3. Lens
◦ Lenses come in all different sizes, focal lengths and apertures and
are a very important part of the camera. If you did not have a lens
you wouldn’t e able to take any photos! The light goes through the
lens and that is where the start of the creation of a photo begins.
Depending on what camera you have the lenses can either be
permanently fixed or interchangeable. If your camera has
interchangeable lenses here are the main types of lenses you can
buy to help enhance your photographer abilities:
◦ Telephoto Zoom Lenses: allow you to zoom in super far, giving you
an advantage of not having to get closer to what you are shooting.
◦ Wide Angle Lenses: The wide angle lens is amazing for shooting
landscape photography. They completely open up the perspective
and sometimes super wide angles kind of warp the image a bit, for
example, the fisheye lens.
◦ Macro Lenses: The macro lens is personally my favourite and I am
saving up for my own but these lenses are specially made for
capturing photos very up-close.
http://www.3benefitsof.com/the-benefits-of-investing-in-camera-lenses/
A good thing to keep in mind is that all lenses are different and it is important to know that they have different levels of quality and configuration.
https://photographylife.com/macro-photography-tutorial
This was taken with a macro lens my favourite!(This is also a really good tutorial)
4. Aperture/F-Stop
https://petphotographytips.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/what-is-an-fstop/
https://www.iamlivingit.com/photography/f-stop-for-dslr-photography/
The aperture can help you focus on your image or do the opposite
by adding dimension by adding a soft blur to the background of
your photos. The easiest way to example to use for explaining
aperture is our eye. The eye is our lens and the iris is the adjusting
f-stop. When our eye dilates larger that is like the camera making
its aperture larger and more light is being let in, then when our iris
goes smaller its likes when the camera's aperture goes smaller and
is letting in less light. Something that is a bit confusing and should
be pointed out is that when the f-stop is smaller (example 2.5) that
is what is considered a large aperture and vice versa with larger
numbers. The graph on the side of the screen shows at the
bottom the depth of field. The depth of field is the distance
between the nearest and farthest objects, having a smaller
aperture blurs the background behind a focal object and is
considered a shallow depth of field (then a larger aperture is a
greater depth of field and makes the background very clear).
5. Shutter
◦ The shutter speed is helpful for freezing action as well as blurring
any motion. Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter
on the camera is open letting light to expose the camera sensors.
If the shutter speed is high it freezes action and is great for
photographing sports or anything that is moving fast. A slow
shutter speed is useful for motion blur and can soften the
appearance of motion (good for photographing waterfalls or
water movement). For freezing action it is best to use a fast
shutter speed (eg. 1/1000,1/500) and for blurring, motion use a
slower shutter speed (ex. 1/30,1/15)
https://medium.com/@Flipboard/how-d-you-get-that-picture-bob-martin-s-glorious-
sports-photography-66ef341d7960
http://webneel.com/daily/14-motion-blur-speed-photography
http://www.laurieflickinger.com/shutter-speed/
6. Exposure
◦ To achieve good exposure it requires three main things shutter
speed, depth of field, and ISO. These things most are all leveled out
in order to have proper exposure. Exposure itself is the amount of
light per unit area reaching the cameras light sensor. If an image is
underexposed it means that not enough light is reaching the
cameras light sensor resulting in the photo showing up super dark.
When an image is overexposed it means there is too much light
reaching the cameras light sensor and the result of the image is it
being overly bright and sometimes just white.
http://whiteonricecouple.com/photography-tips/what-is-photography-exposure/
http://ferndeanpress.org/2015/06/photography-craft-exposure-triangle-overview/
7. Optical Zoom
◦ The optical zoom allows you to zoom in/out on a camera. The optical
zoom allows you to get a closer few of the object you are shooting before
actually taking the photo. The advantage of using the optical zoom of
digital zoom is that the optical zoom allows for better and clear quality.
https://www.quora.com/Photography-What-is-the-difference-between-optical-zoom-and-digital-zoom#!n=18
8. Digital Zoom
◦ A digital zoom is a tool on a camera that allows you to make the image
appear more close-up than it actually is. The digital zoom works the same
as if you were cropping or enlarging an image when editing it. The down
side of using digital zoom compared o optical zoom is that you lose the
resolution and quality of the photo the more you zoom into it.
https://photopedia.in/difference-between-optical-zoom-and-digital-zoom/
9. Auto Program Mode
◦ Program mode is easily described as a step out of fully automatic mode, which is what people
use most commonly for easy shooting. When shooting in program mode it is similar to
automatic mode but you are able to adjust the ISO. The camera still automatically adjusts the
shutter and aperture for you to work with the ISO you use allowing for it not to be too hard for
beginner users to use but you still get a similar experience of changing settings.
https://digital-photography-school.com/understanding-program-mode-on-your-camera/
10. Manual Mode
◦ The manual mode allows you to adjust the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed without the cameras
restrictions on automatic. When you use manual mode it gives you a lot more control over the
camera compared to when using automatic mode you have little to none. The major advantage
of using manual mode is it has no restrictions on what you can adjust your settings to and
allows you to use your own creativeness to capture images.
http://www.slrphotographyguide.com/fully-manual/
https://improvephotography.com/photography-basics/shooting-modes/
12. How a DSLR Camera works
◦ Cameras overtime advanced so much in how they work compared to
what the first film cameras were like. When you press the button on the
top of your camera to take a photo an aperture opens up the front of the
camera and allows light in through the lens and inside there is a piece of
electronic equipment that absorbs the light and transfers them into
electronic signals. From there on the camera sensors measured each pixel
of the photos colours and brightness and stores it as a number. The
photograph is really a long string of numbers that contain details of each
pixel.
