Take Up Photography This Summer

Are you ready to find a fun hobby for the summer? Photography is an excellent pass time that allows you to capture people, places, and things of all sorts. Capturing photos doesn’t have to be difficult, as anyone can learn with a few tips. Grab a camera and start snapping!

Camera Icons

At the top of your camera, there should be a wheel with icons on it, which is called the function wheel. This wheel allows you to adjust your camera into different modes. The wheel usually has about five icons:

• P stands for the program auto. This button is similar to autopilot, allowing the camera to make choices for you while you are capturing images. The goal is for you to not have to use this feature and be able to use the other settings to snap photos you love.
• S (T, Tv), or the shutter priority, is a semi-automatic feature that allows the photographer to choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture. The “Tv” stands for time value.
• A, short for the aperture priority, is an additional semi-automatic feature on the function wheel. For this feature, you will select the aperture and the camera will select the time. Be sure your camera is in focus before you start snapping.
• M stands for the manual exposure setting, which allows the photographer to select the aperture and shutter speed.
• B is for bulb mode. This setting is for exposures that are 30 seconds or longer.

If you are a visual person, as most photographers are, here is a picture with more information on the function wheel and other buttons.

Lighting

Lighting is one of the most important factors to understand when taking up photography as a new hobby! The morning and late afternoon is the best time to capture your photos because the sun begins to set, which gives the photos a more warm look. You may have heard this referred to as “golden hour”. If you shoot during mid-day or early afternoon, when the sun is at its harshest, this will cast unwanted shadows on your photos.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Being a beginner of anything requires practice to get the skills down. There are common mistakes all beginning photographers make that you will want to avoid.

• Minimize your movements. A tripod or holding your breath as you snap a photo can help with this.
• Choosing the wrong focus point.
• Not using a self-timer when using a tripod.
• Make sure you have selected the AWB (automatic white balance setting), so the color doesn’t look funny.