The highest point in the graph means that particular tone has the most pixels in the image. Therefore, if your photo consists of a lot of dark pixels you’ll notice that the graph of the histogram will be higher on the left side. If the image has a lot of lighter tones then the graph will be heavier on the right side.

Because the LCD display on a digital camera is relatively small, there are many occasions when you can’t really review your photos adequately enough until you view them on a larger screen such as your computer’s.

You might have to wait until you get home before you can tell if the picture is under or over exposed.

If you take a quick look at the histogram you’ll be able to tell what the exposure is like instantly and you can adjust your settings if you feel you need to re-take the shot.

However, when it comes to a histogram, there’s not really any such thing as a good one, as beauty is in the eye of the holder. Photographs are often just your personal taste as they’re used for expressing yourself and being creative. The results of the histograms will basically depend on your photography style and your subject for the photographs.

For instance, if you’re taking photos of silhouette, the histograms may have peaks in the graph at the left end of it (black) as well as at the right end of it (white), with not much else being in the middle of it. If you take photos of somebody playing in the snow then you’ll notice that most of the peaks in the graph will be on the right side and if you take photos of somebody in a dark setting the graph will be heavier on the left.

However, in most normal-day photographs you’ll probably notice that the histograms will generally have a pretty evenly balanced tonal spread and the graph will be relatively even across it. You’ll find that the majority of well exposed images will typically peak around the middle of the graph and then taper off at the ends of it.

You can turn the histogram feature on so it will show you the graph on each of your stored photos. This allows you to study the histogram right after you’ve taken a shot. If you notice there are some dramatic peaks in the graph at either the left or right ends then your image has quite a few pixels that are pure white or pure black.

This could be what you’re looking for in your photograph, but just remember that those sections of the photo will likely have little detail. If you didn’t plan on capturing a lot of black or white in the image then the photo could be under or over exposed.

Overall, the histogram is just used as a quick tool to check and see if the image turned out the way you had hoped. It’s a good tool for letting you know how your photos are exposed. Once you learn how to read them and compare them with your photos you’ll be able to decide if you need to take your shot over or if it’s what you had expected to find.

Basically, a typical flash is good for about 10 to 15 feet, meaning the area within that range will be filled with light, but not beyond it.

If you’re at a sporting event and trying to capture the action that’s 100 feet away, the flash won’t do you any good at all. It will light up the surrounding area and that’s it.

There’s a good chance you’ll capture a clear image of the person sitting in front of you and nothing more.

The rest of the photo will generally look dark and grainy. Of course, the flash came on in the first place if you had the camera set on auto mode.

However, it’s often hard to get to within the flash’s effective range-distance when you’re attending a large outdoor concert or sporting event. The flash is ideal for close up shots, but it’s sometimes impossible to get that close to the subject.

In fact, using the camera’s flash unit could even make the photo worse. In low-light settings, the camera needs to use a slow shutter speed along with a wide aperture setting. But when the camera knows the flash is going to be used and will light the area, it will automatically use a faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture.

If you turn the flash off, the camera will prepare itself for a low-light setting, which is more suitable for your situation. This could result in a decent image without the flash as the lighting from the event will be used to lighten up the image. The meter inside the camera will adjust itself to the available light and this will select a wide lens aperture and a slow shutter speed.

However, since the shutter speed is going to be open for a longer period of time than normal, it means the camera has to be held as steady as possible while taking the photo. It’s not as easy as it sounds though, especially if you’re taking photos in a crowd as it’s very hard to keep still. This is where a monopod or tripod comes in hand.

This can often cause another problem though, as it’s not very practical trying to use a monopod or tripod at a concert or sporting event. If you can’t use a steadying device, you’ll have to try your best to keep the camera from shaking by balancing your body and bracing yourself against something as solid as possible, such as a seat or wall.

You’ll then have to bring both of your elbows in against your chest and hold the viewfinder firmly against your face, while staying as still as possible when pressing the shutter.

