More about Cameras

Last time we talked about the types of cameras, so this article is kind of a sequel to that, so do check out the one before this, about different kinds of cameras, anyways moving on, we will see into the very basics of camera settings for beginners, so let's take a deep dive into that.

EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

Shutter Speed: It controls the time taken for exposure. It typically is measured in fractions of a second and the sensor will be exposed for just a very short amount of time. The longer the shutter stays open, the lighter the sensor will capture and the brighter the picture will be. The movement also plays an important role while adjusting the shutter speed for your camera settings. If you are taking pictures of fast-moving objects like motorcars or birds with a long telelens, then you will need a very fast shutter speed to avoid blurring of the subject. 

Alternatively, if you are snapping pictures of streams of water and want the water to be soft and a little blurry, then you need a long shutter speed, maybe even a few seconds. The main thing is that the shutter speed shouldn’t be slower than the given focal length of your camera. So, i.e. if you shoot with a 35mm lens, then don’t go slower than 1/35s or the photo will be blurred.

ISO Speed: It controls the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to an assumed amount of light. Before digital sensors, the ISO described the chemical sensitivity of the film, as the more sensitive the film was, the less light was needed for a well-exposed photograph, but the quality seemed to hurt. The most common ISO speeds are 100, 200, 400, and 800, though many cameras can go lower or higher. Try to keep the ISO at 100, this way You get the best image quality and as you increase the ISO the noise increases too. Only increase the ISO when other options (aperture & shutter speed) are already at their max and cannot be changed anymore. With compact cameras, an ISO speed in the range of 50-200 generally gives adequately low image noise, while with digital SLR cameras, a range of 50-800 (or higher) is often good.

Aperture: It controls the area over which light can enter your camera. The amount of light is defined in f-stops and the lower the f-number the more open is the aperture. i.e., an aperture of f/1.4 if we double the amount of light pass through in comparison to f/2.0. The more open the aperture is, the lighter will pass through and the shallower will the depth of field be. The depth of field defines the area in a sharp picture. Depending on the focal length and aperture, the depth of field can be more narrow or wider. With the numbers, every time the f-stop value halves, the light-collecting area quadruples. There's a formula for this, but most photographers just memorize the f-stop numbers that correspond to each doubling/halving of light:

Aperture Setting	Relative Light	Example Shutter Speed
f/22	1X	16 seconds
f/16	2X	8 seconds
f/11	4X	4 seconds
f/8.0	8X	2 seconds
f/5.6	16X	1 second
f/4.0	32X	1/2 second
f/2.8	64X	1/4 second
f/2.0	128X	1/8 second
f/1.4	256X	1/15 second

In the end, a camera's aperture setting is what determines a photo's depth of field (the range of distance over which objects appear in sharp focus). Lower f-stop values associate with a shallower depth of field. 

 

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