A simple presentation that outlines the functions within a DSLR camera

1. The Working Camera
By: Mat Seifried

2. Exposure
Over Exposed Under ExposedCorrectly Exposed
In digital photography, exposure is the unit of measurement for the total amount
of light permitted to reach the electronic sensor during the process of taking a
photograph.
- http://www.webopedia.com

3. What Effects Exposure
● Shutter Speed
● Aperture
● ISO

4. Shutter Speed Shutter speed refers to the length of time that the shutter is
left open at the time of taking a photo.
Film camera shutter
Shutter speed affects the amount of light/exposure in the image. You can manipulate the image with
shutter speed to show things like motion blur. A high shutter speed is good for capturing fast moving
subjects, the faster the shutter the less blur
in the image but more light is required.
1/80
Fast
3.2
Medium
25
Slow
ISO
200 F 29

5. Aperture
Aperture affects the background blur or bokeh in an image. The larger the aperture the more blur
effect. The aperture is measured in something called f-stops, a small f-stop(1.4) has a wide aperture
and creates a lot of bokeh in the image where a large f-stop(10) does the opposite. Depth of field is
commonly associated with your f-stop/aperture setting.
Aperture is a space through which light passes in an optical or photographic
instrument, especially the variable opening by which light enters a camera.
- Google Definitions
Exposure is also affected by aperture, the sensor gets
more light with a small f-stop and vice-versa with a large
f-stop.
F 18
Small
F 10
Medium
F 5.6
Large
ISO
200
Shutter
0.4

6. ISO
By increasing your camera’s ISO speed or by using a faster film you can increase the amount of light
in the image. This increase in light has a trade off and when ISO is high you will experience more
image noise or distortion. Noise in an image is caused by the increase in sensor or film sensitivity and
works much like the “gain” setting on a guitar amp, the higher the amp gain the louder the sound but
causes more audible distortion.
ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera’s film or sensor in regards to light.
ISO 100
Low
ISO 400
Medium
ISO 6400
High
Shutter
1/15
F 5.6

7. The Big 3 Combined
Here is an example of a properly exposed image taken on a digital SLT(Single-Lens Translucent) camera,
very similar to a regular DSLR.
The shutter speed is appropriately set to
compensate for lighting while also keeping the
image sharp.
The f-stop/aperture creates a nice depth of
field to better distinguish the subject from the
background. *Not represented well by white
background
ISO sensitivity is kept as low as possible to
reduce noise in the image.
Shutter
1/50
F 5.6
ISO 400

8. White Balance
Another factor that contributes to the overall exposure and quality of a photograph is it’s white balance.
The white balance helps the photographer compensate for the environmental light by correcting it
where the image does not reflect the correct lighting in the shot.
White balance is a function of a digital camera used to
compensate for different colors of light being emitted by
different light sources.
- http://www.webopedia.com
Notice the “before” image to the right, it is dull and
incorrectly coloured because of the indoor lighting.
The “after” image shows the white balance fix
making the image more natural to what the
photographer would have seen with his eye.

9. White Balance Continued
Here are some examples of different white balance settings.
Daylight Shade Cloudy Icondecent
Shot with artificial light indoors
Shutter 1/50 || F 5.6 || ISO 400

10. Conclusion
Long Shutter
Now that you know more about these common camera settings go out and experiment. Utilizing these
settings can result in many unique images. Here are some examples!
Large Aperture

11. Sources
www.google.ca/images
www.tumblr.com
http://www.all-things-photography.com/iso/
http://www.diffen.com/difference/DSLR_vs_SLR_Camera
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/content/what%E2%80%99s-best-f-stop