A Crash Course Guide to DSLR Photography

Photographer by behherit

So, you’ve got a fancy new DSLR camera, eh? You’re really excited! It probably cost a small fortune. It’s gotta be good, right? It better be good, right? Maybe you’re having a ton of fun with your new camera and you’re getting great results out of the box. If so, that’s awesome, good for you! This guide should help you get even better results in a very short time.

On the other hand, as a new DSLR user you may either have a hard time using all the buttons and knobs on your new camera, or you may just not be getting the results you had hoped (and paid!) for.

Well, you’re in luck — DSLR’s are absolutely fantastic pieces of machinery, and they can really help you unleash your creativity on your photos. And — better yet — I’ve got a brief, no nonsense guide on how to work that fancy device. Now, get your camera out of Auto mode and get ready to learn!

First things first: how a picture is taken

The yellow line represents light. Light is reflected into your eye as well as onto the film of the camera.

To understand how to operate your camera, it’s helpful to understand the basic concept of modern photography. For sake of explanation, let’s first lets talk about film photography. When a film photograph is taken, the camera operator presses a button called the shutter release. This opens up, or “releases” a small gate called a “shutter” in front of the camera film. When this gate is opened, light comes through the camera lens and hits the film, which “imprints” the picture on the film. After a brief amount of time, the shutter closes and that photo has been “exposed”. Film can only be exposed once if it is to turn out properly. We call this film exposure “taking a photo.” Fairly simple, right?

Now, on a digital camera, the concept is almost the same. Instead of film behind the shutter, however, we have a digital sensor that acts like infinitely reusable film — it can be exposed over and over again. For the purpose of this guide, that’s really all you need to know about the concept of photography.

What it’s all about – Exposure

In the Exposure Triangle, three different factors directly affect each other and your photo.

The exposure of a photo depends on three primary factors: the shutter speed, the lens aperture, and the ISO sensitivity (sometimes referred to as ISO speed.) You need to properly set each of the three to get a properly exposed photo (a photo that is neither too dark nor too bright.) Modern cameras do a great job of this automatically, but you can usually do better manually with a little practice. You also have a lot more control in manual mode. The measure of a photo exposure is referred to as the “exposure value” (EV). If the word “exposure” is confusing you, you can just think of it as the brightness of the photo for now ’til you’re more comfortable with the correct terminology.

There are six simple rules to these three aspects of photo exposure:

1. If you increase shutter speed, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker.
2. If you decrease shutter speed, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter.
3. If you increase lens aperture, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter.
4. If you decrease lens aperture, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker.
5. If you increase ISO sensitivity, the exposure value increases, and the photo will turn out brighter.
6. If you decrease ISO sensitivity, the exposure value decreases, and the photo will turn out darker.

Using what you know from these rules can enable you got get a properly exposed photo in practically any situation.

Shutter Speed

‘The City by Night’ by Mohain. Here he has used a long shutter speed which has captured the flow of traffic.

The shutter speed is the speed the shutter opens and closes when taking a photograph. When taking a photo, the camera’s shutter opens, exposing the camera photosensor to light which comes in through the lens. This light, in layman’s terms (my terms!), “imprints” the picture on the sensor and the picture is saved to memory. Shutter speed is measured in seconds, and, more frequently, fractions of a second. For instance, a common shutter speed such as 1/100th means the camera shutter opens and stays open for 1/100th (pronounced “one one-hundredth”) of a second before closing. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter the picture will be (the greater the exposure value).

To adjust the shutter speed on your DSLR, go to the “shutter speed priority” mode on your camera. On Canon and most other DSRL’s, it’s labeled T or Tv.

A faster shutter speed decreases the likelihood of your photo being blurry due to camera or subject movement. In general a higher shutter speed is better, if you can get it. I say in general because there are a gazillion exceptions to this. However, if you’re just shooting around for fun, I recommend trying to keep your shutter speed above 1/50th indoors (in low light) and above 1/200th outdoors (in bright light). This is just an extremely rough area to start, it is by no means a hard rule — your shutter speed should change depending on the situation.

“Wow, David, that’s an impressive load of gibberish! Give it to me in a nutshell!”

A shorter shutter speed (i.e., 1/500th) decreases exposure (darkens photo), a longer shutter speed (i.e., 1/60th) increases exposure (brightens photo).

A longer/slower/lower shutter speed (i.e., 1/10th) is more likely to produce blur from camera and/or subject movement than a shorter/faster/higher shutter speed (i.e., 1/200th).

You manually adjust shutter speed in the T, Tv, and M modes on your camera.

Aperture

Robber Fly by Thomas Shahan. Here the incredibly shallow depth of field indicates he has used a very large aperture.

