You have a new digital camera and now you are ready to start taking great pictures. After all this is a digital camera and everyone can take great pictures with just a push of a button right?

Wrong! Yes anyone can take great pictures but, grabbing a camera whether it be digital or film without some basic knowledge will not let you take amazing photos. If you take the time to learn some basics about composition, exposure, and light then you will be on your way to taking better pictures of anything. Yes I said of anything the knowledge will apply to all subjects your friends, animals, landscapes, etc.

I will start a series of journals to give some beginning photographers some help in these areas. These just be some tips regarding different elements of photography. Photography does have many aspects and there are entire books written on the subject. So if you have any questions about anything that I am covering but, please feel free to send me a message and let me know your questions and I will be happy to help. I will try to answer any questions regarding techniques to the best of my ability but, I will not be able to tell you how to work your camera. Please be sure that you know how to work the different features of your camera by reading the owner’s manual.

First we will look at elements of exposure. Exposure is how much light is allowed to the film or sensor of your camera. The exposure is controlled by several factors. These include light, aperture, shutter speed and your ISO rating.

We will look at shutter speed and aperture as this is controlled in camera and are affected by each other. Both control the amount of light allowed to the camera. Think of these factors like a water faucet. The shutter speed works like how long the water faucet is on and the aperture is like how far you open up the valve to let the water through. For example if you want to fill a container with water you can only let a little water through at a time and keep the faucet on longer or you can let a lot of water through and keep the faucet on for a short time. Either way the same amount of water comes through the faucet. Now that you have a basic idea of how this works you may wonder what the difference between settings are even though they may let in the same amount of light. Well even though the same light comes through the shutter speed and aperture both affect how the picture will look in different ways.

First we will look how shutter speed affects how the picture looks. Shutter speed is measured in seconds however when looking at the camera setting you may see numbers such as 30, 60, 125, 200, 500. These are representing fractions so 30 actually represent 1/30 of a sec. If you see 1" 2" these are full seconds. Shutter speed affects motions and how it is captured. You can freeze action by using a fast shutter speed and you can blur action by using a slower shutter speed. However, keep in mind that if you are using a slower shutter speed you may have to use a tripod otherwise you may get something called camera shake. As a general rule use a shutter speed that is equal to your focal length. For example if you are using a longer lens and are zoomed in to 100mm use a shutter speed of at least 125.

Below are some examples from others here on DA that show affective use of shutter speed.

Faster Shutter Speeds (Freezing Motion)

My Photos


Others



Slower Shutter Speeds (Blurring Motion)

My Photo



Others on DA



Special effects with shutter speed



My Clubs