Contents of this e-book

Why to read this e-book?

Who is this book intended for?

How to learn to take pictures?

The advantages of this e-book

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Online appendix to this e-book

Disclaimer

Copyrights

Symbols used in this e-book and their meaning

Introduction - What troubles a beginning photographer

Chapter 1 - The basic questions of an educated photographer

Chapter 2 - What lens should I use to take photographs?

Practical excercise no. 1 - Properties of a lens

Chapter 3 - Where should I stand?

Coffee break

Chapter 4 - Where should I focus?

Practical excercise no. 2 - Selecting the focus points

Chapter 5 - Practical step-by-step exercises

Practical excercise no. 3 - Photographing subjects indoors

Practical excercise no. 4 - Photographing subjects outdoors

BONUS

Appendix 1 - Climb to the top of your photographic knowledge

Appendix 2 - Glossary of terms

What is Total Picture Control?

Who is this book intended for?

This book is intended for all the enthusiastic owners of digital cameras, regardless of their age and level of education. It could be your first book about photography. My intention as the author - and a teacher of photography - is to encourage your interest in photography.

The ability to take pictures is a creative skill of a cultural educated person.

Why to read this e-book?

In today's modern world of digital technology it is usual that you take into your hands a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a digital compact, bridge or a DSLR camera and you try to make a good photo. You rely on the amazing abilities of the intelligent electronics. You have been convinced that "it makes photos itself!" Despite the great advertising, the created photos do not meet your expectations. You are disappointed. You look for a way to make things right. You ask your friends, search on the internet, buy books.

Today's books about photography are full of amazing pictures, quick guides and guaranteed tricks to make perfect photos. Some authors offer a quick response:

"Hey Scott, how should I take a picture of this flower?"

"Just look in the right way and do this with your camera..."

They don't deal with explaining the basic concepts, they go straight to the point. These authors have (unfortunately) already forgotten how they learned to make photos. They have forgotten how they obtained their particular abilities. They describe taking pictures as something natural. They say that "it is enough to have eyes", after all it's that simple. You are impressed by their instructions. You try their tricks but the magic disappears. Once again you remain alone with these unanswered questions:

How should I get rid of the automatic mode?

What should I set up so that the photos meet my expectations?

In this e-book we will answer the questions that keep troubling a beginning photographer like you.

How to learn to take pictures?

Photography, like other skills of people, consists of sequential abilities, steps. These lead a person to his/her overall ability to create or control something.

How do you acquire these skills?

Just remember, for example, how you learned to ride a bike in childhood. At first you didn’t know where to put your feet, what to do with your hands, how to strike the pedals and maintain your balance and direction at the same time. You were falling, it was difficult for you. However, little by little you involved different activities of this skill into a whole. And suddenly, hop! You gained control of riding and started enjoying the speed and graceful movements. From that moment on you will never forget how to ride a bike. Over some time, it is you who gives advice about cycling to a beginner and you wonder: „What does that clumsy one do with his/her legs? Why does he/she often lean on one side and loses his/her balance? I mean, riding a bike is so easy!”

Now think of the tricks and tips of the authors of the books on photography that I have mentioned. Do you want to be able to take pictures? Just look in the right way and press the release, I mean, it's so easy! These authors have already forgotten how many little steps they had to do before they learned to take pictures. Today, it is nothing more for them than one complex skill which they control. And they wonder how come that the others do not understand it.

Do you understand now how learning works?

As a teacher of photography I can see the difficulties in making the first steps on a daily basis. Knowing how to gradually join these steps into a whole is difficult until the right moment comes and you'll suddenly know how to make a good photograph.

In this book I will give you tips on how easy it is to learn to take pictures in a step-by-step way.

I will acquaint you with my method of teaching. It is simple, perhaps it will surprise you. It is based on remembering a few questions, on being able to ask them yourself always at the right moment and on being able to answer them correctly according to the situation.

I am offering you a step-by-step teaching method through which I have been successfully teaching the beginning photographers for five years. I have named this method the Total Picture Control.

Find out how to get the content of your photographs under control.

The advantages of this e-book

- - It makes use of all the possibilities of e-books and e-readers.

- - The text includes interactive links to the sources of information or to other locations within this e-book.

- - The interpretation of the professional issues is given in a form of simple questions and answers.

- - It includes practical illustrated instructions.

