THE BASICS- APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED AND ISO

Step 2 - Definitions
I think just about every digital camera these days is capable of shooting in fully ‘automatic’ mode and will do all the thinking for you, but also most will have some degree of manual functions to allow the photographer more creative control. There is certainly nothing at all wrong with shooting in auto. Most cameras perform pretty well, and the sensors will figure out what to do to get what it feels is the best shot for a given situation. But, you might have different ideas of what kind of shots you want, that’s where having control comes in. So you’ve got automatic mode, you pretty much just point and …shoot. Then, depending on the camera, you may have some other modes. Different models may call them different things, but here are some you may see in some form.

Program mode- still basically auto, but allows you to adjust exposure and flash compensation.
Aperture priority- you set the aperture you want, the camera then will set the necessary shutter speed.
Shutter priority- you set the shutter speed you want, the camera then will set the necessary aperture.
Manual- you set aperture and shutter speed, the camera let’s you control everything.

Ok, so now you’re saying great, what do I do with that control? Well, let’s take a look at these things now. So, we all know that photography is all about capturing light, …right? So these settings are basically trying to control the light that is coming into the camera to it’s sensor. It’s all about trying to let more light or less light in, to get the exposure that you, the photographer want.

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Author's Biography
Gene Tatroe is an avid photographer.You can see samples of his work at his PicPrizes Gallery, where he is known as taterbug.Share del.icio.us Digg it reddit
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