Lesson 2 - Aperture Mode - and what the heck does that mean?

You camera is very nifty. It does lots of things and can help you take some great pictures. It has a full-on mode in which you control every aspect of your shooting. This mode is called Manual. Manual mode is VERY scary - and here's a confession..I rarely use it. In manual mode you have to be in charge of all 3 of the things we recently talked about...that's 3 things to get right. TOO DIFFICULT!!! I like my life to be simpler than that - and if I've gone to the trouble of getting up at stupid o clock to take some pictures...I'd like them to turn out okay. If I use manual mode - the chances are I'll mess it up and could have stayed in bed.

Luckily for all of us...your camera has other modes. It has a fully automatic mode - in which the clever camera takes care and control of everything!!! All you have to do is point and  shoot. This is great for if you're drunk. Or feeling lazy - or if you only have a split second to take a great shot - and don't have time to faff about. But I'm assuming you got the camera because you wanted to learn??

So let's talk about Aperture Mode. 

On your camera - you have a funky dial. This is the funky dial.

To use Aperture mode - set the funky dial to "A".  Yes - it's really that simple. :)

What you're controlling in A mode is the size of the opening that is allowing light through. Your camera (because it's so very clever) will then adjust everything else to ensure that you get the very best exposure possible. It will set out the shutter speed and it will sort out the ISO. 

So - why would we chose to mess with aperture - when we could just use fully auto? Good question!

Aperture has a massive effect on something called depth of field. (in photography there are lots of daft phrases and names for things which make the entire thing very scary and confusing...depth of field is one of these phrases...don't let it scare you!)

What depth of field is - is very simple. It just means how much of what you see is in focus. That's it. Simples X

If you hold your finger very close to your eye and focus on it...the rest of what you see is very blurry ...all of the background goes blurry.  If you move your finger away - to arms length...everything else becomes clearer...and that is depth of field! How easy is that?

So - why would we change our depth of field? If you're taking landscape pictures and want to show an entire view - you would want everything to be in focus. However - if you're taking a picture of a flower, or anything that you want the viewer's eye to be drawn to - it's helpful if the background is out of focus. Here is an example. 

Very Shallow depth of field - only the middle (yellow) part of the flower is in focus.

Deeper depth of field - almost everything is in focus

Changing your depth of field is where your artistic flair comes in ...it's entirely up to you...it's a taste thing. Subjects shot with a shallow depth of field tend to 'pop'out of the picture more and your eye is immediately drawn to them - it's great for portraits - and depending on how open your aperture is you can change things so that only a very small part of the picture is in focus - such as the tip of your dog's nose...or a bit more of it is in focus - all of the dog's head.

So - how do we do this? It's really very easy. With your camera in 'A'...just turn the thumb wheel. 

Thumb Wheel

And here's the really easy part...if you turn it to the left - you get more light...L for LEFT and L for LIGHT...so obviously if you turn it to the right you will get less light.

More light = bigger aperture opening = less depth of field. Simples x

Another easy way to remember is is this ...

L for LEFT = LESS in focus

As you change this setting - you will notice in your view finder window that the information is changing...the ISO and the shutter speed will change at the same time (as discussed previously) to ensure that you get the best exposure....what you won't see through your viewfinder is the background becoming more or less blurry. However - if you do want to see this - have a look at your live screen (the LCD on the back of the camera)...it might show it there. You will certainly see it in your review (lcd screen AFTER you've taken the photo). I suggest that you just take lots and lots of pictures with different aperture settings so that you see it in action. That's the best way to learn.

In this picture of the snooker balls - the point of focus is in the middle...and everything in front of and behind is out of focus. So - Homework - Take lots of pictures using 'A' mode - changing the aperture with your thumb wheel and get a feel for what the change in aperture does to your pictures. Set things up in a row (similar to the snooker balls picture) and focus on each different thing and see how you can have things in front of your focus point blurry - as well as the things behind it.

Good Luck :)

Lesson 1 - three things that control the light and your pictures

Photography is all about light. Light striking the sensor (what used to be the film) and causing a chemical reaction (now electrical) and leaving a vision of what you have seen.

There are three main ways that we control that light and therefore affect the pictures. 

ISO - Iso simply means the chemical sensitivity of the film. Or in today's speak the electrical sensitivity of the sensor in your camera. If you are taking pictures in low light - the sensor needs to be more sensitive to collect more of the light...if you are shooting in bright sunshine - the sensor will be less sensitive.  The sensitivity is measure in ISO. The lower the ISO setting - the less sensitive the sensor is. Luckily - you don't need to remember or understand how this works...all you need to remember is that if you're shooting in bright sunshine - select a low ISO number (say 100- 200) and if you're shooting indoors without a flash, or in the evening light, or at night time, or on a cloudy day...make your ISO a little higher. In your camera the ISO range goes from 100 right up to 25,600...which is an excellent range. How I remember it is very easy....as the light goes down the ISO needs to go up...a bit like a see-saw.

The downside of using a high ISO is that the picture can tend to be a bit 'grainy'...but it probably isn't going to be enough to worry about. Here's a picture that I took at a high ISO...and you can see what I mean....

It's not really a problem unless you want to really blow the picture up - but if you do - you will clearly see the grain. Double click on the picture and you'll see what I mean :)

Shutter Speed - Shutter speed is very simple. It's the length of time that the shutter is open for allowing the camera to capture the light to make the photo. Imagine you're taking a picture of something that is moving......if your shutter speed is fast - this will freeze the action...a bird mid-flight, a person doing sports, water in a fountain, firework bursts in the sky, leaves being blown around in the wind etc etc...all of these would require a fast shutter speed. But if you want to be creative you can do many things with a slower shutter speed. Remember though...if you use a slower shutter speed and your camera moves at all...the resulting picture will be blurry. A tripod can be required for slower shutter speeds..or - put the camera on a hard surface...Also - if you're shooting in lower light you may find you need a longer shutter speed or the picture will just be very dark. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second...and again in high light conditions (bright sunshine) you need a faster shutter speed - or all you will see is a big page of white light!

Aperture - the final thing is aperture. Your lens opening (or aperture) is made up of blades. A bit like a cave entrance in a sci-fi movie! The aperture setting simply means how open or closed the hole is that lets the light in. So again, it helps to control how much light hits the sensor. In darker conditions you would need a wider aperture (more open) and in bright conditions you would need a narrower aperture (less open). The aperture also affects something call depth of field...more about that in the next post. For some reason known only to the boffins...aperture is measured is something called f-stops. And they're fractions. So if you see f32...that actually means f1/32......

So - that means in real terms that the higher the aperture number - the less light is coming into your camera. f4 is a much bigger hole than f32.  Each lens has a different aperture range - depending on which lens it is. Your 18-55mm lens has an aperture range of f3.5 - f5.6.   All you need to remember is the higher the number = less light.