Camera Triage So, you have a fancy new DSLR camera? You re really excited! It probably cost a small fortune. It s gotta be good, right? It better be good, right? Maybe you re having a ton of fun with your new camera and you re getting great results out of the box. If so, that s awesome, good for you! This guide should help you get even better results in a very short time. On the other hand, as a new DSLR user you may either have a hard time using all the buttons and knobs on your new camera, or you may just not be getting the results you had hoped (and paid!) for. Well, you re in luck DSLR s are absolutely fantastic pieces of machinery, and they can really help you unleash your creativity on your photos. And better yet I ve got a brief, no nonsense guide on how to work that fancy device. Now, get your camera out of Auto mode and get ready to learn! Portrait Mode When you switch to portrait mode your camera will automatically select a large aperture (small number) which helps to keep your background out of focus (ie it sets a narrow depth of field ensuring your subject is the only thing in focus and is therefore the centre of attention in the shot). Portrait mode works best when you re photographing a single subject so get in close enough to your subject (either by zooming in or walking closer) so that your photographing the head and shoulders of them). Also if you re shooting into the sun you might want to trigger your flash to add a little light onto their face. Macro Mode
Macro mode lets you move closer into your subject to take a close up picture. It s great for shooting flowers, insects or other small objects. Different digital cameras will have macro modes with different capabilities including different focussing distances (usually between 2-10cm for point and shoot cameras). When you use macro mode you ll notice that focussing is more difficult as at short distances the depth of field is very narrow (just millimeters at times). Keep your camera and the object you re photographing parallel if possible or you ll find a lot of it will be out of focus. You ll probably also find that you won t want to use your camera s built in flash when photographing close up objects or they ll be burnt out. Lastly a tripod is invaluable in macro shots as the depth of field is so small that even moving towards or away from your subject slightly can make your subject out of focus. (I ll write a full tutorial on Macro Photography in the coming weeks). Landscape Mode This mode is almost the exact opposite of portrait mode in that it sets the camera up with a small aperture (large number) to make sure as much of the scene you re photographing will be in focus as possible (ie it give you a large depth of field). It s therefore ideal for capturing shots of wide scenes, particularly those with points of interest at different distances from the camera. At times your camera might also select a slower shutter speed in this mode (to compensate for the small aperture) so you might want to consider a tripod or other method of ensuring your camera is still. Sports Mode Photographing moving objects is what sports mode (also called action mode in some cameras) is designed for. It is ideal for photographing any moving objects including people playing sports, pets, cars, wildlife etc. Sports mode attempts to freeze the action by increasing the shutter speed. When photographing fast moving subjects you can also increase your chances of capturing them with panning of your camera along with the subject and/or by attempting to pre focus your camera on a spot where the subject will be when you want to photograph it (this takes practice). Night Mode
This is a really fun mode to play around with and can create some wonderfully colorful and interesting shots. Night mode (a technique also called slow shutter sync ) is for shooting in low light situations and sets your camera to use a longer shutter speed to help capture details of the background but it also fires off a flash to illuminate the foreground (and subject). If you use this mode for a serious or well balanced shot you should use a tripod or your background will be blurred however it s also fun to take shots with this handheld to purposely blur your backgrounds especially when there is a situation with lights behind your subject as it can give a fun and experimental look (great for parties and dance floors with colored lights). Movie Mode This mode extends your digital camera from just capturing still images to capturing moving ones. Most new digital cameras these days come with a movie mode that records both video but also sound. The quality is generally not up to video camera standards but it s a handy mode to have when you come across that perfect subject that just can t be captured with a still image. Keep in mind that moving images take up significantly more space on your memory storage than still images. Other less common modes that I ve seen on digital cameras over the past year include: 1 Panoramic/Stitch Mode for taking shots of a panoramic scene to be joined together later as one image. 2 Snow Mode to help with tricky bright lighting at the snow 3 Fireworks Mode - for shooting firework displays 4 Kids and Pets Mode fast moving objects can be tricky this mode seems to speed up shutter speed and help reduce shutter lag with some pre focussing 5 Underwater Mode underwater photography has it s own unique set of exposure requirements 6 Beach Mode another bright scene mode 7 Indoor Mode helps with setting shutter speed and white balance
