Tutorial 01: You, Camera, and The Holy Trinity.
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- Category: Tutorials
- Published on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 17:58
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 206
Level: Introduction
This is more of the basic introduction to the section which we have lovingly decided to call Tutorials. We will take a look at cameras in general and see what you can do with them. After talking with dozens of people and scouring the internet through hundreds of sites and hundreds thousands of photos, I have come to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter what camera you have, it’s the idea that counts.
No matter what camera you use, each one will function off of the principal of the Holy Trinity; which includes Aperture or F-Stop, Shutter Speed and ISO settings. Even if you have no idea what those are, and we will get into that in later tutorials, those are the keys to any kind of photography.
At this day and age almost any camera will shoot in automatic mode. The quality of the picture will depend on the processor inside the camera which calculates the settings outside and automatically adjusts THT (The Holy Trinity) to take the “perfect” picture. The camera will check the light meter, the foreground, the background, compensate for any movement, as much as it can. Some point and shoot cameras have special dials to adjust the camera to the shot you want to take. Whether you want to set Sports, Portrait, Flowers or Full Auto, the processor will adjust the settings accordingly.
To understand the concept of THT we recommend you try to set your dial to full auto and take a picture of any object in a low light setting, or in close-up. After that, set the setting to either Low Light mode or Portrait or Nature. Take the same shot. Look at the difference. Pending on lighting changes, the pictures may come out very similar or quite different. Make sure to leave the flash off.
Recommended Exercises:
Tutorial 02: Shutter Speed
- Details
- Category: Tutorials
- Published on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 17:58
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 190
Level: Introduction
Shutter Speed is a pretty self-explanatory concept. It is the amount of time that the shutter, or the little blades that block the light that enters your lens, stay open. Any changes that happen while the lens stays open will be recorded onto one still photograph. Also, the Shutter Speed controls the amount of light that enters the camera. If the Shutter Speed is too quick and your Aperture is too small, your picture will be very dark. If your Aperture is wide and your Shutter Speed is slow, your picture will be too white. Controlling the amount of light that enters your camera is the essence and the basics of photography. So each individual has to find the correct balance that works for them. You can make your picture as blurry or as crisp as you like by controlling these settings.
Once you set the camera to manual, your first step should be to set the Aperture you want. You do this while keeping in mind the amount of depth of field that you want to have as well as the capabilities of your camera. The next step will be to set up your Shutter Speed. Usually each change in speed will double or half the amount of light that will enter the camera. And the increments start with fraction of a second moving up to seconds and minutes.
Things like ISO setting and flash can completely throw off your Shutter Speed or Aperture if you are shooting completely on Manual. We will cover these settings later. For now lets just focus on keeping the balance between Aperture and Shutter Speed. Keep in mind, that more advanced cameras; you are able to set either Aperture or Shutter Speed and have the camera adjust the other settings on its own. This is a great way to shoot in Automatic and yet retain some sort of control over the types of pictures you get.
Recommended Exercises:
The Fuzzy / Frozen / The Gunslinger / Ying-Yang / ...