What Are They and How Do I Do This with My Camera?
APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED AND ISO
What are they and how do I do this with my camera?
Adorama is a great site for understanding APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED AND ISO and anything else that you would like to know about digital photography
http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/Camera-Settings-AdoramaTV
Once at the site, click on the WATCH tab, scroll down and select the following tutorials as needed:
1. EXPOSURE
2. SHOOTING IN MANUAL MODE
3. CAMERA SETTINGS
4. DEPTH OF FIELD
Vocabulary:
· Aperture - A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera's sensor as a picture is taken.
· Shutter Speed - The camera's shutter speed is a measurement of how long its shutter remains open as the picture is taken.
· ISO - A rating of a film's sensitivity to light.
· Depth of field - the distance in front of and behind the subject that appears to be in focus.
These different modes are on the top dial on your camera:
Automatic – this is where the camera calculates all the settings for you.
P mode (Program Mode) – this is the exact same thing except it excludes the flash – you would need to turn the flash on yourself.
S mode (Shutter Priority Mode) – This will give you the ability to adjust the length of the Shutter speed and the camera will adjust the Aperture (F Stop) for you. It will take these two variables and even them out until you get a properly exposed picture. Use S mode when you want to get a long exposure – capturing a Ferris wheel going around at night or car lights zooming by and you want to blur the lights.
A mode (Aperture Priority Mode) – This will give you the ability to control the Aperture and the camera is adjusting the Shutter speed. And again you will end up with a well balanced picture. Use A mode to take a portrait picture with a blurry background.
M mode (Manual Mode) – This is where you control both the Shutter Speed and the Aperture and the camera does nothing. This is the hardest setting to control but it is well worth experimenting with this feature. It is the only way you will learn what happens when you adjust these two features on your camera.
ISO - measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light) – however the cost is noisier shots.
To change your ISO:
a. Push the Menu button
b. Select the Camera icon
c. Select ISO Sensitivity and click on the OK button
d. Select either 200, 400, 800, or 1600
Lower the number (200) the brighter the lighting – OUTSIDE
Higher the number (800) the darker the lighting – INSIDE
A good number to stick with is usually 400 because too low or too high you will usually loose the quality of the photo. Play around with this to see the difference.
ACTIVITY- After you learn how to change your exposure settings please do the following:
With a partner work together to see how to change the following settings:
Ø You will work in all the modes except for Automatic and P mode.
Ø You will need to explore the different options listed up above with your camera settings.
Ø Practice changing your Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings.
Ø Bracketing – this is a technique photographers use to figure out what the best settings are for what light you are working with. Bracketing usually consists of 3 shots of the same image:
a. One shot is just right
b. One shot is over exposed
c. One shot is under exposed
Ø You will achieve these shots by adjusting the Aperture, Shutter Speed and the ISO.
Ø Bracket 3 shots of one image and repeat this as many times as you need to in order to fully understand how this process works.
Ø It is not necessary to upload these photos – they are just for practice.
Ø Refer back to the above listed Youtube tutorial if you get confused.