The Ultimate Photography

Quick Reference Guide

The Fast Track to Learning Photography & Creating

Stunning Imagery!
www.colesclassroom.com

About Cole & How to Use This Guide

In early 2009 I stumbled upon a new hobby that ultimately would change my life. I decided to buy a
DSLR camera in advance of a vacation to Paris to try and come back with images that I couldnt get with
my cheap compact camera. The Paris trip came and went but while walking the Parisian streets with my
new camera and looking through the viewfinder capturing fractions of seconds in time - a new love was
born.
I dedicated hundreds of hours reading, researching and practicing with my camera taking photos of
anything and everything as I was eager to improve and get better and better, and to do so quickly. An
array of books was purchased and bits and pieces of info were read online from numerous different
websites all leading me down the path of being not just someone with a decent camera but, a
photographer.
Today, I can look back and feel I have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. But the
thousands of hours of practice and hard work were certainly needed to get me to the point I am today
an owner/photographer of Cole Joseph Photography a successful Southern California Photography
Studio.
I decided to put this guide together to help out anyone who wants to become a better photographer
and anyone who wants to get the most out of their camera and has a passion for taking amazing photos
but doesnt know where to begin. It is so easy to get overwhelmed and consumed by the technical
details of photographyI know because I was once there, in your shoes. But I am here to tell you that it
doesnt have to be that hard, and that is exactly what this photography guide is all about, to try and
teach others a complete overview of the ins and outs of photography without consuming you in
technical information that makes little sense at this point.
With that being said, this guide isnt meant to go into extreme depth and detail on every subject
because when you are just starting out its easy to get information overload and we certainly couldnt fit
all that into 20 pages! This guide is meant to give you a foundation that makes sense so you can
understand key concepts and how things work and then through the main site ColesClassroom.com you
will be able to get more in depth information about specific topics.
I truly hope this guide helps you get on the fast track to learning photography & creating stunning
imagery!
Cole
For more photography tutorials & information please click on the links below:

Official Website: www.colesclassroom.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ColesClassroom
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ColesClassroom
Cole Joseph Photography: www.colejosephphotography.com

The Camera & Key Components

Camera Body The box that holds all the key components together.
o Camera Sensor What captures the scene - then saved onto memory card
o Light Meter Measures the amount of light in your scene
o Shutter Opens and closes for specified time to create exposure
The Lens What focuses the light into your cameras sensor or film.
Sensor Size Sensors come in different sizes; most notably called crop-sensor vs full frame
cameras which refer to the cameras sensor size.
o Examples of common full frame cameras
Canon 1D, 5D Mark III, 5D Mark II, 6D
Nikon D4, D3, D800, D600, D700
o Examples of common crop sensor cameras
Canon 7D, 60D, Rebel series
Nikon D300, D7000, D90, D5000 series, D3000 series
Memory Card How your images are saved and stored.

A great diagram of how a SLR camera works - note how the light changes direction and reflected to viewer through viewfinder from mirrors.
Image source: www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk

The Basics of Exposure

Aperture
o Aperture simply refers to how large or little the opening is thru the lens.
o Aperture is what controls how much or little light can pass through the lens and onto
the cameras sensor.
o Each lens has its own aperture range in terms of how wide and narrow of an aperture it
can be set at. Aperture is measured in f-stops and a lower f-stop number such as 1.8
means a wider aperture (lets in more light), a high f-stop number like f22, means a
narrower aperture, letting in far less light.
o Aperture/f-stop numbers: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32

Shutter Speed
o Simply the amount of time, measured in seconds, that the cameras shutter is help open
allowing light to hit the sensor to make an exposure.
o Example Shutter Speeds: 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 etc
ISO
o ISO or ASA is a term from the film photography days which referred to film sensitivity to
light.
o The lower the film sensitivity or ISO the less grainy the photo would be. The same
concept is true today with digital photography as ISO now refers to sensitivity of the
camera sensor.
o Just remember, the lower the ISO number the cleaner looking your photo will be - less
grain/noise. Note: at times high grain/noise can be used for artistic effect.
o Example ISO numbers are: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 etc

