Exercise 2: Research (Basics)

Megapixel
An image is made out of pixels, which are tiny dots of colour. A megapixel is simple one million of these pixels.


Composing better images
There are several ways to compose a better image. Using the rule of thirds is essential in creating balance and unity in the composition. Additionally it is vital that colour correction is applied to any new images brought into the scene in order for it to look like it belongs in the final image.


Camera Shake
Camera shake is a huge problem that exists with many amateur photographers. To avoid camera shake, it is important that a tripod or some sort of stabilisation is used when taking the picture. Additionally, optical/digital stabilisation features on many cameras and lenses do a good job in preventing camera shake. In some situations you may find it impossible to stabilise the camera. In these situations, using a high shutter speed can save your shots from unwanted motion blur.


Memory Cards
Memory cards store the image information when the shutter is pressed. Memory cards provide a quick way of swapping media when your storage becomes full. When shooting at very high resolutions, memory cards can fill up very fast due to large file sizes.

On Location
It is important to bring enough gear if you're about to go on location. If you run out of storage, or suddenly realise that you require means of stabilisation, more often than not you will find that you're screwed. Bringing the right gear is very important in getting that shot you were after.

Resolution
The image quality in a picture is often referred to as the resolution. Images used on the web are usually as smaller resolution as they are required to load faster. There are three types of resolution (the pixel dimensions of an image), print resolution which is usally measured in dots per inch (dpi), and screen resolution, which is the pixel width of a monitor divided by the physical width of the screen in inches.

Myths
It is a common misconception that a larger megapixel number correlates to a better or higher quality camera/image. Although a larger amount of pixels means that there are more pixels in the image, this does not necessarily mean that the image will be higher in quality, it mearly means the pixel dimensions will be bigger, using more space on your memory card.