Do you know what is the function of your camera's shutter? How is the shutter of a camera an important aspect of a camera? It can actually control the amount of light entering the imaging medium and can be used to create different kind of effects.
You can use the shutter speed to adjust the speed of the shutter of a camera. The shutter will open for a short period (in fractions of seconds) to allow the imaging medium to be exposed by light for each exposure. It can be used to control the amount of light entering the imaging plane. With 'faster' speeds (shutter open for a short period of time), both the amount of light and the amount of image blurring from the motion of the subject and/or camera could be reduced. The shutter speed is considered an exposure setting because opening the shutter for twice as long lets in twice as much light which will increase the exposure of the image by one stop.
However you can also use it to create a nice picture with different effects: faster shutter speeds freeze a moving subject, slower speeds record a motion blur. There is no definition of wrong or right in photography. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A photo of a stream with a 1/800 second shutter can capture each sharp sparkling droplet of water frozen in mid-air, whereas a 4 second exposure would make the waterfall to flow in a stream like a smoke. Either one can look beautiful.
As you can see from the picture above, the car lights on the road can be seen as a continuous stream of light. This effect can be done by reducing the shutter speed (which means making the shutter open for a longer period of time. When the shutter is opened for a longer period, another thing to take note is to hold your camera as still as possible or else the picture taken will be totally blurry. This is effect is also known as long exposure.
The next picture is a photo of a water drop motion. To achieve this effect, you must set the shutter speed to about 1/200 and above (making the shutter close faster). This is because the motion of the water splash is a fast one, therefore a higher shutter speed is needed to capture the water splash in action.
Stops and Exposure
Do you know what are stops and exposure? Stops is a method to measure light that is allowed to pass through and exposure is how much the picture is being exposed to sunlight.
Stops is just a term mainly used in photography. It is a relative measure of light but it can’t be used to quantify light. For example we cannot say that there are 2 stops of light coming from that source. On the other hand we should say that the amount of light here is 2 stops more from another source. When one stop of light is being added, the amount of light is being doubled and is vice versa when one stop of light is being removed. For the older cameras, there is a dent in the dial so that it is easier to stop when the desired setting is reached.
You use relative measures for light because there is no real definition or standard of light. How bright a certain colour depends on how well lit is the background: a charcoal has more reflecting light when there is direct sunlight shining to it compare to when you put it in a dark pit. The important thing is not how bright your object is in that particular scene but their relative brightness to each other or in photography terms: how may stops are they apart from. The exposure setting is adjusted so that the shirt looks whiter or the charcoal looks black in sun light.
The amount of light recorded is controlled by the camera's exposure settings: ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Opening the shutter longer by a stop or opening the aperture by a stop or increasing the ISO by a stop all have the effect of doubling the brightness of your scene. Below is a general overview of ISO, shutter speed and aperture in ascending order of 1 stop:
ISO: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 and so onShutter speed: 1", 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 and so on
Aperture: 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 20, 32
The setting 1/125 f5.6 ISO100 is as bright as:
1/250 f4 ISO100 which is as bright as:
1/ 500 f4 ISO200
However, the shutter speed and aperture have their own special effects when being set differently. They can affect how creative a picture looks which is very hard to add or remove in Photoshop. So plan your shoot beforehand so that you can get the results that you want.
For a correctly exposed photo, the image should neither be too bright or too dark unless it was suppose to be. To get a correctly exposed photo, you must make sure that the photo is indicated by a centered meter.
Aperture
Do you know what aperture is? It is actually the size of the opening in the lens, measure in f-number to control the amount of light entering the lens. The aperture also affects the depth of field.
To really have control over your camera, you must learn how to control the aperture. The aperture could do wonders to your photo and give it the extra 'power'. I bet you all have seen photos where the front subject is very clear and the background is being blurred off. This is where the magic of aperture sets in.
Aperture is actually measured based on f-numbers or f/stops. For example: f1.8, f2.0, f2.8, f4, f5.6 and so on. Moving from one f-number to the left (smaller number) doubles the opening of the lens and if moved to the right (bigger number), the amount of opening in your lens (the amount of light getting through) will be halved. Another example to make you clearer: f2 allows twice as much light than f2.8. f2.8 has half as much light as f2 but twice as much light as f4 etc.
