There are several on the average DSLR camera or better compact digital camera these days and without learning them you never use the camera to its full potential.
Here are a few clues to get you started.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed, simply put, is the speed at which the camera takes the photo.
What Shutter Speeds Do
Firstly, shutter speed has a big effect on several aspects of the photo.
A slow shutter speed can be necessary because the light is low, or, it can be used to produce a blur effect. For instance, a slow shutter speed can make a waterfall look silky.
A fast shutter can be used to correctly expose a photo when there is a lot of light, or, it can be used to help you get a sharp, well focused photo when zoomed in, or even stop motion. A fast shutter speed will stop the spokes on a bicycle wheel so you can see them when a slow shutter speed would make them blurred.
A blurred wheel can give the impression of speed or action, whereas a stopped wheel allows the viewer to see more detail. Extreme slow shutter speeds can be used to capture city scapes at night or lightning.
This photograph shows how a slower shutter (around 1/400th) managed to get the
helicopter nice and sharp but wasn’t able to stop the blades.
Not necessarily a bad thing because this shows some movement in the photo.
- Slow Shutter Speed creates Movement
helicopter nice and sharp and was able to stop the blades as well.
Fast Shutter Speed Stops Movement
Having lots of shutter speeds give you these choices so how do you know which ones do what and exactly what the shutter speed numbers mean?
Reading Shutter Speeds
Shutter speeds are expressed in seconds or fractions of seconds. A shutter speed in your camera’s LCD screen might look like this … 1/200 which means a 200th of a second. So divide 1 second up into 200 slices and take one of those slices and that’s how fast that shutter speed is. You might also see something like this 4” which is 4 seconds.
Your camera’s shutter speeds might vary from something like 30 secs through to 1/2000th or even as high as 1/8000th of a second. Higher quality camera’s have an open shutter setting (sometimes called Bulb or ‘B’) which allows you to take exposures as long as you wish. You could take a photo that takes an hour to get with this setting. More commonly you will use it for about 1 – several minutes to take photos of stars or lightning perhaps.
What Shutter Speeds are what?
The following is a list of common shutter speeds (your camera will have speeds that fit in between those I list) and a general description of what ‘speed’ they are.
• SUPER FAST – 1/8000, 1/6000, 1/4000
• VERY FAST – 1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1000
• FAST – 1/800, 1/500, 1/400
• STANDARD – 1/350, 1/200, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60 (1/60th is probably the slowest speed you will be able to take a photo without a tripod and expect to get a clear shot)
• SLOW– 1/50, 1/30, 1/10, (most people need to use a Tripod)
• VERY SLOW – 1/8, “3 (1/3rd of a second), “2, 1” (1 second) (use a Tripod)
• SUPER SLOW – 4”, 8”, 10” (10 seconds), 15”, 30”, Bulb (use a Tripod)
So Where Do You Start?
This would depend on the other settings and modes you have chosen but the basic rules of thumb are as follows:-
• BRIGHT DAY – Shutter Speeds in the standard range with an aperture of around f5.6 to f8
• SHUTTER SPEED & FOCAL LENGTH – Your shutter speed should be the same or faster than your focal length (or zoom if you have a zoom lens) which means for example if your lens is a 200mm or a zoom lens zoomed out to 200mm then your shutter should also be at least 1/200.
Aperture – F-Stop
Aperture is also called f-stop and you see it expressed in your camera’s LCD window like f5.6 for example.
The ‘aperture’ is the adjustable hole in your camera’s lens that lets the light through to the camera’s sensor.
Aperture and your Eye
Think of this hole (aperture) as your own eyeball. When a bright light hits your eyes, you will squint. You close your eyes up a bit and your pupil becomes smaller to block out the light. When it’s dark though, you open your eyes up wide, and your pupil widens to gather as much light as possible.
The camera and lens make these same adjustments in increments (small steps) that we call f-stops. Some cameras allow you to set the increments yourself to some degree and allow you see more f-stops.
The low aperture f-stops are the wide open eye and the higher number aperture f-stops are the squinty eye. So large apertures (expressed as smaller f-stop numbers and the actual aperture or hole is wider now) allow more light in and small apertures (expressed as higher f-stop numbers) cut more light out.
A large aperture or low f-stop would be f1.8 or f2.8 for instance and a small aperture or high f-stop would be f22 or f32 for instance. Standard apertures (if it’s even right to call any of them this) would be something like f4, f5.6, f6.3, f8.
Confusing
The most difficult thing for beginners to get their heads around is the way ‘Aperture’ and ‘F-stop’ are described. Apertures are usually referred to as either large or small and f-stops are referred to as high or low.
A ‘high’ f-stop, for instance, is not the same as a ‘large’ Aperture. This is because a large aperture literally describes the hole in the lens being large in size.
