Johnson-Wettstein

1. While taking a picture it is essential to have good focus so your picture turns out clear and not blurry. In order to have focus, you must hold your camera still and be at least arm length away from your object. This gives the camera enough space to focus on the subject and not produce a blurry photograph.

2. Depth of field is the amount of background in your picture that is in focus. Having a less depth of field will make the foreground subject more noticeable. Having a bigger depth of field will take the focus away from your subject and make them appear smaller because there is more background for them to look at. Depending on how you want the viewer to see your subject, changing the depth of field is an effective way to change the main focal point of the photograph.

3. The exposure triangle is made up of three elements; ISO- which is the cameras sensor’s sensitivity to light, Aperture- the size of the opening of the lens, and shutter speed- is the amount of time the shutter is open. It is important to understand because, changing one will affect all the others and using these elements will make your pictures better.

4. In photography we use 5 compositional techniques, they are… rule of thirds, framing, fill the frame, level horizon, and leading lines. Rule of thirds is dividing the image into thirds vertically or horizontally and creating interest at the points where the thirds intersect. Framing uses elements to frame the subject of the picture, and filling the frame is letting your subject fill the whole shot by zooming in or holding the camera close. Level horizon makes the viewer know what they're looking at by making the horizon a straight line in the shot. Leading lines draw people into the picture by pointing out what you want them to see. Using these elements will help produce a more professional quality looking picture.

5. There are two sources of lighting; natural and artificial. Natural sources of lighting are uncontrollable and can cause shadows in your shots but is convenient when shooting outdoors. An example would be the sun. Artificial sources are easier to control and move and are convenient when shooting inside. Shadows will not appear unless you arrange the light source to do so. An example would be a lamp.

6. We have experienced both sources of lighting while shooting pictures. When taking pictures inside we have used artificial lighting and while taking pictures outside we have relied on natural lighting. Natural lighting such as the sun, is uncontrollable without reflectors so in order to brighten or darken the light you have to move to different areas. Artificial lighting is easier to work with because you can move the light source closer or farther from the subject in order to brighten or darken the shot.