Image Source: What Digital Camera.com

Left photo: ISO 200, Right Photo: ISO 6400. Lower ISO = Less Grain

Putting Aperture, Shutter and ISO Together

o The easiest way to think of how all 3 work together to give an exposure is to keep one of
the three held constant lets make ISO constant to not worry about that changing as
well. Remember that both aperture & shutter speed both control how much light is
coming in thru the lens (aperture) and onto the cameras sensor (shutter speed), so if
using a wider aperture (lower f-stop number) you are letting in more light and therefore
your shutter speed should be faster compared to when using a narrower aperture
(higher f-stop number) for the same given exposure.
o For example, if youre taking a photo and youre on aperture priority mode, you set the
camera lens to f/4 and the camera selects 1/250th as the appropriate shutter speed and
you have ISO set at 200. If you decide to change the aperture to f/2.8 you are now
letting in more light into the camera requiring an adjustment on shutter speed (faster)
to let in the same amount of light between aperture and shutter speed. Since you are
keeping ISO constant, the new shutter speed with aperture at f/2.8 from f/4 would be
around 1/500th of a second.
Changing the aperture from f/4 to f/2.8 is letting in twice as much light, so in
order to compensate for that extra light the camera is choosing a twice as fast
shutter speed 1/250th to 1/500th. Dont worry though, in aperture priority
mode, you just change the aperture and the cameras light meter will determine
the correct shutter speed.
Overexposed vs. Underexposed Images & Easy Way to Correct
o Histogram, a Visual Aid:
On your cameras LCD screen. A properly exposed histogram should be fairly
evenly distributed from left to right, not bunched up on one side or the other.
If underexposed it might be pushed mostly to the left on the histogram
If overexposed it is often pushed to the right side.
o Exposure Compensation Button:
Using the exposure compensation button to easily fine tune exposure, if
wanting to overexpose push the button and spin the dial to add exposure
(noted with the + symbol) and to underexpose, push the button and spin the
opposite way (noted with the symbol).

Left: Histogram of underexposed image (histogram bunched to left side)

Center: Histogram of well exposed image (histogram evenly spread)
Right: Histogram of overexposed image (histogram bunched to right side

Key Takeaway Basics of Exposure:

Always remember to think of exposure as simply the amount of light hitting the cameras sensor or
film. The sensor/film is being exposed to the light. We can control how much light hits the sensor by:
1. Aperture How LARGE of lens OPENING
2. Shutter Speed How LONG of a time the shutter remains open, to allow light in.
3. ISO How SENSITIVE to light the actual sensor is
Key tips to help you:

Always use the lowest ISO as possible for the cleanest (less grainy) and sharpest images.
For faster shutter speeds use wider apertures and/or higher ISO
To prevent motion blur, shutter speed should be at minimum 1 / (focal length) for full frame
sensor cameras and 1/(1.5 x focal length) for crop sensor cameras. Note: rule above is rule of
thumb for stationary subjects, moving subjects may require faster shutter speeds.

Camera Shooting Modes

Aperture Priority (A or Av)

o You select aperture, camera selects necessary shutter speed and ISO (if auto ISO).
o Use when you want to control the amount of depth of field in your photo
How much of the foreground or background from your focus point you want to
be in focus.
Shutter Priority (S or Tv)
o You select shutter speed, camera selects necessary aperture and ISO (if auto ISO).
o Use when you want to use a specific shutter speed to control subject motion blur
Program Auto Mode (P)
o Camera selects shutter speed, aperture and ISO (if auto ISO).
o Program auto mode differs from full auto mode in that program auto only automatically
calculates exposure, while user can still manually adjust other controls.
o One instance of where P mode may come in handy is if you are anywhere outside
where there is plenty of light and you just want to be able to take some snapshots
without much thought.
Manual Mode (M)
o You select aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings.
o Use when in very tough lighting situations that the camera just isnt smart enough to
give proper exposure.
Back-lit subjects when photographing a subject against a bright background,
the camera when metering for the whole scene will naturally underexpose the
image, use manual to expose specifically for your subject.
Using flash - control the amount of ambient room lighting vs flash lighting
mixture to give you proper and most importantly consistent results.