However, lower f-stop’s are the smaller f-stop numbers and relate to the aperture in the lens being physically bigger.
If you can get your head around that last sentence then you understand aperture quite well now. So it’s Apertures large and small, and f-stops high and low respectively.
The diagram below helps to illustrate the inverse relationship between f-stops and aperture even though for photography they refer to the same settings.
The flouro green shows the physical aperture closing as the f-stop numbers gets bigger.
Please Note: The diagram below is a rough representation only as the apertures vary depending on the lens.
Various Apertures
Lenses & Aperture
Lenses come in different qualities and configurations but all have restrictions on the maximum and minimum amount of light they can let in and through to the camera sensor.
If you look at the front of a lens you see something like 1:3.5-5.6 which tells you what the minimum aperture value or f-stop is for that lens.
For instance, a non zoom lens might have 1:1.8 on it. This means the minimum aperture, or the largest aperture you can get with that lens fitted is f1.8 which is actually a very large/wide aperture.
A lens like that can use slower and normal shutter speeds in very low light situations that a similar lens that is only 1:3.5 (f3.5).
Depth of Field
Apertures are important for controlling Depth of Field (DOF).
Depth of Field is the term used to describe how much focus is in your shot. For instance, let’s say you shoot a photo of a log and you take the photo along the length of the log.
Let’s say the log is exactly 1 metre long. When you look at your photo you might see that only 30 cm of the log is in focus. That 30 cm is the DOF in that photo. You will find that zooming in with a lens will shorten that DOF and zooming out will widen the DOF (make more of the photo in focus).
However, your aperture setting will also affect the DOF.
A lower f-stop like f3.5 or f5.6 will create a shorter DOF than a higher f-stop like f10 or f18 will. Different lenses can be exceptions to this but most conform to this general rule.
You will find though that it takes a few f-stops before the change in DOF is noticeable. In other words the DOF in a photo shot at f8 will not look much different (if at all) from the same photo shot at f11. But take the f-stop to f22 and you will see the difference easily.
The following two photos demonstrate how changing the f-stop affects the DOF. The focus wasn’t changed for the photos.
This photo shows that the DOF is narrow and located on the rock in the foreground.Simulated Settings: Aperture = f2.8, Shutter = 1/30th
Narrow Depth of Field
This photo shows the DOF is still on the rock in the foreground but now extends
further (wider DOF) providing more clarity throughout the photo.
Simulated Settings: Aperture= f22, Shutter 2” (2 secs)
Wide Depth of Field
Aperture & Shutter Speed
Often there are times when you want to use a particular shutter speed but the aperture value is flashing in your view finder as the camera tells you that it doesn’t think the photo will work. This means that the camera sees a problem with the amount of light entering the sensor. Usually it’s not enough light. You have learnt that slowing a shutter speed down allows more light, and you have learnt that lowering your f-stop number also allows more light. So to stop the flashing aperture value and get that photo, you can do both of those adjustments remembering how slow you can go with shutter speed before needing a tripod.
So far we haven’t mentioned using a flash because we are learning about controlling the light without the need for a flash just yet. There is another way to control light. Your ISO settings make 3 ways for you to control light and gain more leeway with your aperture and shutter speeds. See below.
ISO (International Standards Organization)
ISO stands for International Standards Organization who came up with a standard for measuring the speed of film (in non digital cameras) called the ISO Speed.
Your ISO settings are another way to control the light that hits the camera sensor. Your aperture literally restricts the amount of light by physically opening or closing a hole. Your shutter speeds effects the amount of light by restricting the amount of time the light has to hit the sensor. The ISO changes the sensors sensitivity to light.
How it works
The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive the camera becomes to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive the camera becomes to light.
Although a higher ISO makes the camera more sensitive to light there are drawbacks. A higher ISO attracts more ‘noise’ in your photo. Basically this means that you see more speckles in larger patches of solid colour or dark spots in the photo than you do with lower ISO settings. If your photo is very ‘busy’ (has loads of texture, colour etc) then the speckles may not show up allowing you to use that ISO effectively.
So, why would you use a higher ISO if it creates noise? Glad you asked! A higher ISO allows you to use a higher shutter speed. A good example of this might be you are taking a photo of a mountain biker in the forest. He is fast and you want to get a clear photo of him. If conditions are right you can safely use ISO 400 or even ISO 800 to allow you to use a shutter speed of perhaps 1/400 or more to get that clear shot. At ISO 100 you might find the highest shutter speed you could use was only 1/100 or even less.
Lower ISO means a better photo in theory. Lower ISO’s tend to reproduce colours and contrasts much better and stronger than higher ISO’s so where possible it’s best to try to use ISO 200 or less.
For all the same reasons you can use a higher ISO to allow you to use a higher aperture settings also.
