5 Settings You Need to Know
The latest digital SLR cameras employ sophisticated light sensors and composition-analyzing algorithms to routinely nail correct exposures in full auto mode. Yet amateur DSLR photos often look no better than shots from a run-of-the-mill point-and-shoot. The reason lies in appreciating the difference between a "correct" exposure, meaning one that's well-lighted and not blurry, and a "creatively correct" exposure, meaning that you actually like how the picture looks. To achieve the latter, sometimes you have to say goodbye to your friend Full Auto.
Exposure is determined by three key settings—aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity to light, or ISO—as well as by how the camera meters light and how intensely the flash is fired. For any given scene, there are dozens of combinations of these settings that will produce a correct exposure—but each alters the style of the photograph. Taking a picture manually is like going on a road trip from New York to San Francisco—you can take many routes. Full auto, though, is like a GPS unit that tells you to take I-80 every time. To plot a more creative course, you need to learn the basics of manual control.
Shooting professional-looking photos takes more than a fancy digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR). Knowing how to harness its aperture and shutter controls, flash intensity, light metering and ISO will help bring your photography skills up to the level of your gear.
Stephen Plumley
Photographer
Dance Media Inc.
Creating memories for Life
http://www.dancemedia.org/
Exposure is determined by three key settings—aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity to light, or ISO—as well as by how the camera meters light and how intensely the flash is fired. For any given scene, there are dozens of combinations of these settings that will produce a correct exposure—but each alters the style of the photograph. Taking a picture manually is like going on a road trip from New York to San Francisco—you can take many routes. Full auto, though, is like a GPS unit that tells you to take I-80 every time. To plot a more creative course, you need to learn the basics of manual control.
Shooting professional-looking photos takes more than a fancy digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR). Knowing how to harness its aperture and shutter controls, flash intensity, light metering and ISO will help bring your photography skills up to the level of your gear.
Stephen Plumley
Photographer
Dance Media Inc.
Creating memories for Life
http://www.dancemedia.org/