- - The examples and exercises are presented in a „step-by-step way“. Thus you can easily understand all the essential photographic techniques and procedures.

- - It includes an online appendix with photographs in high resolution.

- - It includes an online glossary of technical terms.

- - This e-book is a part of a comprehensive edition of textbooks for all levels of photographic skills

- - The method of interpretation and the difficulty of the explained issues are adapted to the level: - For photography beginners

About the Author

B. BoNo Novosad (1964), A photographer, photography teacher and entrepreneur. He has been dealing with photography and photographic techniques since 1980. In 1988 he graduated from the Technical University with an engineering degree. Since that time he has worked as a freelance photographer.

In 2008 he founded his School of Digital Photography where he works as a chief lecturer and a teacher of photography. In 2010 he created a method of teaching photography and a series of textbooks on photography both entitled the „Total Picture Control”. Using this method he gives photographic classes and lectures and writes textbooks on photography. He works in Prague and Bratislava.

Acknowledgements

I thank my students for the questions asked during the courses and lectures. They help me to better understand the problems of the beginning photographers which contributed to the creation of the "Total Picture Control" method of teaching photography, as well as to the creation of this e-book.

B. BoNo Novosad

Online appendix to this e-book

I hold to the principle that the essential ability of a photographer is to express things through images. All the photos in this book are very important for understanding the studied issues.

The possibilities of some e-readers when displaying photos may be limited. Therefore, all the photos contained in this e-book can also be found in a special online appendix.

If your e-reader has a web browser, to visit the online appendix click here.

The online appendix can also easily be visited by entering this simple URL address in the web browser of your computer:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/fugu-ca-en

What will you find in the online appendix?

- - all the photos in high resolution

- - photos with the true colour rendition

- - photos logically grouped into photo galleries

- - photos used in the illustrative examples and exercises are arranged in the step-by-step way

Other things you will find in the online appendix:

- - bonus photos which are not published in this e-book

- - photos showing the backstage preparation of examples and exercises

- - unique "behind the scenes" photos on which you can see and learn "how the things were photographed"

A short online glossary of technical terms

As a bonus I am offering you a short, online glossary of the technical terms, that I use in the explanatory part of each of my textbooks. The important terms and expressions in the text of this book are highlighted as interactive links to the online glossary. If you find a term or an expression in the text that is new to you, try to look it up in the online glossary on the website www.total-picture-control.com

If your e-reader has a web browser, to visit the online glossary click here.

The online dictionary can be visited by entering this simple URL address in the browser of your computer:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary

The entries in the online dictionary have been carefully chosen and complemented by the appropriate photographs and illustrations in cooperation with our fellow graphic-designers and programmers. The entries are arranged according to the topic and level of knowledge.

Do not hesitate to visit our website and get absorbed in reading its content. Here you will surely find what you've been searching for.

Disclaimer

With respect to the situations that involve some degree of uncertainty or risk, read carefully the following warnings before purchasing this e-book:

The techniques and the practical exercises described in this e-book are intended for the readers with the following level of knowledge: Beginner - with knowledge about the basic use of a camera and its functions to the extent described in the basic user manual supplied by the camera manufacturer.

Make sure that the level of your knowledge really meets the requirements stated above and that you can set and control the required functions on your camera. In order to master the techniques successfully and to achieve the proper results of the practical exercises described in this e-book it is necessary that your camera allows you to adjust the settings of at least the following basic photographic parameters:

- - Sensitivity of the image sensor (ISO)

- - Value of the shutter speed (S, Tv)

- - Value of the F-number (A, Av)

- - White balance (WB)

Make sure in advance that the enumerated parameters are really available on the camera you want to use while studying these photographic techniques and working on the practical exercises and that the camera allows you to control them. The procedures described in this e-book are definitely not a substitute for the basic user procedures indicated in the basic user manual supplied by the camera manufacturer.

Before you start following the procedures and practising the exercises presented in this e-book, study carefully the basic user manual of your camera. Before purchasing this e-book, make sure that your camera belongs to the class for which this e-book is intended.

Furthermore, familiarize yourself closely with the disclaimer statement of the authors and the publisher.

If your camera does not meet the above mentioned basic requirements, your user experience does not correspond to the level of knowledge mentioned above, you disagree with a provision in the disclaimer statement of the author and the publisher - do not buy this e-book!

Your request to refund the purchase price which will be based on inconsistencies with the above will not be accepted by the vendor or the publisher.

