Do you know why your camera has more than an ON/OFF button and the "Big Round Button?"
Good. Neither do I.
Well, that's not true, but it is a source of constant amazement to me that they keep sticking all those buttons on cameras. Really, how many do YOU use? Well, hopefully by the end of this post you will dare to use a few more of them...
When my wife and I were first married, the only bit of wedding money that didn't go to our first month's rent went toward a great little Canon S70 point-and-shoot. I didn't know a dang thing about photography. Or cameras. Or how to use them. So I just started taking pictures. It went something like this:
Turn on...aim...fire. "Why the heck does it look so dark?!" Delete (the reason people buy digital cameras).
Blurry. Delete. Too slow. Delete. "Where's the flash?" Delete. "How do you turn the flash OFF?" Delete.
And so on. About one good shot out of every twenty, on a good day.
Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so. And you've probably wondered what all those different picture settings are for. Unless, of course, you read the manual. But I'll assume you didn't, which is probably a safe bet, because either you are a man (and you just don't do that kind of thing), you bought it on ebay and it didn't come with one, you're one of those people who don't have the time to read manuals, or the manual was a direct and literal translation from Japanese, and was just plain incomprehensible. OK. The settings. There's probably a little head, a little running-man, maybe a mountain, a flower, and if you're lucky a video camera. If you're really lucky you'll just have a bunch of confusing letters that mean nothing at all. First, some basics.
Apertures, Shutters, and ISO, oh my!
If you boil down a camera (figuratively, of course. You never know who reads these blogs...), it is essentially a box with a hole in it, and a piece of plastic. Light comes in the hole and shines on the plastic. It just so happens that the plastic is sensitive to light, and burns when the light hits it. If part of the image shining onto the plastic is brighter, that part will burn faster. Eventually you want to cover the hole, so that all the plastic doesn't burn. You are left with a piece of plastic with an inverse image burned onto it. And that's photography.
This may sound familiar. It is called a 'Pinhole Camera.' Why would that sound familiar? Because every photography course makes you do one, and every photography book talks about them. Why? Because public education is all about presenting irrelevant and outdated material. Just kidding. It is because pinhole cameras are photography in its most simple form. The box is the 'camera body.' The plastic is the 'film,' or 'negative.' The hole, in this case, is the 'aperture,' 'lens,' and 'shutter.'
This may sound somewhat irrelevant, due to the fact that we are discussing DIGITAL photography. It isn't. Why? Because digital cameras were designed to mimic film photography. Even Photoshop (which I'm pretty sure everyone has at least heard of), a computer program for digital manipulation, is based primarily on methods used to manipulate and develop film. So this example is still relevant.
Next, what is your eyeball? An enclosure with a lens and hole in front, and a light-sensitive material in the back. The lens (cornea) makes sure that the image of an object is displayed clearly, depending on how near or far the object is, onto the back (retina), and the hole (pupil) allows light in. However, to control the amount of light entering, a mechanism (iris) adjusts the size of the hole.
This is even more similar to the type of camera you are using. Your camera has a glass lens that acts as a cornea, an iris that expands and constricts to control the flow of light, and a light-sensitive sensor inside the camera. That covers the essential and basic elements of camera anatomy. Now for the terminology.
Aperture. This is the size of the iris, or the opening that allows light into your camera. As it constricts to stop more light, the 'f stops' increase. And as it expands to let in more light, the f stops decrease.
Shutter. This is simply a small mechanism that opens when the "big round button" is pushed, and closes after a certain amount of time. Measured as your 'shutter speed' in seconds or fractions of a second.
ISO. The sensitivity of your camera sensor (or film) to light. You need to know that because it can be adjusted. ISO 100 is half as sensitive to light than ISO 200. Same for ISO 400 and ISO 800.
Before we go into how and when to use those settings, lets talk about what you don't want:
Blurriness (motion blur). This is caused by a shutter speed that is too slow (long) for the speed of the object you are shooting, shakiness of your hands, or the instability of your camera.
Out of focus (lens blur). This is caused by the lens being focused too close or too far. The lens is not out of focus—your subject is.
Too dark. A result of the sensor not being exposed to enough light.
Too bright. A result of the sensor being exposed to too much light.
Noise (graininess, or tiny colored dots, usually in darker images). The result of a high ISO, and not enough light.
Aberration (colored outlines near the edge of your image). Usually the sign of a cheap lens.
Weird colors. The result of your camera being more sensitive to the color or 'temperature' of light than your eyes are. Fluorescent shows up more green, incandescent more yellow, shadow and flash more blue, etc.
What to do about it
Here are some settings, as well as when and how to use them:
Wide Aperture (e.g. anything from f1 to f4 or f5.6)
When? In low light, for fast shots, or to blur a background.
Why? A wide aperture lets in more light, allowing you to take pictures in darker circumstances. It also lets in more stray light rays, which cause the extra-blurry background.
Camera Setting: the little flower, macro, AV (aperture priority) or M (manual, which allows you to set your aperture and shutter settings) and turning the number down as low as it will go.
Small Aperture (e.g. anything from f5.6 to f16 or higher)
When? In bright light, for slow shots (intentionally blurring a water fountain or cars, etc.), and for shots where you want as much as possible in focus (family portraits or landscapes).
Why? A small aperture lets in less light, and like squinting, reduces stray light and brings more into focus. It also requires a slower shutter speed, and therefore a tripod (usually).
Camera Setting: the little mountain, AV or M at a higher number.
Fast Shutter Speed (1/60 or faster. Your camera may go up to 1/2000 or faster)
When? In bright light, or for fast moving objects.
Why? Fast moving objects will look blurry unless your shutter opens and closes even faster. And in bright light your picture will look too bright unless you use a fast shutter speed.
Camera Setting: the little running man, sports mode, TV (shutter priority) at a smaller fraction, or M with the shutter speed at 1/60 or faster. In AV setting a wider aperture (lower number) will work too.
Slow Shutter Speed (1/60 or slower, going as long as 30 seconds, or even hours depending on your camera)
When? In low light, or for intentionally blurring objects.
Why? Any movement of lit objects will show up in the picture, and look blurry. It can be cool for night traffic, stars, etc. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter your picture will look.
Camera Setting: TV at 1/60 or slower, AV at a bigger number, or M which allows you to do both simultaneously.
ISO
When? You want to leave it at 100 or 200 as much as possible. The image quality will be better. Only raise it when your aperture is wide open and the pictures still come out blurry, usually in darker situations.
Why? With a higher sensitivity to light you will be able to set a faster shutter speed, and therefore less motion blur. But you'll start to get more noise, or grain.
Camera Setting: P (program), or any of the other "letter" settings will let you change the ISO.
A few other useful hints
The little mountain setting makes your blues and greens look even more vivid.
The little head/profile makes skin tones look nicer.
AWB is Auto White Balance. Use it, unless you know why you're not.
Use a tripod as much as you can. Your pictures will look much (much) more clear.
Zoom in. In addition to making the picture more interesting, it will also reduce the aberration on the edges of your picture.
To focus, hold the "big round button" half-way down first. It will blink a little red square on the part of the picture that will be in focus. Without letting up, push it down all the way to take the picture.
If you know how to turn your flash off, do it as often as you can. Your pictures will look less like snap-shots that way.
Use P, or Program Mode, if you want the camera to figure out the aperture and shutter speed. It will let YOU choose ISO, and flash ON/OFF.
Auto will do everything for you. Not always a good thing.
And if you do any editing at all in Photoshop Elements, or another editing program, CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR. Otherwise your prints will come out looking waaaay different.
I hope that was helpful, thanks for reading, and remember to buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold!
~Tom
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