How to Photograph Children (Technical Question Party)

Many parents, in anticipation of the baby, run to the store and buy expensive professional SLR cameras, so as not to miss a minute of the life of their beloved child and capture all his achievements and exploits.

Without going into the specifics of the artistic modes of photography, not knowing the principles and laws of phototechnics, happy parents immediately put the "auto" mode and start shooting, hoping to get bright, juicy pictures, "as in that magazine ...", naively believing that smart technology is all Will do for them.

However, after the first test photo session of the pregnant mother's house, without getting the desired result (dull colors, blurry picture, self-triggered flash flashed face and darkened background), amateur photographers are disappointed. And in the end, the spoiled mood, expensive photographic equipment is gathering dust on the shelf as unnecessary, and in its place the old shabby "soap box" returned, to which it is much easier to shoot. And with the pictures of the children, everything is a bit more complicated.

But nothing is impossible, is not it? Let's understand in stages.

In today's article, I'll talk about the technical side of photography.

Any beginner photographer, first of all, needs to master four basic concepts: aperture, shutter speed, exposure / exposure and ISO (sensitivity of the recording element, in our case it is a photosensitive matrix) and their relationship with each other at the time of shooting.

About this already a lot of written all kinds of articles and works, so the most detailed information you can easily find in the worldwide network. I'll try as simple as possible, shortly and, most importantly, it's available to talk about these concepts.

The concept of aperture refers exclusively to the lens of the camera. Aperture is the hole in the camera lens, through which light enters the recording matrix. The aperture value is indicated by the symbol "f" on the display of your camera and can take the values 1,2 2 2,8 4 5,6 8 11 16 22 32, depending on the technical characteristics of your lens. . In other words, the size of the hole in the lens. The smaller the aperture value, the larger the hole in the lens, the more light enters the matrix.

Excerpt. In the path of light passing through the lens to the matrix, there are so-called "curtains", which, like the diaphragm, dose the amount of light, but not the diameter of the hole, and the time of action on the photosensitive element. Shutters are different - mechanical and electronic. After the photographer presses the camera shutter button, these curtains open and let light into the light-sensitive matrix. But it happens very quickly. The shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second (1/250, 1/500 - short shutter speeds and 1, 2 seconds or more - long shutter speeds, etc.).

Exposure - if taken as simply as possible and in general, this is the amount of light required to record an image on a light-sensitive element, with a given sensitivity, with proportional reproduction of brightnesses, the same as for a subject. For the required amount of light answers so-called. Expo - the aperture / shutter speed. (If the shutter speed is short - the aperture value increases, and vice versa, if the shutter speed is long - the aperture value decreases)

In modern cameras, the calculation of the expo- sure is automated. In professional it can be completely manual or partially automated.

ISO

ISO - the unit of measurement of the required amount of light, for the correct exposure of the photo. Usually, the display is indicated as follows: ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 200.

At high sensitivity (high ISO values), light should be several times less than at low (at ISO 200 it is necessary to have 2 times less light than at ISO 100, and 4 times less than at ISO 50), but there is also a downside Medals, the higher the ISO, the more noticeable in the picture is the so-called. Light noise: a small scattering of dots, outstanding when the photograph zooms and detailing falls. Therefore, it is better to choose the lowest ISO and without special need not to increase it.

Well, now the most important interrelation of these three parameters. For the prostate explanation I'll explain it by simple examples, without going into technical details.

Let's say you want to photograph a playing child who sits in a room in daylight. How would a professional wedding and family photographer .

In order to constantly take in a child with a snapshot, it is necessary to take a short exposure. To do this, the photographer would put the camera in the shutter priority mode (usually indicated by the symbol TV). In this mode, the aperture value is automatically adjusted to the shutter speed selected by you.

Would exhibit a short time, not less than 1/125 or even 1/250. It is necessary to monitor the automatically changing aperture values, depending on the selected shutter speed (see above - exposure). If the aperture value is too high, the picture will turn out to be dark. To avoid this, you can increase the value of the ISO, to the necessary. But with this you need to be careful not to spoil the photo with light noises.

But, if, for example, the shutter speed is 1/250, the aperture value is too high, that the picture is dark, and the ISO value is maximized, but it is necessary to make the photo brighter. Then, we increase the shutter speed to 1/125 - hence the aperture value is reduced and the picture becomes brighter already at the given ISO value. As a result, we get a clear photograph of the child playing, bright enough and with an acceptable level of noise.

Well, now, to learn the information, practice on your child. In the next article, the aperture priority mode and photosensitive lenses will be considered.

Do not forget, practice, practice and once again practice, will allow you to learn and successfully work with the camera in the exposure priority mode.