8 Foliage Mode - boosts saturation to give nice bold colors Semi Automatic Modes Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV) This mode is really a semi-automatic (or semi-manual) mode where you choose the aperture and where your camera chooses the other settings (shutter speed, white balance, ISO etc) so as to ensure you have a well balanced exposure. Aperture priority mode is useful when you re looking to control the depth of field in a shot (usually a stationary object where you don t need to control shutter speed). Choosing a larger number aperture means the aperture (or the opening in your camera when shooting) is smaller and lets less light in. This means you ll have a larger depth of field (more of the scene will be in focus) but that your camera will choose a slower shutter speed. Small numbers means the opposite (ie your aperture is large, depth of field will be small and your camera will probably choose a faster shutter speed). Shutter Priority Mode (S or TV) Shutter priority is very similar to aperture priority mode but is the mode where you select a shutter speed and the camera then chooses all of the other settings. You would use this mode where you want to control over shutter speed (obviously). For example when photographing moving subjects (like sports) you might want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. On the flip-side of this you might want to capture the movement as a blur of a subject like a waterfall and choose a slow shutter speed. You might also choose a slow shutter speed in lower light situations. Program Mode (P) Some digital cameras have this priority mode in addition to auto mode (in a few cameras Program mode IS full Auto mode confusing isn t it!). In those cameras that have both, Program mode is similar to Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO etc. Check your digital camera s manual for how the Program mode differs from Automatic in your particular model. Fully Manual Mode Manual Mode
In this mode you have full control over your camera and need to think about all settings including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, flash etc. It gives you the flexibility to set your shots up as you wish. Of course you also need to have some idea of what you re doing in manual mode so most digital camera owners that I have anything to do with tend to stick to one of the priority modes. how a picture is taken The yellow line represents light. Light is reflected into your eye as well as onto the film of the camera. To understand how to operate your camera, it s helpful to understand the basic concept of modern photography. For sake of explanation, let s first lets talk about film photography. When a film photograph is taken, the camera
operator presses a button called the shutter release. This opens up, or releases a small gate called a shutter in front of the camera film. When this gate is opened, light comes through the camera lens and hits the film, which imprints the picture on the film. After a brief amount of time, the shutter closes and that photo has been exposed. Film can only be exposed once if it is to turn out properly. We call this film exposure taking a photo. Fairly simple, right? Now, on a digital camera, the concept is almost the same. Instead of film behind the shutter, however, we have a digital sensor that acts like infinitely reusable film it can be exposed over and over again. For the purpose of this guide, that s really all you need to know about the concept of photography. What it s all about Exposure
In the Exposure Triangle, three different factors directly affect each other and your photo. The exposure of a photo depends on three primary factors: the shutter speed, the lens aperture, and the ISO sensitivity (sometimes referred to as ISO speed.) You need to properly set each of the three to get a properly exposed photo (a photo that is neither too dark nor too bright.) Modern cameras do a great job of this automatically, but you can usually do better manually with a little practice. You also have a lot more control in manual mode. The measure of a photo exposure is referred to as the exposure value (EV). If the word exposure is confusing you, you can just think of it as the brightness of the photo for now til you re more comfortable with the correct terminology. There are six simple rules to these three aspects of photo exposure: 1. If you increase shutter speed, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker. 2. If you decrease shutter speed, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter. 3. If you increase lens aperture, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter. 4. If you decrease lens aperture, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker. 5. If you increase ISO sensitivity, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter. 6. If you decrease ISO sensitivity, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker. Using what you know from these rules can enable you got get a properly exposed photo in practically any situation. Shutter Speed
The City by Night by Mohain. Here he has used a long shutter speed which has captured the flow of traffic.
A very fast shutter speed of 1/4000th sec was used to freeze the motion of this grouse in flight To adjust the shutter speed on your DSLR, go to the shutter speed priority mode on your camera. On Canon and most other DSRL s, it s labeled T or Tv. A faster shutter speed decreases the likelihood of your photo being blurry due to camera or subject movement. In general a higher shutter speed is better, if you can get it. I say in general because there are a gazillion exceptions to this. However, if you re just shooting around for fun, I recommend trying to keep your shutter speed above 1/50th indoors (in low light) and above 1/200th outdoors (in bright light). This is just an extremely rough area to start, it is by no means a hard rule your shutter speed should change depending on the situation. A shorter shutter speed (i.e., 1/500th) decreases exposure (darkens photo), a longer shutter speed (i.e., 1/60th) increases exposure (brightens photo).