This method might not give you the sharpest photos you desire, but it should give you better images than using the flash unit to light up a subject that’s out of the flash’s range. The only way to find out for sure is to experiment with both methods and see which works better.

The ISO basically represents the camera sensor’s sensitivity to the light. Being able to adjust it with each image was a dream come true for photographers who used various lighting situations for different shots.

You can take photos in low light and then in bright light by simply adjusting the ISO setting.

In addition, some digital cameras now come with an automatic ISO setting. This allows you to focus on taking the shot without having to worry about setting the camera’s dial.

While it’s an ideal situation for many people, the auto ISO isn’t always perfect. For instance, the camera may automatically set the ISO without considering the results of the photo.

This is because an increased or higher ISO setting typically results in noise on your photos, which you may not want. Your camera may be able to reach an ISO setting of 3200, but most people will never find themselves in a situation where it’s needed.

However, the camera may not know you don’t want to go as high as 3200, because of the resulting noise.

However, some cameras with auto ISO now let you put a ceiling on how high you want to go. This means you can put a limit on the ISO setting. This means you will have more control over your images. Depending on the camera and the size of its sensor, when the ISO setting reaches 400 or 800 you’ll notice some noise in your images when viewing them on a computer screen.

However, unlike grain, noise isn’t really considered to be artistic or appealing. Most photographers feel its presence ruins a photo. This makes it important to put a limit on the auto ISO, so you don’t end up with photos full of noise.

If your camera has an auto setting feature you may have to look in the owner’s manual to see how to set it. In fact some people may not even realize their camera has an auto setting feature in it.

It’s quite simple though. If your camera is capable of hitting an ISO speed of 3200 and you want to limit it to 1600, just set it for a limit of 1600 and the camera won’t go over that. You may want to experiment by taking some shots first just to see when noise starts to appear in your images.

You can try taking several shots in various lighting situations with different settings to see what you prefer. If you set the auto dial for 1600 and feel the need to raise it in certain situations, it’s easy to turn the auto setting off and adjust it manually or just raise the auto setting.

The name of the law doesn’t really mean anything to those who don’t know what it refers to. The principles of this law take effect especially in case of studio lights or flash. According to this law, an object that is located twice the distance from a light source will receive only a quarter of the illumination.

Simply put, this means that in case you move an object from three meters to six meters from the light source, you will need light that is four times stronger in order to have the same exposure.

To achieve this you could open the lens aperture two f-stops or you could use a flashgun that is more powerful.

In this case the light source might be any lamp or flashgun that the photographer uses. It is important to remember that the effects of the law apply only to the unfocused light sources.

In case of highly focused point source, like a laser, the light won’t drop off so fast.

The main reason for which the power of the light source diminishes is that it spreads. This way a smaller amount of light hits the object in question.

Although a focused beam would be a lot more effective, photographers don’t really use it because the effects would be too harsh and it would increase the contrasts too much.

In case everything is automatic on your camera and you use the flash, you don’t really have to worry about this law. The only problem is that your flash might turn out to be not strong for objects found at a greater distance.

The inverse square law is to blame for the difference in exposure time regarding the objects that are found near the camera and those that are further away.

Some of the photographers consider that it is a sin to have a flash on the camera and that the flash should be used only in case there is no other alternative. In case of the flash you don’t have any control on the distance between the light source and the object itself. In many cases the professionals choose to have the light source closer to the object than the camera.

They do so because this way the object will have more light, and the other reason is that the shadows on the object will be softer.

The automated cameras will do the math for you and you won’t have to worry about such things. Nonetheless, you should know what is really going on in the camera, so it won’t come as a surprise to you that the picture you just took is overexposed. Remember that this is an effect of the inverse square law, and you can fight it by means of light.

Actually, it’s somewhat a myth. You don’t necessarily need a camera with a huge amount of megapixels to capture good images.

