Intro to Photography

What is Photography?

• The use of light• An extension of your eye

Angles

• Wide: Establishes the shot• Medium: Shows detail within the wide shot• Tight: Shows detail within the medium shot

Rule of Thirds• The frame is split into thirds

Rule of Thirds

Composition• Think about where the people and the things in

your photograph are placed.• Things to consider:– How many people or things do you want in your

photograph? – Do you want the people or things close together or to have space between them?

The Steerage Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946)Metmuseum.org

Head Room

• Properly framing your subject(s)

Exposure

• The amount of light exposed on your photograph

Background and Subject• The background is anything in the picture behind

the subject.• The subject is the person, people, or things that

are the main focus of your picture.• Make sure the background is how you want it to

be before taking your picture and consider moving things around or changing your location…unless you plan to change this later while editing.In this picture the

person and his hand are the main subject and the desks, classroom, and other students are the background.

Face vs. Back

• Faces tell stories; backs tell nothing

Feeling, Mood , Emotion• Think about what feeling, mood, or emotion

you want to be shown in the photograph.• Do you want the items and people in your

photograph to seem:– happy– serious or sad– casual/relaxed– formal/posed

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, CaliforniaDorothea Lange(1895–1965)MoMa.org