panning, Change your Point of View, Balance, Juxtaposition, Diagonals & Triangles, Golden Triangles and Golden Ratio. Read the blog on composition rules of photography here.

The main types of photography are landscape photography, portrait photography, food photography, sports/action photography, wildlife photography, architecture photography and macro photography. Read the blog on different types of photography here.

The three pillars of photography are Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. You need to learn what settings to use for each one of them to get the correct exposure so that your photos don’t come out too dark or too bright.

Aperture is the opening between the lenses that lets the light into the image sensor; setting the aperture to create a wide opening will allow more light into the sensor resulting in a bright photo and vice versa. Read the blog on aperture here.

Shutter Speed is the time for which the shutter is open to allow light to pass to the sensor. Setting a fast shutter speed will allow less light to enter the sensor and help freeze the motion in the scene. Read the blog on shutter speed here.

ISO sensitivity helps measure the camera’s potential to capture light; increasing the ISO setting will create a bright photo and vice versa. Read the blog on ISO here.

The Looney f11 rule/ Looney 11 rule can be used in manual mode for moon photography. You need to set the aperture to f11; setting of the shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the ISO setting. For example, if you’ve set ISO to 400, then set the shutter speed to 1/400. Keeping aperture at f11, you’ll have to increase or decrease the other settings till you get the correct exposure. Read the blog on moon photography here.

The 500 rule is used in astrophotography – it says divide 500 by the focal length of your lens. It is used to avoid a blur image which can be caused by the motion of the stars and use of long exposure (slow shutter speed) for photographing the Milky Way. For example, if the focal length of your lens is 14mm, so 500/14 = 35 secs, so you need to set your shutter speed lower than 35 secs. Read the blog on astrophotography here.

RAW format captures all image data recorded by the sensor without processing it, making it suitable for Lightroom edits whereas JPG is a compressed version of RAW. In JPG format, some of the image data may be lost, hence it gives you fewer options for photo editing in Lightroom. Read the blog on JPG and RAW here.

The white balance setting helps adjust colour casts (caused by light sources like incandescent bulbs, fluorescent light, sunlight etc.) so that the objects that looked white while photographing, appear white in the photo and not blue or red. White balance settings include Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Cloudy, Flash and Fluorescent. Read the blog on White Balance here.

Qualities of a good photographer are passion, patience, adventurous spirit, creativity, flexibility, subject knowledge, curiosity & love of learning and good people skills. To understand why these qualities are essential, read this blog.

Best manual mode settings for landscape photography are Aperture: f11/f16, ISO: 100, Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec or faster. Wide angle lens of 18mm or wider helps capture a better view of the landscape. Read the blog on DSLR manual mode settings explained with sample photos for different types of photography here.

Your DSLR camera gives you two options to achieve sharp focus –Autofocus (AF) mode and Manual Focus (MF) mode.

Autofocus (AF) settings on a Canon DSLR are:

Shot AF: Ideal for focusing on still subjects.

AI Servo: Ideal for focusing on moving subjects.

AI Focus: If you use this setting and focus on a subject; when the subject moves, auto switches from One Shot AF to AI Servo.

When photographing in low light scenes and other conditions, if your camera struggles to focus in AF mode, then switch to Manual Focus mode. Move the focus ring manually till your subject appears sharp and then take the shot. Read the blog on how to get better focus in photography here.

Yes, if you want to take your photography to the next level. With Lightroom that has powerful tools to enhance your photos – you can adjust the white balance, contrast, brightness, colour, sharpness, do selective editing & more and give your photos the ‘Wow Factor’. Read the blog on how to edit your photos in Lightroom here.