Key Takeaway Camera Shooting Modes:

We almost exclusively use aperture priority whenever we are not using flash and shooting with natural
light. As soon as we are using flash we go to manual, always. Why? Controlling the amount of the
photo that is in and out of focus (depth of field) is compositionally extremely important to us, and to be
able to shoot quickly at weddings and get proper exposure is equally important. When using flash, we
need to be able to adjust shutter speed to properly balance our flash lighting with the ambient lighting
while retaining a desired depth of field by setting aperture.

When to use which mode

Aperture People, Products, Portraits, Landscapes

o Wider aperture = lower aperture number = less depth of field = more blur to out of
focus areas in image
Use widest aperture (wide open) on lens for subject pop against nice blurry
background.
Use narrow apertures (higher f/stop #) for landscapes which you want lots of
image in sharp focus.
Shutter Sports, Wildlife, Concerts
o Fast shutter speed to freeze movement or slow shutter speed to convey motion or
action (moving water etc)
Program When quickness of finding exposure is paramount.
Manual When using flash, or anytime you want to bypass camera calculated exposure

From left to right:

1. Aperture Priority to control depth of field (background blur)
2. Shutter Priority to control motion blur
3. Program mode When point & shoot is acceptable
4. Manual Mode when using flash to balance flash light with ambient lighting

Auto-Focus Modes
Single vs Continuous Autofocus

Single Area AF (Nikon: AF-S / Canon: One Shot AF)

o In single area autofocus, once you lock focus on your subject the camera will not retain
focus if your subject moves.
o When to Use - Stationary objects and/or in low-light conditions.
Continuous AF (Nikon: Continuous AF-C / Canon: AI Servo)
o Unlike single area autofocus, once you lock focus on a moving subject the camera will
do its best to follow your subject keeping them in focus.
o When to Use - Use for sports, birds in flight or pets and people when moving.

How the Photographer/Camera Chooses Autofocus Points

Single Point AF Area Mode

o Using single point AF area mode, you pick a single autofocus point to focus on your
subject with. Note: the camera only uses 1 focus point in this mode.
o Use for landscapes or other stationary subjects for autofocus precision.

Dynamic AF Area Mode

o Dynamic AF area mode you are still able to be in control and choose the focus point
however the camera uses a larger area to retain focus if your subject moves.
o This mode only works when in continuous AF mode.

Auto Area AF Using Auto Area AF mode, the camera is analyzing the scene and choosing which
subject to focus on. The ease of not having to manually select a specific focus point can be often
at the detriment of the camera mistakenly choosing the wrong subject or thing to focus on.
o The only time it makes sense to use this mode is if you cant look through the viewfinder
to accurately pick the focus point or if you just want to be able to point and shoot.

Auto Area Autofocus was used on the left photo since we were holding the camera out aimed back at us for a quick self portrait and couldnt
look through viewfinder.

Key Takeaway - Auto-Focus Modes:

It is best practice to take control of your camera and always use Single-Point or Dynamic AF Area mode
and select which specific autofocus point to use to ensure properly focused photos. Use Single-Area for
portraits and still objects and use Continuous AF for moving objects. Only use auto area focus in specific
exceptions that require it.

White Balance

White balance
o The process of removing unwanted or unnatural color tints in your photos that can be in
your photos from different light sources.
Have you ever taken a photo indoors with no flash and wondered why your
subjects skin color looked orange? If so, the white balance on your camera
wasnt set to adjust for the indoor lighting source.

White Balance Settings:

Auto Camera chooses the white-balance automatically

Tungsten Often has a little bulb as its symbol, most often used indoors under
tungsten/incandescent lighting, it cools down the photos.
Florescent Use when under florescent lighting, warms up tones in image.
Daylight/Sunny Warms up your images, rarely used.

