Introduction What is photography? The history of photography What this site will do for you Light: The most important element Why light is important to a photograph The many types of light Controlling light in your pictures The camera The basic function Types of cameras Choosing the right camera Putting the image together: the Lens How the lens bends light: a tutorial A brief introduction to apertures The variety of lenses Choosing a lens Exposure: a film tutorial How film records an image Understanding film speed Print vs. Slide film Film recommendations Taking Pictures Depth-of-field Apertures and shutter speeds Composition and experimentation: the basics Metering: when you can't guess The many types of picture-taking Photography with a point-and-shoot Accessories Tripods: for when you can't stay still Lens filters Post-processing: after development Scanning photos The digital darkroom Photo and equipment storage
Photography : The Art of Light will help you become an excellent photographer, at least we hope so. Remember, I said help. You can’t just read something and know everything afterwards. Its not like magic. You have to practice, practice, practice. Once you finish a lesson, try using what you learned on your own camera, or try using it on our virtual camera. The key to being a good photographer is to always experiment. If you don’t experiment, you will never come out with the pictures that you expect. More about this in our Taking Pictures section. Our site is mainly aimed at students who want to learn photography from the ground up. This site can also be very useful to advanced users, who want to sharpen their photographic skills. Along with that, our site can be an invaluable research guide when typing up reports or essays.
Beginning photographers, start here
If you are interested in learning about picture-taking, then welcome to the world of photography! You will find photography to be a very interesting and fun art. We would highly recommend reading each lesson, and not skipping ahead. We designed our site so that you will gradually progress throughout our site, learning more about photography each step of the way. If you find that there is some information that you already know of, or think that will not be of any use to you at all, then feel free to skip ahead to other areas. Along with a photo guide, we will also give you a complete "photography sim", so that you can test your skills as a photographer with a "real world" situation, on a "virtual camera". This is located in our Interact section. Oh yes, if there is a photographic term you do not understand, it will most likely be in our glossary.
Students looking up research, start here.
If there is some specific information about photography you are looking up for a report, try using our search or looking for the information you need on the site map. If you find any photograph on our website useful, feel free to use it, however, only for the use on your report or other research material.
Starting Points
In each of our three sections (Photo Guide, Interact, and Reference), the very first page that will appear is called the starting point. This page will help you understand about what is in the section, along with important terms, key points, etc. It would be a good idea to look over the starting point of the section, so that you get an idea of what’s in that section.
Now, let us begin our journey into photography!