Disclaimer of the authors and the publisher

The authors and the publisher devoted their maximum possible attention to the fact that the information indicated here corresponds to the current state of knowledge at the time of the preparation of the work for publishing. Although this information was carefully inspected, it is not possible to guarantee with absolute certainty its complete perfection, accuracy and topicality, absence of errors in the description of procedures or errors in the text. For these reasons, the publisher shall not be liable for any damage or other harm, excludes any claims for payment of damages, whether direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential, that may result to the user from the use of such information. The content of this e-book is meant for information only. It may change without notification and can not be interpreted as a commitment of the publisher - the ecomVia a.s. company.

Copyrights of third parties

The author's intent was to use no copyrighted material for this e-book or, if this was not possible, to give information about the copyright related to the object in question. If you discover any unidentified object protected by copyright, it means the author was unable to determine this copyright. Contact the publisher at:

info@to-pi-co.com

In the case of such an unintentional copyright infringement the author will remove the object from the publication or, after a notification of this fact, he will at least indicate the details about the relevant copyright.

All trademarks, geographical names or other designations of third parties, or of the products or services of third parties which are mentioned in this e-book, belong to their rightful holders and are used solely to identify the persons concerned or their products or services. They are used only for demonstration purposes and are not intended as a reference or as a binding recommendation of any actual organization or as a recommended use of a product.

Copyrights

© 2013 ecomVia a.s. All rights reserved

Translation: B. BoNo Novosad © 2013

Author of the e-book: B. Bono Novosad © 2008

Cover page photo: B. Bono Novosad © 2011

e-book cover page design: Peter Balík © 2012

e-book interior design: Martin Novosad © 2012

Web design & web production: Martin Novosad © 2011

ePub version: ISBN 978-80-89610-26-6

MOBI version: ISBN 978-80-89610-25-9

Without a prior written consent of the publisher - ecomVia a.s., publishing or redistribution of any part of the text or an image file from this publication or any part of the Website made available is a violation of the copyright law. This e-book, as well as the techniques described herein, are offered under a license and may be used, rented or copied only under the conditions and within the scope of this license. No part of this e-book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system and transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, recording or other, without the prior written consent of the copyright executor - the publisher - ecomVia a.s., except as permitted in the license. Please note that the photographs, schemes, pieces of art or paintings contained in this e-book that you might want to use in your projects, may be protected by copyright. Unauthorized inclusion of any part of such material into your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please obtain a written authorization for the use of the work from the copyright owner!

Currently granted license allows the purchaser to:

Use this e-book only for the purpose of personal education.

All rights reserved! © 2013 ecomVia a.s.

Symbols used in this e-book and their meaning

In each of my interpretation, in each of my e-books I prefer the graphic and visual way of expressing to the complex and extensive text.

In your first e-book about photography I have also chosen the way of expressing through simple and easy-to-remember symbols.

Basic information

Motto

Warning

Tip

Advice

Control question

Weblink

Information about the distance

Stand close (within a small distance)

Stand at a normal distance (maintain a common distance)

Stand at a long distance

Basic questions of a photographer:

What lens should I use?

Where should I stand?

Where should I focus?

What shutter speed should I use?

What F-number should I use?

What white balance should I set?

Properties of a lens

Wide-angle lens

Normal lens

Telephoto lens

Changing the parameters, setting the functions

Basic dial

Changing the value of a parameter

Selecting from the menu of the device

CHAPTER 2

What lens

should I use

to take photographs?

A lens is a peephole into the soul of a photographer.

What lens should I use to take photographs?

Does this question scare you? You have just bought a camera, so why should you buy an extra lens right away? In fact, you don't need to. Learn how to use it properly! You have paid a lot of money for your lens but you only make a minimal use of its properties.

I'll try to explain you how an owner of a camera uses a lens. Nowadays the majority of cameras are equipped with a lens enabling the so-called "zooming". He/she stands motionless in one place and takes pictures of what he/she can see in front of himself/herself. He/she turns the zoom ring (or uses the T/W zoom lever). Without hesitation he/she takes pictures of dwarves – „because this is the way it was there...“. (You have already seen such photographs in Chapter 1 - where the theme of the photograph was a stone rhinoceros.)

What is a camera lens?

Anyone interested in a precise definition can find it here:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary/camera-lens

I will ask a very important practical question:

What is the basic parameter of camera lenses by which we distinguish their basic properties?

