True visualization, true ‘in camera magic’ happens when you get to know each of these 12 essential creative options personally … when you spend time, energy and focus making them work.
Changing Shape of Photography
I grew up believing in something called the ‘exposure triangle.’ It was a training device (a visual aid of sorts) that reminded photographers how the mechanics of their camera (the aperture, the shutter speed and the ISO rating of their film) worked. It was our basic ‘Crayon’ set, it’s how we colored with light.
With enough practice we could quite easily take photos that were lit well, in focus and looked like the world around us. And should we wish to change the image later there was always the darkroom. This was how things worked back then, and it worked well.
Fast-forward 30+ years, however, and things have changed quite dramatically, our box of crayons has grown. The camera is now full of options that couldn’t have been dreamed of back then. Not only do we still have our basic set, but we can now (much more easily and inexpensively) add light with a flash, clean light with a polarizer and remove light with a variable neutral density filter. We can also change the color and character of our message totally in camera by adjusting the white balance, tint, hue, contrast, saturation and sharpening to reflect not just the way things are, but the way we want them to appear.
Photography is no longer about a simple triangle (our box of Crayons has grown exponentially), instead it’s something far more complex, a lot more fun and vastly more rewarding.
Today we have a dodecagon, a 12-sided shape, of wildly fascinating and incredibly easy-to-understand (and use) creative options available while in the field. When combined, these brilliant dozen offer quite literally millions of creative alternatives and combinations.
In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options
Learning the 12 essentials is easy so long as you break them down into two smaller and more understandable groups of options. One specifically targets the light you capture (these are your structural options), while the other affects the data your camera creates (these are the supporting features which breathe life into your creation).
The Structure of your image is the glue that binds your vision together. These options literally illuminate your message and ensure its clarity. They include three rudimentary exposure and focus controls (the aperture, the shutter speed and the ISO) and three ancillary options (the flash, the fader and the polarizer). With all six in play there is very little you can’t do with your camera.
If you can visualize it, you can make it happen.
In Support of your vision lies the color and character options (white balance, tint, hue/tone, contrast, saturation and sharpening). These are set according to what you’ve visualized. The controls for each can easily be found in your camera’s menu system. You may even be able to assign a function button in your camera for easy access.
Next: The Structure of Your Image
This is post #1 of 16 of In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options, a free online photography course for creating spectacular images right in the camera.