If you want to just point and shoot, then using pre-set modes (like "sports" or "macro" on your camera make it easy to get a perfect shot. If you're new to photography, two of the most important things to learn are aperture and shutter speed settings as these will give you a lot of creative control. If you're not sure which cameras have these types of settings, some compact digital cameras have them but most bridge cameras and all DSLRs have them.
When you first start using the manual settings of your camera it may seem a bit overwhelming but the improvement you'll see in your images will be well worth the effort.
Photography 101 - Introducing Aperture
The aperture of a camera works a lot like how the iris of a person's eye works. Just like your irises widen or narrow to let in more or less light through the pupils, the camera's lens diaphragm widens or narrows to let in more or less light through the lens. The aperture is the size of this opening.
Aperture lets the photographer (or the camera's exposure computer if it's set to automatic) increase or reduce the amount of light that gets through to the sensor, thus helping determine how bright or dark the picture will be.
The aperture also controls the depth of field of the image.
If you want to see a good example of how it works, clench your hand together in a fist and hold it in front of your eye. Then gradually open your fist. You'll see that when the opening of your hand is small, everything is in focus? But when it's open wide the object closest to you is sharper than the background?
A small aperture is great for taking pictures like landscapes where you want everything in focus.
An Aperture Priority setting on your camera allows you to set the aperture within the camera's range of f-stop numbers (or called f-stop for short). These numbers represent ratios, and the larger the f-stop number, the narrower the aperture. So, the bigger your f-stop number on your camera, the bigger the depth of field.
The reason the setting is called "priority" is that when you set the aperture, the camera adjusts the shutter speed so that the exposure is just right. Another way to look at it is, the aperture setting will have priority while the shutter speed plays a secondary role.
Photography 101 - Introducing Shutter Speed
While the aperture controls how much light at one time falls on the image sensor, the shutter speed controls the length of time the camera allows in the light.
If you've ever seen really old pictures, you'll notice that they are rarely smiling. In the old days, shutter speeds used to be super slow so people would have to remain still for several minutes in order to get a shot. No wonder they had such a serious look!
The most common shutter speeds today are 1/500th of a second to 1/60th of a second. The Shutter Priority setting lets you choose speeds (within the camera's range) specifically for the effect you want.
For shutter speeds slower than 1/60 you will probably need a tripod or other camera support because when the shutter is open that long the camera records the tiniest jiggle, causing the photo to be out of focus or outright blurry.
If you want to freeze action (like what Sports mode does), set the camera's Shutter Priority to a fast speed. You can be a lot more selective with this manual type of setting. For example, a dog sitting quietly will require a shutter speed of around 1/125 in order to freeze the small twitch in the dog's tail. On the flip side, taking pictures at a soccer game may require up to 1/500 to freeze fast moving actions.
When you use settings like Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority you can often get better pictures because you can set the camera exactly how you want it.
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Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames and loves sharing photos. If you're looking for terrific service and a great frame selection, then visit our website by going here: www.yourpictureframes.com or calling us at 1-800-780-0699.
