
Lessons
Class Introduction
17:26 2Welcome to Photography
13:08 3Camera Types Overview
02:00 4Viewing Systems
28:43 5Viewing Systems Q&A
08:45 6Lens Systems
32:06 7Shutter Systems
13:17 8Shutter Speeds
10:47Choosing a Shutter Speed
31:30 10Shutter Speeds for Handholding
08:36 11Shutter Speed Pop Quiz
09:06 12Camera Settings
25:35 13General Camera Q&A
14:38 14Sensor Sizes: The Basics
15:33 15Sensor Sizes: Compared
19:10 16Pixels
20:13 17ISO
21:13 18Sensor Q&A
13:34 19Focal Length: Overview
11:09 20Focal Length: Angle of View
15:09 21Wide Angle Lenses
08:48 22Telephoto Lenses
25:23 23Angle of View Q&A
09:29 24Fish Eye Lenses
10:39 25Tilt & Shift Lenses
23:42 26Subject Zone
17:19 27Lens Speed
09:56 28Aperture Basics
08:46 29Depth of Field
21:49 30Aperture Pop Quiz
13:23 31Lens Quality
18:30 32Photo Equipment Life Cycle
03:57 33Light Meter Basics
09:25 34Histogram
15:25 35Histogram Pop Quiz and Q&A
10:58 36Dynamic Range
06:03 37Exposure Modes
15:58 38Manual Exposure
09:38 39Sunny 16 Rule
05:54 40Exposure Bracketing
10:18 41Exposure Values
27:21 42Exposure Pop Quiz
26:43 43Focus Overview
16:15 44Focusing Systems
05:15 45Autofocus Controls
11:56 46Focus Points
07:35 47Autofocusing on Subjects
20:19 48Manual Focus
07:52 49Digital Focusing Assistance
03:40 50Focus Options: DSLR and Mirrorless
04:58 51Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF
05:20 52Depth of Field Pop Quiz
12:14 53Depth of Field Camera Features
04:54 54Lens Sharpness
09:58 55Camera Movement
05:20 56Handheld and Tripod Focusing
04:32 57Advanced Techniques
07:12 58Hyperfocal Distance
06:50 59Hyperfocal Quiz and Focusing Formula
04:36 60Micro adjust and AF Fine Tune
05:34 61Focus Stacking and Post Sharpening
05:52 62Focus Problem Pop Quiz
18:07 63The Gadget Bag: Camera Accessories
25:30 64The Gadget Bag: Lens Accessories
12:46 65The Gadget Bag: Neutral Density Filter
20:43 66The Gadget Bag: Lens Hood and Teleconverters
08:55 67The Gadget Bag: Lens Adapters
05:43 68The Gadget Bag: Lens Cleaning Supplies
04:34 69The Gadget Bag: Macro Lenses and Accessories
15:57 70The Gadget Bag: Flash and Lighting
05:08 71The Gadget Bag: Tripods and Accessories
18:50 72The Gadget Bag: Custom Cases
11:20 7310 Thoughts on Being a Photographer
07:37 74Direct Sunlight
25:04 75Indirect Sunlight
18:49 76Sunrise and Sunset
18:39 77Cloud Light
14:48 78Golden Hour
09:50 79Light Pop Quiz
07:53 80Light Management
14:00 81Artificial Light
13:56 82Speedlights
16:02 83Off-Camera Flash
27:38 84Advanced Flash Techniques
09:49 85Editing Overview
08:24 86Editing Set-up
08:06 87Importing Images
16:45 88Best Use of Files and Folders
20:54 89Culling
20:56 90Develop: Fixing in Lightroom
18:13 91Develop: Treating Your Images
10:53 92Develop: Optimizing in Lightroom
14:51 93Art of Editing Q&A
06:01 94Composition Overview
06:53 95Photographic Intrusions
10:10 96Mystery and Working the Scene
16:18 97Point of View
09:11 98Better Backgrounds
16:02 99Unique Perspective
11:02 100Angle of View
15:06 101Subject Placement
41:14 102Subject Placement Q&A
05:18 103Panorama
07:39 104Multishot Techniques
13:57 105Timelapse
16:13 106Human Vision vs The Camera
20:07 107Visual Perception
08:35 108Visual Balance Test
22:56 109Visual Drama
12:25 110Elements of Design
28:57 111The Photographic Process
12:28 112Working the Shot
27:38 113The Moment
04:42 114One Hour Photo - Colby Brown
1:04:32 115One Hour Photo - John Keatley
1:03:05 116One Hour Photo - Art Wolfe
59:01 117One Hour Photo - Rocco Ancora
1:01:20 118One Hour Photo - Mike Hagen
1:01:20 119One Hour Photo - Lisa Carney
1:00:52 120One Hour Photo - Ian Shive
1:08:00 121One Hour Photo - Sandra Coan
1:10:29 122One Hour Photo - Daniel Gregory
1:06:07 123One Hour Photo - Scott Robert Lim
1:05:41Lesson Info
Dynamic Range
So, the dynamic range is the range from the darkest to the brightest. How big of area can our camera capture? And this is one of the areas where our eyes and our cameras are very different. And the difference is that our eyes adjust for areas of darkness and areas of brightness, and when we're taking a photo, we have to capture one single shot that covers the darkest to the lightest the best that it possibly can. And so, this is measured in stops, and black is gonna be zero, and pure white is gonna be some number on the high end, and the question is how many steps in between black and white can we fit into our cameras? Can our sensors handle? And this really has to come down to the RAW capabilities of the sensors in our camera. And let me share with you some photographs that are of a high dynamic range. So, these images have a variety of pixels in them ranging from bright to dark. Now, one of the things is if you look and compare all of these photos as to say something that is common a...
