BetterPhoto Member |
Shutter Speed and Aperture I am very new to photography. I purchased a Casio 3.3 megapixel digital camera and just recently noticed that I can adjust shutter speed and aperture settings. Could you explain to me what they are and how I know what settings to use? The manual is very broad.
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John A. Lind |
Jennifer, You didn't mention which model Casio. If it's the 3000, or similar to it, there are several "program modes" plus an aperture priority mode and a shutter priority mode. First, about lens aperture, shutter speed and exposure: For a given exposure required, you can trade aperture and shutter speed settings. In other words, if you double the area cross-section of the pipe (increase diameter by about 1.4X), you can leave the faucet open half as long and still get the same amount of water (and vice versa). Shutter priority means you set the shutter speed and the camera will set the lens aperture needed. Aperture priority means you set the lens aperture and the camera will set the shutter speed. There are only so many combinations of shutter speed and aperture that will work for a given subject brightness. Your camera has limits on how wide or narrow an aperture it can set, and on how fast or slow a shutter speed it can use. This means if you try to set a very fast shutter speed in low light conditions using shutter priority, it is possible the camera cannot open the lens up enough for a proper exposure. The same applies if you pick an aperture in aperture priority mode that requires a shutter speed outside the range the camara can set. The most common reason for wanting a fast shutter speed is to stop action. 1/125th second will freeze nearly all movement by people. 1/1000th second will stop nearly all motion. A 90 MPH fastball travels about 1.5 inches in 1/1000th second. Lens aperture also affects how much in front and behind the lens focus distance will appear to be in focus in the image. This is called Depth of Field. The most common reason for wanting a narrow aperture (high f-number) is to have a very deep depth of field in which everything (or very nearly so) appears in focus. A very deep depth of field is almost always desired for landscape photographs. A wide aperture (low f-number) will create a shallower depth of field. The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field. One of the common uses for wide apertures is in portraiture, to isolate the subject from a distracting (possibly cluttered) background. As you gain experience with your camera, think about which one you want most and experiment some with it to get a feel for how fast a shutter speed will stop certain types of action, and how wide an aperture will blur a distant background (without blurring part of the subject). -- John
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Glenn Theal |
Jennifer: I am not trying to take away anything from this site. It is indeed an excellent place to get wonderful information. However, I think the best answer to your question is found at another site called webslr. The only draw back is that the course costs approx. $30 for a 1-year membership. It is well worth the expense, as I've taken the course myself and can attest to how wonderful it is. Cheers,
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Donna R. Moratelli |
Hi, just crusin' through. John, FANTASTIC descripion and very understandable. Reminds me of a book that I once read while trying to learn this myself.
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