Professional Documents
Culture Documents
John Atkinson
In some ways, digital photography and the earlier optical/chemical photography share
some common basic principles with reference to camera settings.
The total exposure applied to the storage media, whether it is a film or electronic
memory card, which must pass through the camera lens as light, depends on:
1. The lens aperture
2. The shutter speed
Lens apertures are related to “f” numbers, sometimes also called “f stops”; while
shutter speeds are measured in seconds, or fractions of a second.
The actual level of exposure for a correctly exposed image will also depend on certain
other conditions, which are:
1. Ambient light
2. The subject and type of image required. e.g. high key portraits or night scenes.
Almost all modern digital cameras are capable of producing very acceptable
results in the basic requirements mentioned, by using one of the provided
PROGRAM settings. Most cameras have a basic “P” setting and this may be
further refined by then going into other settings within the “P” range. These other
settings are usually denoted by pictorial symbols and may include such settings as:
portraits, distant landscapes or mountain scenes, night time scenes, sporting
scenes, a setting for photographing text and even possibly one for picturing
fireworks
The “P” setting used on its own will give very acceptable results for most
everyday type of snapshots.
Before going into the other more specific settings, let us try to understand the
effects produced by these settings and some of the terminology.
Terminology
• FOCAL LENGTH - The distance between the centre of the lens and
the sharp image of an object at an infinite distance from the lens.
Having already thought and spoken about ISO settings on digital cameras, let us now
consider some of the other settings which we can choose to use if we so wish.
While still in the “Auto” mode we can now see that a further selection is available.
These are: P or Program mode with its further refinements, A or Aperture priority.
S or Shutter priority, and M for manual mode.
• A – Aperture Priority. With this setting, the operator can initially pre-select
the chosen aperture via another control such as a command dial or sub-menu.
The correct shutter speed will then be automatically selected and displayed on
the camera’s viewing screen or data panel. In this way the operator can control
the extent of his depth of field.
• S – Shutter Priority. In this mode setting the operator will select the desired
shutter speed via the command dial or sub-menu. The correct aperture will
then be automatically selected and displayed on the viewing screen or data
panel. In this instance the operator can control the shutter speed when it is of
prime importance.
Manual Focus. – This is a useful facility when ,for example, in fast action sports
pictures, when there is insufficient time for the auto focussing to be effective, the
photographer can manually focus on a pre-determined spot, so that the moving subject
will be in sharp focus when it happens to be in that particular spot.
Shutter Speeds. When shooting a moving subject, you can either “freeze” the
motion or “capture the sense of movement”, by adjusting the shutter speed.
Fast shutter speed freezes the motion of the subject, while a slow shutter speed
photographs the traces left by the subject movement. e.g. – Waterfalls.
Sometimes, one may wish to freeze a moving subject, but also maintain a sense of
motion. A typical example of this is photographing a motor cyclist so that the
machine and rider are in sharp focus, but the background is blurred to give an
impression of speed...
In this instance, the photographer will have to choose his camera position carefully, so
that he is able to pan the camera in order to follow the moving subject. It is essential
to manually focus the camera on a pre-determined spot i.e. where the frame will be
exposed, and then lock this focus setting. A shutter speed of about 1/200 sec. should
be adequate to freeze the subject and movement of wheels & spokes. However, the
panning action may be sufficient to blur the passing background. The optimum shutter
speed to produce the desired effect may have to be varied for each particular situation
because of the many other variable factors.