DSLR IN MANUAL MODE
The key to understanding thing is to understand the exposure triangle and how to manipulate it to your full advantage.
The exposure triangle refers to the three elements: the ISO, the aperture, and the shutter speed. These three things when finely tuned will give you the best exposure possible! These each impact one another. So if you adjust one, you will have to compensate by adjusting another to get the proper amount of exposure plus get the effect you want to get.
ISO
The ISO measures how sensitive the image will be to light. The higher the ISO, the more grainy or noisier your image will become. If you want a crystal clear picture, then you will want to have a lower ISO. An ISO of 100 is considered normal; therefore, 100 or lower will make clear pictures in most settings. This is ideal when there is plenty of light.
Good Light: ISO 100
Dull Light: ISO 200-400
Nighttime: ISO 400 and above [This may vary upon the shutter speed and aperture]
We often have to give and take when deciding what is best for each shot. Like in this instance, we may have to allow more grain, to get a picture to appear still. Also, by bumping up the ISO, you are also able to take pictures at a smaller aperture.
Another time when you may need or want to bump up your ISO is when it is dark, or you are not able to use flashes like at a concert or art museum. The reason for this, since you are unable to use a flash, you may have trouble getting enough light in order to have a well-exposed picture. By bumping up the ISO, it allows you to take brighter pictures by giving the image sensor more light.
What the f-number represents is how wide the lens is opened. The smaller the number the smaller the opening of the lens is. This will cause more of the picture to be in focus, which means the foreground, and the background will be in equal focus. Another way you might hear this is, your picture has a larger depth of field. Whereas if the f-stop is higher, then you will have a blurred effect in the background and foreground if intended with a smaller depth of field.
If you are taking a picture of a person, you should focus on someone's eye. This is especially true when you want a small depth of focus. The reason for this is because if you choose to have the lens opened wide for the picture, then you have a very narrow field of what will be in focus. By focusing on the eyes, you are making sure that their face will be in focus, especially their eyes which is the heart of any person's soul.
As I said, F-stops can become confusing. The biggest confusion about aperture is because the larger the number the less that is in focus. Another way of saying this is the larger the number the smaller the aperture, which seems counter-intuitive, but is in fact correct. That's why I try to focus on remembering that the higher the number the wider the lens since that is why they are numbered that way. One good way to remember this is, the more concentrated you are on one spot, the higher you want the F-stop number to be.
For instance, if you have bad eyesight, you can try this, and you might understand. Take off your glasses or take out your contacts. Focus on a spot with your eyes wide open. Everything is blurry, right. Well, now make a really small hole with your fingers, and look through that hole. You will find that you actually can see better through the small hole. That's why people squint. Well, it's the same way with the camera. If you want to see the whole picture better the wider the lens needs to be; therefore, the bigger the number needs to be.
One of the reasons aperture is my favourite is because of the ability to make the background fuzzy. By adding bokeh, it makes my subject the centre of focus. It has allowed me to step out of always making my picture perfectly centred. I can focus on my daughter on the right-hand part of the screen, with kids in the background and all around her, but because she is in focus and they are not, she is the one that catches your eye. It has allowed me to create some of my favourite photos.
The ISO measures how sensitive the image will be to light. The higher the ISO, the more grainy or noisier your image will become. If you want a crystal clear picture, then you will want to have a lower ISO. An ISO of 100 is considered normal; therefore, 100 or lower will make clear pictures in most settings. This is ideal when there is plenty of light.
Good Light: ISO 100
Dull Light: ISO 200-400
Nighttime: ISO 400 and above [This may vary upon the shutter speed and aperture]
We often have to give and take when deciding what is best for each shot. Like in this instance, we may have to allow more grain, to get a picture to appear still. Also, by bumping up the ISO, you are also able to take pictures at a smaller aperture.
Another time when you may need or want to bump up your ISO is when it is dark, or you are not able to use flashes like at a concert or art museum. The reason for this, since you are unable to use a flash, you may have trouble getting enough light in order to have a well-exposed picture. By bumping up the ISO, it allows you to take brighter pictures by giving the image sensor more light.
Aperture
Aperture is what gives the most creative control. The Aperture measures how much light enters the camera's lens. Aperture will be measured by the f-numbers on the lens barrel. This function will help you if you want to have that blurred background effect which is also known as bokeh. So if someone has a really sharp image with a blurred background, someone might say this picture has great bokeh!What the f-number represents is how wide the lens is opened. The smaller the number the smaller the opening of the lens is. This will cause more of the picture to be in focus, which means the foreground, and the background will be in equal focus. Another way you might hear this is, your picture has a larger depth of field. Whereas if the f-stop is higher, then you will have a blurred effect in the background and foreground if intended with a smaller depth of field.
If you are taking a picture of a person, you should focus on someone's eye. This is especially true when you want a small depth of focus. The reason for this is because if you choose to have the lens opened wide for the picture, then you have a very narrow field of what will be in focus. By focusing on the eyes, you are making sure that their face will be in focus, especially their eyes which is the heart of any person's soul.
