How To Get The Most Out Of Your Camera Or Digital SLR... |
We all want great photos, so here's how I use my camera to get the best possible results. By they way, I use a Canon 400D with the 18-55mm kit lens, and a Tamron 75-300mm lens. All cameras are different, so please excuse me if I mention a setting by a different name to what it appears as on your camera. I also have a Olympus 1030SW which is waterproof and always with me, but it doesn't offer this functionality. Oh, and this is just my opinion...so don't shoot me down too much ;) Firstly, this is for all you guys with camera's which have settings for Aperture priority (AV or A), shutter priority (Tv or S) and manual (M). Step 1: Ignore all the preset modes... (don't shoot me down for this). Rather learn your camera so you can make the decisions, and not leave it entirely up to the camera. Step 2: Decide on what you're trying to shoot? Is it an action scene, portrait scene (this includes fish), landscape shot, or something arty like moving water, a sunset etc?
Please note that if you're taking a shot in a hurry it may be worth using the P or Auto mode, since it may take you too long to set your camera correctly, resulting in a missed shot. And any shot is better than a missed shot. Anyway, lets assume you had time to select the correct mode...here's how to use them: Oh, before we start, its worth understanding exposure. The exposure of your shot is how light or dark the picture is. This is decided by the amount of light that enters the camera. You can control this in 2 ways:
The bigger the hole, or the longer the shutter is open for, the more light that enters the camera, and the brighter the photo will be. If you don't let in enough light (the hole is too small or open for to short a period) the photo will appear dark (under-exposed), and if you let in too much light (too big a hole or open for too long) the photo will appear bright (over-exposed). Luckily for us we normally let the camera decide on this, so we're okay. *phew* In the Av and Tv (semi-automatic) modes the camera decides on the exposure, while in the M mode (manual) you do. We'll stick to the semi-automatic modes for now. Now lets get started... Aperture Priority If you've put your camera into this mode you're probably taking a portrait or landscape shot. By setting your camera to Av you're now controlling the size of the hole in the lens. As you change the aperture the size of the hole will change, and (luckily) the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed to give you the correct exposure. A bigger hole means a faster shutter speed, a smaller hole means a slower shutter speed. Controlling the aperture of the lens gives you control over a very important aspect of photography...depth of field (DOF). Depth of field is how much of a photo is in focus. A shallow depth of field means only a small amount of the shot will be in focus, and the rest will be blurry. This is great for portraits since it means the subject will be in focus, and the background will be blurry, thus making the subject POP out in the photo. Here is an example of a photo with a shallow depth of field. |
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Alternatively you can go for a deep depth of field. This means that all (or at least most) of the photo will be in focus, all the way from the foreground to the background. This is great for landscape shots where you want as much in focus as possible. It is also useful for taking a photo of somebody in front of a beautiful background. Here's an example of an effective use of a deep depth of field. |
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| Now you know that your aperture
controls your depth of field, but how do you do it? If you want a shallow depth of field (only the subject in focus) set your f-value to a small number. The smaller the number the shallower the depth of field. Most cameras will go down to around f4 (Professionals can use values as low as f2). By lowering the f-value we are making the hole larger, and therefore the shutter speed will be faster to keep the exposure correct. This is useful since the faster the shutter speed the lower the chance of blurry photos due to camera shake. One thing to be aware of with a shallow depth of field is that because so little is in focus its easy to get the wrong part of the photo in focus. However if you want a large depth of field (entire photo in focus) you set your f-value to a higher number. Some cameras go as high as f22, but this is overkill and has more specialised uses. I would recommend a value of around f11. Making the f-value higher results in making the hole in the lens smaller. This means the shutter is open for longer to let the correct amount of light in. You therefore need to be careful not to get camera shake by moving the camera while the shutter is open (A tripod can be useful to stop this). If you are unsure of what value to use, set the f-value to around f8, as this is a good general setting for most photos. Hopefully you now have a good understanding (or at least some understanding) of how, and when, to use the Av function of your camera. Note: If you photo comes out too dark for your chosen f-value (under-exposed) you can up your ISO value to brighten the image. Be careful though, as this will create noise in the image. (Please read the ISO section below) Shutter Priority If you've put your camera in this mode chances are you're taking an action shot. The basic rule here is that the faster you set your shutter speed, the more the action will be "frozen" Sometimes we want the action to be completely frozen (for example a jumping trout). Here I would recommend a shutter speed of around 1/500 of a second to 1/1000. Here's an example... |
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| If you want a bit of motion blur however set it a bit slower. Motion blur can be nice to show that the object was moving. For example, if you photographed a fast moving car with too high a shutter speed it will look like the car was parked. A lower shutter speed would add blur to the wheels and background, which gives the illusion of speed. Here's a good example... | |
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| Notice how in this image the skiier
looks like he's going far faster than in the example with no motion blur.
