Say Cheese

I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that considering a purchase on and off for more than three years classifies it as a non-impulse buy. Earlier this year, I finally got fed up enough with my point and shoot camera to buy a DSLR. To be fair to my old camera, it is drop-proof, windproof, waterproof, and dustproof. However, it does not do well with indoor shots, low light, or focusing, so I gave in and bought a DSLR. Since the whole point of a DSLR is to be able to choose your own camera settings to take better pictures, I’ve been shooting in manual for the past few months. Am I doing it right?

I do actually know how to read the light meter, I promise.

The three main settings you control in manual mode are the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The aperture is the hole in the lens that allows you to vary how much light reaches the camera sensor. Aperture is measured in f-stops, written as f2.8 or f22 (sometimes f/2.8 and f/22). Confusingly enough, a small f-stop number means a large opening, which results in more light hitting the sensor. Conversely, a large aperture value means a narrow opening and less light. Depth of field is also controlled by the aperture; shallow depth of field is achieved with a small f-stop value and greater depth of field with a high f-stop.

Left: aperture = f/5.6

Right: aperture = f/36

Background on the left is blurred out while the right is kind of/mostly visible.

[Click pictures to enlarge.]

The shutter speed is how long the shutter is open. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, and intuitively enough, longer shutter speeds mean more light while shorter shutter speeds mean less light. In situations with moving objects, the shutter speed becomes important, and determines how much or little blurriness there is in a photo.

Top: shutter speed = 1/640

Bottom: shutter speed = 1/15

The fountain and water in the bottom picture should look smoother than the top.

Lastly, ISO refers to the light sensitivity of the sensor. Back in ye olde days before digital cameras, you would have to buy film with different ISO values and when you needed to change ISO – if, for example, you moved from a brightly sunlit field to a dungeon – you would have to physically switch your film. I know, how slow, inefficient, and utterly barbaric. A higher ISO value means that the film/sensor is more sensitive to light, so you would tend to need a high ISO for dark or indoor scenes. A low ISO means that the film/sensor is less sensitive to light. So why wouldn’t you always want a high ISO if it’s more sensitive? The higher you go with the ISO, the grainier the picture because the film picks up more noise.

I don't have a set of pictures directly contrasting ISO, but the above picture was taken with an ISO of 1600 and shows the graininess you get at high ISO.  (For comparison, all other pictures here had an ISO of 100.)

The aperture, shutter speed, and ISO can all be varied to compensate for each other so that the correct amount of light reaches the sensor for a properly exposed photo. For example, if you’re shooting trees outdoors in sunlight, you would usually be using a low ISO, high f-stop, and moderate shutter speed. If you then decide to start taking photos of a fast-moving flying potato, you would decrease your shutter speed. To balance the loss of light reaching the sensor, you could either decrease your f-stop value, increase the ISO, or a combination of both.

That’s the ten minute guide to shooting in manual with a DSLR. Most of my pictures from here on out will be with my new camera (yes, I actually did things and have things to write about that aren’t the Revolution). I ended up buying the Canon Rebel t6 with just the kit lens [ES-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS – the ES-S means that the lens is compatible with the APS-C sensor, which is not a full frame sensor; 18-55 mm is the range of focal lengths (zoom); f/3.5-5.6 is the range of minimum f-stop values, which vary depending on the focal length; and IS stands for image stabilization, which helps to prevent blur at low shutter speeds]. So far I have not bought any other lenses, filters, or accessories, with the exception of a camera bag. I plan to keep it that way for awhile, but we’ll see how long that lasts.