Hopefully by the end of this lesson they won't scare you and you will begin to use other settings other than the green auto option on your camera!
In this lesson I am going to teach you about 3 different elements.
- Aperture
- Shutter speed
- ISO
I'm going to use my Nikon digital SLR for the camera to help show you what it's all about.
Why not turn your dial on top of your SLR to 'M' - Manual. This gives you complete control over what your camera is doing.
Your camera is now an extension of you and what you want! Rather than it controlling how your images turn out, you are the one to make all the decisions.
So with that, here we go!
PART 1: Aperuture
If you look at the screen on your SLR, there are usually two main sets of numbers.
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| Screen on my Nikon when using Manual settings |
Your aperture number is the one labeled : F
As you can see, my aperture is set to: F5
Now, look at the circle diagram on the left of the screen. The bit in the centre of it is in relation to your F number.
The diagram is showing me how wide the aperture ring is set too. In this case, it is fully open, therefore, letting lots of light into your camera.
I changed the aperture by four stops. Stops are what the F number can also be known as. Your 'F Stop'
As you can see, changing to F stop from F5 to F8, the aperture ring has become smaller, letting less light in.
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| Aperture F8 |
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| F22 |
Another way to sum this up is to compare your cameras apeture to the pupil of your eye.
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| Think of the white circle in the center as the pupil of your eye |
In a dark room or low light, your pupil will be big, as it needs to open up to let as much light into your eye to enable you to see.
On a bright summers day, you pupil will be small to only let a small amount of light in as it is not that difficult to see in well lit situations.
So that's you aperture, it's your cameras pupil! You are now in control of it!
Here's a quick diagram with images to show how it effects your photographs.....
You can apply your changes depending on your lighting situation. Night time, indoors, outdoors, gigs, low lighting situations etc.
The darker it is, the wider your aperture should be.
The lighter the situation, the smaller it should be.
Simple as that!
Time for the next part.......
PART 2: Shutter speed
Here's the same image you saw earlier.....
Recognise you F stop? ;)
I hope you do! Because it is now time to learn about that other scary number on the screen. Your shutter speed.
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| Shutter speed here is 1/100 as seen on the screen |
This determins how long your shutter stays open for when you push the button to take a photograph.
Click! You hardly think it matters, but shutter speed is part of the key to help you catch atmosphere and movement to your images.
Time to break it down, here we go.....
The longer your shutter is left open, the more information you will capture.
The quicker your shutter snaps, the less information you will capture.
Shutter speed can also be referred to as an 'exposure.'
- The term long exposure = shutter being left open a while
- The term short exposure = shutter opening and closing quickly
Example: Traffic at night - always a great example to explain this.
Here is a classic, 'long exposure' shot:
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| Long exposure to give you a light trail from the cars |
It's easy to create if you know what your numbers are about.
The fractions simply relate to what fraction of a second your shutter will remain open for.
At the top of this scale is 1/1000 of a second, which you can imagine, that is a fast shutter speed.
1/125 is a 125th of a second, which is a bit slower than the 1/1000 but still fast enough to capture and freeze an image without any blur.
1/2 is half a second. Doesn't sound like much, but if you try and take a picture whilst hand holding your camera, the shutter will be open long enough to capture you shaking! You will end up with a blurry image of nothing very much.
Tripods are perhaps the most important tool for creating long exposures.
Imagine trying to hold your camera in the one place without even quivering during a 2 second shutter speed! It's not going to be easy or possible for that matter.
Take a quick look at this before I explain further:
http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/30-stunning-examples-of-long-exposure-photography
Notice how the stationary objects in these photographs aren't moving. If you were to hold the camera freehand, you would be moving, therefore, the buildings would appear to be moving too.
The images on this link would have been created using a tripod and long exposure times.
Here's my own test to show you this :) Try it out if you get the chance
What you will need:
Camera
Tripod
A Wall
A laser pen
Set your camera up facing the wall. Stand behind your camera and tripod with a laser pen. Choose your shutter speed, hit your trigger and start writing!
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| Shutter speed: 1 second. Aperture: F11 |
Above I tried to write 'hi' but didn't get very far in one second, so changed it to a longer exposure......
