2. Aperture (AV mode)
Aperture allows you to control the depth of field, this is how much of the photograph is in
focus. The different settings on this particular tool change the picture as you can have a wider
aperture meaning that you can make the background as out of focus as you like or you can
have a narrow aperture that makes the focus on a larger area meaning you can see things in
the background as well as the objects that may be closer up. A narrow aperture is used a lot
in landscape photography as they need to capture a larger area and in most cases need to
allow a lot of the image in focus, including the things that may be further in the background.
The wider aperture is used a lot more on portraits because they want the background to be
blurry meaning that the model is the main focus in the image, this aperture may also be used
in some cases where the photographer just wants to focus on one thing but have other things
in the background as well but looking less clear and visible.
The aperture size is measured with ‘F-numbers’, the smaller the F number the wider the
aperture which means that the depth of field is a lot smaller and focused on one area. This
results in the lens letting in more light making it easier to take the image as it avoids the
image being dull or too dark to see. However the bigger the F number the smaller and more
narrow the aperture is which means that the image focused on a much wider area, but this
doesn’t let as much light come in to the image making it quite dull in some cases. This may
mean that a tripod is needed to focus and you need to wait longer for the exposure time
which can correct the loss of light in the image.
For example,
A low F number like f1.4 would be used if the photographer wanted to focus on one main
object in the image as this would make the aperture wider meaning the depth of field is
smaller and narrower which closes off the background objects and allows much more light to
come through the lens.
However a higher F number like f8 would be used if the photographer wanted a lot of the
image to be in focus and cover a large area that needed to be in focus. This would make the
aperture smaller meaning the depth of field is wider and more can be seen clearer in the
image.
3. I have used the lowest F number for this
image which is F4.5, this means the
aperture is fairly big which has made the
depth of field narrow and has let it focus
on a small area and the centre of the
image instead of all of it. You can also
see that by using this smaller F number
it has blurred the background and only
let the lens focus on the centred object.
Here I have used F10, this is
considerably bigger than the other image
and you can see this as it has focused
on a larger area as in the other image is
only focused on the centre object,
however this shows that the larger the F
number the wider the depth of field as
you can see some of the background in
clearer detail but this still isn't entirely
focused. If the F number was bigger than
this the background would be much
sharper.
I have used F20 for this image and you
can see the slight change as the image
is a lot more focused and sharper on a
larger area instead of one object or area
in particular. Using a larger F number
has made the aperture smaller meaning
that the depth of field is far wider and
has made a lot of the background in
focus.
F 4.5
F10
F20
4. Shutter Speed (Tv mode)
The shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open from when you press the
button to take the photograph, the settings in the shutter priority mode allows you to change
the amount of time the shutter is open. This changes a lot of things with the photograph as it
can change the amount of light that is let in to the lens and it also changes what the image is
going to look like. The shutter speed is shown on the camera by fractions of a second, the
smaller the number is the quicker the photo is taken as the shutter opens and closes quicker
than if the number is higher. The numbers can be anything from 1/1000 s or higher which
means the photo is taken very quickly and captures the image as it is when you see it,
instead of if it is at 1 whole second which means the photo is taken a lot slower and the
image will be very different as it may not capture exactly what you have seen as it has taken
longer.
Many people chose to use a slower shutter speed if they wish to capture movement in an
image, this shutter speed can capture movement as it takes longer to take it meaning the
movement won’t freeze it can be shown in the image instead. This shutter speed can also
capture movement so well as it gives more time for the movement to be seen, registered and
taken in the image so you can actually see the movement.
However if the shutter speed is a lot quicker it actually freezes movement as it is happening
as the shutter is opening and capturing the image so quickly. If the image is taken with this
shutter speed it means that you can see the image in a different way that you may have seen
it in person as the camera can capture all of the movement that has happened but in a stand
still. The faster the shutter speed means that the image can capture things that the naked eye
cannot register and see as it just freezes the whole scene.
Using a slow shutter speed means that a lot of light can be let in to the image as the light has
longer to get in to the image, however this does mean that tripods have to be used
sometimes as it takes longer meaning that the chances of camera shake are greater. A faster
shutter speed is different from this as because the picture is being taken quicker it doesn’t
show the movement happening. This shutter speed means that the image is a lot sharper and
clearer as it can capture something that we cant see ourselves as it can freeze what we can
see and what is happening.
5. This is a fast shutter speed as it has
captured people walking, yet it hasn’t
blurred it out and it has frozen the image
entirely meaning we can see it in more
clarity. We can see that this is a faster
shutter speed as it shows the image is
clearer and a lot sharper than the images
below.
