How to take better pictures with your digital camera Digital camera settings and terms to know…

Digital Camera terms to know… Optical Zoom Digital Zoom Aperture Shutter speed Exposure

Optical versus Digital Zoom Digital cameras have “optical zoom” and “digital zoom”. Optical zoom comes from adjusting the lens on the camera to actually magnify the image. Digital zoom is simply enlarging a part of the picture, not magnifying it. Digital zoom is nothing more than cropping and enlarging a picture as you are taking it. IT IS BEST NOT TO USE THE DIGITAL ZOOM ON YOUR CAMERA. It will just make your picture more grainy.

Getting Started… There are several setting on your camera that are often set by the camera automatically. Some cameras allow to manually adjust these settings as well. We are going to look at aperture, shutter speed, and exposure.

Shutter speed Shutter speed is how fast the shutter opens and closes giving the camera time to “take” a picture. Shutter speed is measured in seconds and an average shutter speed for taking photographs is 1/125th of a second.

Slow shutter speeds Slow shutter speeds are often used in low light conditions, leaving the shutter open for a longer time which increases the amount of light gathered, called exposure. This allows the camera more time to take a picture. The camera must be on a tripod and held very still as any movement shows up blurry when using a low shutter speed.

Fast Shutter Speed in Low Light Conditions This picture was taken with a fast shutter speed, showing only a short moment of the firework going off.

Slow Shutter Speed in Low Light Conditions This is the same picture taken with a slow shutter speed, showing the entire time that the firework was going off. A tripod was used to hold the camera still for a long time so the picture would not be blurry.

Using a Fast Shutter Speed for Sports and Action Pictures Fast shutter speeds, short exposure times, are used to capture fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. The shutter opens and shuts very quickly only taking a picture of a brief moment to so the object that is moving will not appear blurry. This picture was taken with a regular shutter speed, notice all the blurring. This picture was taken using a fast shutter speed. No blurring!

Aperture An aperture is the diameter of the opening through which light is admitted when a picture is taken. The size of the aperture will regulate the picture’s degree of exposure to light. A fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure enough light exposure. A very bright day or reflections of light on water will require a smaller aperture to avoid too much exposure. Aperture usually only needs to be adjusted when also adjusting the shutter speed. A wider aperture will reduce the “depth of field”, so that only objects at the focal point are in sharp focus. This is great for isolating a person from a busy background, but not so great for landscape photos, which require that everything be in focus. This picture was taken using a small aperture, which let less light in, to lessen the glare from the reflection on the water.

Review: Shutter Speed: The length of time your picture is exposed to light. The longer the shutter speed, the longer the camera is taking the picture. Aperture: The size of the opening that allows the light to enter the camera. The bigger the opening, the more light is let into the picture. Exposure: how much light is let into a picture through adjusting shutter speed and aperture size.