Learning Lesson #1 : Shutter Speed & Aperture

As promised I said I would share my photos from photography class with you. Well I have a few friends that got SLR cameras and like me, have no idea how to use them [manually that is] and reading the book doesnt help. Well unlike me, they are unable to take the class like I am right now. SO i figure I'd give little lessons on here. The cool thing is I get to use MY work to teach. yay!

I am taking my class at Los Angeles Valley College and the lessons are taught by Mrs. Nancy Kaye. So everything I learned I learned from her. She deserves the credit. I will try to be as basic as possible yet understandable. hopefully ;)

So the very first thing we talked about in class was EXPOSURE: The Amount of Light Coming Through

Exposure = Shutter Speed + Aperture

Both Shutter Speed and Aperature [aka F-Stop] are what controls the amount of exposure that is coming through the camera.

Shutter Speed: How Long the Shutter Stays OpenWhen you press the button down on the camera the shutter is the "window" that opens to capture your picture. This has to do with light because obviously the longer the shutter stays on the more light is able to pass through the window. The less time the shutter stays open the less light.

Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second.
ex: 4000 = 1/4000th of 1 second just as 4 = 1/4th of 1 second.
Now using simple math here 1/4000th of a second is obviously faster then 1/4th of a second so by setting your shutter speed to 4000, the shutter will only stay open for a very short time.

Now creatively the shutter speed controls the Motion of Speed. When I say creatively it means, it all depends on how the photographer wants the picture to come out. If you think about it, if your subject is moving fast and your shutter is opening and closing faster or close to speed then your subject will look clear and frozen. On the other hand if your shutter is opening and closing much slower then the subject is moving then the subject will looked blurred in the photo due to the movement.

The first set of pictures were displaying the use of Shutter Speed. To see this in effect to how shutter speed controls exposure we kept all variables on the camera the same and changed ONLY the shutter speed. The

SUBJECT: MOVING SWING

The swing will becoming more blurred as will the picture become lighter due to the shutter staying open longer in each picture.

Shutter Speed: 250 [1/250th of a second]

Shutter Speed: 125 [1/125th of a second]

Shutter Speed: 60 [1/60th of a second]


Shutter Speed: 30 [1/30th of a second]

The very next thing that effects your exposure is the Aperture (aka F-STOP): Depth of Field [in lamens terms, the size of the hole in the lens].

This smaller the FStop number the Bigger the "hole". Now you can see why this controls the amount of light coming in as well because if the aperture is wide then more light will be able to pass through the lens compared to if it were small.

F2.8 is a wider aperture than F16 and it also lets in more light. Depth of field measures anything in the foreground or background of your subject. Creatively this is important due to what you want to be more In Focus. The wider the aperture the less depth of field you capture which means the more blurred the foreground and background of your subject will be. The smaller aperture means the more depth of field you have means the more clear anything in the foreground or background will be.

The second set of pictures were displaying the use of Aperture and F-stop. To see this in effect to how Fstop controls exposure we kept all variables on the camera the same and changed ONLY the Fstop. The Shutter Speed was kept at 200

SUBJECT: PLANT AND BACKGROUND

In this picture the background (depth of field) will become more clear as will the picture become darker as the aperture gets more narrow. The amount of background blurred in the background also depends on how close you are the subject and how far away the background is. The closer you are to the subject the better difference you will notice.

F5.6

F8

F11


F16

F22

So now after noticing how increasing the length of time of shutter speed makes the picture lighter and increasing the fstop makes the picture darker you can understand better how they work together to balance each other out in order to make a perfectly exposed picture. You have to use both in order to get a good picture. Depending on what you want the picture to look like creatively depends on what the two will be set on.

EX: Let's say you are taking a picture of a flower and you are testing the different exposures to see what looks good to you. Now according to this lighting around your subject, Let say you find a good exposure at 200/F11. Now as far as lighting is concerned this is a good picture BUT you want the background a little more blurred then F11 is giving you. Well since you want to change the depth of field we now know you have to work with the aperture. You want to make it wider which means you want the fstop to go DOWN. Well by the example pictures above you can see that by making the Fstop go down it will make your pictures lighter (b/c the aperture is getting wider thus letting in more light). Well now this will mess up your exposure. SOOOOO since the shutter speed will balance it out you have to change that as well.

LIKE MATH, you want to change the shutter speed the SAME number of "STOPS" as you change the fstop in the opposite direction.
STOP: A FORM OF MEASUREMENT USED IN PHOTOGRAPHY TO DESCRIBE THE CHANGING OF A SHUTTER SPEED OR APERTURE
ex: going from f3.5 to f5.6 is 1 stop. Going from shutter speed 400 to 200 is 1 stop. no matter which direction.

As one lets in more light you want the other to stop more light from coming in. If you change the aperture 2 stops down to F5.6 then you must change the shutter speed 2 stops up to 800 in order to keep the same perfect exposure. The only difference is now your background will be more blurred as you wanted. And you dont have to worry about the shutter speed changing anything because nothing is moving in your picture.

Now what if the subject was a kid swinging on a swing instead of a flower and the perfect exposure was again 250/F11 except this time since he is moving you decide you want the actual subject a little less blurred. This time you want to find the best shutter speed to create the look you are going for. Lets say at shutter speed 1000 gives you a more clear picture. Well by making just the shutter open and close faster (1/1000th of a second compared to 1/250th of a second) then your picture will let in less light then before thus making it darker. Now again you must balance the fstop out to get your perfect exposure back. If you moved the shutter speed 2 stops up to 1000 then you must move the fstop 2 stops down. f5.6 And since the subject is moving and it is the one being blurred or not then you dont have to worry about the fstop changing anything but the exposure.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
SHUTTER SPEED makes the SUBJECT more blurred or not (as long as the subject is moving)
FSTOP makes the BACKGROUND more blurred or not (depending on how close you are)

TOGETHER they can give you the perfect exposure.

until next time, go practice!