Basic Camera Setting

Select Manual Mode (M) In this mode you have full control over your camera and need to think about all settings including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, flash etc. It gives you the flexibility to set your shots up as you wish. Of course you also need to have some idea of what you’re doing in manual mode so most digital camera owners that I have anything to do with tend to stick to one of the priority modes.

A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a light meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph. Typically a light meter will include a computer, either digital or analogue, which allows the photographer to determine which shutter speed and f-number should be selected for an optimum exposure, given a certain lighting situation and film speed.

ISO. Sensitivity ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of photographic negative materials (formerly expressed as ASA). Since digital cameras do not use film but use image sensors instead, the ISO equivalent is usually given. What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations. And, where you would have needed to physically change to a different roll of film if you wanted a different ISO speed, digital technology allows you to simply dial one in. In this way, you can record images taken at different ISO speeds on the same memory card.

ISO Speed & Exposure ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure. Suppose your digital camera’s light meter warns you there is not enough light to correctly expose a scene. You could use the on-board flash, but let’s suppose again it’s not allowed (like in a concert or indoors recital). ISO Speed & Noise However, all this increase in sensitivity does not come free. There is a price to pay with your image appearing more noisy. See, when you boost the sensitivity of your image sensor by selecting a higher ISO, the image sensor is now able to record a fainter light signal. However, it is also true now that it will record fainter noise, where noise is any signal that is not attributed to the light from your subject. Remember that an image sensor is still an analog device and it generates its own noise, too! The increased sensitivity allows the image sensor to record more light signal and more noise. The ratio of light signal to noise (S/N ratio) determines the “noise” in your resultant image. An image sensor is usually calibrated so that it gives the best image quality (greatest S/N ratio) at its lowest possible ISO speed.

For most consumer digital cameras, this value will be expressed as ISO 50, ISO 64 or ISO 100. A few digital cameras use ISO 200 as their lowest ISO speed. Just as with its film counterpart, an image sensor will exhibit “noise” (comparable to “graininess” in film) at the higher ISO speeds. Unlike film, where graininess can sometimes contribute to the mood of the image, noise produced by an image sensor is undesirable and appears as a motley of distracting colored dots on your image.

Shutter Speed Your camera’s shutter is the tool that you use to control the amount of time that you let light reach your film. Some cameras will have shutter speeds as long as two, four or eight seconds or as short as 1/2000 or 1/4000 second. Two other options you may have on your camera are “T” or “B”, which stand for “Time” and “Bulb”, respectively. They’re basically the same thing and they give you the option to leave your shutter open for as many seconds, minutes or hours as you’d like. If you set your camera’s shutter speed to 1 second, obviously it will let in more light than if you set it for 20 second. Basically, light is going to hit your film/sensor for twice the amount of time. Each setting is twice as long as the next. So between opening and closing your aperture and varying your shutter speed, you have a great amount of control over the exposure of your photograph. What you want is a proper exposure - when the whites in your photo are really white, but still have detail or texture to them, and the dark colors to be really dark, also still showing texture and detail.

Following are typical shutter speeds on a camera: 1 second - 1/2 second - 1/4 second - 1/8 second - 1/15 second - 1/30 second 1/60 second - 1/125 second - 1/500 second - 1/1000 second In the following chart, each scenario (S) will let the same amount of light into the camera - they will each give you the same exposure. Let’s say that we want to take a photo using the first scenario of aperture f/11 and 1/15 second shutter speed. If you “stop down” your aperture to f/8, this lets in half the amount of light as f/11, so you’ll need to double the amount of time the shutter is open to 1/30. Aperture (F-Stop) Versus Shutter Speed in Seconds

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Less Light >> f/11 - f/8 - f/5.6 - f/4 - f/2.8 - f/2 << More Light More Light >> 1/15- 1/30 - 1/60 - 1/125 - 1/250 - 1/500 << Less Light

Shutter Speed in “Motion” Shutter speed can have a really interesting effect when you want to emphasize motion.

fast s/s slow s/s very slow s/s See the difference between fast and slow shutter speeds and interesting effects you can create with your slower shutter speeds. When would you use a fast shutter speed to your advantage? Fast shutter speeds work really well capturing things that our eyes are too slow to see clearly.

very fast shutter speed

There are two types of light metering methods:

1) Reflective meters measure the light reflecting off the subject. This is complicated because a person wearing a white shirt will reflect more light than a person wearing a dark shirt, yet theoretically they should get the same exposure on film. However, despite its flaws reflective metering is the metering type built into all current cameras as it is the only feasible option for metering at a distance. You can have center-weighted or spot metering (or matrix metering for computerized cameras), all of which attempt to determine the proper exposure. Or use a gray card 18% that returns a perfect exposure)

gray card 18%

Canon Icons Nikon Icons

a)Center-weighted metering takes a general metering of the entire scene (as viewed through the camera lens [TTL] or within the view of the meter cell) with more emphasis placed on the central portion of the image. This is the metering style of most older non-CPU based cameras.

b)Spot metering focuses the metering on a very small portion of the scene (typically 1°~5° angle of view). This allows you to measure the amount of contrast on various portions in order to determine the contrast range and appropriate Zone values of each area. For more information on the Zone system see this page.

c)Matrix metering is the newest form used in computerized in-camera through the lens (TTL) metering systems. It divides the scene into 5 ~ 45 areas, meters each one independently, and using a computerized algorithm tries to determine the appropriate exposure value .

2) Incident light metering measures the light falling onto a subject. It’s typically done using a small white dome on the top of the meter cell. Unlike the reflective metering, which you point at the subject, with incident metering you must stand in front of the subject and point the white dome towards where the camera will be. The meter measures the amount of light falling onto that location and gives you the number. Incident metering is more accurate than simple reflective metering and incident is easier to use than reflective because you don’t have to worry about subject reflectance (i.e. trying to find an 18% gray in your frame or guessing about whether matrix metering has gotten it right). For further info, Sekonic has a page on Incident vs. Reflective. As you get ready to take a picture, take a reading on your light meter. Most meters run from -2 to +2, with each mark on the meter representing a “stop” or aperture increment. (Don’t worry about what the aperture is right now, we’ll learn about that later.) By adjusting the camera’s aperture and shutter speed — the thumb wheel on SLRs, menu options on a point and shoot — or moving around so that the light of the room or sun changes, you will start to see the light meter changing.

Hand held light meter