Photography Basics
My name is Jhamed, I am the owner of YOTC Productions, a media production house that helps businesses and people tell their stories through creative visuals. Photography is a great hobby and profession that anyone can pick up and learn. In this post, I have put together a crash course into the basics of photography settings. At the end of this post, I have provided a playlist of videos that helped me at the beginning of my photography journey.
The Exposure Triangle
Before we can really dive deep into settings, we have to first understand the exposure triangle. The exposure triangle is a term that consists of three major components to capture light, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. With these components combined, they create a properly exposed image. Also, each component is reliant on the other, meaning if one is not set properly your image will not be exposed correctly. To better understand this, let’s break down each component one by one.
Aperture
Aperture means the opening hole or hole that allows light. The aperture on a camera is the hole that permits a certain amount of light to pass through and hit the sensor. When you press the shutter button, the aperture opens up to a certain set size and allows the light, and then closes. Aperture works with shutter speed and ISO to control the exposure of an image. For all cameras, the aperture is displayed in f/stops. Typical f/stops are f/1.4. f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/16, f/22. All you really need to know for understanding f/stops is the lower the number (f/1.4) the wider, the hole is. The higher the number (f/22), the less light is let in. Aperture also controls the depth of field, which is the distance between the nearest and farthest object. So, taking what you know about f/stops, the wider the aperture or the lowest f/stop number will produce a more shallow depth of field versus a higher f/stop number, which will produce a sharper depth of field.
2. Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter in the camera closes. Simple right? It is. Shutter speed also determines how long the exposure is and is measured in hundredths of a second. A typical shutter speed will look like this. 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, and 1/8000. The higher the number, the faster the shutter speed, and the less exposure time. The lower the number, the slower the shutter speed, and the more exposure time. Understand that shutter speeds can be slower than the numbers listed.
3. ISO
ISO is controls how sensitive the camera's sensor is to light. It is also the last component I would touch when trying to properly expose an image. ISO is measured in 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 1600, 3200 and so on. The lower the number, the less sensitive the sensor is to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light. ISO is typically used when there is not enough light to expose your image properly. Like all components of the exposure triangle, there is always a trade-off. If you increase the ISO, there will be more grain in your photos. Grain is the speckled look that you find on some images taken at night or improperly exposed images. It can be added as aesthetic, but it can also make your images look unprofessional. If you increase your ISO while shooting in a well-lit environment, your image will be overexposed or washed out.
Reading and learning are just one part of understanding and mastering exposure. Go out and practice and experiment with different lighting settings to really get comfortable with exposure. No environment is the same.
Here I have provided a link to a playlist, that helped me during my photography journey. There are some advanced videos on tools that I did not cover in this post.