Cloudy Warms up images more so than Daylight setting, if your skin tones look a little cold
when shooting outdoors, try this white balance.
Flash To be used when using flash as flashes can be a cool toned light source; this will warm it
up and give a natural looking skin tone to your subjects.
Shade Shade is a cooler light as opposed to direct sunlight so this adds a bit of warmth.
Kelvin/Custom This setting allows you to pick a custom color temperature in Kelvin degrees or
if your camera allows, you can use the custom W/B setting by taking a photo and then applying
that custom white balance.

Photo Composition

Rule of Thirds
o Having your subject dead center in the frame gets boring. It makes what could be a
great photo very simple, traditional and snapshot like.
o Using the rule of thirds can drastically add some creative and artistic value to your
image and even make an otherwise average photo suddenly become a very cool shot!
o The rule of thirds divides the viewfinder into a 33 grid and recommends composing
your photo with your subject at any intersection of any two lines.

Left Image Source: Photographymad.com

Landscape vs. Portrait

o Changing up the orientation of a photo can give a dramatically different look and
perspective and make your photos more interesting.

Incorporating Lines
o Using lines in your images can give images a dramatic look. Always be on the lookout
for horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines and using within your framing the photo.

Angles
o Shooting from a different than normal angle to your subject is a great way to give your
photos a different perspective.
o When possible mix it up by shooting very low, or from above looking down anything
out of the norm can give your images a more creative edge.

Key Takeaway Photo Composition:

Incorporating lines, angles, having your subject off-center in the frame & mixing it up between landscape
and portrait orientations are all ways to easily give your photos more interest, and perspective.

Depth of Field

The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appears acceptably sharp
in an image.
In other words, its how much of the photo that is in sharp focus relative the out of focus areas
of the image. Lens aperture as well and lens focal length play a significant role in how much
depth of field there is in a respective photo. Wider apertures have less depth of field (less in
focus), narrower apertures have greater depth of field (more in focus)

Focused on the pole, with 50 1.4 Lens. Left to right f/1.4, f4, f/16. Note: This is Depth of Field, how much of the
non-focused areas are in our out of focused.

User Study - Depth of Field:

Set your camera on Aperture priority mode and while having your camera on a tripod take 3 photos, at
the same lens focal length, at 3 different apertures. For best results take the photo where your subject or
test object is far away from the background.
1. Shot 1: At the widest aperture setting (f/1.8 if you have a 1.8 prime lens)
2. Shot 2: At f/8
3. Shot 3: At f/16
What are your results when comparing the different photos? The results should show you what depth of
field is all about as your subject/focus point should be in focus in ALL 3 photos, but, the background (nonfocused areas) should be different levels of blur. The wide open aperture should give the most blurred
background while the f/16 should have much less background blur.

Lighting

Built in Camera Flash vs External Flash

o The built in flash on all cameras is terrible for giving nice soft lighting on your subjects.
The reason is, it is not very versatile and only shoots in one direction, straight ahead at
your subjects.
o With an external flash, the variable flash head lets you aim the flash giving you
directional light and also giving a softer light source by having the ability to bounce
the flash off a ceiling.
Fill Flash
o Fill flash is most commonly used when photographing people outside in the sun. The
objective is to use the flash lighting to fill in darker parts of the subject relative the rest
of the scene.

Flash pointed directly at subjects to fill in shadows

For example shooting a portrait at sunset with the subject in front of the sun, looking
into the sun for the photo, the subject would be naturally silhouetted against a bright
backdrop (the sunset) but if you use your flash and fire directly at your subject the flash
will brighten the subject up and still keep the nice sunset ambient lighting.

Left Photo: Natural light only (no flash) for soft natural look vs Right Photo: Fill Flash to enhance and preserve rich
colors of sky sunset.