Most point-and-shoot digital cameras these days range from about 10 to 14 megapixels and the SLR versions are usually higher.

But it’s not really the megapixels that are creating good, sharp images, it usually comes down to the quality of the sensor inside the camera as well as the lens you’re using.

What is a megapixel?

If you’re not sure exactly what a megapixel is, it represents a million pixels. A pixel is actually a very small square on the camera’s sensor.  You can see a pixel if you zoom in on a photo on a computer until the image is broken down into small squares. If you have more megapixels it means they are smaller and you can enlarge the photo more until the pixels are visible. The theory is that more pixels means the photo is clearer and better quality.

However, the camera’s sensor only has so much space on it and more megapixels means more information is jammed onto the sensor and this results in bigger image files. This means they take up more space when they’re stored.

Relevance of megapixel while printing

You can print a quality 8×10 inch photo with a three to four megapixel camera if the dots per inch (dpi) and pixels per inch (ppi) are high enough. A printer creates small dots that are made up of the colors blue, red, black, and yellow and these produce the final image. But each printer can only handle a specific number of dots per inch. If the image has more pixels than the printer is capable of handling, then they become irrelevant.

Benefits of megapixel

However, there are some advantages of high megapixel cameras as they enable you to crop images while keeping the quality. Most digital cameras have plenty of megapixels for the needs of an average consumer. Make sure you have a good lens with an optical zoom rather than a digital zoom for better quality photos, since digital zoom tends to impact the image quality to a larger extent.

So, how many megapixels?

Basically, you don’t really need more than 8 megapixels unless you plan on printing off very large images.

For instance, you can cause intentional blur in images such as waterfalls and increase the depth of field in them. There are even more possibilities if you use a tripod or some other type of steadying device.

There’s nothing particularly special about 1/20^th of a second. You can basically choose any shutter speed or aperture mode on your digital camera and experiment with it.

Every speed and stop will offer something different and you can test them out and be creative while setting a specific mood for your images.

Because 1/20^th of a second is considered a slow speed, you need to make sure you are very steady with the camera as any type of movement will be noticeable. Something as simple as pressing through the shutter release instead of pressing it down hard can cut out camera shake.

Hold the camera properly, but if there are things around that you can steady it on don’t be afraid to use them. These could be solid objects such as walls, a car, or a building, etc. You could even choose to lie on the ground.

Of course, if you have a tripod it would really be handy as a way to steady the camera. But let’s be realistic, most people don’t carry a tripod with them when they’re walking around the town.

However, if you’re going out specifically to experiment at a certain shutter speed, it’s a good option, especially at slow speeds.

Experimenting with all of the possibilities available is a great way to learn how shutter speeds and aperture sizes affect photography.

There are a few ways to get the autofocus to behave for you. Pressing the shutter half-way down to activate the autofocus and then recomposing can help. You can do this by setting the point of the autofocus to the center spot.

When you’ve done this you can point the spot to where you want to focus in the scene then press the shutter half-way down to activate the autofocus. When the button’s being held down, you can recompose the image and then push the shutter all the way to take the photo.

You can also use the autofocus and once it is locked onto the right spot, you can switch it over to manual focus. This usually works pretty well if the camera’s on a tripod and you plan on taking several shots from the same location.

The auto focus will kick in when you press the shutter, but there’s also something known as back-button auto focus. In this case you have to activate a button which is located on the camera’s back.

All you need to do is set the autofocus point at the center spot and then point it to where you want it to focus. Then you will press the button on the back of the camera to have it focus automatically on that point. The camera will be focused for all photos you’re taking from that position.

The same thing can be done by switching the camera to manual focus, but the back button means you don’t have to keep switching between auto and manual focus. The back-button method is ideal for moving subjects. If you hold down the back button instead of the shutter button, it means you won’t accidentally push the shutter all the way down.

The back-button often goes by other names on some cameras. This means you’ll have to read the manual to locate it as it’s a custom function.

