Camera Basics• Holding the camera steady• Memory card/battery location • Size of memory card (4 GB card will hold more

pictures than a 1 GB card)• Image Quality/Resolution: Set camera to shoot

on highest quality JPEG or RAW (see Kodak’s website: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=10468&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=9508

)• White Balance: set to auto or the type of light

source you’re shooting under.• Set date on camera• Turning the flash off

SLR: single lens reflex(what you see is what you get)

6

3

Exposure: light needed to form an image.

It is controlled by:• Aperture (amount of light)• Shutter speed (length of time)• ISO/film speed (sensitivity of sensor)

3

4

Aperture = f-stop.

Opening up = allowing in more light. Closing down = less light. Every time you open one stop, you double the amount of light. Every one stop you close down, you cut the light in half.

Aperture controls the amount of light coming through the lens.

Aperture and Depth-of-field

Depth of field is how much appears sharp in the scene.

Shallow depth of field, such as f2 or f2.8

(only a little is in focus from near to far)

Deep depth of field, such as f16 or f22 (a lot is in focus from near to far)

7

Depth-of-field ratio is always 1:2.

Shutter speed is the length of time light enters through the

camera’s shutter.

B, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000

Important: Shoot 60 or faster. If shooting slower than 60, use a tripod.

slow shutter speeds fast shutter speeds

B = bulb, allows you to keep shutter open for as long as you want.

9

Shutter speed and motion• B, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000

9

Fast shutter speed: freezes motion (such as 250, 500, 1000)

Slow shutter speed: blurs motion(such as 8, 15, 30)

slow shutter speeds

fast shutter speeds

10

Panning: using a slow shutter speed and moving the camera with the subject

to blur the background

9

ISO (film speed): the sensitivity of the image sensor to light; how well the

sensor detects and records light

50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 • Lower ISO number = sensor is less sensitive to light; so, you need more

light coming through the aperture and/or shutter speed to compensate.

• Higher ISO = sensor is very sensitive to light; so, you can use smaller apertures and/or faster shutter speeds.

13

Low ISO

High ISO

• Lower ISO number = less digital noise.

•Higher ISO = more noise

ISO affects digital noise. Noise is unwanted, extraneous color or brightness information.

Light Meter: measures the intensity of the light to help you

determine correct exposure

display on LCD

display in viewfinder

Your reflected light meter averages the values of light to middle grey in order to compute the correct exposure.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/photography-1018-meter

Law of Reciprocity (equivalent exposures)

• Inverse relationship between aperture and shutter speed.

• Each full stop change in aperture or shutter speed (or ISO) either doubles the light or cuts it in half, so you can have many equivalent exposures

• For example, f8 at 125 = f5.6 at 250• Note: With digital photography it is better to

slightly underexpose than overexpose.

16

Law of Reciprocity (equivalent exposures)

17

Shooting Modes:•Aperture Priority – You choose aperture, camera picks the best shutter speed

•Shutter Priority – You choose shutter speed, camera picks the best aperture

•Manual – You choose both aperture and shutter speed

•Program – camera chooses both aperture and shutter speed

Bracket: to take 3 exposures of the same scene (1 at light meter reading, 1 stop over exposed,

1 stop under exposed)

Example:

• Light Meter: f8 at 250

• +1 stop: f5.6 at 250

• -1 stop: f11 at 250

Exposure Compensation Dial: use the + or – to make the image look brighter or darker (same effect as bracketing; most point-n-shoot cameras have this option)

Metering Modes

• Matrix or Multi-segment: tends to be most accurate, most sophisticated

• Center-weighted: favors the center of the scene• Spot: measures small area of light in center or

scene only; good if you want to meter off a particular object/tone

White Balance: the color balance in a pho-to.The camera needs to know the light source to make the colors look correct.

Set WB to auto, but if the colors don’t look accurate, manually change it.

20

• With a point-n-shoot camera you may not have many manual controls. You can use the shooting modes to simulate certain types of depth-of-field or motion control.

Summary of shooting modes for a point-n-shoot camera:

• Portrait – Shallow Depth of Field• Landscape – Deep Depth of Field• Sports – Fast Shutter Speed• Macro – For close-up shooting

•You may have even more, such as:• Night Portrait – Flash w/ slow shutter speed to allow for ambient light• Beach – Fill Flash to fill in shadows on face and big aperture for light• Snow – Same as beach• Aquarium – Turns off flash• Self Portrait – Longer Focal Length to avoid distortion of face• Candle – Same as Night Portrait• Fireworks – Medium shutter to freeze, but not under expose• Foliage – Adjusts color; usually more saturation• Kids and Pets – Quicker focus and fast shutter speed

More Camera Info• Auto focus vs. manual focus: with auto focus hold down

shutter halfway to lock the focus, then recompose shot; recommend setting the autofocus point to the middle

• Deleting Images: Best way to delete ALL images off of the memory card is to reformat it. You can also erase individual images you don’t want.

• Digital vs. optical zoom• UV filter to protect lens • Single shot vs. continuous shooting vs. self-timer• Interchangeable lenses• External flash (hot shoe)• Tripod socket

Histogram: displays the distribution of tones in an image from black to white; view the histogram to determine quality

of exposure

• This histogram shows an almost perfect distribution of tones covering about a 4 stop dynamic range — from deep shadows on the left to just short of bright highlights on the right. This fits comfortably within the approximately 5 stop dynamic range capability of most digital imaging chips.

• http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

Clipped Histograms

• Here we see the same photograph taken with exposures about three and a half stops apart. Both were at an aperture of f/9. The one on the left was shot at 1/2000 sec and the one on the right at 1/200 sec. The histogram of the one at the left is bunched up at the dark end (underexposed) and the one on the right is bunched up at the light end (overexposed). http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

Low key image

High key image

17

Compositional Guidelines

• Focal Point: area of interest (the most important thing in the image)

• Camera angle and point of view (eye level, bird’s eye, worm’s eye)

• Rule of thirds (don’t place focal point dead center; place it at one of the intersections, represented by blue dots)

rule of thirds diagram:

• Lighting: a. Quality of light: direct, diffused, and directional-

diffused (how harsh or soft the shadows are)

b. Direction: front, side, back, top, under, high-side

28

• Keep it simple, stupid. (KISS)• Get close to your subject.

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.”

–Robert Capa (photojournalist)

Websites for technical and compositional information:

• http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=10468&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=9508 (Click on Digital Camera Controls and look at the digital camera modes and picture quality settings. Explore other sections of the website on your own.)

• http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners

• http://www.adorama.com/alc/