No flash & shooting into a bright background to create silhouettes

Indoor Bounce Flash for Easy Lighting

o The larger the light source the softer the light is, this is why on cloudy days
photographers love it the clouds act as a light diffuser and give nice soft even lighting.
o Using an external flash mounted on your camera, point the flash head up towards the
ceiling and snap your photo. By bouncing the light from your flash off of the ceiling it
creates a much larger light source and the result will be nice even lighting.

One on-camera flash pointed straight up and bounced off the ceiling

Key Takeaway Lighting:

Understanding lighting is a key element to becoming a proficient photographer. Soft light is generally
always preferred to hard and rigid lighting. Become an expert at finding or creating soft light.

When working outdoors and photographing people try to work when the sun is low,
either rising or setting, as shadows are minimized on your subjects.
If working outside with bright sun, try to find soft light by working in open shade under
trees or next to buildings.
Only point flash directly towards subject when bright sunlight outside and using flash to
fill shadows (fill flash).
When indoors point your flash up at ceiling or angled at a side wall to bounce flash
and create soft light.
If using flash outside at night in open air create soft light by using a bounce card or flash
diffuser.
Starting point for camera settings when bouncing flash indoors:
Manual Mode, f/2.8 -f4, 1/30th to 1/60th, ISO 400-1000

Lenses
Prime vs. Zoom Lenses

Prime lenses are fixed focal length lenses so they do not zoom. Zoom lenses as the name
implies gives you a variable range of focal lengths.
o Benefits of prime lenses wider apertures (1.2, 1.4, 1.8) for better low light
performance and shallower depth of field; also often times will have sharper optics than
zooms
o Benefits of zoom lenses convenience of being able to cover a wide range of focal
lengths.

Kit Lenses vs. Pro lenses

The lenses that come standard with a DSLR are referred to as kit lenses. Kit lenses can serve
you fine when photographing in optimal lighting conditions, however, in more challenging
lighting conditions, faster lenses are often required. The term faster lenses refers to wider
aperture lenses because the wider the aperture (lower f-stop number) the faster the shutter
speed you can use. Pro lenses are often 1.4 aperture prime lenses or 2.8 constant aperture
zoom lenses.
o Reasons to upgrade your kit lens
Kit lenses are often variable aperture zooms, and on the narrower end of the
zoom range the widest aperture you can use is typically f/5.6 which in sunlight is
fine but indoors will often dictate too slow of a shutter speed, resulting in blurry
images when not using flash.
More creative latitude with prime lenses and f/2.8 constant aperture zooms.
Being able to have the ability to shoot at wide apertures such as f/1.4 or f/2.8
will enable you to really blur out the background from your subject and let them
pop off the photo giving a more pleasing and professional portrait.

Key Takeaway Lenses:

On the market there is a large myriad of lenses, all with different uses and vastly difference price tags.
The zoom lenses that automatically come with your camera are most often variable aperture lenses
which will limit you as a photographer in both creative and technical aspects.
If you are thinking that you will primarily want to shoot portraits and people then certainly
consider adding some prime lenses to your lens collection, either a 35, 50 or 85mm 1.8 lens will
be a worthy investment.
If you want more general purpose lenses that will cover you in many scenarios then consider
adding to your zoom collection. On crop sensor cameras, something like a 17-55 f/2.8 (wide to
mid zoom) constant aperture zoom would be perfect for general every day walking around and
still give you options by being a constant f/2.8 aperture lens.
o Note: f/2.8 constant zooms are pricey if just starting out and looking for less pricey
options, consider third party lens manufacturers like: Sigma, Tamron or Tokina. You can
always upgrade to the Nikon or Canon versions later on!
Every photographer should own a 50mm 1.8 lens for only around $100, its a must have. This
lens can serve you well for portraits and blurring out the background (at 1.8) but can also really
help you in low-light conditions when your zoom cant give you a wide enough aperture.

RAW vs. JPEG

The topic of shooting RAW vs. JPEG files is always a hot topic. There is an immense amount of research
and articles on the topic so I am going to keep it brief and try and hit the highlights. Choosing to shoot
RAW or JPEG is a personal decision and there is no right or wrong answer. There are pros and cons to
both.

