With winter coming to an end, (way too late if you are in the northern mid-west) pretty soon families all around will be preparing for the end of the school year and all that it entails; prom, graduation, family getaways, school performances, and every other photo-worthy occasion. Normally these cameras come with the quick start guide which gets you to shoot in a fully automatic way so you can just focus on capturing your memories.
There is more to your camera than the automatic mode which you can soon have complete control over your images so your amazing memories will look even better. This can also translate into using your camera for more recreational use along with taking your family pictures.
There are three main functions that create the image and they are ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. These three functions are the key pieces of how a camera creates an image. Back in the film days most manual cameras
1. ISO
ISO is an acronym for the International Standards Organization. This setting is what controls how sensitive your camera sensor is to light when taking an image. We start with this setting because it is out of the three the least important as most cameras do well in automatic ISO mode but it is still ideal to learn why it is there.
Those who know a little about film photography know that film comes at different ISO or sensitivity. The lower the number of ISO means the less sensitive to light your camera is going to be (ISO 100 least sensitive, ISO 1600 very sensitive).
Most cameras have a base of ISO 100 and will produce the best quality images at this setting producing way less grain on the image. This, however, requires there to be quite a lot of light and is best used outside on bright sunny days.
Now moving up to around ISO 800 which is a good indoor setting can produce grain if there isn’t much light inside but with overhead lights or a window it will be just fine.
In low light, you need a higher ISO but that sometimes comes at the cost of image grain or “noise.” When compared the higher ISO loses some clarity when side by side with something at a lower ISO setting.
From left to right ISO 100, 800, 12800. Notice the how a slight haze goes over the image.
ISO is less important because of the automatic setting on cameras now being able to detect what to focus on. If you want to make a minor adjustment (maybe the grain is getting in the way of the image or you need to shoot in a darker area), it is an effective choice.
A place that ISO control is great for is at late night sporting events, darkly lit events like school dances or restaurants, and overcast days where the light can be deceiving to your camera.
2. Shutter Speed
It may come as a big shock but a lot of a camera’s functions deal with math. Boring (I know), but it isn’t the type of math that requires a lot of thinking. It’s time measurement, something that everyone is acquainted with.
The cool thing about this function is that most higher-end cameras have a mode called shutter priority. This mode is also an automatic mode but allows you to manually control just the shutter speed. On Canon cameras (which I will be using for an example) this mode is Tv. On other cameras, such as Nikon or Sony cameras, it will be an S.
The shutter is what allows light into the camera to take an image and how long it is open is depending on what you have your shutter speed set at. All the speeds your camera can shoot at are in seconds and they can range from 1/4000 of a second to 30 seconds.
The faster the shutter speed the less light is let into the camera which freezes the image. This is great for fast-moving subjects like athletes or cars. With these faster shutter speeds, however, the less light is let in so just like the lower ISOs there needs to be more light.
Motion blur is not always a bad thing. They can add amazing effects to your images.
Now slower shutter speeds help out in lower light but since the shutter is open longer there can be motion blur so holding the camera steady or using a tripod will help out when doing this.
This function is very useful for sports as well as fast-moving kids and pets, you will be able to catch them in the middle of the action with the whole world seemingly moving around them.
3. Aperture
Probably the most confusing aspect of the camera, the aperture actually on the lens of the camera. The aperture is how big the opening the lens makes when a picture is taken and how much light is let in.
Apertures are read in what is called F/stops so you will almost always see the letter F next to that number. Just like the shutter speed, there is also an aperture priority on cameras which set everything automatic except the aperture. On Canon cameras, this will be marked with Av and on Nikon and Sony cameras it will be marked with A
The thing that makes aperture the most confusing is that the way aperture is measured is the larger the opening the smaller the number is used to signify that. Kit lenses that come with cameras have an average largest aperture of F3.5 so that is the largest the opening can get and F22 is the smallest for most kit lenses.
The reason you would change the aperture is so you can let in more or less light without losing your shutter speed. If you need more light but don’t want to add motion blur to an image you would “open up” your aperture.
Another thing aperture does is it changes how in focus your image is. This is the depth of field. This refers to how much of what you photograph will be focused. When trying to focus an image if you have a larger aperture (meaning the number is smaller but the opening is bigger) then less will be in focus. And in reverse the smaller the aperture the more things will be in focus.
This allows you blur out something in the background if you don’t want it distracting from what the main focus of your image or make sure everything you capture will be in focus enough to notice it.
From left to right aperture F3.5, F8, F11, F22
This setting works best for family photos or landscapes; you are able to get your subject (your family) to be the main focus so everything else is blurred out and not distracting or you can adjust it so everything can be in focus so all the detail can be seen.
Fun fact, most photojournalists back in the manual focus days tended to shoot with their aperture set at F8 because that was a nice middle aperture that kept most of the photo in focus while able to easily get their subject in enough focus to be able to be used in the daily paper.
**One thing to note, if shooting in manual mode there will be a bar that goes back and forth. If you get the bar to stay as close to the middle as possible that is the camera’s saying that the image will be perfectly exposed.**
4. Go out and shoot!
Now all three of these are the main controls of your camera and they can all be used cohesively to great effect. If you feel a little intimidated by full manual mode then try out the shutter and aperture priority, they are a great start to get you comfortable using the camera out of fully automatic mode.
Having shot photography for six years now I will admit I usually find myself using aperture priority more often so I can focus on my subjects more than the controls of my camera, but the knowledge why it is working that way is the most important, not what mode you are in. Get out and shoot some images!