2. Aperture (AV mode)
This camera technique refers to the hole in the lens that controls the depth of field in a
photograph. On a camera, you can change the aperture mode by scrolling it to the A or Av
and adjusting the size of the hole in the lens.
This setting is most useful in landscape photography, if any. For the landscape photograph
to be captured successful, you need a narrow aperture. This is due to the objects or subjects
in both the foreground and background to come out crisply and not blurred.
Depth of field on it’s own means the range or distance which the objects stop/start to appear
crisp and sharp I n an image. Making the aperture smaller (larger F-number – Bottom)
increases the depth of field, so a crisper picture can be captured.
However, the smaller the aperture number, the more the light is reduced, which therefore
means a much higher exposure times. This will then require a tripod to capture a desired
photograph.
Aperture priority mode = adjusts both the aperture and the shutter speed to neutral. This will
focus on the perfect aperture more, but should get a near perfect shutter speed also.
F numbers
The higher the number, the more depth of field there is, therefore, the crisper an image is in
all parts of the photograph.
The lower the number, the less depth of filed there is, therefore, the crispness will fade from
the back and mid grounds of the shot, but remain in the foreground of the image.
F29
Small
depth of
field
F3.5
Large
depth of
field
Crisp in
photograph
Blurred in
photograph
3. With a low aperture speed I have
managed to capture the object in the
foreground, the tree, in great detail.
While, blurring out the background of the
image to give more impact to the crisp,
clear tree.
F4.5 AV
A medium aperture makes the object in
the foreground, the tree, clear like on a
low aperture. However, the mid and
background is less blurred compared to
the low depth of filed image, which
means objects such as the fence and
bin can be identified, unlike on the
above photograph.
F11 AV
The highest aperture image will allow the
depth of field to be increased and all
parts of the image that were blurred in
the previous two images are now crisp
and clear. A high aperture (F number)
has that impact on a picture, like stated
in terms of landscape photography on
the last page.
F29 AV
4. Shutter Speed (TV mode)
Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter is open on the camera once you press the
button. The S or the TV setting allows you to adjust the shutter speed on the device, which,
dependant on the camera, can span between a high number of speeds.
The smaller the number in terms of shutter speed, the faster the shutter opens and closes. A
slower shutter speed lets more light in the camera and is well lit, where as a fast shutter
speed may need ambient light due to the low amount of light going in to the camera when on
a fast shutter speed.
This technique is not linked to a direct application or type of photography, like aperture,
although it is used effectively when capturing movement. This is because with a fast shutter
speed, movements are frozen and the photograph manages to capture it. These fast types of
shutter speeds capture what the human eye sometimes can’t pick out.
A fast shutter speed requires a lot of light to be added, through artificial or post-production
light. This is because the fast shutter speed will let less light into the camera ad therefore will
lack light for the capturing of the photograph.
Where as a slow shutter speed can let a lot of light into the camera, which may need a
shadow or a darkening post-production technique added to it.
The low shutter speed can sometimes show movement better than on a fast shutter speed
setting. This is because the trail of the object is captured on the image as well as the actual
object. This is normally the case for high moving things, such as trains, cars and buses.
The less time the shutter is
open, the clearer the image
will be. Although in terms of
shutter speed, clarity isn’t
everything, you may need to
capture movement, which a
slow shutter would do better.
5. The fast shutter speed has allowed the
camera to capture the object as it would
be seen by the human eye, if not
captured things a human eye wouldn’t.
The fast opening and shutting of the
shutter, has meant a clear and crisp
image is captured. Movement has been
captured, but it’s frozen, instead of the
movement lines been captured also.
1/1000s shutter speed
A medium shutter speed allows the
object to be captured and movement
lines to be captured too, instead of the
object just been frozen. This image has
also changed from the last in terms of
light. Like explained on the previous
page, more light will be available to a
slower shutter speed because the
shutter is open for longer.
1/60s second shutter speed
Slow shutter speeds don’t freeze the
object in the photograph whatsoever.