Although very high ISO settings such as ISO 1600 or even ISO 3200 tend to be very grainy (noisy), if the photo is important to you then perhaps using the high ISO and getting the shot is better than losing it altogether.
Auto Focus (AF) Settings
If your camera has AF settings, either in the menu or on a button on the back of the camera, and you have an auto focus lens attached, then you have a few choices depending on the camera. Choose yours from the list below.
• One Shot – When you half press the button to focus, the camera chooses its focus and then locks in that focus until you either press the button fully down and take the photo or release the button.
Great for a subject that isn’t likely to move such as landscapes, flowers on a still day, a person.
• AI Focus - When you half press the button to focus, the camera chooses its focus but then watches for the subject to move, and if it sees movement it will re-focus until you either press the button fully down and take the photo or release the button. Helpful when the subject is usually fairly still but could move a little on you.
Great for those subjects that are still some of the time but could move out of your focused region as you are ready to shoot.
• AI Servo – When you half press the button to focus the camera, the camera chooses its focus and because it expects to see its subject moving, the camera tries continually re-focusing at the slightest hint of movement until you either press the button fully down and take the photo or release the button. This is helpful for instance when a subject is something like a mountain biker riding toward you.
Great for those subjects you know are going to be moving out of your focused region such as cyclist coming towards you.
Metering Settings
When you half press your camera shutter button to focus, your camera also takes its light readings or metering. This is one of the things the camera does to try to help you correctly expose your photo. Your camera may have several metering settings you can choose from either within the menu or on the back of the camera. Usually it has all or some of the following:-
• Evaluative Metering – The camera meters off the whole area in your frame. Good for landscape type photos where you need to try to get all the elements in the photo correctly exposed.
Common Icon for Evaluative Metering
This photo shows an example of how Evaluative Metering looks at your frame.
Evaluative Metering showing the entire area metered
• Partial Metering – The camera meters off a large area you are aiming at.
Common Icon for Partial Metering
Partial Metering
• Centre Weighted Metering – The camera meters off a medium area in the centre of where you are aiming at. Good for photos where you only want the camera to get the target in the middle exactly right. For instance, this might be a portrait shot and you want the shadows to remain around the person.
Common Icon for Centre Weighted Metering
This photo shows an example of how Partial Metering looks at your frame.
Center Weighted Metering
• Spot Metering – The camera meters off the focal spot in the area you are aiming at. Spot goes one better than Centre and simply is more targeted again. You might want the eye of that person spot on and let shadows take over the rest.
Common Icon for Spot Metering
Spot Metering
White Balance
White balance refers roughly to the hue of colour that affects the overall look of your photo.
The hue is affected by the dominant lighting on your scene and several lighting elements such as the time of day, season, type of light bulb etc all change the hue. We refer to this as the colour temperature but I won’t go into detail on colour temperature here.
The goal of white balance settings is to render white objects in your photo as white, not bluish-white, or yellowish-white for instance. This helps to achieve a more accurate photo in terms of how it looked to your eye.
A late afternoon shot will often have a warm glow for instance which can be quite nice. A shot of a river in the early morning might yield a cold, bluish hue in your photo and again might be appealing.
However, if the hue captured by the camera is not appealing, your camera might have white balance settings that allow to you control the colour somewhat.
White Balance Settings
These are the most common white balance settings:-
• AWB (Automatic White Balance) – Your camera tries to decide what white balance setting best suits the scene. Surprisingly, most cameras these days do an ok job with AWB however if the scene is dominated too much by a certain colour range the camera sometimes over compensates. This where the following settings are useful.
• Daylight – Sometimes in bright daylight a slight yellowish hue is captured. This setting adds a small amount of blue to compensate.
• Shade – Shaded areas usually have a bluer light present than sun lit areas due to the lack of yellow rays from the sun. This setting adds more yellow to warm up the photo.
• Cloudy – Cloudy is very similar to the Shade setting and acts the same way with a slightly different amount of compensation. Some cameras only come with one either cloudy or shade settings.
• Tungsten – This is designed to compensate for the strong yellow light a tungsten bulb (your normal household globe before fluorescent and power saving options became popular) gives off. Taking the photo indoors with a tungsten globe giving light will usually result in an overly yellow looking image. This setting adds a large amount of blue to the scene.
• White fluorescent – Fluorescent lights give off a very cold purple or even sometimes greenish light so this setting also adds more bluish tones to even out the scene.
• Flash – This setting adds colour to compensate for the flashes bright white/blue appearance.
Experiment with White Balance
If you are trying to achieve a photo that closely represents how your eyes saw the scene then selecting the right white balance setting is important if you don’t want to spend a lot of time adjusting the photo later with your editing software on your computer.
However, some very cool tones can be achieved by deliberately choosing the wrong settings.
The photo below demonstrates how this can work.
This photo was taken with the Tungsten setting.The actual scene was more grey and drab to the eye.
4 Strikes
