Photography Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

[JodyBuchanan]

I know so many beginner photographers and I would absolutely love to somehow transfer the knowledge of photography that I’ve got in my head into theirs. I find myself explaining things to them in an effort to help them understand, but sometimes I’m not that great with getting the proper words out. I find myself either talking too fast or forgetting critical areas all together. To deal with this, I’ve decided to hunt around the internet for what others feel are the most frequently asked questions from new or amateur photographers. So far, I have located two websites that have put together some pretty decent questions. I’ll place them down below with links back to the original websites at which I found the questions. I may clean the questions up a bit because some of them aren’t too clear.

So here’s the plan. I read through the questions and answers on both of these websites and while I like and agree with some of what they authors shared, I disagree with the rest. Well, disagree may be too harsh of a word. Let’s just say I think I can take my time to explain things more clearly and more thoroughly. What I’d like to do is take each of the questions you see down below and make an individual post out of it. Then, I’ll link to that post from this page. Eventually, you should see each question as a link. If you read the question here on this page and would like to find out the answer, just click the link. It’s that easy.

The fist set of questions I found at Clickin Moms.

1. What is manual mode? Do I need to learn how to use it?
2. How do I get the sharpest focus?
3. Do I need to edit all of my photos that I’d like to share or print?
4. What camera gear do I need to take the best photos?
5. What is a “pro”? Do all photography pros have their own business?
6. What is white balance?
7. What are the differences between JPG images and RAW images?
8. When is the right time for me to go into photography business?
9. How can I get started with taking photos of people? How do I get them to pose?
10. How can I best manage my life outside photography versus my photography life?

The second set of questions I found at TutsPlus.

1. What are megapixels?
2. What does ISO mean? How does it affect my photos?
3. What does shutter speed mean? How does it affect my photos?
4. What does aperture mean? How does it affect my photos?
5. How do I use ISO, shutter speed, and aperture together?
6. Do I always need to use my camera’s flash?
7. What is image stabilization? How does it work?
8. Do I need to own and use more than one camera lens?
9. What is and when should I use a telephoto lens?
10. What is and when should I use a wide angle lens?
11. What is and when should I use a macro lens?
12. What is and when should I use a fisheye lens?
13. What is and when should I use a prime lens?
14. What is digital zoom? How does it work?
15. How do I print my pictures?
16. What is a RAW file?
17. What is my camera’s Live View?
18. What is white balance? How should I use it?
19. What is an ND grad (graduated neutral density filter)?
20. What is a UV filter? Do I need one?

Pretty good questions, right? I can’t wait to start working on them. I fee like I’m chomping at the bit here. Like I said though, as I answer these questions, you’ll see each one turn into a link. Just click it to get the answer.

 

[JodyBuchanan]

What Are Megapixels?​

Megapixels are the things that camera manufacturers loves to plaster all over their advertising. You’ve likely heard of them. They’re what makes or breaks a camera. “I’ve got 20 megapixels, you know.” “What? That’s it? I’ve got 24. Sucker.” While there’s a lot of talk around megapixels and everyone loves to have more, I sometimes wonder if anyone actually knows what these things are. In today’s post, I’ll offer up a quick definition and then I’ll discuss whether they’re important to your photography career or not.

Here are two definition for megapixels. The first one comes from Lifewire and the second one comes from Phonescoop.

A megapixel, often shortened to MP, is equal to 1 million pixels. A pixel is an individual element of a digital image. … A higher resolution is certainly desirable in a digital photograph, as it means the camera uses more pixels to create the image, which should allow for greater accuracy.


Megapixel. This term refers to the size of an image, usually in reference to a photo from a digital camera or camera phone. A megapixel means one million pixels. The resolution of digital cameras and camera phones is often measured in megapixels.

From these definitions, it’s certainly acceptable to want a camera that offers more megapixels. After all, more of them means a better photo. Right?

Not so fast. While more is better when it comes to megapixels, don’t just go out and grab any high MP camera you can find. Just as important is sensor size. Here’s a quote from Blurbiness:

Do more megapixels mean better photo quality?
More Megapixels does not mean more quality. The quality of a camera is decisively influenced by the sensor quality, not only by its Megapixel resolution. … Basically, if you use a worse camera and worse lenses with more Megapixels, you will have more worse quality pixels.