bout all of these photos is that they all have land and sky in the photographs. Typically, the sky is kind of bright, and typically, the land is a little bit on the darker side. And so, things on the ground tend to be a little bit darker, and things in the sky tend to be a little bit brighter. So, here's an image that has some sky and land-- well, at least stuff on land, and so it has a very wide dynamic range. Look at that histogram at the bottom of the screen. We've got a big ol' spike on the left, and that's partly because we've got that overhang and a little bit of roof down there at the bottom of the frame, and we have a little bit of a spike over on the right-hand side, and that's probably coming from the lights right over where it says "City Fish Market." All right, so we have a wide range of tonality. This is what I captured in-camera, so I took it in to Photoshop, Lightroom, one of the programs, and I tried to compress the tonal range. I tried to lighten up the darks, and I tried to darken up the lights. And you can see the histogram. I have created a mountain in the middle. Originally, over here, it's all spread out. And so what I've tried to do is I've tried to compress it all, and that photograph does not work. It just doesn't look good at all, and so what I'm trying to say by this is if you have a wide dynamic range that you capture, you're not gonna be able to fix it later. Now, there are a few little tricks, and we'll talk about a few things as we go through this, but if you have a really bright light and a really dark area, that is gonna be a really challenging situation in which to capture in a single shot in your camera. Let's look at the other scenario: a low dynamic range. Look at these images. See what they have in common. Notice they don't have the sky in them, except the image in the bottom left, which is all sky. And so it's not land and sky. These are things of a similar tonality. Let's look at this one image right here. Look at the histogram for this. Most all of the information is gathered right in the middle, so it's mostly middle-tone gray which is this gray water. There's a little spike over to the right, which is probably some of the boats, and it does extend off to the right and the left a bit, but most all of the information is in the very middle. Now, I'm gonna take this image into post-processing, and I'm gonna add contrast to this particular image. And I've spread that histogram out just a little bit. You see how that histogram is a little bit wider? And that image has a little bit more crispness and sharpness to it. I mean, technically it's not sharper, but we've added contrast, which makes it look sharper. So, we can take images that don't have a lot of contrast, and we can kind of improve them from what they originally were recorded at in our cameras, and so you can take low contrast and do a little bit of increase in the contrast, and that'll improve it, so it's kind of a one-way street when it comes to contrast. It's hard to decrease it later on, but it's easier to increase it later on. And so we want to be very aware of really wide ranging situations when we're out shooting. So the dynamic range is really built in to the sensor on your camera. It's just--it is what it is, and there's nothing that you can do about it, about shooting at different ISOs or shutter speeds or apertures. It is the inherent capability of your camera. So, let's take a look at some of the best cameras currently on the market. Notice a little theme here. Nikon's got a good thing running right now, okay? so Nikon has figured out how to get a lot of dynamic range out of their cameras, and so these are some of the best tested cameras on the market available today. Here are some other popular cameras, just a range of cameras that you might be interested in, and on this EV scale, remember we talked about EV at the beginning of the first day, 12 EV is considered excellent, so the Canon 7D Mark II at 11.8 just falls slightly under, which means it's really close to excellent, and so most of the cameras on the market are going to fall into this excellent category. Some of them up at close to 15 stops can be really handy because it's gonna be able to handle lighter and darker situations at the same time. Now, the place that I got these readings that you can go check out your own camera is dxomark.com, and you can look under the sensor ratings under an aspect called the landscape or the dynamic range, and that will give you the rating. They test all of the new cameras as they come out to see how good they are at different dynamic range. Now, I don't even know the dynamic range of the cameras that I own. I mean, I've gone and done this, so you could see what the numbers are. I don't know what they are on my camera. I don't want to quite say that I don't care what they are, but they just are what they are, and I've learned to work with the cameras because all cameras have a limited range. They have a range. So, this is one of things you can do just to see how your camera performs against everything else. In general, I have found that newer cameras have a greater dynamic range than older cameras, so if your camera is 10-years old, my bet is it's below 12 on the EV scale here.
Class Materials
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Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.
Eve
I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!
Vlad Chiriacescu
Wow! John is THE best teacher I have ever had the pleasure of learning from, and this is the most comprehensive, eloquent and fun course I have ever taken (online or off). If you're even / / interested in photography, take this course as soon as possible! You might find out that taking great photos requires much more work than you're willing to invest, or you might get so excited learning from John that you'll start taking your camera with you EVERYWHERE. At the very least, you'll learn the fundamental inner workings and techniques that WILL help you get a better photo. Worried about the cost? Well, I've taken courses that are twice as expensive that offer less than maybe a tenth of the value. You'll be much better off investing in this course than a new camera or a new lens. I cannot reccomend John and this course enough!