So I’ve got myself a new camera (which I’ll review in another post) but it means I want to start learning more photography – rather than just using auto… I’m enrolled on a photography course to learn some more but thought I’d share it here as well…
Focal Length
With a zoom lens you can easily play with different focal length to change the composition of a photo – however be careful to have an interesting foreground element to give depth of feel to the photo.
Lens Aperture
In simple terms the lens works like the iris of your eye – determining how much light is let into the lens. The lower the f number the more light that is being let in
f/2 is a large aperture, f/8 medium and f/22 small.
Every change of f number either doubles or halves the amount of light entering the lens.
The aperture is used with shutter speed to determine the exposure.
Depth of Field (DoF)
Refers to the distance between the nearest and farthest parts of the scene that are in focus.
E.g f/2.8 – subject 3m away – in focus and sharp from around 3-3.5m. f/16 – subject 3m away – in focus and sharp from around 2-5.5m
ISO
ISO 100 – less sensitive to light – great for bright and sunny conditions
ISO 400 – more sensitive to light – better for low light conditions like evening shooting
Shutter Speed
Determines how long the sensor is exposed to light – higher the number the faster the shutter speed.
Night time shooting need a slower shutter speed.
Bright sunlight – need a fast shutter speed – 1/1,000 as an example
Slower than 1/80 – use a tripod as you make experience camera shake
optimum shutter speed
1/125 – handheld, 1/60 flash