Assignment 208: Understanding How to Use The Camera In Manual

The practical session last night, October 6th, was very useful and laid out the requirements for us be able to take demonstrate our skill in using our equipment to achieve the desired results.

Steve outlined the requirement for our photographs to be achieved through use of the camera in all manual settings, to help us a achieve this successful a practical session in how the different manual elements of the camera was held.

Whilst I don't consider myself a complete novice on the terms used - I would hold my hand up and say I am lazy about using the manual settings - and often find myself confused about how they impact on each other when using them and the output doesn't match my expectations.  So this session was a very useful confirmation on the basic operation.

To demonstrate that I have correctly understood the purpose of the session this blog outlines the three main camera settings that require consideration and how they work together.  I have used images of my camera to demonstrate this and some images that I took recently using the manual settings - with comments on the choice of settings and whether they could, or should have, been adjusted to achieve a better result.

The Camera Settings:

The three main camera settings under review are ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture (or f/stop).

Producing a stunning image is largely down to getting the right combination of the above elements - as well as the overall composition of the image.  Getting it wrong can result in images that are flat and lack detail or are poor quality.

ISO:

Before digital ISO would have referred to the type of film you would purchase to load into your camera and refers to the sensitivity of the film.  The lower the number the more sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain on the pictures.

In todays digital world ISO refers to the sensitivity of the image sensor but it is the same principle.  The lower the ISO the finer the image, the higher the ISO the more noise will appear in your image producing a grainy look to the final picture.

Higher ISO's are generally used in two scenarios - low light conditions, or where you want to freeze action (the higher the ISO the higher the shutter speed) such as in sport.

Steve's top tip in the practical session was always to check your ISO first - before you do anything else with your camera.

This can be done in two ways on the Nikon D70 -using the main menu button on the back and choosing the ISO setting as demonstrated here, or by pressing the ISO button on tool bar at the back of the camera.  This will display the current ISO setting in the window - by scrolling the main command button on the back of the camera you can alter the setting prior to taking a picture.

Shutter Speed:

Shutter speed refers to the amount of time that the shutter remains open during a shot - and is measured in seconds, or fractions of a second.  The bigger the denominator the faster the speed. Slow shutter speeds - particularly anything below 1/60th can result in 'camera shake' producing blurred images - to compensate for this you would use some form of stabilisation - such as a tripod.

Deciding on the shutter speed will be in part down to the type of photograph you are taking and if anything in the picture is moving that you want to 'freeze'. For example to freeze sports action you would choose a high speed.  Alternatively you may want to blur the motion - whilst keeping static elements (such as a person) crisp as in the image of the biker below.

To alter the shutter speed on the Nikon d70 in manual you would rotate the main command button on the back of the camera body. The selected shutter speed will remain displayed in the control panel as shown above.

Other aspects to consider when choosing a shutter speed is the focal length of your lens. Similar to the issue above when using a very low shutter speed and the potential for camera shake - a longer focal length can have a bearing on your shutter speed - for example if you are using a focal length of 50mm - 1/60th of a second will generally be fine, but with a focal length of 200mm due to the weight of the lens then a faster shutter speed of around 1/250th will be required to produce a crisp image.

Aperture or f/stop

The final setting in the key triangle is Aperture (also known as f/stop) and this refers to the size that the lens opens when taking a shot.  The larger the hole the more light, the smaller the hole less light.

Aperture is measured in f numbers - for example f2.8, f4, f16 - the smaller the f number the larger the aperture (more light) - the higher the f number the smaller the aperture (less light).

When choosing your aperture you need to do so in conjunction with your shutter speed - as changing one will impact on the other.  For example if you increase your shutter speed to freeze action - then you need to alter your aperture to increase the amount of light coming in to compensate.

Another impact of aperture on your shots is the depth of field (DOF) - or how much of your picture will be in focus.  The smaller the aperture - the smaller the DOF, the larger the aperture the greater (DOF).  As shown in these two images of the same flower - the first flower on the right has been taken at f22 providing a large DOF - keeping the flower in focus but also showing the leaves and fence in the background.

The second picture of the same flower has been taken at f2.8 producing a clear crisp image but blurring out the background detail.  The depth of field that you require is personal to the image that you are trying to create - for example in the type of portrait photography that I want to produce for my first theme a small depth of field would be appropriate to focus on the person's face, whilst in my second theme of street photography - a wider depth of field may be appropriate to retain the detail of the setting and surrounding of the person/s within the image.

The aperture on my Nikon D70 in manual mode can be altered by turning the sub-menu button on the front of the camera body.  The aperture chosen remains visible in the control panel on the far top right corner.

My next blog on this theme will look at some of my own photo's and critic them in relation to the settings used and my renewed understanding of the exposure triangle.