Note: Shutter speed in action shots has a lot to do with the speed of the subject, so its impossible to give exact values here. This you will learn from experience. Try, try and try again... Note: If you photo comes out too dark for your chosen shutter speed (under-exposed) you can up your ISO value to brighten the image. Be careful though, as this will create noise in the image. (Please read the ISO section below) Manual Mode This mode is used for arty shots as it gives you complete control. Normally we set the aperture and the camera decides on the correct shutter speed to get the correct exposure, or we set the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture to get a good photo. In manual mode this is not the case, you need to set both the shutter speed and the aperture. This makes it incredibly difficult for a beginner to get a good shot as you can easily over-expose, or under-expose, your image. For now I would recommend staying away from this mode. Maybe I'll give you an explanation on how to used it in the future. Okay, we've now covered the 2 main modes you'll use, namely aperture priority (Av) and shutter priority (Tv). This leaves just one thing to discuss...ISO. For those of you who used film cameras, ISO is very similar to film speed. For those of you who haven't, ISO basically magnifies the light entering the camera (digitally). This helps you in low light situations, but it does come at a price...*gulp*. A higher ISO means more noise (graininess) in your photo. Low ISO means the camera sees the light as it is. The higher the ISO the brighter the camera sees the same light. Remember this...the lower the ISO the cleaner the image, the higher the ISO the noisier (grainier) the image. Always keep your ISO as low as possible. Sadly there is not much you can do about this in low light conditions (besides using a flash). But PLEASE remember in daylight conditions to set your ISO as low as possible so as to get clean, noise free, images. Here's how to use your ISO...
This is an amateur approach to ISO, but it works. Some camera's pre-warn you that your photo will be under-exposed by flashing on the screen or in the viewfinder. If this is the case up your ISO until the warning stops. Sometimes you can't up the ISO enough. Remember you probably have a flash...use this for low light conditions. Some cameras also come with an auto-ISO feature which may be useful if you don't fully understand how to use your ISO. A nice side effect of ISO is that it can be used in bright light to achieve a faster shutter speed (when using Tv). So use ISO to:
Here is a quick guidline:
Note: As a general rule, the more expensive the camera, the less noise you get as high ISO values. Lastly lets discuss exposure... Exposure Remember that the exposure (as was discussed earlier) of a photo is the brightness of the photo. Originally I said it was made up by 2 factors:
Well now there is a 3rd factor:
These 3 factors have the following effect
Always adjust Aperture and Shutter speed over ISO if you need more light, since it won't create noise like ISO will. Luckily, since Tv and Av are semi-automatic modes the camera sets the exposure for us by adjusting any values not set by you. Sometimes however the camera gets the exposure wrong. In these instances remember your camera has an exposure setting (normally marked EV - exposure value). You camera will be set with an EV value of 0 by default. This is what the camera considers to be the correct exposure for the shot. If your photo looks too dark you can up the EV value on the camera. Alternatively if it looks too bright you can lower the EV value. Negative EV values make the image darker than the camera would take it. Positive EV values make the image lighter. Well, that's about all from me for now. Obviously there is a lot more to this, and, as you can probably tell, I've tried to write this in lay mans terms; So ff you have any questions please feel free to ask me. |
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