Here’s another quote. This one is from Tutsplus:

…But beware; an important feature is also the sensor size of the camera. For example, a 6 megapixel full frame SLR would most likely still take better photos than an 8 megapixel phone which would have a tiny sensor.

So as you can see, while megapixels are a good thing, you also need to focus on sensor size, camera quality, and lens quality. All of these factors influence overall image quality.

Comment: Some phone cameras are actually claiming that their camera has 48 mega pixels. Is it true?. The size of the camera is very small. How do they make 48 mega pixel camera with that size?

Reply: I have no idea how they’d be able to stick a 48 megapixel sensor into a small phone like that. Since that sensor is so small though, I don’t think that many mega pixels would make any difference over a phone with only half that. Not to say that those phones don’t take incredible photos, but there’s got to be a point of diminishing returns somewhere.

…But beware; an important feature is also the sensor size of the camera. For example, a 6 megapixel full frame SLR would most likely still take better photos than an 8 megapixel phone which would have a tiny sensor.

 

[JodyBuchanan]

Do I Really Need to Edit All My Important Photos?​

I’m sure this question gets asked a lot by folks who think their pictures look just fine out of the camera. I was like this for so long. That is, until I bought myself a copy of Adobe Photoshop. I remember doing this too. It was the year 2000 and I picked up a copy of Photoshop at a discount because I used my lady’s student ID. I’m not sure if there’s a student discount anymore, but that sure helped back then. I think the price dropped from three hundred and something dollars to something like $79 for the full version. It was a great deal and I used that copy for years and years. Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, no matter how great you think your photo comes out of your camera, it can always use a bit of retouching to make it better. The reason for this is because the camera’s dynamic range isn’t as large as the human eye’s. While we, as humans, can see dark darks and light lights, photographs that come straight out of a camera leave some of those shades behind. And beyond that, sometimes cameras simply can’t get the scene right, no matter what you do. Now, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t set your shot up as best you can, because you certainly should. It’s just to say that post-processing is just as important as the photography itself. It really does matter.

I’ll give you a rather radical example down below. I took these photos a few months ago in the fall of 2019. This is one I captured on a trail in Acadia National Park. Can you imagine me trying to print or share this image online?



Boy, I can remember those days so well. I’d take a picture with my film camera and this is how it would come out. Now, do you really think this is how my eye saw this scene? No, it wasn’t. What I saw in real life was much more vibrant. Perhaps not as vibrant as how I edited the image in Camera Raw, but what I saw certainly looked better than the shot above. Here’s the photo after some simply editing in Camera Raw.



This photo comparison really should say it all. So many photos could use a bit of post-processing work. Once you get your hands dirty with doing some of it, you’ll wonder why you never did.

 

[JodyBuchanan]

How Do I Learn How to Pose People for Photos?​

When you decide to begin working with people, animals, or anything that has a mind of its own, be prepared to engage in a lot of trial and error. This trial and error period will most likely last forever, due to the volatile nature of living beings. Really though, what you want to do is build a certain comfort level within yourself in order to get involved with how you think the people in your pictures should appear. This type of thing takes a commanding attitude, lots of confidence and tons of practice.

I suggest you begin with approaching random people on the street while you’re out taking photos. Ask them if you may take a few photos of them doing different things. See what they say. You’d be surprised how many people would agree. Explain to them that you’re practicing your photography and that you’d like them to pose in certain ways for you while doing certain things. This will undoubtedly build your confidence on so many levels. It’ll also teach you how to deal with various personalities. One of the most important aspects of working with humans as subjects is your ability to communicate and to express to them how you’d like the ultimate image to appear. See if you can get your subject to follow instructions and to work with you effectively. This entire area of photography is more of an art form than anything else. Shoot lots and shoot often. The more practice you’re able to get with random strangers, the better you’ll be with paying customers. When someone is paying for your services, they expect professionalism, so that’s what you want to show them.

Most important is your goal for your shots. How do you want them to look? What message are you trying to send? How can you communicate that message to the people in the shot? All of these things take practice, so head out there as soon as possible to get started.

 

[JodyBuchanan]

What’s the Most Important Aspect of Photography?​

Light. Light is the most important aspect of photography. By far. If you think about it, light is what the camera’s sensor absorbs to create the actual image, but beyond that, it’s light that can make or break a shot. Think about the different types of light different times of day can offer. Morning light is good, it evokes a certain type of feeling. Bright afternoon sunshine isn’t often the best type of lighting for photography, but if you’re shooting kid beach models, it’s perfect. The golden hour, as they call it, is highly sought after in photography because the light is colorful and soft and enveloping. If you think about the light that streams through a window as the sun is falling, you’ll understand what I’m talking about here.

