Camera Settings

1. Shutter Speed

2. Aperture

3. I.S.O.

Shutter [shutter]
The Shutter is the part of your camera that opens and closes to allow light onto the
sensor or film. In the closed position no light is allowed into the light sensitive part of
your camera. In the open position light is allowed through to expose the image. The
image varies greatly depending on how long the shutter remains open.

Shutter speed [shutter speed]

Common Shutter speeds:

Shutter speed refers to the specific length of time that the shutter remains open, allowing more or less light into the camera. A longer shutter speed allows more light for
low light conditions while a faster speed requires more ambient light such as bright
sunlight or strong external lights or a flash.

B, 1min, 30 sec, 1, 1/15th sec, 1/30th, 1/60th, 1/125th, 1/250th, 1/500th, 1/1000th

1/60th of a second is a standard speed appearing orange on this dial

because it is the default speed for the flash. This setting is commonly
used for portaits and landscapes and can be hand held.
B stands for Bulb. In this setting the shutter remains open
as long as the shutter release is held down.

1/1000th of a second is a fast setting often used for sports

photography or capturing nature. Moving objects appear to be
frozen in time with a clear focus.

Slow shutter speeds

Long exposure times such as 30 seconds or more allow more light into the camera
and can be used to compensate for low available light. Typically a tripod is used
when shooting at these speeds, otherwise everything will be affected by a motion blur. The photo above was shot with a 1 minute exposure time using a tripod.
People standing relatively still during the exposure appear slightly out of focus while
people walking or cars driving by are nearly invisable. The impression left by the
taillights are seen as streaks of light.

Fast Shutter speeds

Very short exposure times such as 1/500th of a second or less allow less light into
the camera and can be used to freeze the motion of things that are moving. Because
the shutter remains open for such a brief period of time, more light is required. Fast
shutter speeds do not require a tripod. Absent sunlight, a flash or lighting setup is
recommended when shooting at high speeds.

Place the camera setting and what it can do on the spaces next to each image
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name

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Per.

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2.

3.

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Aperture

[aperture]

The word Aperture is derived from the Latin : Apertura, which can be translated
roughly as opening or window. In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through
which light travels. The aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines
the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.

Depth of Field

The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are, which is of
great importance for the appearance at the image plane. If an aperture is narrow, then highly collimated rays are admitted, resulting in a sharp focus at
the image plane. If an aperture is wide, then uncollimated rays are admitted,
resulting in a sharp focus only for rays with a certain focal length. This means
that a wide aperture results in an image that is sharp around what the lens is
focusing on and blurred other wise. This anomolly is known as:
Depth of Field.

Common Aperture F-Stops:

1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 44, 64

Using the F 8 Aperture setting we can follow the depth of f ield chart on the lens to
see how much of our image at a given focal point will be in focus. In this case
focused to just beyond 1.9 meters, our image will remain in focus between 1.5
meters and 2.5 meters. Thus with this setting the same image to the lef t will now
look different because the boys in the far yard are beyond the focal range of this
setting rendering them out of focus in our image below. The fence and the boy, however, remain within the focal range of this setting thus we see them in focus.

By using a high aperture setting such as F22,

Deep Depth of Field can be achieved. This
means that objects on different focal planes, or
different distances from the camera lens, all appear in focus. In the image above; the face of the
boy, the fence, and the kids in the yard are all in
focus. The F-stop is set by turning the aperture
ring to the green line. Notice in the lens to the
right that this closes the Iris down to a small
opening.

In this f inal image, shot with a

low F stop such
as 1.4, we see
that not only is
the distant yard
out of focus but
now the fence in
between is also
beyond the range
of focal acuity.
This type of image is known as:
Shallow Depth
of Field
Depth of Field
(D.O.F.) is determined by these four factors; camera-to-subject distance, the lens focal length,
the f-stop, and the format size or circle of confusion criterion. Each of these factors affect the
focus of an image in different ways and each is altered by changes made to the other factors.
The camera to subject distance is f ixed at the time of exposure. It usually involves a range of distances that will be in focus followed by a series of distances with decreased focus as they expand
in distance, further and closer from the lens.
The lens focal length is determined by the size and shape
of the lens. Some lenses are
created for up close photography (Macro Lenses) while others are designed for far away
(Telephoto). There are narrow
angle lenses and wide angle
lenses, f ixed lenses and zoom
lenses. The focal range is notated as a single numeric value
for f ixed lenses(50mm) or a
range between two numeric
values for zoom and compound
lenses(15-200mm).

The F-stop like the Pupil of the Human Eye, is determined by the size of the opening created by
the Iris. The smaller the pupil the greater the D.O.F. In optics, the f-stop (sometimes called focal ratio) of an optical system expresses the diameter of the entrance pupil in terms of the focal
length of the lens; in simpler terms, the f-stop is the focal length divided by the effective aperture diameter. It is a dimensionless number that is a quantitative measure of lens speed. In optics, the circle of confusion is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming
to a perfect focus when imaging a point source. For most people Visual acuity at the closest comfortable viewing distance, termed the near distance for distinct vision , is approximately 25 cm.
At this distance, a person with good vision can usually distinguish an image resolution of 5 line
pairs per millimeter.

The Format size refers directly to the size and shape dimensions of the light sensitive focal plane.
In the human eye this would be the retina. In a 35mm f ilm camera these dimensions are set by
size of the shutter opening and the f ilm dimensions. In a digital camera the Format size refers to
the image sensor or CCD chip. Today, most digital still cameras use either a CCD image sensor or
a CMOS sensor. Both types of sensors accomplish the same task of capturing light and converting
it into electrical signals.The aperture also determines how many of the incoming rays are actually
admitted and thus how much light reaches the image plane (the narrower the aperture, the darker the image for a given exposure time).

Diag ram showing different Format Dimensions

I.S.O.
In traditional f ilm photog raphy I.S.O. (or ASA) refers to the sensitivity of a
given f ilms emulsion to light. In Digital Photog raphy I.S.O. refers to a given
range of sensitivity of the image sensor to light.

Common I.S.O. Film Speeds:

50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

I.S.O. is measured in numbers that double as

each grade of f ilm increases in its sensitivity (50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200). The
lower the number, the lower the sensitivity of
the f ilm, and the f iner the grain of the f inal
negative. The Higher the number, the coarser
the grain resulting in a lower resolution image but increasing the range of acceptable low
light.

Digital I.S.O. variation

is acheived by adjusting
signal gain to the Image
sensor. By amplifying the
electric signal to the sensor an increase in light
sensitivity is obtained. The
tradeoff for this increased
sensitivity is an increase
in the signal to noise ratio.

This image was shot with a Fast, Coarse

Grain 1600 I.S.O. f ilm, notice the lack of
resolution and value.

CCD Image Sensor

This Image was shot using a slow, Fine

Grain 50 I.S.O. f ilm, allowing a very High
resolution that shows a wide range of
value and details in the image

Example of a Fine Grain Film (50 I.S.O.) by Ansel Adams

Moon and Half Dome 1960

Image Sensor Dissection

The size of the Silver Halide Granules in the
emulsion dictates the Film Speed and its
resulting Resolution

Example of a Fast Film (1600 I.S.O.)

Robert Capa 1936 Death of a loyalist Soldier