Instead, movement is recorded and the
consumer will be able to see which way
the object is travelling and approximately
how fast. As it should be, the light of the
image is the brightest out of all of them
because the shutter allows more light,
due to this image been the biggest wait
between the opening and the closing of
the shutter.
1s shutter speed
6. ISO settings
The ISO is how sensitive the sensor in the camera is to light. The setting on the camera will
adjust how sensitive it is to light. The bigger the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor
is in the camera to light.
Shooting in low light may require an increase in the ISO, however, a low light location does
not mean no blurriness or noise in the image, so a maximum ISO setting is not
recommended.
Noise is the pixels that you seen on an image that appear almost grainy. This is the result of
a selecting of a high ISO rating, therefore the sensor is too sensitive to the light on the
photograph. Noise will considerably reduce the quality of an image, if the ISO is too high.
A low ISO is required if a high quality image is required for a photographer. If a very light
setting is the setting for your photo, the ISO wants to be as low as possible. Where as a low
light setting would require a mid to high, but not maximum ISO number. Maximum ISO would
still produce noise, due to a bit of light in the image still been evident. A maximum ISO may
never be used because it would be perfect in pitch black dark, where there would be no light
to affect the sensor, however, the object or subject will not be picked up by the camera.
As the ISO increases, the
noise/chance of seeing noise
also increases. The little pixels
or grains that can be clearly
seen on the ISO 3200 and ISO
6400 are examples of noise.
This is because the sensor gets
more and more sensitive to
light as the ISO goes up.
7. The low ISO means the sensor isn’t so
sensitive to light. As it was, we purposely
captured our photos in a dark space,
because then it would show that a low
ISO in somewhere with not much light
would still produce a crisp and clear
image, with no noise.
100 ISO
With a mid ISO, as stated on the last
slide, the chance of noise in the
photograph increased. Compared to the
100 ISO, the image is less clear and
crisp, due to the sensor been affected by
the little light that existed in the ‘dark
setting’.
800 ISO
A high ISO, no matter the setting, a bit of
noise will be detected when you capture
the image. The clarity of the 100 ISO
image has vanished completely and the
image has become blurred. This of
course however has improved from what
he image would look like if it was
captured in the natural outside light.
1600 ISO
8. White Balance
The white balance allows you to change the colouring and highlighting of images and objects
within those images. Instead of been a Photoshop technique for post-production, the camera
lets you take the picture with altered colour instead.
The main feature of White balance is to change the consumers mood on a photograph. For
example, they may like an image more if it was in a Tungsten or fluorescent colour. While the
consumer may have a more positive mood to a photograph that is lighter, compared to the
darkness of the daylight setting.
It also helps the camera user and everyone else to understand what white is. This is because
without the settings allowing you to change the colour, the normal or the white image cannot
be compared to anything, therefore teaching us what white is.
A few examples of what the settings can do are that: A cloudy setting in daylight light can
give the photograph a yellow tint to it. Another one includes the fluorescent light setting in
daylight will bring a green tint upon the photograph.
Unlike the other settings, you can choose a wrong technique within the setting to improve the
image. For example an image in daylight, edited by a shade setting would, in theory, be not
good. However, the objects within the image are highlighted more than the original image
and it’s a very effective white balance setting to use with daylight light.
The white balance affects both the
look and the consumers feeling
toward the image.
These are all the effects which you
can change in the white balance
settings of a camera. As you can see,
some change it drastically, while
others change or slightly highlight a
part of an image.
9. Daylight
Shade
Cloudy
Tungsten
Daylight – The image is close to normal, daylight gives it some extra light in certain areas,
but not a notable change to what an original image would look like.
Cloudy – Like daylight, the cloudy effect doesn’t change the image that much from what an
original photograph would look like. However, a little more light has been added to the
original lighting of the original image.
Shade – A lot of change has occurred between this image, the original and the two
effected images before this one. Artificial light has been added to the whole image, instead
of just certain parts, like the daylight and cloudy images.
Tungsten – The most restrained image of them all, yet the most altered photograph out of
the four. Tungsten always turns every image, including this one, blue. However, the bright
parts of light like on the shade image, has remained, but it’s been darkened and shadowed
a bit.
