Defining a Tidbit of Photography

Summary: This tidbit tells you all about what tidbits are!

Tidbits of photography developed out of a desire to provide basic photography information to users with a limited knowledge about photography. It is often the basics that are the hardest to understand. There are plenty of sites about advanced photography, but you must know the basics first.

Types of Tidbits
With photography, there are numerous tidbits of information that allow you to become a better photographer. Some of them are technical, some motivational and even some are just basic understandings of composition, color and positive and negative space. Most people have areas they excel at, while they struggle in other areas. With photography, the skill to be a good photographer requires pulling from many areas. But knowing those areas is an important step in improving those skills!

Tidbits of Photography Sections
So, how to break up all of this knowledge, all of these ideas that lead to better photography? Well, here's my stab at it, at least at some of the pieces that I think are nice to know. A few categories, such as defining and describing, locations, people and subjects, on to composition, some settings on your camera and finally, managing your photos. Those are the groups, so now for some details!

Defining and Describing
Defining and describing various aspects of photography is key to better photography. Most people have heard of megapixels, but what does it really mean when you using a camera? Well, there is a tidbit to define and describe it for you. Memory cards are another, where a little helpful definition will allow you to figure out where to start and what you need for your purposes. So, defining and describing is the place for this type of information!

Locations, People and Subjects
When you shoot photographs, they all have subjects, or locations or people in them. What are you photographing and what are you looking for and how to go about taking photographs. The weather is one of those things that is certainly difficult to predict and downright impossible to control! So, knowing your options, understanding how to make adjustments to the weather to take advantage of the conditions is important. Further exploration will lead to tidbits of about locations, photographing people and a variety of aspects about subjects, especially things you may not have even thought was a subject!

Composition
Composition is quite a challenge if you do not have an understanding of the key aspects to it. One of the most fundamental aspects of photography is the concept of Rule of Thirds. Many cameras come with it built in and all you need to do is turn it on to have immediate access to it. There are fundamentals to composition, ways to explore the artistic side and extreme side of composition, as well as making sure you understand how you are deviating from a sound knowledge of composition. How can you explore your options is if you do not know what the foundation is? It can be done, but a basic understanding helps tremendously!

Settings On Your Camera
When you buy a camera, one of the first things you notice is the millons, well it seems like it, of options you have! A couple of knobs here and there, lots and lots of little icons, some that you recognize, but others you just shake your head wondering what they are. Once the camera is on, you find even more with seemingly endless menus and even more options. So, if you can get an understanding of what the best ones to know are, and an idea of what will happen as you change settings, you can begin to use the camera to capture photos the way you would like to, instead of looking at the results wondering what you could have done to get the shot. I try to keep it simple here, but small doses here is probably a good idea!

Managing Your Photos
One of the keys to photography in the digital age is how to manage your photos. In the past with film, you could just stick your photos in a drawer, and fifty years later, they are found and instant access to memories is had! Well, digital just does not work that way. All sorts of advantages indeed, but archiving is quite different. When taking photographs, there are numerous things to keep in mind. So here, a check list or two to keep you from ending up with photos that are not what you wanted, because you forgot a setting! What do you do with your photos on your computer once you have them on there? Lots of options, many of them not very manageable. So, this section covers those kinds of things.

Tidbits of Photography Exploration
So, look around. They are certainly not been to seen in any kind of order. Well, except maybe reading this one early on of course! If you do not find a subject you thought might be a tidbit, let me know! I'll look into it. It's not meant to be some comprehensive area that covers every subject, but more along the lines of exploring a few of the more common questions that amateurs photographers often have. There are plenty of great photography sites out there, and plenty of bad ones, but the most important thing is if you are looking to better your photography skills, know the fundamentals first and explore from there! Happy reading!

Related Tidbits: Pixel Count, Memory Cards, f-stop, Rule of Thirds, Weather.

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