Understanding your Camera in 6 easy steps

(SLR Lounge, 2015)

1. ISO

Simply put, this is the sensitivity of your camera sensor. (ISO is the short version for International Standards Organization, which doesn't say anything about photography, so just remember ISO)

Less ISO (100 or so) means a cleaner image and less sensitivity to light. Better used when there is a lot of light around. For example, when you're outside

Higher ISO (represented by a higher number) means a more noisy image with more sensitivity to light. Better used when there isn't a lot of light available. Or when you want faster shutter speeds or lower apertures.

2. Shutter Speed (SS)

It means how fast the camera captures the image.

For a visual guide on how this works, check this video out!

Since we talk about speed, this value is expressed in seconds.

Faster shutter speed (1/500 s) means the movement will be frozen in time

Slower shutter speed (1/8 s or 5 s) means the movement will be blurred

This is how photographers get those light trails in their long exposure (slow shutter speed) night/day photos.

3. Aperture

Inside your lens, there are some blades called aperture blades. These determine how big or small your aperture is. So if you set your camera to f1,2, the aperture will be very wide, and if you set it to f11, the aperture will be very narrow.

Why does a small number mean a big aperture and a big number a small aperture?

The f-number is a ratio between lens optics and distance to the sensor (in very simple terms).

So a large aperture (f1,2), is great for getting creamy blurry backgrounds behind your subject. This effect is called Bokeh. Some love it more than others, but its always important to keep the balance.

A small aperture (f8), can be better suited for shooting landscapes or buildings, where you want to keep all the details and where you don't need Bokeh.

4. How are all these connected?

Basically, if you change one value, without affecting the others, you will get a brighter or darker image.

So if you want to maintain the same brightness, when you change one value, you have to change at least one other value to maintain the balance.

For example, if we change the settings in the first line, you can see what effect will be seen on the image:

F1,2 ISO 200 & SS 1/500 (This gives us a correctly exposed image)

F1,2 ISO 200 & SS 1/250 (This gives us a brighter image)

F1,2 ISO 200 & SS 1/1000 (This gives us a darker image)

F1,2 ISO 100 & SS 1/250 (This gives us a correctly exposed image)

F2,4 ISO 200 & SS 1/250 (This gives us a correctly exposed image)

In photography, we work with light-stops. A stop is a doubling or halving of the amount of light let in when taking a photo. So if I increase my ISO from 100 to 200, I am increasing it by one stop. Same if I go from 200 to 400, 400 to 800, etc. Same applies to aperture, f8 to f16 to f32, etc. Same applies to shutter speed, you get the point. If however, I change ISO 100 to ISO 160, I am changing it by 2 thirds of a stop.

Why is this important?

It's not crucial, but it helps you understand how the changes you make will impact your photos. You'll get better at it through practice.

5. What are the perfect settings

There are none! It all depends on your scenario, lighting, artistic choice, etc. So yes, we do more than just press a button ;)

There is only one way to start understanding which settings you will need when, practice!

Go outside or stay inside, but shoot, observe and shoot again.

6. What are all these fancy letters on my camera?

You are probably thinking of the mode wheel. This basically tells the camera what you want to control. Let's go through the most important stuff.

Don't forget that you can set the camera to Auto ISO or Manual ISO, which means that either you or the camera will pick the best ISO value.

M-Manual

You control everything, ISO, SS and Aperture

AV or A- Aperture Priority

You control the aperture and the ISO

The camera controls the SS

TV or T- SS Priority

You control the SS and the ISO

The camera controls the aperture

P-Program (Programmed Automatic)

Essentially this is auto, but you can still control the ISO or the exposure compensation

What's exposure compensation?

Its the way the camera understands how bright or dark you want your image to be.

This is the icon usually on your camera.

So if you set your camera to AV, TV or P, you can tell your camera to pick the setting which will give you a brighter or darker image.

The camera understands the exposure value through light stops.

A final word of advice

Learning all this theory by reading about it is nearly impossible. Experiment and try it all out yourself, and then you will slowly start to understand what works for you and which settings are the best for your shooting style.

The mistake I made: I thought from the first 3 months or so that I would be amazing, and I hit a hard wall of reality. The information here is just the basic building blocks of photography, but as an art-form, photography is very complex, and you will need years to develop your style. I know I am still learning.