Basic Photography Skills Every Traveler Should Know

If you want to capture legendary photos while traveling with high-end cameras, you can opt for a photography course. In this article, RuudNguyen.com shares experiences for all photography enthusiasts looking to achieve a comprehensive understanding of photography, including both equipment usage and shooting techniques.

Table of contents Hide

1. What do you want to take a picture of?

2. An Overview of Cameras

What do you want to take a picture of?

Photography offers a wide range of genres for you to choose from (Collected Photo)

These include landscape, portrait, architecture, advertising, still life, sports, stage, macro, and journalism.

Each genre possesses its unique beauty, demanding enthusiasts to invest both materially and mentally and develop their own distinctive mindset. In summary, whatever you wish to capture, you should delve into the skills and experience specific to that genre.

An Overview of Cameras

DSLR Cameras: Popular Choices Today (Collected Photo)

In the past, professional photographers had the option to choose from a multitude of film cameras.

Today, with the advent of digital technology and software, most serious and skilled photographers can rely on the capabilities of a digital single-lens reflex camera, commonly known as DSLR.

When owning a camera, you need to understand it, master its use, and it will become a tool to fulfill your creative desires.

Sensor

There are two main types of sensors used in D-SLR cameras (Collected Photo)

The image sensor inside a digital camera replaces the film. There are two main types of sensors used in D-SLR cameras, CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) and CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The larger the sensor, the more light it can capture.

In essence, an image sensor is a silicon wafer containing photodiodes that capture light and convert what you see through the viewfinder or LCD screen into an image. Its image quality depends not only on the physical size of the sensor but also on the number of pixels (or photosites) on the sensor’s surface and the size of these pixels.

For example, a Full Frame camera and an APS-C camera both have the same 16MP resolution. However, that doesn’t mean the image quality is equivalent. In the larger Full Frame sensor, the larger pixels capture more light, resulting in better image quality.

Lens

There are many types of lenses for you to choose from (Collected Photo)

Here are some commonly used lens types:

Lens Kit: These lenses are sold together with the camera body and are a suitable choice for beginners in photography. In terms of price and technical specifications, lens kits are usually the most affordable among DSLR lens types. Typically, entry-level DSLR cameras are sold with lens kits.
Fixed Lens: These lenses have a fixed focal length, and you can only zoom by moving closer or farther away physically. They are known for having fewer lens elements, good optical quality, and producing beautiful bokeh, making them ideal for portraits or still-life photography. Common prime lens focal lengths include 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 105mm.
Zoom Lens: These lenses have variable focal lengths, and they are the most versatile and popular type of DSLR lens. They come in various focal ranges, apertures, and additional features. For example, the Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L lens is legendary and can cover most common photography needs, from landscapes and portraits to sports and macro.
Telephoto Lens: Telephoto lenses usually have longer focal lengths, starting from around 50mm and going much higher (some extreme telephoto lenses can be as large as 1400mm). They are suitable for long-distance photography, sports, and wildlife.
Wide-Angle Lens: These lenses allow you to capture a broader scene easily. Traditionally, super-wide-angle lenses have focal lengths under 20mm, but some ultra-wide-angle lenses go as low as 8mm. They are used for shooting interiors, landscapes, architecture, or large group photos.
Macro Lens: Macro lenses enable you to focus on subjects extremely close, often closer than the human eye can see, and they typically provide a 1:1 magnification ratio. These lenses are used for capturing details in small subjects, such as insects, wildlife, or intricate objects.

Composition

Properly arranging the composition of your photos will create a harmonious image (Collected Photo)

According to the lens’s perspective rule in photography: Depending on the focal length of the lens, the depth of field will make the image not look like what the eye sees in reality. With a medium lens, the depth of field is similar to what the eye sees, but with a telephoto lens (long focal length), the depth of field narrows, making the background appear closer than in reality.

By changing your lenses and, consequently, altering the composition, you can use the background to complement the image or isolate subjects as desired.

Properly composing your photos, in simple terms, means creating a harmonious image. This is often achieved easily in most cases.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as positioning the camera vertically to take a shot, different from the usual horizontal framing for landscapes.

Photography

There are three key factors that determine the quality of a photograph:

Exposure: Exposure is the process of allowing a controlled amount of light, regulated by aperture (F-stop) and shutter speed, to enter the sensor.
F-stops: F-stops measure the size of the lens aperture, also known as the aperture. It’s important to note that the higher the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture. A larger aperture (smaller F-number) results in a shallower depth of field (DOF), and vice versa.
Shutter Speed: Shutter speed measures the duration of the shutter being open. A longer shutter speed allows more light to enter the sensor. Faster shutter speeds freeze motion and often require more light through a larger aperture (smaller f-stop). Slower shutter speeds are typically used in low-light conditions with a smaller aperture (larger f-stop).

Focus

Most novice photographers initially leave their camera in the ‘standard’ mode with autofocus set to default manufacturer settings, just like most other settings on their camera. You should learn how to use it when starting out, commonly referred to as ‘one-shot’ or ‘single servo’ mode.

Conclusion

In addition, in photography, there are many concepts and parameters that you need to grasp to master your equipment and the situations you encounter. I will discuss these in my upcoming posts, including: