The following are photos are plain and not great but they illustrate the skill and technique needed to render a decent shot. Please note that these were taken in lowish light conditions as it was very overcast on the day.
So for those of you who have DSLR cameras will already be familiar with the trinity of exposure, but when you start moving into the Telephoto range you become limited on the f stop or aperture size, as most lenses have a minimum f stop for a certain focal length.
For those of you who don't know much about DSLR cameras, the previous paragraph can be simplified to simply if you start using the zoom on the lens the longer the shutter will have to stay open to produce a decently exposed image, so you will need to keep the camera very still for longer to produce a crisp clear image.
You now run the risk of the image being blurry due to camera shake rather than incorrect focusing. So if you want to take an image free handed you become limited in which conditions you can take a photo if you want the end result to be properly exposed and sharp.
The next challenge you might face is shutter speed, a basic rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should at least match your focal length to produce a decent enough image, so if you focal length is 50mm then your shutter speed should be 1/50th of a second.
Some people can shoot up to 1/30th of a second freehand without shake but then they use posture and breathing techniques to stay as still as possible, for the rest of us there are tripods and I recommend using them when you start shooting at shutter speeds lower than your focal length.
Hope these basic tips help you if you haven't already figured it out, or that it might have tickled your interest in starting photography. At the end of the day just get out there and take photos, you have nothing to lose except time, and yet a photograph can freeze time.
