Basics of Digital Photography in Simple English

Basics of Digital Photography in Simple English – the title must give an impression that, this guide on the important basics of is written for the beginners. Otherwise, there are lot of guides, tutorials on Digital Photography in our dedicated section on the same. This article, Basics of Digital Photography in Simple English, although written for the users of DSLR camera, any digital camera that has some sort of manual override can apply to test the methods.

Introduction to Basics of Digital Photography in Simple English

During shooting, the photographer can adjust mainly 4 parameters to compose and control the exposure of the image. These parameters are the focal length, aperture of the lens, shutter speed and sensitivity of the sensor. Depending on the settings, it is possible to freeze fast action to isolate a subject ; that is the background blur, to photograph a landscape with a large depth of field during the day or night long exposure is needed. A brief overview of the technical knowledge is must to know before buying a DSLR, for this this guide basics of digital photography in simple English will come to your work.

Basics of Digital Photography

Shutter speed

The housing of the camera consists of a Shutter mechanism which works like a curtain covering the sensor when it is at rest. The curtain opens at a speed to expose more or less time the sensor to light. Faster the shutter speed is less the sensor receives less light. On an DSLR, the shutter speed is adjustable from 1/8000 to 30 seconds in increments of 1/2 or 1/3. The normalized values ??are: 1/8000, 1/6400, 1/5000, 1/4000, 1/3200, 1/2500, 1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1250, 1/1000, 1/800, 1 / 640, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40 , 1/30, 1/25. And for long exposures (usually a tripod is required) 1/20, 1/15, 1/13, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5 etc. settings are used.

Remember : The shutter speed can freeze a moving subject (when it is faster than 1/500) or create a motion blur. Without a tripod or image stabilization, shutter speed should always be at least equal to the inverse of the focal length used to avoid blur caused by movement of the photographer. Example can be for a 200mm lens, the minimum speed should be 1/200. The use of a low speed  with a tripod allows a large depth of field without increasing the ISO sensitivity. Increasing ISO means inviting noise in Digital Camera, specially up to the mid range DSLR with smaller sized sensor. Clean the word Megapixel from your mind. It has very less to do with quality after a certain level. This is like the abnormally shining teeth shown on a typical toothpaste Advert.

 
Aperture
 

 
The lens consists of a diaphragm – it is basically a mechanical ring whose diameter varies to let more or less light. When we talk of aperture, so we speak of the opening. The maximum aperture of a lens is determined by the diameter of the front lens (because it can never be bigger than the diameter of the lens, very normal logic) and the focal length according to a formula, that is focal length divided by the diameter of the front lens. A Canon 200 mm with a diameter of 72 mm has an aperture of 200/72 = 2.77, and Canon 200mm L actually an aperture of f/2.8.

This explains why most of varifocal/zoom lens has an aperture that is floating : a Canon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 has an opening of f/4.5 at 70mm and an aperture of f/5.6 at 300mm. For a constant aperture of f/2.8, the manufacturer uses only 25 mm (70/2.8) of the diameter of the front lens to the focal length 70 mm, diameter 48 mm (135/2.8) to the focal length 135mm, etc. Complex and expensive technology offers the photographer greater flexibility of use.

Remember: The choice of aperture has a direct impact on the depth of field. We choose its opening depending on the depth of field that is desired and according to the brightness of the scene to be photographed. If a large depth of field is essential, but there is little light, the only solution is to fix your equipment on a tripod and use long time so that the shutter stays open a few seconds.

ISO

It is the ability of the case to be sensitive to light. A significant increase in ISO (3200 or 6400) and performance enables to shoot in indoor without the flash. In sports photography for example, it is an important criterion. Selecting the ISO sensitivity is a compromise : Depending on the subject to be photographed, adjusting each parameter : the ideal method is to use the ISO as low as possible for a better image quality.

The focal length

Focal length is expressed in millimeters, it is the distance between the sensor (24x36mm size) of the camera and the optical center of the lens. This focal length affects the magnification of the subject to be photographed and the viewing angle. There are two types of lens: Prime lenses and zoom lenses. Zoom lens are inferior and a compromise.

The focal length affects the magnification of the subject to be photographed and the viewing angle.