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Aperture (AV mode)Aperture refers the depth of the field, or how far away the camera is in focus. It is measured in f-numbers. A low f-number decreases the depth of the field, and only a small section of the image will be in focus, so things in the distance appear blurry. So a high f-number means things will still be in focus a long way away. Having the camera set to a high aperture will mean that there will be a much smaller hole for the light to enter when taking a photograph, so a smaller aperture will mean a larger hole.

A higher aperture may be used when images need to show all detail clearly, such as in medical photography, or photojournalism. A lower aperture may be used for more artistic purposes, or for portraiture. Using a low aperture where only one certain thing is in focus could be used by an artist to represent the importance of that thing, or could be used in portraiture as the photographer will only need the client in focus.

Another way aperture is used is to control the lighting in a photograph. For example when using a fast shutter speed the photograph can become dark, but by lowering the aperture the lighting will be improved.

In this first picture the camera was set on f/29, which is a high aperture. As you can see everything in the image is in focus including the bag which is the main feature and the background.

In this next image the camera was set to f/11. Setting it to a medium aperture such as this has meant that everything is mostly in focus, though parts of the image are unclear, such as the corner of the book at the edge of the image. The bag, which is the main feature in this image remains in focus.

For this final image the the aperture was set on f/4, which is a low aperture. The bag remains in focus, though the things surrounding it are not, to an even greater extent than with the medium aperture.

f/29

f/11

f/4

Shutter Speed (Tv mode)Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter remains open after you press the button to take the photo. A lower shutter speed captures movement as there is more time to capture it, pictures taken on a low shutter speed will often come out blurry because of this. A higher shutter speed does not capture movement as the length of time the shutter is open capturing the image is much too fast, only capturing a split second.

A lower shutter speed will be used for more artistic purposes, as it captures movement but details are blurred. Using a low shutter speed will mean that a tripod may be needed in order to take a good quality photograph as the camera will pick up any hand movements and image will blur more than necessary. This makes it impossible to use a low shutter speed in uncontrolled environments. A higher shutter speed would be used for something like sports photography as when the athletes are moving the camera will not blur the image. It may also be used for fashion photography when photographing models on the catwalk using a high shutter speed will mean that the image wont blur. As a tripod will not be needed for a camera set on a high shutter speed, paparazzi often use this setting so that they can take fast, high quality photographs.

In this first image the camera was set on 1/200, which is a fast shutter speed. Using a fast shutter speed for taking this picture of a moving person has meant that their movement hasn’t been captured, and the image has not blurred. There is not much time for the camera to capture the light, so to avoid the image becoming dark adjusting the aperture to a lower setting will allow more light in can make it brighter.

I took this image with the camera set on 1/100. Similarly to the first image with a fast shutter speed, the image is still fairly clear. Though there is some slight blurriness beginning to show around the moving person.

For this final image the camera was set on 1/10 which is a slow shutter speed. A slow shutter speed has made the walking person in the image appear blurry. The background of this image is now much less clear than it was before, but this is due to camera shake. The light is much brighter in this image as more light has been allowed in through prolonged exposure.

1/200

1/100

1/10

ISO settingsThe ISO setting changed how sensitive the camera is to light. A higher number means it is more sensitive, and will create noise. Noise is random variations of brightness or colour, which makes photographs come out speckled with random colour. Therefore a lower number means the camera is much less sensitive to light and there will be much less noise on the image. Noise is much more apparent on larger images than on smaller images.

A higher ISO number may be needed when taking photographs using a fast shutter speed setting. This is because the shutter will not allow enough light in when moving fast, so by making the camera more sensitive to light it will make the image come out brighter. A high ISO can also be used on images intended to only be small. This is because you will not be able to see the noise on a small image, as noise is much more apparent on larger images.

In this first image the camera was set on 1600 ISO, which is a high ISO setting. This has created noise on the image. There are quite a lot of random speckles of colour.

For this image the camera was on 800 ISO. The camera is less sensitive to light than before, and the noise has been slightly reduced.

In this last image the camera was set on 200 ISO, which is low. This means the cameras sensitivity to light has been reduced significantly. The noise has been reduced to the point where there is non visible.

1600

800

200

White BalanceWhite balance refers to the process of altering the colour of a photograph so that the things that appear white in real life appear white in the photo. By changing the temperature of the photo (temperature meaning the warmth or coolness of the white light) you can make photographs look the correct colour.

Auto-white balance will work for most situations when there is good lighting around, though when the light is too blue or too yellow then sometimes the setting needs to be changed to a warmer or cooler setting balance it out.

The daylight setting appears natural, and seems to have made the things in the image that are white actually appear white in the photo.

Fluorescent lamps are slightly redder than daylight, so in response the camera adjusts and turns slightly more blue in response. The fluorescent light setting has cooled down my image, and made it appear more blue than it needs to. The things that are meant to be white actually appear blue.

The clouds on a overcast day will turn light slightly more blue, so this setting compensates by warming the photo. The cloudy setting had warmed up my image a lot, making it look more yellow than it needs to. The things in the image that should be white appear yellow.

Tungsten bulbs emit light significantly more orange than daylight, so the camera adapts and turns photographs very blue. My image using the Tungsten setting looks significantly more blue, even more so than the Fluorescent light setting.

Fluorescent Light SettingDaylight Setting

Tungsten SettingCloudy Setting

Original Image

Cropped

Levels and Curves

Dodging and Burning

Colour adjustments