Transcript
The Melbourne Camera Club Introduction to Photography Course Notes for Workshop 1 – Camera controls and basic concepts Your camera’s controls = your creative choices Focus – you can choose how and where to focus most digital cameras provide autofocus (with multiple AF points) and manual focus the camera may not automatically focus on the subject that you want generally, the camera will select the AF point covering the closest subject selecting a single AF point (or manual focus) allows you to focus on your intended subject Shutter speed – you can choose whether or not to show movement faster shutter speed = shorter time (eg 1/2000s) slower shutter speed = longer time (eg 1/2s)
allows moving subjects to be “frozen” allows moving subjects to be blurred
Aperture – you can choose how much of the image is in focus large aperture = small number (eg f/4) small aperture = large number (eg f/22)
shallower depth of field (blurry background) greater depth of field (whole image is sharp)
ISO speed – you can choose to make images in low light without using flash numerical indication of sensitivity to light (“the digital equivalent of film speed”) larger numbers indicate greater sensitivity (typical values are 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) as available light decreases, increase ISO speed to compensate, instead of using flash image quality decreases as ISO speed increases (“photography involves compromises”) Exposure – a fundamental concept in photography Exposure is affected by three variables… Aperture & Shutter speed control the amount of light entering the camera a small aperture and a slow shutter speed can allow the same amount of light to reach the sensor as a larger aperture and a faster shutter speed ISO speed determines the effect of light entering the camera increasing the ISO speed means less light is required, which allows you to use a faster shutter speed for a given aperture Exposure modes Full Auto – camera chooses aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed; values cannot be adjusted Program (P) – camera chooses aperture and shutter speed, but photographer can adjust values Aperture-priority (Av or A) – photographer chooses aperture, camera chooses shutter speed Shutter-priority (Tv or S) – photographer chooses shutter speed, camera chooses aperture Manual exposure (M) – photographer chooses aperture and shutter speed (NOT recommended) Use Program mode if unsure (“P for Panic”), use Creative modes (Tv and Av) for greater control “Correct” exposure is only achieved when the right amount of light is collected. “Correct exposure” is subjective Next session: Tuesday, 10 February, 7.30 p.m. Light and lighting.
The Melbourne Camera Club Introduction to Photography Course Practical Session 1 – Camera controls and basic concepts The aim of this morning’s practical session is to familiarise yourself with the controls on your camera that determine exposure variables: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO Speed. Most contemporary cameras have a dial that allows the photographer to select various exposure modes, however some camera models use buttons, switches or menu settings for this purpose. Note that different manufacturers use different abbreviations, symbols and icons to denote similar functions. For example, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and Fujifilm all logically use the letter ‘S’ to indicate Shutter-priority exposure mode, whereas Canon and Pentax use the letters ‘Tv’ for this purpose (Tv = Time variable). Many digital cameras, particularly DSLRs, have a dedicated button that allows the photographer to select an ISO Speed, however some models have a (less convenient) menu parameter for this purpose. Almost all digital cameras provide ISO Speed values ranging from 200 to 1600; many modern cameras also provide lower values (50 or 100) and higher values (up to 102,400 on some professional DSLRs).
Exercises: 1. Set your camera to Program AE mode (P). In this mode your camera will choose the aperture and shutter speed values for you. You can either select an appropriate ISO Speed value yourself, or you can select ‘Auto ISO’ and let the camera choose this for you. Make a few photographs of different subjects: portraits, landscapes, closeups, whatever you like. 2. Set your camera to Aperture-priority AE mode (A or Av). In this mode, you choose the aperture value and your camera will choose the corresponding shutter speed to provide the correct exposure. Select an appropriate ISO Speed for the prevailing lighting conditions (e.g. ISO 200 outdoors on sunny day). Make a series of photographs of the same subject at different aperture values, ranging from the maximum aperture of your lens (e.g. f/4) to the minimum aperture (e.g. f/22). A typical sequence might be f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22. 3. Set your camera to Shutter-priority AE mode (S or Tv). In this mode, you choose the shutter speed value and your camera will choose the corresponding aperture to provide the correct exposure. Select an appropriate ISO Speed for the prevailing lighting conditions (e.g. ISO 200 outdoors on sunny day). Make a series of photographs of the same subject at the following shutter speed values: 1/2000, 1/500, 1/125, 1/30, 1/8, 1/2
Compare your photographs with those made by your fellow photographers, paying particular attention to the combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed values used for each photograph. Think about how changing exposure variables affects the look of your photographs. If any of your photographs do not look the way you expected them to, think about which settings you would change to correct them.
