Jumat, 28 September 2012

The Three Factors of Light in Photography

If you have just bought a DSLR camera, then it is likely you are more serious about your photography than most others. To get the most out of your camera, it is very useful to know and understand the basic physics behind it, what affects certain settings of your camera have and so on. Photography is a rewarding hobby and profession, but it is difficult to master, and only with plenty of practice and no how will you get anywhere with it. So, the first thing you should have bought with your DSLR is an SD card, a skylight filter for your lens (for protection), and a spare battery.

There are three very important principles that you must understand, and these are common to every digital camera. These principles are essential to allowing light into your camera for capture of your shot, and used incorrectly will lead to some very wild results. Therefore, even for a beginner, I would suggest ignoring all automatic and help settings on your camera, and jumping at the deep end and setting it to M, for manual. It's involved at first, but in the long run you will learn and understand how your camera works much quicker. The three factors affecting light into your camera are:

1. ISO

In old film cameras, this dealt with the speed of the film. For bright sunny days, you would want to use 100 ISO film. For inside photography, you would need 400 ISO. It is similar in a digital camera, but it now determines the sensitivity to light of the sensor (which has replaced the film). In basic terms, if you are shooting outside on a bright day, you should set your ISO to 100. If shooting inside, again a higher ISO is needed, but this can go well beyond 400 ISO, most cameras allow up to 1600 ISO, but some newer ones go beyond even this. This eliminates the need for flash in many situations, and although the results can be grainier, modern technology is even eliminating this.

2. Aperture

The aperture is essentially the window into your camera. It is a hole that can be increased or decreased depending on what conditions you are shooting in and the amount of light. It controls the amount of light entering the camera. Basically, if you are shooting a landscape, you will need a small hole (high f stop number), because there will be a lot of light. If shooting a portrait, then a large hole (small f stop number) is needed. Aperture also controls depth of field.

3. Shutter Speed

The third and final way to control light entering the camera is through the shutter. This is the length of time the shutter is open. In basic terms, if you want to freeze action crisply and cleanly, then use a very fast shutter speed. If you want to show motion and blur, then a slower shutter speed should be used (with the aid of a tripod).

All three affect each other, and for a properly exposed photo, if you change one, you must change the other. Practice and taking note of your settings will help you to understand this better.

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