◦ Inside the camera, the image actually shows upside down typically but is
corrected when the final product is shown. If the camera did not
automatically correct itself our images would be either distorted or
upside down and the opposite way this like how an image show up in our
eye.
http://lightartacademy.com/blog/basics/how-does-a-
digital-camera-work/
https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/21495/why-are-objects-far-
away-inverted-through-a-lens-but-not-through-the-viewfinder
13. What is a pentaprism?
◦ The pentaprism is what allows a photographer to see through
the viewfinder on the camera. It transfers the image seen
through the camera into the viewfinder.
http://www.exclusivearchitecture.com/?page_id=978
https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/35212/how-to-clean-the-focusing-screen
15. Macro
◦ While in macro mode the camera uses minimal focus distances to make
small objects and details in sharp focus when they are up-close.
◦ Macro mode is most commonly used for shooting flowers and other
smaller objects.
◦ It varies from each camera but macro mode allows you to take photos
less than an inch away.
http://www.better-digital-photo-
tips.com/best-camera-for-macro-
photography.html
http://www.boxedlight.com/dp2/susan1.htm
16. Night
◦ Night mode is a function of digital cameras that allows
you to capture photos in low lighted places or at night.
◦ When you take photos with night mode it makes the
shutter speed longer and turns on the cameras flash.
◦ Photos taken at night are more difficult to take because
they tend not to be the best quality, that’s where this
mode helps out.
http://www.photoreview.com.au/tips/shooting/special-effects-photography-at-
night
http://livinginanotherlanguage.com/12-night-photography-tips/
17. Portrait
◦ Portrait mode is used for exactly that, taken portraits.
When you switch your camera into portrait mode it makes
the camera's aperture larger to make the background of
focusing and it makes the depth of field smaller.
http://elizabethbernsteinphoto.com/blog/?p=73
http://blog.flickr.net/en/2015/09/24/the-subtle-art-of-portrait-photography-alberto-monteraz/
18. Landscape
◦ Landscape mode is used when you are not shooting a
singular object like in portrait but more for when you
are taking a picture of a scene.
◦ When you switch the camera into landscape mode the
camera makes the depth of field very large so it does
not focus on a single object.
https://practicalphotographytips.com/Digital-Camera-
Basics/digital-camera-modes-2.html
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3671532
19. Sports
◦ Sports mode is for photographers to use when shooting
action or people playing sports. The camera automatically
makes the shutter speed faster so your able to capture and
freeze the action.
https://practicalphotographytips.com/Photography-Tips/digital-sports-photography-tips.html
https://www.wareable.com/fitbit/how-to-add-bike-mode-to-fitbit-surge
20. Photo-Stitching
◦ Photostiching is an editing process where you
take a combination of photos that overlap the
same scene and attach them together.
◦ The final product of photo stitching is known as a
panorama.
◦ Panorama can also easily be done on our
smartphones.
http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/hdr-and-multiple-image-panorama-processing
http://mikeandrewphotography.com/portfolio-view/surfers-paradise-sunrise-
panorama-limited-edition/
21. AV-Aperture Priority
◦ Av mode is a semi-automatic mode on DSLR cameras.
The camera controls the shutter speed but it allows
you to control the aperture and varying from each
camera sometimes you can control the ISO as well. http://betterphotography.in/features/question-day-aperture-
priority-2/3692/
https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-photos/how-to-take-great-mountain-bike-photos/
22. TV-Shutter Priority
◦ TV mode is another semi-automatic mode on DSLR
cameras. It allows you to have control over the shutter
speed but the camera still automatically controls the ISO
and aperture.
http://www.paulhippaufphotography.com/photo-tip-tv-mode-camera-dial/
http://www.samsung.com/uk/discover/camera/revealing-the-secrets-of-taking-night-time-photos/
23. White Balance
◦ The reason we use white balance is to make sure the
colours of our photos are accurate.
◦ Many DSLR cameras have semi/full automatic modes that
adjust the white balance on its own.
◦ By using the flash on the camera it actually helps white
balance too.
https://www.slrlounge.com/white-balance-tutorial-introduction-and-basic-explanation/
24. Pixel
◦ Megapixels are used to tell a number of pixels in
an image (pixels make up digital images) and
they also tell us a number of image sensor
elements of the camera.
◦ The larger amount of MP a camera has the
better quality it is.
https://photohdrblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/photography-cameras-2/
25. DPI
◦ DPI stands for dots per inch.
◦ DPI is a term used when talking about getting a photo
printed and it is the resolution the photo will turn out
to be when the photo is printed.
https://www.epson.co.uk/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/faq//4877
26. JPEG
◦ JEPG is a common file format for images that are taken on
a digital camera.
◦ When you format your photos as a jpeg it compresses the
information. For example, if you shoot in raw it stores all
the information of the photo.
◦ An advantage of formatting your photos as a JPEG is they
do not take up as much space on your computer compared
to a raw format.
http://www.melyssagriffin.com/beginners-guide-using-dslr-blog-
photography/
27. RAW
◦ Raw is another file format for your photography.
◦ Raw keeps more of the photos information compared to
JPEG photos which compress the information.
◦ An advantage of shooting in raw that I like is that it allows
you to manipulate and edit your photos more than f you
are editing a JPEG file.
◦ A disadvantage is that RAW photos take up more storage.
◦ Fun Fact: Some cameras take two photos one raw and one
as a jpeg.
https://www.slrlounge.com/workshop/dynamic-range-and-raw-vs-jpeg/
As you can see RAW images first show up more dull
and do not look as good as the JPEG image when it is
unedited but once you edit it the RAW will turn out
better.