F2.8
F3.5
F4
F5.6
F6.7
Did you see that the picture shown above is getting darker and darker? This is because the aperture is becoming smaller and smaller while the other settings are fixed. That is why you will notice that less light is entering the lens. (taken at shutter speed: 1/30 and ISO: 1600)
The aperture value being set controls the size of the hole of the lens. As you know the larger the hole, the more lights get it and vice versa. To have a larger opening of the lens (more light entering), you will need a smaller f-number and to have a smaller opening (less light entering), a larger f-number is needed. When photographers say increase in aperture, they mean by getting a smaller f-number (bigger 'hole' in the lens) and vice versa.
Keep in mind that a change in shutter speed from one stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light passing through the lens. This means if you increase your shutter speed make sure you increase your aperture too if you do not want your picture to be underexposed.
The aperture is also able to create the effect that I mentioned earlier which is the front subject is clear and the background is blurred off. This effect is called "bokeh" and is also associated with depth of field which will be discussed here.
Depth of Field
Do you know what depth of field is? It is actually the amount of distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that appear sharp in focus in a photo. The depth of field can be easily controlled using your aperture.
Now is the time to tell you the magic behind those front object clear and background blur magic. Before that, you should also know that DOF or 'bokeh' also represent depth of field in short. You should adjust the depth of field of your picture based on what you would like to focus. Usually in portraits you would sure like to have the person in the picture much sharper than the background because the subject (which is the human) is much more important.
Depth of field is actually manipulated by 3 factors which are: aperture, lens focal length and shooting distance. To get a deeper depth of field (the subject is sharp in focus and the back ground is totally blurred off), your aperture must be as small as possible. An example will be using f2.8 will get a deeper depth of field than using f5.6. Next is the shorter the lens focal length, the deeper the depth of field you will obtain. For example, a 28mm lens will have deeper depth of field compare to a 50mm lens if the same aperture and shooting distance is used. The last method to have a deeper depth of field is to have a greater shooting distance. You will be able to test this result using a telephoto lens. At 135mm you are able to separate the background and the foreground easily even at f5.6.
Basically what the image above is trying to say is just that the object within the accepted range of focus will be sharp while those that are not in range will be blur. This how actually 'bokeh' is created.
A visual example would be something like below:
F2.8
F3.5
F5.6
F8
F11
F13
Did you see that the depth of field of the picture is getting shallower? The back ground and the subject finally became clear and the whole picture is in focus. (the ISO and shutter speed has been varied to get a correctly exposed photo) The main thing about the photograph taken is the lens focal length is kept at 25mm and the shooting distance is fixed for all the photo.
So now you learnt how to put the 'bokeh' in your picture. So go try it out and share your experience with me by leaving a comment. Happy shooting. :)
ISO
For your information, ISO is the film speed (in human words film sensitivity to light) of the film or the sensitivity of the sensor in digital camera. It is one of the key elements in the exposure triangle. The higher the ISO number, the greater the film sensitivity (chemical sensitivity)/ the greater the digital sensor sensitivity to light and vice versa for a lower number of ISO.
The sensor or film sensitivity is very useful to have a good exposure setting as it wont add extra effect into your photo but only increase the brightness of your photo. Thus you can use a different combination of aperture and shutter speed while using ISO to compensate for the exposure. With the correct combination of ISO speed, aperture, and shutter speed you will be able to get a perfect image.
ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor recording light in numbers of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and so on.
There are a few basic principles of ISO
- The smaller the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and your photo grain will be much finer.
- The bigger the number the more sensitive your camera is to light and your photo grain will be much rougher.
- ISO 100 is considered normal as you will have perfect crisp shots (very very little noise/ grain) but you won’t always be able to use it due to different lighting conditions.
- In dark conditions where light source is very little, you should use higher number of ISO settings so that you can increase you shutter speed. If your shutter speed is too low, you picture might be blur due to motion blur. The higher ISO can be used to compensate the exposure.
Light
Do you know how important light is? How many kind of lights there are? Read more after the jump.
Pictures are actually made using light. Without light you won't have any pictures. This is because pictures come from a medium where light is being recorded on. Film and digital sensor are the famous medium being used. These mediums have different sensitivities which are called ISO.
