Quality photography, much like fine wine, takes time to acquire a taste, or an aptitude, for. Thankfully, today’s most expensive cameras can make up for lack of experience or knowledge on the part of an amateur photographer.
However, as you become a more experienced photographer, certain natural environments will necessitate a more intimate knowledge of your camera’s manual functions.
Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings are three areas that you must become familiar with if you want to master the ability to capture manual photos.
Here are some basic tips relating to these three important settings that will help you master your camera’s manual functions:
We start here because aperture can be the most difficult concept to grasp for novice photographers. However, once you understand its’ function it’s actually quite simple.
Essentially, your aperture setting controls amount of light your lens lets in. A larger opening in the lens, or a wider aperture setting, will let more light in. A smaller opening, or narrower aperture, will let less light in.
In settings where you have too much light, a narrower aperture will reduce the amount of light your camera lens lets in, which will ensure that more of your photo appears in focus.
In general, a narrow aperture can be used for landscape settings, while a wider aperture might help you capture scenes in the late evening or even in the dark of night.
Shutter speed refers to the amount of time between when you press the shutter button on your camera and the moment when your aperture blades finally close. Most cameras are initially set to have a very quick shutter speed.
Increasing the shutter speed, or increasing the amount of time when the sensor is exposed to light, can have two important effects on your photos. First, a longer shutter speed can help you take more quality photos in low light situations. A longer shutter speed means more exposure to light.
However, a longer shutter speed also means that the camera’s sensor is exposed to a greater degree of motion. In many cases, this causes what is known as ‘motion blur.’ This can happen when your subject is in motion, or if you have trouble holding the camera still for a longer period of time.
The last of these settings essentially controls film speed, or the digital equivalent of the term. The faster the film speed, the more sensitive the film is to light. A low ISO allows you to represent the light in a given exposure more accurately. However, the more your increase the ISO setting, the more noise your exposures will capture.
Learning to apply these three settings in conjunction with each other takes time and practice. Fortunately, you can walk outside your door in many different settings to experiment with each setting. Over time, you will begin to master these three settings and the quality of your images will only continue to improve.
By James Lam Join me on Google +