Each photographer should be familiar with it when deciding what lens he/she wants to buy. I will explain to you what is the basic property of photographic lenses with no complicated theory. Let us return to the school desks for a moment. Remember the simple physics experiment with a magnifying glass.

On a sunny day we take a sheet of paper. With a magnifying glass we concentrate the sun's rays on the paper. In the place of the concentrated effect of the sun's rays the brightness considerably increases. The rays of sun also have a heat effect. By concentrating the heat effect into one point the rays burn out a small hole in the paper (marked with the letter O in the picture). This hole is called the focal point. The distance between the magnifying glass and the focal point is called the focal length (marked by the letter f in the picture). It is most often expressed in millimetres.

The focal length is the basic property of a camera lens.

It determines the optical properties of a lens.

Classification of lenses according to their properties

We know that the basic property of a camera lens is its focal length.

How will the difference in the focal length of lenses be reflected in photographs?

I will explain the properties of the basic types of camera lenses to you in an easy way on a practical example. Imagine I am walking through a meadow and I can see a church in the distance. This photo depicts my view of the scene in front of me.

I will stop walking and while standing in one place I will take several photographs of the church in the distance. I will take the first photograph using a lens whose optical properties create a view of the scene with a perspective similar to the human perception. Now have a look at the photo creating which I used a lens with the mentioned properties:

In this photo the meadow, the sky and the church in the distance are shown in a way very similar to the scene that I can see in front of me with the naked eye. The lens with which I created this photograph is called a normal lens.

A normal lens

What are the properties of a normal lens?

A normal lens is a lens with a focal length equal to the diagonal size of the image sensor (See the entry Crop factor).

Optical properties of a normal lens reproduce the view of a photographed scene in a perspective similar to the human perception. In further explanation and practical exercises I will be referring to it by the following symbols:

A comparison of the properties of this lens with other types of lenses can be found in the online dictionary:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary/normal-lens

With the next photo I will use a different lens – I will shorten the focal length of a normal lens. Now have a look at the photo taking which I used a lens with a very small focal length.

In this photo the meadow and the sky filled the entire picture area. Where is the church? It is very tiny and barely noticeable somewhere on the distant horizon. The photograph captures the view of a very large area that I am not able to see with the naked eye. The lens with which I created this photograph is called a wide-angle lens.

A wide-angle lens

What are the characteristics of a lens with a very small focal length?

A wide-angle lens is a lens with a small focal length (of the order of a few tens of millimetres). It provides the view of a photographed scene with a large angle of view. It is used when shooting vast scenes e.g. in landscape photography. In further explanation and practical exercises I will be referring to it by the following symbols:

A comparison of the properties of this lens with other types of lenses can be found in the online dictionary:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary/wide-angle-lens

When taking the last photograph, I will considerably extend the focal length of the lens - I will use a lens with a very large focal length. Now I will take the last photo of our church in the distance.

In this photo the church seems to be really close. It has filled the entire picture area. On the other hand, the viewer of the picture can hardly see the meadow and the sky. The lens with which I created this photo is called a telephoto lens.

A telephoto lens

What are the characteristics of a lens with a large focal length?

A telephoto lens is a lens with a large focal length (of the order of several hundred millimeters). It considerably approaches and magnifies distant objects in a photographed scene. In further explanation and practical exercises I will be referring to it by the following symbols:

A comparison of the properties of this lens with other types of lenses can be found in the online dictionary:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary/telephoto-lens

At the end of our familiarization with the properties of lenses, let's have a look at this photo. It shows a comparison of the properties of lenses with different focal lengths - a frame of a certain colour always defines the size of the image captured by the lens with a selected focal length.

In the online glossary you can find the classification of lenses according to their focal length in the form of a nice animation:

http://www.to-pi-co.com/glossary/types-of-lenses

What lens should I use?

REMEMBER THIS!

In the the previous section I have shown you a view of the scene with a church in the distance. To do so, I have used the lenses with different focal length. We already know that different focal length of lenses means that their optical properties differ a lot. You have yourselves had the opportunity to compare how the same objects - a meadow, a church in the distance and the sky - were captured. You already know that in the first photo they looked similar to how I could see them with the naked eye. In the next one the sky and the meadow filled the entire picture area and the church was barely noticeable somewhere in the distance on the horizon. On the contrary, in the last picture the church filled the entire picture area while the sky and the meadow were hardly visible to a viewer. Now I will ask you a basic question:

What lens should I use to take pictures?