A longer/slower/lower shutter speed (i.e., 1/10th) is more likely to produce blur from camera and/or subject movement than a shorter/faster/higher shutter speed (i.e., 1/200th). You manually adjust shutter speed in the T, Tv, and M modes on your camera. Aperture Robber Fly by Thomas Shahan. Here the incredibly shallow depth of field indicates he has used a very large aperture.
lens aperture is my personal favorite, though it is by far the most difficult to explain. Luckily I have example photos readily available, which I ll show you in just a moment. First, the word aperture is a noun that literally describes an opening or hole. In photography, that s what the lens aperture is the opening at the back of the lens that allows light to enter through the lens onto the camera sensor. If you look into your camera lens and take a picture, you should see a flashing black thingamabob appear that s the aperture blades closing and opening. If you have a DSLR that has a video mode, put it in that mode and you should be able to see the aperture clearly it looks like several black claws interlacing together to make a hole (aperture) in the middle of the lens. To adjust the lens aperture on your DSLR, go to the aperture priority mode on your camera. On Canon and most other DSRL s, it s labeled A or Av. Secondly, I should say that aperture nomenclature is a bit counterintuitive. Aperture is usually written down like f3.5ʺ or f1.4ʺ or f11ʺ. A larger aperture has a smaller number succeeding the f. For instance, f1.4 is a larger aperture than f5.6. A larger aperture increases your exposure (remember, increasing your exposure means it will brighten your photo, and that s the last time I ll tell you that!) Additionally, aperture measurements are
exponential. For instance, f1.4 will expose your photo twice as much as f2, four times as much as f2.8, eight time as much as f4.0, etc. A large aperture is essential for low-light photography. Thirdly, aperture doesn t just effect photo exposure, it effects the photo itself! This is why aperture is so cool. A larger aperture will have a smaller depth of field (DoF), and vice versa. The DoF is the width of the focal plane, or how much is in focus in the picture. Take a look at the following examples to make things clearer.
In each of these pictures, the focus point remains the same: the green handle on the pitcher. However, you ll notice that in the first, the background (and even the front of the pitcher, closest to the camera) is blurry. In the second picture, the background less blurry, and in the third picture it is almost sharp. This is what aperture the depth of the portion of the photo to be in focus at one time. This portion of focus is called the depth of field. A large aperture (for example, f1.8) produces a more shallow depth of field, and a smaller aperture (f5.6) produces a deeper depth of field (DoF). A larger lens aperture (i.e., f1.8) increases exposure, a smaller lens aperture (i.e., f7.1) decreases exposure. A larger lens aperture (i.e., f2) produces a more shallow depth of field, a smaller lens aperture (i.e., f8) creates a deeper depth of field. You manually adjust lens aperture in A, Av, and M modes on your camera. P.S. Aperture is sometimes written in different ways f3.5ʺ is sometimes written as f/3.5ʺ or f1/3.5ʺ or even f 1:3.5ʺ. I prefer the way I ve used above as it is brief and simple to write. ISO Sensitivity ISO sensitivity is the final element to photo exposure. The acronym ISO has nothing to do with photography so don t worry about it (ISO is the International Organization for Standardization). ISO sensitivity (sometimes called ISO speed) is simple: the greater the ISO sensitivity, the greater the exposure of the camera. The only catch is the higher the ISO speed the more noise will appear on the camera. Noise is unwanted artifacts on the photo that are the result of the ISO sensitivity making mistakes on individual pixels when the photo is taken. A less sensitive ISO will make less mistakes and thus less noise. You can manually set ISO speed in almost all modes on your DSLR, except full auto mode.
Here s an example of dramatically different ISO sensitivities on the same photo.
The first photo is taken at ISO 100 and the second is taken at 12,800. As you can see the first is far superior to the second in overall picture quality. A general rule is to use the lowest ISO speed possible to allow you a fast enough shutter to eliminate motion blur while using the proper aperture to get the depth of field you want (might want to read that sentence two or three times. ). In other words, ISO sensitivity is in a way the last thing you think about when you take a photo, after shutter speed and aperture. And don t be afraid to use a high ISO if you need to! A noisy image is better than a image that s muddled by motion blur! A greater ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 1600) increases exposure, a lesser ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 125) decreases exposure. A greater ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 2000) produces more noise, a lesser ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 400) creates a superior, less noisy image. You manually adjust ISO sensitivity in P, T, Tv, A, Av, and M modes on your camera.