As I said, F-stops can become confusing. The biggest confusion about aperture is because the larger the number the less that is in focus. Another way of saying this is the larger the number the smaller the aperture, which seems counter-intuitive, but is in fact correct. That's why I try to focus on remembering that the higher the number the wider the lens since that is why they are numbered that way. One good way to remember this is, the more concentrated you are on one spot, the higher you want the F-stop number to be.
For instance, if you have bad eyesight, you can try this, and you might understand. Take off your glasses or take out your contacts. Focus on a spot with your eyes wide open. Everything is blurry, right. Well, now make a really small hole with your fingers, and look through that hole. You will find that you actually can see better through the small hole. That's why people squint. Well, it's the same way with the camera. If you want to see the whole picture better the wider the lens needs to be; therefore, the bigger the number needs to be.
One of the reasons aperture is my favourite is because of the ability to make the background fuzzy. By adding bokeh, it makes my subject the centre of focus. It has allowed me to step out of always making my picture perfectly centred. I can focus on my daughter on the right-hand part of the screen, with kids in the background and all around her, but because she is in focus and they are not, she is the one that catches your eye. It has allowed me to create some of my favourite photos.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is probably the easiest to understand since it determines the amount of time that the shutter is open to allow light to enter into the lens. This is measured literally by fractions of seconds, although the shutter speed could be left open for days or the smallest fraction of a second possible. If your subject is moving or you are taking a picture of a child, you will want to make sure that the shutter speed is as low as possible, while getting the effect you are hoping with the aperture and ISO. A good starting point would be 1/50th of a second. Faster if the child is active, 1/50th might be fine for an infant or an adult. Remember these are fractions, so 1/50th is more than and slower than 1/250th.It has been recommended by every photography blog I've read that 99 per cent of the time you will want your camera at 1/50th of a second or faster. Any slower than that and you will see movement in your picture. One blogger referred to this as camera shakes, which interrupts the clearness of your photo.
Another great thing to note about shutter speed is that the longer the shutter is open the more light that enters it. It will pick up any light and movement that occur during this time frame. In other words, the camera will pick up anything that appears in that frame during that time. Someone might choose to have shutter speed open for longer periods like a couple seconds if they want to show activity with a stationary object. There is a lot of creativity to be had. For instance, if a train goes by, and you take a picture of a person waiting. The person may be in perfect focus while the train is a big blur.
Whether we are talking about aperture, ISO, or shutter speed, the key to getting the effect you want is by balancing these three. Your goal should be to change these three elements so that way they work in perfect harmony to project the most artistic picture possible. One way to make sure that you are going to have a correctly exposed picture is by looking at the EV meter on your DSLR camera. There will be an EV number somewhere in your viewfinder. You want it to read +/-0, that is your goal. Although, if it is reading -1 or +1 or any other variant then you need to do some adjusting with the above things until you get the best exposure possible. You will learn to meter more easily as you gain experience and believe me it takes practice. I'm still learning the ins and outs of the camera, but at least now I'm having fun experimenting! Bottom line, the key is to have a good understanding of what each element does, in order to get the best picture possible.
If you want to learn more about understanding exposure, here is a great book to help you on your way. It is highly recommended by many professional photographers.
Another great thing to note about shutter speed is that the longer the shutter is open the more light that enters it. It will pick up any light and movement that occur during this time frame. In other words, the camera will pick up anything that appears in that frame during that time. Someone might choose to have shutter speed open for longer periods like a couple seconds if they want to show activity with a stationary object. There is a lot of creativity to be had. For instance, if a train goes by, and you take a picture of a person waiting. The person may be in perfect focus while the train is a big blur.
Whether we are talking about aperture, ISO, or shutter speed, the key to getting the effect you want is by balancing these three. Your goal should be to change these three elements so that way they work in perfect harmony to project the most artistic picture possible. One way to make sure that you are going to have a correctly exposed picture is by looking at the EV meter on your DSLR camera. There will be an EV number somewhere in your viewfinder. You want it to read +/-0, that is your goal. Although, if it is reading -1 or +1 or any other variant then you need to do some adjusting with the above things until you get the best exposure possible. You will learn to meter more easily as you gain experience and believe me it takes practice. Bottom line, the key is to have a good understanding of what each element does, in order to get the best picture possible.
Happy photography!
Whether we are talking about aperture, ISO, or shutter speed, the key to getting the effect you want is by balancing these three. Your goal should be to change these three elements so that way they work in perfect harmony to project the most artistic picture possible. One way to make sure that you are going to have a correctly exposed picture is by looking at the EV meter on your DSLR camera. There will be an EV number somewhere in your viewfinder. You want it to read +/-0, that is your goal. Although, if it is reading -1 or +1 or any other variant then you need to do some adjusting with the above things until you get the best exposure possible. You will learn to meter more easily as you gain experience and believe me it takes practice. Bottom line, the key is to have a good understanding of what each element does, in order to get the best picture possible.
Happy photography!
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