A Complete Photography Course in 5 Tweets

I’m going to attempt to deliver a complete photography course in 5 tweets.

I originally made this on 5 index cards for my wife, corresponding to the 5 concepts you need to know.

In short: There isn’t much to it, and everyone should understand photography, particularly today.

Concept 1: Aperture

Aperture is how much you open the lens to let light in. Common apertures run from 1.4 (open) to 22 (closed). Aperture works just like pupils. To see In the dark, open wider. In the sun, close down.

More open = blurry backgrounds (and harder to nail Focus).

Concept 2: ISO (or ASA)

The base light sensitivity of your film or camera. A higher ISO number means it’s more sensitive (needs less light) but also more grainy/“lower quality.” A lower ISO number means it’s less sensitive (needs more light) but is more smooth/“higher quality.”

Concept 3: Shutter Speed

How long the shutter is open. Big number (denominator) = faster speed. Small number = lets more light in, but movement blurs.

Correct Exposure (goldilocks point between totally dark and totally white) is a dance between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

Concept 4: Focus

The distance from the camera (in feet/meters) that is the most in focus. You can think of this as a flat pane of glass exactly the Focus distance away from you. Everything closer to you, or further away, is less in focus than that pane. See also Aperture 👆.

Concept 5: Focal Length (and framing)

How wide (zoomed out) or how narrow your view is. We use 35mm film size as a basis for description. e.g. your iPhone’s lens is 28mm equivalent (slightly wide).

Basic Framing Tip: The subject should be prominent in the photo… MOVE CLOSER.

So that’s it: Everything you need to know about photography in 5 tweets. This applies equally to cinematography with one constraint/rule-of-thumb around shutter speed (it should generally be a 48th of a second, or double your frames per second). Here are the original index cards: