Introduction

Sometimes we forget what it’s like to be a beginner. There are things we simply take for granted. Do you remember what it was like when you couldn’t ride a bike or drive a car? I don’t.
I’ve been photographing long enough now that it’s hard for me to imagine a time when apertures and shutter speeds didn’t make perfect sense, when depth of field was a dark mystery. But there was a time…

Recently, I’ve rediscovered what it’s like to be a frustrated beginner.
Over the past few years, I’ve germinated a fledgling interest in woodworking. I’ve subscribed to several magazines. I’ve bought a few books and tools. Initially I was confused and frustrated by a lot of terms and techniques. Do you have any idea how many different kinds of router bits there are in the world? And they all have fancy names like “ogee” or “fluted spiral up-cut.” Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Some of my confusion stems from reading magazines that assume a certain level of knowledge. I often need to read an article several times before I can begin to understand it. For instance, I know that one technique for joining two pieces of wood is by using a mortise and tenon. One is a hole cut into a piece of wood. The other is the matching “peg” that fits in that hole. Which is which? I didn't know. I should have, but I didn't. Every time I read about it in a magazine, I had to infer which was which by looking at the illustrations and reading the rest of the text. It’s frustrating. And that’s only one example. I wished there was at least one basic article in these magazines that would assume I know as much as that piece of wood they just put a mortise on. Or was that a tenon?

And that brings me to the point of this document. Most photo related magazines commit the sin of assuming a certain level of expertise on the part of readers. They have to. If they didn’t, they’d bog down every article with elementary explanations and would quickly lose readers. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address the beginners out there. With the recent quantum advances in digital technology, more and more people are discovering a new or renewed interest in photography. That means more and more people will need to comprehend the basics before they can move on.

In this evolving series, I will attempt to explain, in as few words as possible, some of the nagging basics of photography. These will be, for the most part, short, single subject lessons. Occasionally I’ll take a few of these lessons and neatly tie them up into a single, cohesive concept that may actually be useful.
It’s sort of like math. There are certain skills and concepts you need to understand before you’re able to calculate the rotational forces governing the moons of Jupiter as they relate to the gravitational matrix of the entire Jovian lunar system. Or maybe you just wanted to balance your checkbook.
Regardless, if you want to master any craft, be it woodworking or photography, you need a solid grasp of the basics. It is in understanding the basics that innovation and creativity arise and thrive. As I’ve said many times before, master the technical side of photography so it doesn’t get in the way of the creative side.

But I’ll need your help. All camera manufacturers do things differently, even in their own product lines. So what I need you to do is to have your camera manual nearby so you can look up how to adjust shutter speeds, change lenses, access your custom functions, or tune in HBO. You’ll quickly get lost if I tell you to put your camera into manual exposure mode and you don’t know how to do that. So go get your manual. Yes, right now.

Did you find it? Are you sure it’s not in your camera bag? How about the bathroom? You do know that camera manuals make for riveting reading, don’t you? Well anyway, make sure you have your manual beside you while you’re reading these articles. If nothing else, it makes a great coaster for your beer.

With that, let’s get started with the shutter...