Blog about Digital Cameras
[24/07/2010] Understanding Aperture and Shutter Speed in an Entry-level Point and Shoot Digital Camera
Anyone who is keenly interested in practicing photography, both as a hobby or as a profession, must learn about aperture and shutter speed as these are the crucial exposure elements.
One of the dreams, nurtured by every photographer who wishes to excel in this field is to learn the various ways in which he can acquire control over the aperture and shutter speed settings. As an answer, there are a couple of effective techniques through which these problems can be solved, but both involve a thorough understanding of the individual functions prior to using them in conjunction. While one of the options calls for an upgrading of the camera itself meaning replacing the point and shoot camera with a DSLR or another point and shoot model with more manual control, the second option implies acquiring knowledge about the various shooting modes and the variety of ways in which they can be used.
An aperture is described as the little hole in the lens, which is similar to the iris of the human eye and functions in almost the same manner. Like the size of the iris controls the amount of light entering the eye, the size of the aperture determines the amount of light entering the camera as well as its depth of field. Therefore, a small aperture implies less light and higher depth of field and a large aperture means more light entering the camera and a shallow depth of field. Another terminology related to the aperture is the aperture priority mode wherein when the photographer manually changes the f-stop value, the shutter speed of the camera is automatically adjusted. The adjustment of the aperture setting and use of the aperture priority mode vary in accordance with the type of picture being taken like landscape, portrait and so on.
Likewise, the shutter speed determines the duration for which the light is permitted to enter the camera. The shutter speed can be compared to the shutters of a window as in the light enters the room only until the time the shutters are open and ceases to enter as soon as the shutters are closed. There was a time when the shutter speeds of cameras were extremely slow, but technological advancements in the field have resulted in the manufacture of digital cameras in which the shutter speeds vary between 1/500th of a second to 1/60th of a second. The mode related to this factor is known as the shutter speed priority and it is denoted by Tv. Setting the camera at Tv mode allows the photographer to manually adjust the shutter speed while the aperture setting is accordingly adjusted by the camera itself.
The aperture and shutter speed of the camera need to be operated together in order to take good pictures and it is with the intention of enjoying more control over these settings that many photographers decide to upgrade to a DSLR camera or a more advanced point and shoot digital camera. While a DSLR is likely to offer additional features like a variety of lenses, shooting in manual mode and control over related elements like ISO and exposure, an advanced version of the same model is likely to offer semi-manual controls and a number of priority modes.
Nowadays, it is common for digital cameras to feature a variety of modes for taking pictures like Automatic mode, aperture priority mode, shutter priority mode, manual mode, portrait mode, landscape mode, macro mode, sport mode and night mode. Each one of them functions in a unique way and it is up to the photographer to decide upon the particular mode to suit the given situation. Some of the suggestions in this regard are to use the portrait mode in case of acquiring a shallow depth of field, the landscape mode for a wide depth of field, sports mode to capture fast moving objects and auto mode or a night mode for low shutter speed.
Other articles from this category:
[19/07/2010] Holding a Digital Camera
[19/07/2010] Manipulating Exposure in a Digital Camera
[19/07/2010] Significance of Shutter Speed for a Digital Photographer
[19/07/2010] The Art of Taking Great Group Photos
[24/07/2010] Children as a Part of Traveling Photography Collection
[27/07/2010] The Art of Taking Great Group Photos
[27/07/2010] Photographic Composition – Planning, Improving and Story Telling
[28/07/2010] Capturing the Splendor of Fireworks Displays
[28/07/2010] Before Taking a Digital Photograph
[08/11/2010] What to Look for to Take Night Photography
[09/11/2010] Exposure and its implication in photography
[09/11/2010] Don't Get Caught Up in Megapixels
