Basic Camera Craft
Photography = Capturing Light
The amount of light captured is governed by:
1. Aperture – The amount of light entering the camera
2. Shutter Speed – The length of time lights enters camera.
How that light is then processed by the camera is affected by:
3. ISO – the sensitivity of the light capturing media
Shutter Speed
• Length of time between shutter opening and closing
• Measured in seconds (or fractions of seconds)
• Typically: 4000th, 2000th, 1000th, 500th, 250th, 125th, 60th, 30th,
15th, 8th, ¼, ½, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30 seconds
• Each ‘stop’ doubles the amount of light entering the camera
• Not all cameras will have the same range of values
• Some cameras allow adjustment by thirds of each stop.
Aperture
• Light is captured through the camera’s iris
• Large Aperture = More Light
• Narrow Aperture = Less Light
f-numbers or f-stops
• An f-number or f-stop is the ratio between the focal
length and the aperture of a lens.
• Typical Range of f-numbers:
• f/2 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22
• Each ‘stop’ halves the amount of light from the previous value
• Not all lenses have the same range of values
• Some cameras allow fine-tuning of stops by thirds
ISO numbers
• ISO is a measure of the sensitivity of the image sensor
• Typical Range of values:
• 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800
• Each value doubles the brightness of the image
• Not all cameras have the same range of values
• The lower the value the less sensitive the camera is to light
• Higher values can introduce more grain or ‘noise’
• The combination of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO
is called the Exposure Value (EV)
Exposure Value
• Many different combinations of Aperture, Shutter Speed and
ISO can give the same EV.
• Suppose an image is correctly exposed at 1/60th sec, f8 and
ISO 400.
If the shutter speed is increased by 1 stop to 1/125th sec then
the amount of light will be reduced by 1 stop.
• Compensate by opening up the aperture by 1 stop to f5.6 or
increase the ISO by 1 stop to ISO 800.
• The same EV will result.
Why not just use ‘Automatic’?
• Aperture controls Depth of Field
Use
• Wide Aperture gives short DoF
Aperture
e.g. subject with out-of-focus background
Priority
• Narrow Aperture gives long DoF
Setting
e.g. Landscapes in focus front to back
• Shutter Speed controls how action is displayed Use
• Fast shutter speed freezes action Shutter
• Slow shutter speed emphasises movement Priority
Setting
• ISO adjustment brightens low-light shots
Example of camera adjustment
• A landscape shot with an aperture of f/22
would give sharpness front to back. However
in overcast conditions the camera may require
a shutter speed of 1/30th sec at ISO 100.
Too slow for a hand-held shot.
• Increasing the ISO value by two stops to 400
would allow two stops faster shutter speed
i.e. 1/125th sec – perfect for hand-held shots
125th sec
f/11
ISO 3200
125th sec
f/5.6
ISO 800
1/60th sec f/22 ISO 400
1/250th sec f/5.6 ISO 100
1/60th sec
f/22
ISO 400
1/250th sec = - 2 stops
f/5.6 = + 4 stops
ISO 100 = - 2 stops
-2 +4 -2 = 0
Same Exposure Value