Learning the techniques of Photography is not easy and making great shots is not that simple without the proper knowledge and understanding about Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO also known as the “Three Pillars” or “Exposure Triangle” of Photography. Auto Modes can be a good practice for beginners in which you can get good results by just setting your camera into Auto Modes and the camera will do the right combinations of Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, etc. However, by making the camera is set to Auto Mode will only limit the capabilities of having great shots. We all need to know the proper settings and the right combinations of these Three Pillars if we want to explore and excel on the field of Photography.
Let’s start by reviewing the “Three Pillars” of Photography:
Shutter Speed – also known as exposure time, is the amount of time the shutter of the camera will capture the moment. It’s like a blink of our eyes; shutter speed is the amount of time that our eyes will open once we close it. You can control it, right? Similar to our camera we can set the exposure time for freezing or blurring the motion. Very short shutter speeds (1/4000 s, 1/2000, 1/1000, etc.) are very useful in capturing fast moving subjects to freeze the motion. On the other hand, very long shutter speeds (30s, 15s, 8s, etc.) are useful for artistic effects and blurring the motions of a moving subject.
Aperture – commonly, camera lens have f/1.4 for maximum and f/22 minimum aperture (other camera lens has more higher or more lower aperture) and maximum apertures will give widest opening of the lens and minimum will give us the smallest opening of the lens. Don’t be confused with the minimum or maximum apertures, remember this, the higher the number (f-number) the wider the focus of lens capture and the lower the number (f-number) the smaller the focus that the sensor of the camera can capture..
ISO – ISO Sensitivity is the measure of the level of light sensitivity of the camera sensor. There are levels or steps like 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and so on, the lower the ISO the finer the result and the higher the ISO the higher the amount of noise or grain to the image. It is advisable to use higher ISO in moving subject/s with limited amount of light without using flash such as indoor sports photography wherein the movements and low light are present.
Take note that, first, when it comes to the lightness or darkness of the environment you have to play around with the ISO, always maintain the based ISO 100 or 200 because the higher the ISO the greater the noise. Second, In controlling the speed or motion of the subject you have to play around with Shutter Speed.
There is totally nothing wrong with setting up your camera in Auto Mode, you can even rely on this especially if you don’t have enough time to set manually. However, understanding the Manual setting will give you more freedom to explore the greater benefits of Digital Photography. “I will not become a professional photographer if I only know Auto Mode, I need to know all Manual Settings and combinations.” That was my first statement when I bought my first DSLR Camera.