We can see by this image that the
shutter speed has got slightly slower
than the image above as we can see it
isn’t as sharp or clear and we can start
to see some slight blurring in areas. This
is because the shutter has taken longer
to close and hasn’t been able to capture
the image in a still position.
On this image it is clear that the shutter
speed has got a lot slower as it has
made the movement on the image very
blurry and hasn’t been able to take the
image in focus like the fast shutter speed
can do. This is because the shutter has
taken longer to open and close and
capture the image meaning that it
doesn’t actually have time to capture it in
focus.
1/3200
1/500
1/160
6. ISO settings
The ISO setting on a camera is the setting that tells you how sensitive the sensor is to light,
this helps when taking an image as it can help control the light meaning you can end up with
a clearer image. When using this setting you also need to control the ASA number as this is
what tells you how sensitive the sensor is going to be to light in the image, you can see this
image when taking a photo on your camera. The bigger the number is the faster and more
sensitive the sensor is to light, this results in the image needing less light to take the image
than if the ASA number is lower as this doesn’t allow a lot of light in and can result in the
image looking dull in some cases.
Increasing the ISO speed on the camera is most commonly done if you are shooting in low
light conditions, this can help take the image more clearly and can add more light to the
image.
However there are negatives to increasing the ISO speed as it can create ‘noise’ on your
image, this lowers the quality of you image dramatically in some cases depending on how
high the ISO speed setting has been set. This can be avoided by using a low ISO speed, this
is commonly done if the image is required to be of very high quality as the image noise can
destroy the image. However in some cases ‘image noise’ is purposely used on images to
create a unique effect, but in most cases it is classed as something you wouldn’t want in your
photography.
Image noise can change the light or brightness in the image in a negative way, it can also
effect the colour in the photographs as it can commonly add coloured dots across the picture
meaning the quality and the effect the image has is decreased. In some cases even if the
image looks very high quality when it is first seen it can include ‘noise’ when the image is
zoomed it and it can also show that the image isn’t as sharp as you first think.
7. This has been set at a very low ISO
setting and it a lot darker than the other
two images, this could be due to the low
lighting and not the ISO setting on the
camera. This however looks like it’s
clearer than the others and more sharp
in detail.
This ISO setting has been set a lot
higher than the first one and we can also
see that the lighting is much more
improved. This one appears to be slightly
more blurry, this could be because of the
image noise of the focus of the camera.
In the last image I have used a much
higher ISO setting and it has been set to
3200, we can see this as image noise is
coming through and it is slightly more
blurry and definitely not as sharp as the
first one.
ISO 100
ISO 800
ISO 3200
8. White Balance
The white balance setting helps the camera to understand and register what white is, without
this the white in images would be very dull or maybe another colour as it wouldn’t be able to
register what is white and what is colour in each image. The auto-white setting is most
commonly used when taking photographs as usually this usually helps the camera to register
what is white, however in some cases the camera settings need to be adjusted slightly to
understand colour.
For example if you change your camera to the ‘cloudy’ setting in daylight it can change the
images colour and make it appear slightly yellow and have a warmer look to it.
This setting can be used in some cases to correct the colour in the image, however some
people will use this setting to purposely add different colours to it making it more unique and
different from how it really looks in person. The different colour settings add different moods
to the image, it can make it blue which symbolises a cold look, a yellow tint which shows a
more welcoming and warm approach and you can also set the image to a more neutral colour
which doesn’t change it too much.
White balance can remove unrealistic colours that have shown up on the image but aren’t
really there in real life, this is used regularly as many images can change and show different
colours in the camera. White balance is really useful when this happens in images as it
removes the different colours and shows the white that you can see in real life.
9. . From taking these images I have seen that this setting can really change the effect the
colour has on the image, the bottom right hand corner shows a cold, dull image and
doesn’t look as it would in real life as it was bright and showed daylight. The bottom left
hand corner shows the most neutral look for the image as it hasn’t changed the colouring
to yellow or blue like the others, this has only brightened the image. The top right image
looks a little lilac and blue and the setting has made it look quite old much like the bottom
right hand corner image. Lastly the top left image looks fairly neutral, however we can see
some change as it has given the image a yellow tint which makes it look a lot warmer than
it does without these effects. Overall I have seen that these effects can really help with
lighting and if the auto white balance setting isn’t working. It can help with lighting as it
allows you to darken or lighten an image, and it can also help as it can change the mood
of your image or it can be a good substitute if the auto white balance setting isn’t having
the effect you want it to.
White FluorescentCloudy
Tungsten LightFlash
