1. Chapter Four
Digital Photography Foundations (How to use the various settings on your digital camera)

2. Exposure Correct exposure depends on:
Amount of light hits the sensor (aperture)
Exposure time (shutter)
Sensitivity of the sensor (ISO)
Most digital cameras have good built-in exposure meters to help set the correct combinations of the above.

3. Aperture Eg. f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, etc.
f-stop = Focal length / diameter of aperture
The bigger the aperture, the more light passing through

4. Depth of field Aperture affects depth of field
Tutorials on depth of field:

5. Shutter speed
1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, …
Longer exposure allows more light to hit the sensor.

6. Reciprocity
Increasing the shutter speed (freezes movement) can be compensated by widening the aperture (less depth of field).
Similarly, decreasing the shutter speed (longer exposure) can be compensated by reducing the aperture (more depth of field).

7. Full Auto Mode Fully automatic Evaluates lighting
Select ISO, white balance, aperture, shutter speed, flash, etc.

8. Program (P) Mode Similar to Auto mode
Allow setting ISO, WB, exposure compensation
Allow choosing aperture-shutter reciprocal combinations.

9. Program Exposure
Canon Powershot G6 Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, can set the ISO, exposure compensation, use AE lock, bracketing etc. The G6 has program shift, activate shift by pressing the * (AE/FE-Lock) button, then turn the main dial to select from various equivalent exposures.
Example (pressing * metered 1/50 sec, F4.0):  • 1/30 sec, F4.5 (turn left)  • 1/40 sec, F4.0 (turn left)  • 1/50 sec, F4.0 (metered)  • 1/60 sec, F3.5 (turn right)  • 1/80 sec, F3.2 (turn right)

10. Aperture Priority (A) Mode
Preset aperture (by you)
Camera adjusts shutter speed based on lighting
Give better control to depth of field (wider aperture for less DOF, and vice-versa).
Tip: for portraits, you may set a wider aperture to “blur” the subject’s background
Tip: for landscape, you may set a smaller aperture to make the whole scene clear

11. Shutter Priority (S/T) Mode
Preset shutter speed (by you)
Camera adjusts the aperture based on lighting
Tip: fast shutter speed for capturing motion, also avoid “motion blur” due to hand shake
Tip: slow shutter for “creative” blur

12. Manual (M) Mode
You may set any combination of aperture and shutter speed and other settings (e.g. ISO).
Useful for night and studio photography

13. Scene Modes Portrait Night portrait Landscape
“blur the background” through large aperture and center-weighted metering
Night portrait
Slow shutter speed to “see enough light” of the background and flash for the foreground subject
Landscape
Small aperture for deep depth of field
More sharpening, contrast, and saturation

14. Scene Modes (cont.) Night Landscape Beach/Snow and Backlight
Slow shutter speed, no flash
Beach/Snow and Backlight
Compensate for overly bright reflections and backgrounds
Close-Up/Macro
Longest zoom and fast enough shutter speed (to avoid “hand shake” blur)

15. Scene Modes (cont.) Sports Black and White/Monochrome Other modes
Relatively fast shutter speed to freeze actions
Continuous shooting
Black and White/Monochrome
Capture grayscale images
Other modes
E.g. fireworks, pets, food

16. Metadata (EXIF)
Records of exposure settings (e.g. ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc.)
Accessible through software

17. Depth of Field in Compact Digital Cameras
Deeper depth of field is achieved by:
Smaller aperture
Shorter focal length
Greater subject distance
Compact digital cameras tend to have smaller image sensors and lenses with shorter focal lengths
Hence, they tend to give deeper depths of field than compact film cameras.