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Digital Photography Introduction

Author: Charly Charles

Article:
Camera Controls:

We are going to learn how to creatively use the basic camera
controls. Your digital may have unique functions like auto white
balance, sepia toning, panorama shooting etc. We are not going
to concern ourselves with those functions. Instead, we are going
to focus on the most basic of camera settings - settings common
to ANY camera ever made.



EXPOSURE:

Exposure is of course a combination of two settings that
determine the light levels entering the camera.



Aperture:

The aperture is one of the most important of camera settings.
Once again, this deals with the lens. If you have a manual
camera, you will see a ring on your lens barrel with numbers
such as 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and so on. This is the aperture control.
The lens has a diaphragm inside the barrel, which can expand and
contract, thereby increasing in diameter and decreasing in
diameter. As the diaphragm rearranges itself with every
different aperture setting, the hole left in its middle
increases and decreases in diameter. It is easy to imagine what
affect this has on our image - it is a question of increasing or
decreasing the AMOUNT of light entering the camera. Thus the
aperture setting has a direct effect of EXPOSURE. Remember that
the BIGGER the f NUMBER (f22), the SMALLER is the circumference,
or aperture. The SMALLER the value (f1.2), the BIGGER the
opening... The lens gives its highest quality at smallest
apertures (f11, f16).



A quick note on DOF:

The DOF doesn't affect exposure; on the other hand it is a
by-product of the aperture setting. The Depth Of Field is the
range of subjects that fall within the sharp area in your image.
For example, the area between the nearest sharp object and the
furthest sharp object in the image is the DOF. It is a
subjective phenomenon. More on that later...for now let us
remember that DOF increases with decrease in aperture.



Shutter speed:

The shutter of the camera opens and closes in a fraction of a
second (sometimes for many seconds as well), allowing light to
enter the camera through the lens for a given amount of time.
The shutter is located somewhere between the lens and the light
sensitive surface. So, this determines the TIME for which the
light sensitive surface is exposed to light. Consider the two
variables that affect exposure -

1. The AMOUNT of light entering the lens, in other words the
thickness of the ray of light.

2. The TIME for which it is allowed to fall on the light
sensitive surface.



Here it is important to note that a range of combinations of
shutter speed and aperture could be used to get a 'correct'
exposure. For example, if you LOWER the shutter speed, you are
increasing the time for which light is allowed to enter the
camera. It only makes sense, that to compensate for this you
decrease the AMOUNT of light, or the thickness of the ray of
light entering the camera - in other words the APERTURE.

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About the author:
Author - Digital Photography Exposed
http://www.closeupdigitalphotography.com
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