Photography is all about light. Similar to that way in which your eyes work, we want to bounce light off the subject onto the image sensor. In a dark setting like a club or a pub, sometimes we can catch the subject with light from the surrounding room illuminating them. When that’s not possible, using a flash is the way to go. Where light comes from behind the subject, the subject can be silhouetted, leaving little light to bounce off the subject itself. If the silhouette effect isn’t what you desire, a flash or other light source from the front of the subject can solve this.

When the subject is in motion, such as playing sports or gesticulating wildly on a dance floor, using flash can ‘freeze’ the moment giving you a sharp, in focus image. However, without flash sometimes a slight blur is great to show the motion of the moment – especially if the background is focussed showing the contrast of movement. If you don’t feel like bringing a tripod with you on a night out, try steadying the shot by leaning on a table, a sober friend or a wall – whatever is handy.

However, flash seems to be often used just because it’s there. This can lead to colder looking images – try the same shots without flash for some surprising results, especially if you can get your weird mate Dave to freeze that blue-steel pose for just long enough to take an unblurred shot.

In terms of composition, the most often cited tip is the ‘Rule of thirds’. Imagine your frame is split into thirds with both horizontal and vertical lines. The four intersections of these lines suggest places where you can centre the subject of your shot for good composition. This rule is about the aesthetic balance of the image and is useful in that it makes for generally appealing shots. Simply put, try putting subjects off centre, into one of these thirds for more aesthetically pleasing shots.

Ever notice in film that the bad guys are often filmed at an angle while the hero is filmed straight on? That’s because the angular shot is supposed to highlight the change in mood. Tilting your camera to 30 or 40 degrees can result in much less bland, more interesting photos. Play with other angles too, get low and take shots pointing the camera up to add drama to the shot. Stand on a stool (try not to get thrown out of the bar while doing these things) and shoot straight down on a subject for more interesting shots.

A quick run-down of the important bits to know:

• Exposure: The density of light falling on the CCD image sensor in a digital camera or the film in a traditional camera.
• Aperture and DoF: Aperture refers to the size of the hole in the lens which lets the light into the CCD sensor or film. The smaller the aperture, the less light gets in and the darker the image will be. It also makes for a deeper depth of field (DoF), meaning everything in the image is in focus. A more open aperture lets more light in, creating a brighter image with a shallow DoF and a blurred background. Using the effect of background blur, called bokeh can have aesthetically pleasing results (good bokeh) or distract the viewer (bad bokeh).
• Shutter: This device controls the amount of time the aperture remains open to expose the sensor or film to light. This length of time is called the exposure time.
• ISO: The International Organisation for Standards creates well, standards for stuff. The short-form name isn’t a mistake, it’s based on a Greek word isos, meaning equal. ISO on a camera refers to the standards for the sensitivity of either the film in it, or the CCD image sensor in a digital camera, to light. So, ISO is about light sensitivity, set it higher when it’s dark and lower when it’s bright. However, if you can get the results you want without changing ISO you’ll have clearer images with less noise (that stuff that makes it look like you’ve got dust on the lens), so use it sparingly.

Protip: Create an image on your computer with your name and phone number in it with an ‘If lost, please return to...’ message. Place it back on your cameras memory card and make it undelete-able. That way, if it’s not actually stolen from you there’s a chance you’ll have it returned.

In any case, play around lots with your camera, especially if it’s digital. Try out the AV mode during the daytime and TV at night time for starters, and then switch to M to apply what you’ve figured out from those. Switch to those other modes and see what they can do:

M = Manual, you can play with aperture and shutter

P = Programmed (like auto), but only for aperture and shutter

TV = Programmed aperture, you can play with the time-settings

AV = Programmed shutter, you can play with the aperture

Thank you to Matt Burke for corrections and suggestions.

Ultan Sharkey

30^th October, 2011

This article appeared in SIN Newspaper in November, 2011