Camera Basics

To get better and progress with my photography i will need to come to terms with Camera Basics. Not knowing these basics will prevent me from getting good photos. Once i know this well i will hopefully be able to use my camera better and take better photos.

Recently i have just moved from a very basic Pentax K100d to a more capable and better entry level camera which is a Canon EOS 550D. At the minute im still learning how to use this camera as it has lots more to offer than the Pentax. Below i will write about what i know about my Camera.

Above on the is the mode dial for my camera along with an ISO button and a Shutter Button.The mode dial is used to change the mode and settings i want to shoot with my camera . On the mode dial there are different selections for different types of scenes of photography Including Portrait, Landscapes, Close Up, Sports and night Portrait Photography. These are all helpful when needing to shoot  in these genres of photography.

All though these modes are helpful it is a must to understand My Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and my Manuel Exposure Mode. I also need to understand ISO. Along with Aperture and Shutter Priority,ISO is part of the "Exposure Triangle".


The Green Box on the dial is Full Auto , This is completely automatic photography and should be something i should avoid and try to move away from as it  puts the camera in charge of all the settings meaning it automatically analyzes the scene and tries to choose settings for the results it thinks is best.


Shutter Priority- Tv on the mode dial Shutter Priority allows you to choose a certain shutter speed and the camera selects the f-stop that will give a good exposure,apart from this the camera has full control over colour, flash and other advanced settings.


The main use of shutter speed is to make an effect on how movement can be captured on a photo. Its often used when shooting moving subjects. For example if you wanted to capture a fast moving object and what it to look frozen with no blur you would choose a fast shutter speed and the camera would set the correct aperture, however if you wanted to capture a fast moving object but have some motion blur you would want to choose a slower shutter speed and the camera should also choose the correct aperture for this.

Although not the most interesting of photos i felt like this photo was a good example of what a Fast shutter speed can achieve. The image was shot with a very fast shutter speed of 1/800 literally "Freezing" the action of the car whilst keeping everything else sharp and in focus.

The next image was shot completely the opposite to the one above, it was shot with a much lower shutter speed of half a second, this is a great example of what a low shutter speed can do, you can see that everything that is still on the photo is in focus such as the rocks and pebbles and yet the waves have a good motion blur on them giving them a sense of movement to the photo. I feel the technique can help add a dramatic more look to an image.

Aperture Priority-  Av in the mode dial. When on Aperture Priority the user chooses the f-stop and the camera chooses the shutter speed to produce the correct exposure, again the camera still has full control over colour, flash and other advanced settings. 

Aperture is the opening size of the lens when you take a picture, it determines how much light you are letting in to the camera. The Larger the hole the more light gets in, the smaller the hole the less light gets let in.

Aperture is measured in a system called f-stops or f/numbers for example f/2.8.

Although confusing a large Aperture is given a smaller f-stop number and smaller Apertures have a larger f-stop number

Below is an Example of Aperture Priority, i used this photo as it allows me to give a simple explanation of Aperture 

 

The top image uses a big aperture( big hole and a small number) what you can see is a shallow Depth of Field which means the blurred effect you can see in the photo. On the bottom photo you can see a smaller aperture (small hole and big number) this gives a deeper depth of field giving more focus to the image.

ISO- A basic description of ISO is how sensitive the image sensor in your camera is to light. On my 550d the sensor goes from ISO 100 to ISO 6400

The lower the ISO number the slower the speed, The higher the ISO number the faster the speed.

Some General basic rules for ISO are as follows

. Use a low ISO of 100-200 on bright days

. If it is the evening or the sky is overcast use a higher ISO of around 400-800

.In dark low light shoots you would probably want to set your ISO to around 1600 if this is not done you could risk your photos turning out to dark or not at all.

A photo taken with a lower ISO will be better quality than a photo taken with a higher ISO, this is because the higher ISO you use the more grainy a photo will be so it is usually better to use a lower ISO.