Summer is here! We are all getting ready for vacations and photos become part of that vacation experience.
Most of us will probably use our smart phones to take our photos and videos. But there are some of you out there that have higher end cameras and would probably like to challenge the "Manual" mode on that camera.
Going manual and controling the settings on your camera gives you a completely new experience with your photo and video capturing. It's awesome!
There are three settings to control. I'm going to give you some tips for knowing how to adjust each of them.
Aperture: This is the iris inside the actual lens. The smaller the number the wider or more open is the iris, letting in more light. Your aperture (iris) also controls a thing called "depth of field". It's where you control how blurry your background is when your forground is in focus. The wider (small numbers) your aperture is, the tighter (blurrier) your depth of field is. The aperture is often refered to as the "F stop". If you want a very blurry background behind your focused subject, you will be looking at an F stop of 1.2 or 1.8 in around there. As you go higher with your F stop numbers the depth of field widens and you have a wider range of area that is in focus. You also get less light. But don't worry about that. Focus on the depth of field you want. I show you further in this article how to correct your light (exposure).
Shutter Speed: This controls how long the shutter stays open to expose the image. For photos, this can be a fun setting to play with. Shutter speed controls the sharpness or blurriness of motion. When you see pics of blurry cars and lights on highways, that's a very low shutter speed. When you see pics of water droplets in mid air, that's a very high shutter speed. The higher the shutter speed, the less light is exposed on your image. But, again, go for the shutter speed that gives you the motion blur that you want. Then use the ISO (final setting) to correct your light (exposure).
ISO: This is an exclusive setting to digital cameras. When we shot on film, we chose different types of film for different types of exposures. We don't shoot on film anymore so our cameras give us a different way to control the light that defines our pictures. ISO simply increases or decreases the brightness of the image. The higher the ISO number, the brighter the image. Be careful. You run the risk of a grainy look if you go too hight with your ISO. I don't usually go any higher than 1200. But there are photographers and videographers who go higher than that. You just need to play and learn what your own camera can do.
Ultimately, you would adjust your aperture and your shutter speed first in order to get the effect you want to see in the photo (a blurred or sharp background equals aperture. a blurred or sharp motion equals shutter speed). Then, when you have those two set for the effect you want to see in your pic, you adjust the ISO to correct the exposure (add more light – higher ISO number. take away light – lower ISO numbers.)
ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed can be intimidating at first. But once you’ve mastered these, photography and videography become even more fun than you’ve ever imagined.
Enjoy your camera and your vacation!
Danielle