“Don’t use program or I’m disowning you” was the mantra of my peer instructor at the time, a charming fellow and one of the three people that made up my trio of adventure. It was our equivalent of The Fault in Our Stars’ “Okay.” By program he meant the camera setting that automatically takes decent photos; we had a policy of not using it. Why? Using program, you take no creative control over your photo. Whatever the camera sees, it gives you in a bland but decent exposure. There is no consideration of the effects your camera’s settings have on the photo. If you want to explore the art of photography, using program is a little counterintuitive. Taking this to heart, I knew exactly what I needed to do to mature as a photographer.
The art of photography wasn’t really new to me. I had used film as a child and more modern DSLR camera technology later on; but I never really considered what settings I had. My original intentions were focused solely on the composition of images. Having now recognized this, I knew my next challenge would be learning to better use all those technical tools that come with a nice DSLR camera. I needed to make the transition from recording scenes to creating art. Quite simply it began by using only the manual mode of my camera. Now what does that mean? Manual, as the word implies, means that you control the parameters of the camera. Most notably the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It was my mission to learn these elements, much like the avatar. From my growing knowledge, here is my short guide to the three major components of a photographer’s arsenal.
Let’s begin with cameras, and how we classify them. The obvious divide is between film and digital cameras, but within digital photography you have one major divide: DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. The modern day DSLR, or digital single-lens reflex camera, is distinguished by the mirror that reflects the image to your viewfinder. When you take a photo, the mirror simply flips up and the sensor that records the image is exposed to light. DSLRs are the clunky, expensive looking cameras that tend to dominate the professional photography industry. Mirrorless cameras are a relatively new competitor to DSLRs. The difference? Mirrorless cameras don’t have the mirror. Unexpected, I know, but what this means is that the sensor which takes the photos is constantly exposed to light, feeding you the image you see in your viewfinder. This difference ultimately has consequences in the strengths of each camera type, however that is a discussion for another day. We will assume that our tool is a standard DSLR.
The similarity between all cameras is the core functions of how they take photos. A shutter opens allowing light to hit the sensor, the lens creates a pinhole opening to focus the image, and the sensor has a particular sensitivity to light. These are the three components that make a photo. Formally, we call these shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, respectively. All of these parameters affect how bright or dim your photo is, but individually they have consequences on other elements of the photo.
Shutter speed is fairly self-explanatory. The fast the shutter opens and closes, the less light that contacts the sensor and the better you can capture quickly moving objects. If you take a photo of a kid playing soccer, and your shutter is open for a full second, do you think the image with have captured the exact moment you wanted? Or perhaps you will have an image that reflects several instances of fast motion, resulting in a blurry photo that no mother will hand over money for. If you want to get those mom photos at a sports game you need a shutter speed fast enough to capture those instances of split-second action. Let’s consider the opposite end of the spectrum. At night, you will have to either make the most of the light you have or take in more light. What this means is that you can leave the shutter open for several seconds to absorb more light, possibly obtaining a bright photo of a dark object. Remember though, you’re also recording any motion that occurs.
To briefly repeat myself, the aperture is the opening in the lens that focuses the light. We measure the opening in terms of f-stops, or arbitrary measurements based on the ratio of the focal length to the focal opening. Each increase in your f-stop halves the amount of light exposed to the sensor. The standard f-stop scale, for your interests, is a sequence of, with f/1 being the largest aperture opening and larger numbers indicating smaller openings. The aperture also affects the possible depth of field of a photo. A small f-stop, therefore larger opening, will result in a shallow depth of field; meaning that only objects relatively close to the lens will be in focus, while the background will be a blur. Larger f- stops, therefore smaller openings, will result in a much deeper depth of field. You’ll find this to be desirable in taking group photos where you need everyone in focus, but perhaps you would choose a smaller f-stop for a solo portraiture to blur the background on purpose. It’s all yours to decide.
Finally, we discuss ISO. ISO, short for International Standard for Organization, is the sensor’s sensitivity to light, where lower numbers are less sensitive and larger numbers are more sensitive. The consequence of ISO is that smaller ISOs result in smoother, higher quality images; meanwhile, larger ISOs will result in a grainy photo. We call this grain “noise” in photography. One has to very carefully balance ISO, as if it is too high your photo may be rendered unintelligible by the noise that results.
The three major parameters of a camera must be balanced to obtain acceptable photos, as each can increase or decrease the amount of light received; but each adjustment comes at a cost of the side effects each factor brings. Below are several photos I’ve selected to display, and in a way illustrate my personal growth as a photographer and the usage of these parameters.
Taken at the 2014 Oklahoma State Fair, this photo is a thirty-second long exposure: meaning that the camera was taking in light for that time period. By recording the motion and pattern of the LEDs attached to the Ferris wheel, I managed to create a photo that displays a new perspective of those festive lights. I cropped the images lightly, and rid the photo of any lens flare that appeared in the original. To achieve this photo I used a shutter speed of 30 seconds, meaning that I had to place my camera on a tripod to keep it steady for that time. This exposure resulted in the capturing of the moving LEDs. My f-stop was large to ensure that I had everything in focus, and my ISO was in the medium range to ensure a smooth but bright photo.
Taken with a Canon AE-1 film camera, this portraiture displays a problem faced by film photographers in hotter climates. The glare and red color you see is called lighfog, and it can be caused by either exposing already exposed film to small amounts of light or exposing the film to extreme heat. Unfortunately this film was a victim of Utah’s climate. The shutter speed was 1/150 of a second, and the aperture f/8 to ensure a proper depth of field. The film was a standard ISO 400.
Having taken a photo of the Chihuly tower that resides at the Oklahoma Museum of Art, I decided to take a more experimental approach to editing the photo. I erase the image data around the tower, because what better way to bring focus on a object than to erase everything around it? I then defocused the image for maximum modern art appeal. As far as settings go, I don’t have the exact settings of my camera for this photo, but from the original I can assume I had a balanced set up. This most normally consists of ISO 400, f/5.6-f/8, and a shutter speed between 1/100 and 1/200 of a second.
Going out for a hike by the Colter Bay can be a good experience for humans, but for this frog it was an uncomfortable experience for the moment it took to take this photo, with a monetesque background achieved by a low f-stop. To remind you, a low f-stop implies a larger opening in the lens and creates a shallow depth of field.
In my maturation as a photographer I began returning to my roots of focusing on composition with minimal editing. Using my knowledge of in-camera settings I was able to achieve the photo I wanted without editing, taking advantage of the golden hours. By using f/5.6 I managed to maintain an even focus on the Delicate Arch while blurring my friend in the foreground.
Taken through the window of our hotel in Monument Valley on the last day of an extensive trip, in the background you can see the east and west mittens of the valley. Notice the natural vignetting in the corners, expressing the closing of a journey. Notice the noise in the image caused by a higher ISO.