There are a few ways you can keep them in focus though. One of them is to manually focus on the person by tracking their movement.

This means concentrating on one player and focusing at the same time as they move around. This might take a bit of getting used to and it can be a bit difficult depending on the sport and how often, fast, and far the person moves.

You can try the automatic tracking option if your camera has one.  In this mode, the camera will focus on a moving subject when you hold the shutter release halfway down. This may work well for you, depending on the sport and the camera.

Another option is pre-focusing on a specific area. This is useful in some sports, such as a race where the participants pass by every lap, and the goalmouth in sports like soccer and hockey.

With this method you just have to focus in on one area of the playing field or track, etc. Every time there’s action in this pre-focused area your camera will already be in focus and ready to shoot.

Like everything else, it’ll still take a bit of practice to get the hang of it. You also need to make sure the shutter speed is fast enough and it’s a good idea to take the shots in the continuous shooting mode. A good way to practice this method is to find a busy street and focus on a certain spot in the road. When a vehicle hits that spot you can then start taking photos.

1. The light quality

Brighter the light, the softer will it appear inside a photograph. In order to change the quality of light the surface of the source must change in size, color and reflection, or it must change the effect of the combination between them. Practically, for the landscape photography, this principle becomes relevant when the sun spreads over the subject of the photo a direct “curtain” of light creating an abrupt contrast.

Contrary, the light of the sun filtered by the clouds and reflected on the blue sky will produce a softer light perfect to underline the details of the landscape. A small source of light, like the Sun compared to the Earth, creates a rough light, with deep shadows and too bright spots without details.

A large light source like the clouded sky produces a dim light, soft, equal…with transparent shadows and sufficient details in the lighted parts of the subject.

2. The reflection

If the light is reflected, in photography, it will borrow the color of the object it reflected on. This happens for example in the Grand Canyon region in the South West of United States.

In this type of canyon carved by waters during millenniums, the light reflected from the one rock wall is spread upon the opposite wall becoming colored and borrowing the copper like nuance. The red-orange light is strictly given by the walls that are not under the direct sun exposure. So if you are on a lookout for a spectacular photographic coloration this is the place to take it.

3. The light intensity

The light intensity on a surface decreases inverse proportional reported to the distance between the light source and the subject. Making the distance double will reduce the light with ¼ reported to the initial intensity. This law is very important in the studio photography where the artificial light can be thus manipulated. However, knowing this physical law is important for any photographer.

How can one find the right light for a landscape photograph? Ansel Adams said: “God created light and separated it in ten photographical areas”. Apart from being funny, the declaration remained in history because of its inherent truth. The light is not easy to manipulate and it compliments the photo only when it accurately covers the right zone that will allow you to capture the best details.

The digital zoom actually uses guesswork or interpolation when it zooms in on your image. Using this method will usually result in fuzzy photos or at least pictures that aren’t as crisp and clear as they should be. This can especially be seen if you blow the photos up into a larger size. But the optical zoom acts as a true zoom lens and it won’t affect the quality and pixels of your shots.

If you use the camera’s digital zoom and then view the photos on a computer screen it should look fine. But as soon as you increase the size of the photo you’ll start to see the quality decrease. This is basically like trying to blow up a photo that has a low DPI. For example, the quality could be 72 DPI and as soon as you blow it up, it becomes distorted. Basically, the more you zoom in, the less clarity the photo will have.

However, an optical zoom will take the photo at a higher resolution, such as 300 DPI. This means the image is a lot larger and can be increased in size on your computer screen without losing any clarity. This allows you to print the photos at a larger size. Of course, cameras with a higher optical zoom will typically cost a bit more, but the better quality is usually worth it to most photographers.

Just remember it’s always a good idea to do more research on topics such as optical and digital zooms before shelling out your money on a new camera. Make sure you understand which type of zoom is the most beneficial to you.