Beginning Photography Tips

The following are the basics of Digital SLR camera. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. An SLR camera will give you much more control over how the picture is taken. DSLR also allows for interchangeable lenses. Generally an SLR can produce pictures of much higher quality than point-and-shoot cameras. The image quality is extremely good since the lenses used in an SLR are usually superior. Digital SLR cameras are great for anyone who enjoys taken great pictures, whether it be a professional or amateur.
The following terms are essential knowledge and terminology required for control of camera.

SLR Basic Terminology

Shutter speed: This is the speed of closing and opening of the camera shutter opening. The shutter speed determines the amount of time that light can pass through the aperture. Unlike the conventional film-based camera , the light sensor in a digital camera can be reset electronically. In another word, digital cameras have a digital shutter instead of a mechanical one. Shorter shutter speeds are needed for shooting in bright sunlight, while longer shutter speeds are needed for taking night shots or darkened areas.

Aperture size: The size of the opening in the camera body. The aperture functions automatically in most digital cameras.

F-stops: The F-number or F-stops are numbers on the len’s aperture ring and the camera’s LCD (where applicable). These numbers indicate the size of lens aperture. The lower the number the larger is the aperture. This means that the lower value let more light into the camera. Usually the numbers are 1.0,1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. That means, F/1.4 will let more light to enter the camera than F/16.

*Both shutter speed and F-stop determines the exposure of the shot.

Focal Length: It is denotes as the distance from the film/sensor to the len’s center, when the camera is focused on a subject at infinity. These lengths are measured in millimeters. Lenses which allow varying focal lengths without changing focus are called zoom lenses.

Depth of field (DOF) : It refers to the distance from the focal point that a photo will be sharp, while the rest becomes blurry.The lower the F-stop number - such as F/1.4, the shorter your DOF will be. The higher the F-stop number - 16, the longer the depth of field. This simply means that shooting with a low F-stop will result in only what is being focussed remaining sharp. To have images with high sharpness throughout, the F-stop value much be higher such as F/16 or F/22.

Autofocus (AF) : It refers to the ability of some cameras to automatically obtain correct focus of a subject. In some camera models, the focus can also be continuously maintained. Autofocus able cameras normally rely on one or more sensors to determine correct the focus.

Digital Camera Basic Terminology

Resolution: Camera resolution is specified in megapixels. Pixels are the colour dots that make up an image. A camera with higher resolution will therefore produce better image quality.

White Balance: White balance adjusts the white color quality of your image. Digital cameras usually have adjustable settings for fluorescent lighting, tungsten lighting, sunlight etc. For example, Tungsten lamps cast an orange or yellow hue to your photos. By selecting the ‘Tungsten white balance’ mode will allow the digital camera to make the necessary adjustments.

If buying a digital SLR is something you are looking into, then check out this other article that I have that tells about the top five affordable DSLR’s.

Photography Aperture and f/stops: the aperture is an opening in the centre of the lens through which light passes. The amount of light which passes through an aperture is indicated by f/stops. The lower the f/stop the more light that passes through the aperture. Opening up one full f/stop doubles the amount of light entering the camera. F/4 admits twice the light of f5.6.

Photography Depth-of -field: The distance from the front to back that is in reasonable sharp focus is called the depth-of-field. There are two ways of controlling depth-of-field: Use a small aperture or focus on a point farther away from your camera.

Photography ISO (ASA): stands for International Standards Organisation. The initials are used for film speed which rates light sensitivity. A film with an ISO number 100 is twice as light sensitive as a film with an ISO of 50. The faster the film, the more sensitive it is to light.

Image resolution: Photography resolution is a measurement of image quality, so you may define resolution by how much detail is in your print. If your print has sharp detail you may consider your image to be of good resolution. If detail is blur in your image you may consider your image to have poor resolution. Good resolution is a direct result of having a large number of pixels in an image.

Pixels explained: Digital images are made up of millions of small dots - each dot is called a pixel. Each dot contains a small piece of image information, and when added together with the other pixels you’ll get your final image.

SHUTTER: The shutter is a mechanical device that controls the length of time that light is allowed to act on the film. Most standard cameras allow us to use a range between 16 second and 1/1000 second. Using a shutter speed of 1/125 second should safely avoid overall blur due to camera movement if you hold the camera by hand. Any longer shutter time should require a tripod.