( Todays Photography )

Ok. Please remember I am only learning and through this blog I am hoping that someone else may learn something too and also that if I have some info a little off or if someone has an interesting suggestion on how we can improve then please share.

Aperture

The aperture is how much light comes through the lenses while taking a photo.

The aperture is measured by your f number or f stop.  Weirdly the smallest number is known as the greatest aperture and the largest number is the smallest aperture.

Basically and I’m all for the Basics – If the subject you are looking at is dimly lit you will need a smaller aperture (more light will enter eg. f4), If the subject you are looking at is bright you will want to use a large f number (less light will enter the lens).

The aperture also controls your depth of field (DOF) eg. Focusing on a close subject like a flower with the back ground blurred.

For Depth of Field always remember

- Large depth of field large F number (landscape)

-Small depth of field small F number (portrait)

-Large F number for brightly lit areas and small for dimly lit areas

Shutter Speed

Controls how long light is exposed to your film – The sharpness of a moving object or the amount of blur you want within a photo.

- The higher the number eg. 1/4000sec the briefer the exposure

For moving objects recommend above 1/250thsec

For blur (slow shutter speed) below 1/60thsec, when using shutter speeds this low always use a tripod to prevent camera shake and increase your chances of a better pic.

Choosing your shutter speed..

Remember your ISO (Will explain shortly) and aperture are very important in this process.

*With still objects shutter speed is not a factor as long as you are using a shutter speed above 1/60th to prevent camera shake.

*With moving objects it all depends on how fast your object is going and at what angle you are standing in relation to the object. I have listed a general guide below this is as the object is directly crossing you path, though the best way to find this out for yourself is to play with your camera speeds within different shooting environments.

-walking (3mph) 1/250sec, (10mph) 1/1000sec,

-car (40mph and above) 1/2000sec to 1/4000sec.

ISO sensitivity

Basically because as I said I am all for the basics

The higher the ISO the less light needed to make an exposure, this allows higher shutter speeds or smaller apertures.

*if you where taking a photo of a water droplet you would want a high ISO this would allow you to take a photo with the greatest shutter speed though still allowing enough light for good exposure, result a clean singular droplet.

This all depends on your situation so the ISO can vary, if you where taking a water photo in a brightly lit area you would want an ISO of  2000, where as if your droplet was poorly let you could use anything from 2500 to 3200.

*the best way to discover the best ISO for different lighting is to play with your camera within these settings.

The goal is to never use our cameras on auto, after all we have this beautiful little box full of wonderful opportunities and all we need to do is change our settings…

Tags: Aperture, depth of field, f number, ISO sensitivity, Shutter Speed