RAW RAW files is simply the uncompressed and unprocessed data for a photo as recorded on
the cameras sensor.
o Since RAW files are completely unprocessed, straight from the camera they lack
contrast, brightness, and sharpness.
JPEG JPEG files are files that are the result from the RAW data being converted into a
processed image from the in-camera hardware.
o JPEG files have already had an amount of image processing done in-camera
automatically so they look much more finished straight from the camera.
Reasons to Shoot RAW
o When working in challenging lighting & fast paced the extra data the RAW files gives
more latitude for post-processing exposure corrections.
o When working in high-contrast situations where having the extra dynamic range in your
files is crucial.

Reasons to Shoot JPEG

o Faster post-processing workflow since basic image editing was already applied in
camera to RAW file.
o Need special software/image editing programs to read RAW file data.
o Much smaller file sizes
o If shooting sports with using continuous shutter, JPEGs will record to memory card
faster.

Must Have Photo Gear

In addition to your DSLR camera body and the lens that came with your camera I highly recommend
these items as you will be limiting yourself and your imagery without them. My recommendations
below take cost into account and I am giving you solutions intended to get you what you need without
breaking the bank. Keep in mind, approximate pricing is just that and for brand new, you can find many
of these items used for much cheaper.

50mm f/1.8 Prime Lens This lens will not only be the lens of your choice when shooting
portraiture & you want to have your subjects pop off a blurred background but it will also
allow you to photograph in much more dim lighting since able to get to the wide aperture of
f/1.8 and let more light into your camera. Price: $100-$200
An External Flash Lighting is everything in photography and when you dont have optimal soft
lighting you need to be able to create it. The lack of versatility of any cameras built in flash
makes it virtually impossible to have nice lighting on your subjects when indoors. Using an
external flash will immediately improve your indoor photos, as well as outdoors when used as
fill flash or even with other advanced techniques with off-camera flash. Price: $200-300.
Editing Software One piece of equipment that is truly a must have is image editing software.
My favorite without a doubt is Adobe Lightroom, the newest version as of today is Lightroom 4.
Editing your photos lets you take your photos to the next level and really gives you creative
freedom to make that final image as you visualize in your head. In addition if you want to shoot
in RAW format you will need a program such as Lightroom anyways as the files wont be read
with your standard computer software. In addition to editing your images, Lightroom is a great
file management system. It is very intuitive to use but I do create quite a few video tutorials on
Lightroom tips and tricks so you can follow along on our YouTube channel to see those and help
you get going! Price: $75 if student/teacher otherwise $100

Common Beginner Pitfalls and How to Fix

Blurry Photos If you are getting blurry photos and not using flash, then check your shutter
speed to make sure it is fast enough relative to your lens focal lengths as the longer the lens the
faster shutter speed required for a sharp photo! A general rule of thumb is shutter speed to be
at minimum (1/(1 x focal length)) for full frame cameras and (1/(1.5 x focal length)) for crop
sensor cameras. If it is fast enough then check your autofocus settings (single vs. continuous)
and make sure youre focusing exactly where you want.
Boring Composition Try different angles, fill the frame with your subject to create perspective,
photograph the subject farther away and incorporate lines and landscape elements and/or try
the rule of thirds.
Uneven Horizon Lines In many cameras in the menu settings you can turn on a grid in the
viewfinder, use this grid to help line up your camera/viewfinder with natural lines in your photo,
like the horizon or the ground.
Harsh Lighting with Flash
o Inside with flash - Dont shoot flash directly at subject bounce the flash. Still too
harsh? Try my suggested camera settings on manual mode to have a slow enough
shutter speed allowing ambient lighting and not all lighting from flash.
o Outside with flash If using flash for fill flash outside and pointing directly at subject,
which is correct thing to do, simply lower the flash power on the flash to match the
natural outdoor lighting more.