Learning Photography w/ Taylor-Made Pro Media

Today's Topic: Aperture Part I

This will be a multi-part topic. Today I will discuss my experience with aperture setting rather than go in to a mathematical discussion about f-stops. The main thing I will try to explain is how your photos are affected by the aperture setting. To best put it. The lower the f-stop (higher number)... (1) the more depth of field (focal distance) you will have infront of and behind your subject, (2) and less light enters the lens to create an exposure. The opposite is true as well. The higher the f-stop (lower number)... (1) the less focal distance you will have infront of and behind your subject, (2) and more light will enter your lens to create and exposure. On a bright, sunny day this does not matter as much if you are shooting outdoors. The sun is bright enough to provide a proper exposure. However, if you are shooting indoors without any available sunlight or flash, lower apertures can help you to achieve a good exposure as long as you do not need a great depth of field. (I will discuss how to overcome this issue in my discussion about ISO).

Example 1

 

Example 2

 

Please notice the examples posted here. Example 1 was shot with a wider aperature (f/2.8) and Example 2 was shot with a more shallow aperture (f/8). In Example 1, the subject is set apart from the background. The background is very soft and completely out of focus. In Example 2, the subject and the backgound is in focus. Neither exposure is consider to be incorrect. It's a matter of opinion and it's completely up to the photographer and story that he/she wants to achieve.

 

In Part II I will discuss more about the mathematical aspect of aperture to help you understand more about this topic.

Today's Topic: Shutter Speed

If you have read the user guide of your camera's manual, you know that your camera has a shutter release button. This is the button you press to tell the camera to take a photo. Depending on the type of camera you have, you might hear a click, flutter, or some other weird sound. Depending on how long you have your shutter speed set, you may even notice that it will click again some time after you initially press the button. That's because when you press the button the shutter opens (first click/sound/etc.). The second sound you hear is the shutter closing.

What does this mean? What is happening and why is my camera taking so long to take a photo? I plan to bring some understanding to these questions.

In my opinion, Shutter speed is one of the features of a camera that allows an extreme amount of creativity. It all depends on you and what you want to do. Did you mean to get a blurred photo? or was it a mistake? How do I correct the exposure to get the result(s) I'm looking for?

Simply put, shutter speed controls how long it will take your camera to make an exposure. Most DSLR camera can keep the shutter open for up to 30 seconds (long) and depending on the camera model, you can have exposures ranging from 1/2000ths of a second to 1/8000ths of a second (fast).

The longer you keep your shutter open, the more motion you will capture into your photograph. You may even notice ghosting or motion blur in some or all of your photos. This can be good if you want motion to accent your photograph. If you do not know how to set this on your camera, this can get pretty annoying. When I got my first DSLR, I set my camera to auto exposure mode. And I did not understand why my backgrounds showed motion blur by people who were passing by as my subject was still and sharp.

Example 1


I did research. I found that my shutter speed was too low. Good enough to capture a subject who did not move much but not good enough to get the person in the background who was trying to get to work. Take a look at the photo above. Same scenario. For those who are not moving, they seem fine. This time my subject, who was teaching lighting, had a point he wanted to get accross.This photo correctly expresses this. I think this photo is perfect in that sense.

The other thing to take note of is... your camera will let more light in the longer the shutter stays open. This can be good if you are shooting a non-moving subject while using a tripod. So if you are into shooting food, jewelry, flowers, this helps to keep a low ISO and keep out noise from higher ISO settings for these kinds of photos.

ASSIGNMENT: Set your camera to shutter priority mode and try shooting different objects and see how this works for you. Get out your user manual to find out how.

NOTE: Always keep your camera's user guide handy!!!

Please come back to visit my posts. Ciao for now!!!

I thought that all cameras needed a flash to get a properly exposed photograph. Not always true. We must first understand light and how it used in photography. There are several sources of light.

Flash is the most common as almost every camera incorporates some sort of flash.
Ambient light comes from sources like lamps, TVs, etc.
Natural light... The Sun and sometimes the moon

The first part of capturing an image is knowing how the Shutter, Aperture, ISO, and White Balance are used to capture light and pass it off to your camera's sensor.

Today we will define what these are:

Shutter Speed: Controls how LONG light enters the camera

Aperture: The aperture controls how MUCH light enters the camera

ISO: The sensitivity at which your cameras sensor reacts to the light when you open the shutter

White Balance: The "color temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light.

In my upcoming post, I will begin with Shutter Speed and what it means. So, see you soon!!! .

This blog will cover the art of Photography using DSLR based cameras. Some of the techniques that I will discuss can be applied to other cameras as well.