There are actually a few types of light and based on how you categorised it. Most of the photographers split light into 2 types which are natural light and artificial light. So what are the difference between both of them? Natural light comes from sunlight or even the moonlight. Natural light is found naturally from our environment. On the other hand, artificial light are lights that are created by human. Some examples of artificial light would be light source from a candle, a bulb which is on and many other more.
Besides natural light and artificial light, light also can be categorised as soft and hard light. Soft light is light that comes from an apparent large surface area compare to the subject that is being photographed. For example when you are standing under the blue sky, you are able to see soft light as the sunlight has been overcast by the clouds in the sky. A soft box for a flash will also produce soft light as the light has been reflected off a large surface. Hard light comes from a direct source which has an apparent small surface area such as direct sun light, bare light bulb, flash or even spot light.
There is also transmitted light and reflected light. Transmitted light is visible in your images as it is directly transmitted from a direct source. Reflected light are light which is reflected from an object and it falls on the subject. You can also call it as indirect light.
I bet you will also heard of ambient light. Ambient light is light which you can capture from your surroundings. The more ambient light is being captured, the brighter your picture will be and it will look more like the actual scene.
Now you know there are so many kinds of light. Learn how to control the light to get a nice picture. I will give you a few tips on how to control your light source here.
White Balance
Do you know what white balance is? It is actually an electronic compensation for the colour temperature related to the lighting conditions and to ensure that white light is properly stored in the medium.
In digital cameras, did you notice there is a function called white balance? It is actually an electronic way of compensation for the colour temperature. In different lighting conditions, white light should be properly stored in the imaging chip so that the colours can appear natural in your photo.
This is a basic reference of colour temperature in kelvin temperature
By using the picture as reference, you could actually roughly know what kelvin temperature belongs to what kind of light colour.
2500K- very strong orange tungsten light
2800K- strong orange tungsten light
3200K- yellowish tungsten light
4500K M6- flourescent light (most flourescent tubes are green even though our eyes don't see it)
5500K- flash
6500K- daylight (or daylight-balanced flourescent light)
9900K- strong blue stage lighting or evening light
2800K- strong orange tungsten light
3200K- yellowish tungsten light
4500K M6- flourescent light (most flourescent tubes are green even though our eyes don't see it)
5500K- flash
6500K- daylight (or daylight-balanced flourescent light)
9900K- strong blue stage lighting or evening light
If you happen to have xenon light (although it is rare) at your surrounding,the white balance should be between 7000-9000K.
It is advisable to adjust your white balance whenever you enter a new situation or environment that has different white balance. Just set your Kelvin white balance again and test with one shot. You should be able to do this with practice.
This is a basic reference of colour temperature in kelvin temperature
In some cameras such as the Sony A300/ A350/ A450/ A500/ A550/ A560/ A580/ A33/ A55/ NEX-3/ NEX-5, you can use Live View and see the effect of changing Kelvin WB... live!
M = Magenta
G = Green
2500K = Blue
9900K = Amber
G = Green
2500K = Blue
9900K = Amber
First take a picture to check the photo. If the picture is very green, you will need to add the opposite colour which is magenta. If the picture is too blue you need to go closer to amber. So if the picture is very blue-green-ish, you will need to go closer to 9900K M9.
Filters
Do you know what is the functions of a filter? It can actually protect your lens. Read more about it after the jump.
The function of the filters are kinda different from the olden film days. Films are sensitive to UV, thus people use UV filter to reduce the UV entering the lens to get better pictures. Nowadays, people use filters to protect your lens. It is advisable for you to buy a filter together if you just bought a new lens. This will save the hassle of you getting a filter later and wondering which filter is better.
The digital sensors nowadays will not really benefit from the UV filter especially those cheapo or imitation ones. This is because those branded filter really did their research and produce high quality filter which have proper coating such as multi coating (MC filter).
So why do we need filters? Its very simple actually. We usually shoot in a dirty, wet, dusty environment. If any contamination falls into my lens, the filter should be able to help keep those things out of my lens. Besides that cleaning the filter will be much easier than cleaning the lens itself. The filter could also keep scratches away from your lens. If your filter is too dirty or have been scratched badly, you will be able to just change the filter as the price is very affordable.
