Contrary to the general perception, its not the Camera but the Light which needs to be understood as the first prerequisit for taking good photographs. Light is perhaps the most vital element of photography as it is the primary component needed to make photographs. This makes understanding light the first lesson in photography. This is one of the first lessons why you would learn in an online photography school.

Observe the Light  It goes without saying that you must be able to observe light and  how will it affect the photograph. You need to know whether enough light is coming on  the subject and whether it will be the correct amount and correct form of light that you  want in your picture. Start observing different forms of lights and see how do they affect  the way the subjects look. You can also notice how light changes throughout the day  and how do the same subjects appear different at different times of the day.

Understanding Exposure Exposure is the degree to which the film or sensor of the camera allows the light to come on it. Exposure depends on various factors like the Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO settings of the camera. To measure the  exposure quantitatively, you can look at it on the Light meter available in the camera  where neutral denotes the apparently correct amount by which the photograph will be  exposed. However, as you understand light better and get creative, you will need to  manipulate the exposure to suit the way you want to make the photograph.

Types of Exposure:    

• Underexposed
• Optimally Exposed
• Overexposed

Under-Optimal-Over Exposure

Types of Light:

In the coming advanced sections, we will go through different kind of light conditions, angles etc and how to best utilized them for the photography, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this post and the related content.