CAMERA FUNCTIONS TO KNOW

WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW: Aperture: selects size of opening within the lens. Determines depth of

field. Small number = large opening, = small depth of field.

Shutter Speed: Determines amount of time (in fractions of a second) the shutter is open and letting light hit the image sensor. 1/25 is a slow shutter speed and 1/1250 is fast.

AF = Auto Focus (camera chooses closest or most obvious object to focus on)

MF = Manual focus (YOU move the end of the lens to focus on what you want)

WE ALSO KNOW… ISO = Sensitivity of Image sensor. Low numbers

= less sensitivity = needing more light = higher image quality. We can set this to automatic, OR we can choose a new setting for each photograph.

Av or A = aperture priority mode (you choose aperture, camera reads light and chooses shutterspeed)

Tv or S = shutter speed priority mode (you choose the shutter speed, camera reads light and chooses aperture)

WHAT’S NEXT? HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR PHOTO TAKING SKILLS NOW? Improve use of AF mode Check and set White Balance accordingly Choose ISO instead of using Auto ISO setting Use full Manual settings (M mode) to have more control Shoot in camera RAW as well as JPEG Tripods Tripods Tripods!

USING AUTO FOCUS BETTER! You can choose which point to focus on by pressing the

AF point selection button and moving the arrow buttons around to choose a point. Press the AF point selection button again to choose your selection.

You can change this for each photo. You will have to switch this if you are varying your use of landscape and portrait shots

WHITE BALANCE SETTINGS Colours in your photographs sometimes have an

unwanted colour cast which is easy to get rid of. Ex – indoors you may see a yellowy-orange colour cast over everything. Outdoors you may get really blue images. Our eyes don’t notice these colours casts as much, but our cameras pick up everything. We can make sure our cameras adjust for the different lighting situations we will be in, in order to make sure they create pure whites in our images, as natural light (“white” light) should do.

WB = White Balance. AWB = Auto White Balance There are also settings for daylight, shade, cloudy,

tungsten light (filament bulbs), white fluorescent light, flash, and a custom setting option.

CHOOSING ISO FOR EACH PICTURE Instead of using ISO Auto setting, choose a lower ISO

number for bright daylight shots and higher for darker settings. In general, the lower you can go with ISO while still using an acceptable aperture and shutter speed setting, the better.

USE FULL MANUAL MODE Auto and semi-auto settings do not always provide the

results you want When you are comfortable with the Av and Tv modes, try

taking some photos using full Manual mode, where you choose both the aperture and shutter speed.

In this mode, you have to make sure your light meter still reads a good exposure based on your settings.

SHOOTING IN CAMERA RAW Most of the time we take photos and the camera

processes them into an image file called a jpeg, which displays images in pixels (raster image)

If we set our camera to record in RAW, we will have larger image files with even MORE data collected. We can also fix colour issues more easily if we edit in RAW before finally processing our images in jpeg form.

WHY WOULDN’T WE ALWAYS SHOOT IN RAW? Raw images are not suitable to be printed simply in that

format. They must go through some post-processing in photo manipulation software in order to be ready for the printers. Images will initially appear washed out and low in contrast, but our editing software will fix all of those issues.

Our cameras can also take photos in both RAW and jpeg form at the same time (!) providing us with two options to work with for each photograph. This will of course take up more memory space on our SD cards.

VARY YOUR VIEW Try not to take all shots in landscape view (horizontally.)

Some shots are better composed if the camera is simply turned 90 degrees to portrait view (vertical.)

Landscape view Portrait view

TRIPODS! TRIPODS! TRIPODS! Camera stabilization is virtually impossible when simply

holding a camera in our hands. Tripods are easy to set up and will save you from any camera shake that could have ruined an otherwise great photo.

uuUUUuuUUUUUuuuuse them!