Understanding the basics of slr photography is not as awkward as it feels. Imagine the digital camera as a box that lets in lighting. On that box is a sequence of various controls. These controls enable you to let a lot or a modest amount of light in. The quantity of light coming in may ascertain how you obtain your photo.
Let's start with the auto function. The auto mode allows the camera to make the judgements for you. This allows you to just focus on taking the photo rather than worrying about the settings. The automatic setting is straightforward however it is not most ideal.
The basics of digital SLR photography are painless to learn when you appreciate how the camera controls lighting. Camera has control over the light two chief ways; Aperture and shutter speed. Your aperture is the opening in which you let your light in. Your shutter speed is how you organize the speed at which the lighting is coming in. You need both to be able to monitor the lighting.
Think of the camera as a human eye. Your aperture is the iris that lets light in and reduces so that light won't come in. The shutter speed is like the blinking eyelid. Your aperture is also known as F stop. F-stop is a numeric value that tells you how much the iris is open. If the cameras aperture is pretty wide then we say that it is a large aperture. A large aperture is a small number. For example F2 .8 is a very large aperture. It means the aperture is open very wide. It is comparable to how the iris acts in low light. The iris will open more to let additional light in so that we can distinguish things in the dark. Your camera is the same.
Aperture not only controls how wide the iris is but it plays a necessary role to play in depth of field. Depth of field plainly means what part of the photo is in focus. If every single thing in the photo is in focus then we call that a long depth of field. If there is only a small part of the photo that is in focus we call this a short depth of field.
A photo that has a long depth of field means that most, or all, of the photo is in focus. This is ideal for landscape photography.
When you have a wide aperture, F2 .8 for example, your depth of field can be short. If you have a small aperture such as F 22, then everything in image is in focus. (Light allowing of course.) I will explain this in a different article.
Shutter speed is intimately linked to time. Shutter speed is calculated in fractions of a second, seconds and then minutes. A number of cameras have a mode called “Bulb”. This will mean that the shutter stays wide open for as long as you keep it open. You can join a special cable to the digital camera and press it just the once. The shutter will open up. It will shut only when you compress the cable button. This will mean that you could have the shutter right open for an hour if your camera permitted.
Let's take for instance the evening sky. There is not much light at the human eye can notice. In this case we may want to leave the shutter open for 10 seconds or more. Then again if we want to take a photo of movement that is fast paced and "stop" the action, then we need to retain a very rapid shutter speed. This is where we get into fractions of a second. I have a Canon 5D Mark II and the shutter speed can go to 1/8000 of a second. This is super fast! I use a rapid shutter speed when I want to shoot the effect of water hanging in midair for example.
You will see different shooting modes on your camera dial. Not only do you have the automatic function but you have aperture priority, shutter priority, manual and possibly extra. Aperture priority creates the aperture for you. It means the camera selects what f-stop to use and you choose the shutter speed. Shutter priority works the opposite. This will mean that that the camera chooses the shutter speed and you do the rest These two shooting modes are okay but you still won't get the ideal result. The best mode to use is manual.
When you employ the manual setting you have the most control over your digital camera. You can set the shutter speed and the aperture at the same time. Once you become comfortable with how the manual setting works then you can start to have more control over light. Once you have most control over the light that is when your pictures begin to look gorgeous.
Learning how to use your SLR is not a heavy or difficult process. It actually a lot of excitement and fairly simple when you get the hang of it. The basics of digital SLR photography purely rely on your camera's ability to interpret light. This of course will mean that that you have to comprehend light as well! Once you understand how light works through your camera you can then select the shutter speed and aperture that creates the photographs that you desire.
Once you master the basics of digital SLR photography you can then progress on to using tools to enhance your light. These tools can enhance and manipulate the appearance of light in your pictures. Using the flash is one such example of this. But I will leave this to another tutorial.
Your onboard light meter is a very imperative part of understanding light. Your internal light meter is a small indicator that you see when you look through the camera. When you place your dial on manual then the indicator will be more to the left or the right.
Based on what camera model you have the scale means there is too little or too much light. When the indicator is sitting in the center of the scale it means the camera thinks there is just the precise amount of light and you may confidently take the photo. To be proficient to master light effectively just start shooting in auto and write down the aperture and shutter speed that the camera has suggested. Then change your camera dial to manual and choose those same aperture and shutter speed settings. You will observe that those settings may not be the best ones that you once thought. Sometimes at those settings can create an image that is under exposed. This is why it is imperative to shoot using manual.
Learning how to use your SLR takes a bit training. The most ideal thing about digital photography is you can always remove the photos you don't want. Do not be fearful of making mistakes. Mistakes are catalysts for discovering new things. Once you realize how your camera interprets light then you will be free to become the skilled photographer you've always dreamed about.
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