Instead of complex explanations I will bring an illustrative example with a summer holiday theme. I will show you how an owner of a camera proceeds. A tourist - an owner of a camera - is taking pictures on holiday. As a rule he/she has no idea about the properties of a lens and he/she doesn't bother himself/herself asking any questions. When taking pictures, he/she proceeds as follows: He/she steps on the edge of a cliff. He/she picks out something interesting down on the water surface. He/she turns the zoom ring (or he/she uses the T/W zoom lever) and presses the release button without hesitation.

A tourist is taking a picture

A rhinoceros in the distance

What's that thing in the distance? Don’t you recognize it? Our tourist remembers it very well. He will keep describing every detail on his/her photograph for a long time to you. He/she will advocate the result of his/her efforts saying „This is the way it was there...“.

How does an educated photographer proceed?

I will try to correct the mistake of the tourist and I'll show you the object of his/her photograph in a clear and eye-catching way.

I will follow these steps:

I will correctly answer to this question: What lens should I use?

I will decide to use a telephoto lens.

I will correctly answer to this question: Where should I stand?

I will set out to the seashore by a steep path down the cliff and I will take a photo in which I want to capture the object of my interest in a clear and eye-catching way

Have a look at this picture and consider whether my effort was worth it. I have named it: "Hvitserkur on the Vatnsnes coast". You do not need to know what exactly is Hvitserkur, nor that Vatnsnes is a beautiful place on the coast of Iceland. But when looking at this photo, you will say to yourself: "That stone on the seashore reminds me of a rhinoceros...".

Remember: An experienced photographer expresses himself/herself through images, not words.

The answer to the question "What lens should I use?" is the basic decision of a photographer.

A rule about the lens: – Use a lens with such properties that will allow the viewer to easily understand what you were photographing. A perfect photograph doesn’t need any author’s comment.

Do you want to be able to take photos in a clear and eye-catching way? In the practical exercises no. 1, 3 and 4 I will teach you in a step-by-step way how to correctly proceed when photographing with the right lens and what to do so that the photo you create meets your decision exactly.

For your first attempts and for the individual practical exercises I recommend you to use a lens with a normal focal length.

Why? A normal lens provides you with a view of the photographed scene which is very similar to the view you can see with the naked eye. This is the easiest way for you to learn how to properly look in the camera viewfinder.

What is Total Picture Control?

As a teacher of photography I am constantly faced with the fact that a beginning photographer understands photographing as a question of setting the camera correctly. He/she dedicates all the time and energy to studying of instructions for use, checking the discussion forums on the internet and reading books about photography whose authors have (unfortunately) already forgotten how they learned their individual skills and who describe photographing as something natural, claiming that it is enough to have eyes.

It is very difficult to learn how to take pictures in the right way and to understand this comprehensive ability of a person at once. That's why I have divided the teaching of these comprehensive skills into several simple steps. I have formulated the right procedure to do these steps into 6 simple questions. I have named this method of teaching the Total picture control. Using this method I have been teaching photographic classes and giving specialized lectures, in which thousands of beginning photographers, irrespective of their gender and age, have taken part.

Now I am offering you the most comprehensive edition of textbooks on photography created by this method:

Total Picture Control is a complete edition of textbooks about photographing

Under the title Total Picture ControlI am offering you a complete edition of textbooks about photography. Such an edition cannot be found in the offer of any other publisher. What makes it so unique?

1. The textbooks are classified into levels according to their degree of knowledge – from beginner to master level

2. The individual titles are interlinked within the same level of knowledge according to the discussed topics.

3. The titles are also interlinked in the growing level depending on the extent of knowledge

4. The titles are offered individually or grouped into sets – in this way you can get a complete set of knowledge and, of course, for a bargain price!

Educate yourself! Reach to the top of the photographic knowledge - The Total Picture Control is your right way to the top!

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Table of Contents

Contents of this e-book

Who is this book intended for?

Why to read this e-book?

How to learn to take pictures?

The advantages of this e-book

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Online appendix to this e-book

Online glossary

Disclaimer

Copyrights

Symbols used in this e-book and their meaning

Chapter 2 - What lens should I use to take photographs?

What is Total Picture Control?