The lens aperture is my personal favorite, though it is by far the most difficult to explain. Luckily I have example photos readily available, which I’ll show you in just a moment. First, the word “aperture” is a noun that literally describes an opening or hole. In photography, that’s what the lens aperture is — the opening at the back of the lens that allows light to enter through the lens onto the camera sensor. If you look into your camera lens and take a picture, you should see a flashing black thingamabob appear — that’s the aperture blades closing and opening. If you have a DSLR that has a video mode, put it in that mode and you should be able to see the aperture clearly — it looks like several black “claws” interlacing together to make a hole (aperture) in the middle of the lens.

To adjust the lens aperture on your DSLR, go to the “aperture priority” mode on your camera. On Canon and most other DSRL’s, it’s labeled A or Av.

Secondly, I should say that aperture nomenclature is a bit counterintuitive. Aperture is usually written down like “f3.5″ or “f1.4″ or “f11″. A larger aperture has a smaller number succeeding the “f”. For instance, f1.4 is a larger aperture than f5.6. A larger aperture increases your exposure (remember, increasing your exposure means it will brighten your photo, and that’s the last time I’ll tell you that!) Additionally, aperture measurements are exponential. For instance, f1.4 will expose your photo twice as much as f2, four times as much as f2.8, eight time as much as f4.0, etc. A large aperture is essential for low-light photography.

Thirdly, aperture doesn’t just effect photo exposure, it effects the photo itself! This is why aperture is so cool. A larger aperture will have a smaller “depth of field” (DoF), and vice versa. The DoF is the width of the focal plane, or “how much is in focus” in the picture. Take a look at the following examples to make things clearer.

In each of these pictures, the focus point remains the same: the green handle on the pitcher. However, you’ll notice that in the first, the background (and even the front of the pitcher, closest to the camera) is blurry. In the second picture, the background less blurry, and in the third picture it is almost sharp. This is what aperture — the depth of the portion of the photo to be in focus at one time. This portion of focus is called the “depth of field.” A large aperture (for example, f1.8) produces a more shallow depth of field, and a smaller aperture (f5.6) produces a deeper depth of field (DoF).

“Your words are myriad, David, but they are hollow. Give it to me in a nutshell!”

A larger lens aperture (i.e., f1.8) increases exposure, a smaller lens aperture (i.e., f7.1) decreases exposure.

A larger lens aperture (i.e., f2) produces a more shallow depth of field, a smaller lens aperture (i.e., f8) creates a deeper depth of field.

You manually adjust lens aperture in A, Av, and M modes on your camera.

P.S. Aperture is sometimes written in different ways — “f3.5″ is sometimes written as “f/3.5″ or “f1/3.5″ or even “f 1:3.5″. I prefer the way I’ve used above as it is brief and simple to write.

ISO Sensitivity

ISO sensitivity is the final element to photo exposure. The acronym ISO has nothing to do with photography so don’t worry about it (ISO is the International Organization for Standardization). ISO sensitivity (sometimes called ISO speed) is simple: the greater the ISO sensitivity, the greater the exposure of the camera. The only catch is the higher the ISO speed the more “noise” will appear on the camera. “Noise” is unwanted artifacts on the photo that are the result of the ISO sensitivity making “mistakes” on individual pixels when the photo is taken. A less sensitive ISO will make less mistakes and thus less noise.

You can manually set ISO speed in almost all modes on your DSLR, except “full auto” mode.

Here’s an example of dramatically different ISO sensitivities on the same photo.

The first photo is taken at ISO 100 and the second is taken at 12,800. Click on each and compare the two. As you can see the first is far superior to the second in overall picture quality. A general rule is to use the lowest ISO speed possible to allow you a fast enough shutter to eliminate motion blur while using the proper aperture to get the depth of field you want (might want to read that sentence two or three times. ). In other words, ISO sensitivity is in a way the “last” thing you think about when you take a photo, after shutter speed and aperture. And don’t be afraid to use a high ISO if you need to! A noisy image is better than a image that’s muddled by motion blur!

“Okay, David, you sweet talkin’ geek, give it to me in a nutshell!”

A greater ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 1600) increases exposure, a lesser ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 125) decreases exposure.

A greater ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 2000) produces more noise, a lesser ISO sensitivity (i.e., ISO 400) creates a superior, less noisy image.

You manually adjust ISO sensitivity in P, T, Tv, A, Av, and M modes on your camera.

Conclusion

Well, I hope this guide (and the others on PhotoGuides) will give you some assistance in getting started with your shiny new DSLR. If you have any questions, or if this guide has helped you in some way, feel free to comment below, it really means a lot to me.

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