So many budding photographers wonder what they’re doing wrong when their photos don’t come out as appealing as photos they’ve seen put out by the pros. They think it’s their cameras that are all wrong or perhaps it’s their lenses. Maybe they don’t know enough. I can tell you from personal experience that you can take wonderful photos with the cheapest of cameras and they’ll look incredible if taken at the right time of day. And not only that, the right season. There’s nothing like the golden hour in November in the northeast U.S. If you step outside the front door of where you’re living and say, “Oh, that’s pretty. That’s nice light,” you better run back inside to grab your camera. Prepare for these times and take full advantage of them.

If you capture two identical photos at two different times of the day, you’ll see two drastically different results. Let’s say you take the first shot of some beautiful mountains at high noon. Your image will end up rather bright and cool looking. The sky will be blue and, in my opinion, will appear sort of normal. Now, if you wait for the sun to almost set and take the same shot from the same position, the image will appear completely different. The mood will have varied and I’m sure people will much prefer the second photo. The light will be much warmer and the entire atmosphere will turn from normal to incredible. If you don’t believe me, just search “Golden Hour Photography” on Google. Go to the images to see what I’m talking about. Even the most inexperienced photographer is able to succeed during this time of day.

So that’s my advice for you if you’re a beginning photographer. Take notice of the light in your scene and play off it. If you’re shooting in the afternoon, perhaps wait a few hours until the sun begins to fall. Take some more shots then and compare the two times of day. This is the way we learn and become awesome photographers. Thanks for reading!

 

[JodyBuchanan]

What are the Best Photographer Websites Out There?​

I am constantly looking for awesome photographer websites and I’ve compiled the beginnings of a list to keep track of the ones I’ve found. Each one of the websites I list below has something incredible about it. Whether it be the wow factor, the photography itself or the photographer’s outlook on life, I like them all. Also, I’ll do my best at adding to this list in the future, but if you have a great photographer website to share, please do in this post. Thanks!

PS – I’ll be adding some of these websites, plus write-ups on each on my “Top 50 Photography Blogs & Bloggers” page, so be sure to check that out as well.

Nikki Humphrey Photography – https://www.nikkihumphrey.com/

Glaszart Photo Journal – https://glaszart.com/

BearPrints Photography – https://www.bearprintsphotography.info/

Rachel Morrison – https://rachel-morrison.pixels.com/

Karen Miller Photography – https://www.karenmillerphotography.co.uk/

Pete Walkden Photography – https://www.petewalkden.co.uk/

Redski Redd Fine Art – http://www.redtownphotography.com/

Jim Pottkotter Photography – https://www.jimpottkotter.com/

John Clark Photographer – https://www.getrealjc.com/

Ricky L. Jones Photography – http://rickyljonesphotography.com/

Joshua Tann Photography – https://www.joshuatann.com/

Adam Romanowicz Photography – https://3scape.com/

James BO Insogna Photography – https://james-insogna.pixels.com/

Stuart Litoff – https://1-stuart-litoff.pixels.com/

Belinda Greb Photography – https://belinda-greb.pixels.com/

Joan Carroll – https://joan-carroll.pixels.com/

Little Bluestem Photography – https://littlebluestemphotography.wordpress.com/

Aaron Northcott – https://www.aaronnorthcott.com/

Patrick Gensel – https://patrickgensel.com/

UPDATE: Okay, just an update. I’ve got ten stellar photography blogs added to my Top 50 page so far. I included them today and I hope to add many, many more in the coming days and weeks. As I’m sure you can imagine, going through these sites and writing a short summary on each one takes some time, so that’s what the delay has been about. But now that I’m rocking and rolling, things should be on the site much faster. Also, I want to let you know that these photography blogs are the best of the best, so check through them carefully. You can learn a lot.

UPDATE: I just finished up the Top 50 page and I think I went a bit overboard. I now have the best 75 photographer websites and blogs out there listed in one location. Every single one of the sites I listed is great in its own way. You can learn tons about photography from these sites, so please be sure to take a look. I won’t be adding any more for a while. My fingers are all typed out. But, if you have a suggestion, you can add it here or in the comment section of the Top 50 page.