How to choose your camera settings… 1. Evaluate the lighting conditions and the scene content •
how much light is available? (affects choice of ISO speed)
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is the subject stationary or moving? (affects choice of shutter speed)
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how much depth of field is required? (affects choice of aperture)
2. Choose an ISO speed Use the lowest practical setting to produce the best quality •
outdoors in bright sunshine, select the lowest possible value; ISO 100 or 200
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outdoors in shady, dull or overcast conditions, select ISO 400
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indoors with bright artificial light, select ISO 800
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indoors without bright artificial light, select ISO 1600 or higher
3. Choose an exposure mode •
Program: camera chooses aperture and shutter speed
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Aperture-priority: photographer chooses aperture, camera chooses shutter speed •
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choose a default value, say f/5.6
Shutter-priority: photographer chooses shutter speed, camera chooses aperture •
choose a default value, say 1/125
4. Choose the point of focus, then press the shutter button down halfway •
with people and animals, always focus on their eyes if their head is turned, it is preferable to focus on the nearer eye
5. Observe the Aperture and Shutter speed displayed in the viewfinder if maximum aperture (e.g. f/4) is blinking, select a slower shutter speed or higher ISO speed if minimum aperture (e.g. f/22) is blinking, select a faster shutter speed or lower ISO speed if maximum shutter speed (e.g. 1/4000) is blinking, select a smaller aperture or lower ISO speed if minimum shutter speed (e.g. 30”) is blinking, select a larger aperture or higher ISO speed NB if shutter speed value is slower than focal length, select a larger aperture or higher ISO speed example 1: Outdoors in daylight; ISO 100, Aperture-priority @ f/8, 55 mm lens If camera chooses shutter speed of 1/50 or slower, then increase ISO speed to 200 If shutter speed is still less than 1/60, increase ISO speed to 400 Repeat until shutter speed is 1/60 or faster example 2: Indoors with bright artificial lights; ISO 800, Aperture-priority @ f/5.6, 18 mm lens If camera chooses shutter speed of 1/15 or slower, then increase ISO speed to 1600 If shutter speed is still less than 1/30, then decrease aperture number to f/4 Repeat until shutter speed is 1/30 or faster
6. Press the shutter button fully to make the photograph If it’s not what you expected, change settings and try again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Recommended Default Settings for Digital SLR Cameras ISO Speed: 100 – 1600 according to lighting conditions (or Auto ISO if available)
Exposure mode:
Aperture-priority AE (photographer chooses aperture, camera chooses shutter speed) A – Nikon, Olympus, Sony Av – Canon, Pentax Shutter-priority AE (photographer chooses shutter speed, camera chooses aperture) S – Nikon, Olympus, Sony Tv – Canon, Pentax
Focusing mode:
Autofocus (AF) with single focusing point selected by photographer. NOT the default setting on most cameras Canon
ONE SHOT (One-Shot AF) NOT AI FOCUS (default setting) or AI Servo Single point, manual selection NOT Automatic
Nikon
AF-S (Single-servo AF) NOT AF-A (default setting) Single point AF NOT Dynamic area or Auto-area or 3D Tracking
Olympus
S-AF (Single AF) NOT C-AF Single target AF NOT All target AF (default setting)
Pentax
AF.S (Single mode ) NOT AF.A (default setting) Select NOT AUTO (default setting)
Sony
AF-S (Single-shot AF) NOT AF-A (default setting) Local NOT Wide (default setting)
Metering mode:
Default setting that measures multiple areas within the frame is preferred. Do NOT use Spot metering Canon
Evaluative
Nikon
Matrix
Olympus
Digital ESP
Pentax
Multi-segment
Sony
Multi segment
Exposure Compensation:
Should normally be set to 0 (Zero).
Positive values (+) increase exposure (brighter image) Negative values (–) decrease exposure (darker image)
File Format:
JPEG (or RAW+JPEG)
Do NOT use RAW ®le format only.
Largest image size, highest quality (maximum resolution, minimum compression) White Balance:
AWB (Automatic White Balance)
Color Space:
sRGB (default setting)