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| Shutter speed: 4 seconds. Aperture: F16 |
Notice how the F stop is different in each image? This is because you have to remember that shutter speed effects how much light gets in too!
The longer it is, the more time light has to get in and vice versa. So, you have to compensate by changing your aperture accordingling.
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| Here you can see how shutter speed can effect the amount of light in you image. |
Because I had the shutter open for 4 seconds, I though I would close the aperture ring to balance out the light.
You can try a few things other than words, even give swirls a go......see how far you can get
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| Shutter speed: 1 second. Aperture: F10 |
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| Shutter speed: 4 seconds. Aperture F16 |
It's never a rule set in stone as to what F stop to use depending on your shuttter speed as every situation is different.
The only thing you can do is set something like this up yourself and have some fun with it!
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| Shutter speed: 13 seconds. Aperture: F22 |
So, hopefully from those two steps on aperture and shutter speed will help you understand what those numbers are all about and how you can apply them to your photography.
Last but not least, and usually the easiest to understand......
PART 3: ISO
ISO doesn't stand for anything in photography terms, it is short for International Organization for Standardization. Nothing to do with photography, just a way to keep everything the same and to stop confusion.
Time for the famous image again...... Perhaps a bit blurry due to the webcam, but if you look at the right hand side of the screen you can see the number 100. (under the lightbuld and above the AF-A)
It says ISO 100. I happened to be set to 100 for this image as I was in the studio last night when using my camera and ISO 100 is a useful setting there.
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| Nikon screen - ISO 100 |
This number is all about how sensitive your film is to light. How fast it acts. In digital cameras, it isn't film, it is a sensor, but the same ISO term is applied to keep things relevant.
ISO can range from: 100 - 200 - 400 - 800 - 1600 - 3200 - 6400
The further up the scale you go, the lower the image quality gets, but don't let this stop you from changing it if it's the only way to capture that image you want.
ISO 100: Lower sensitivity to light, meaning we usually have to expose for longer but we keep a higher quality image.
ISO 6400: Higher sensitivity to light, meaning we can use shorted exposure speeds to freeze movement in an image, but losing some quality at the same time.
Here's a quick example of ISO's I have taken to help explain. Please excuse the silly cat toy as the subject, was close to hand at the time!
ISO Examples
The shutter speed and aperture remained the same throughout.
Shutter speed: 1/40
F5
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| ISO 100 |
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| ISO 200 |
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| ISO 400 |
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| ISO 800 |
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| ISO 1600 |
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| ISO 3200 |
So again, you have another option to help control your lighting.
ISO doesn't usually change as much as your shutter of aperture would in a situation.
For example, here is what I would find myself using depending on the job....
ISO 100 - In the studio using lighting to control my set up, helps create nice black backgrounds when needed as it is slow to responding to the light around the subject.
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| ISO 100 - used in studio |
ISO 200 - I find myself using this during bar/club event photography. I use a flash and it is enough to light the peoples faces, yet 200 doesn't soak up much light on the background, so keep the image low on distracting objects or things going on behind the subject.
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| ISO 200 - Used with a flash and fisheye lens |
ISO 400 - Everyday use. It's in the middle and good for just snapping away when out and about during the day. (Please excuse these two lovely examples in this photograph, Ruth and Mel! - Both keen Lomographers, more on that in another post)
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| ISO 400 - Even, day to day lighting |
ISO 800 - Used for gigs or photographing people in low lighting situations that I am too far away from to my flash to hit. Usually the stage is well lit and ISO 800 responds well without loosing quality.
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| ISO 800 - used at live gigs or shows |
ISO 1600 - Used for the gigs and very low lit situations that I have no other options to work around. Working with camera hand-held means I can only keep the shutter open so long to let the most light possible in until it starts to go blurry and I shake! This is when the 1600 or the 3200 ISO would be used, but I personally try to avoid it due to the image appearing grainy and restricting how big you can have your image printed without it lacking sharpness and quality.
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| ISO 1600 - A low lit set up, you can see that quality in lines and definition are low |
So! With that, I think that this lesson will keep you all busy for a while and get you out there with your camera and trying some new techniques :)
Any questions you may have, feel free to ask. More lessons up soon, until then, check out my Facebook Photography page, all blog updates will be posted there......
Happy snapping!
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