An Easy ISO strategy

A recent convert to manual mode recently asked about a simple way to think about which ISO to use. There are a lot of things that require mental energy when you are shooting, and the last thing you want to be devoting your brain-space to is the ISO setting.  So here is a way to… Continue reading An Easy ISO strategy

Understanding Aperture & Depth of Field

A low f-number of f/2.8 means a wide aperture and a shallow depth of field.

For beginners, perhaps the best way to dramatically improve your photos is to master depth of field. For example, you can isolate a subject by blurring out the background, which really makes your subject “pop.”  Or you can set a wide depth of field to make the whole picture as sharp as possible.  There are… Continue reading Understanding Aperture & Depth of Field

Mastering Shutter Speed

If you are going to elevate your photography above the level of snapshots, one of the three things you need to master is shutter speed.  This article will show you how to do that. There are two parts to shutter speed; a boring part and a fun part.  The boring part is that a lot of times, you just want… Continue reading Mastering Shutter Speed

Controlling Exposure

In the last post, I walked you through how a camera exposes a picture.  In this post, I will go through the three controls of exposure: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. The graphic immediately below should give you the gist of it, and there is more explanation below.  Once you know how each of them… Continue reading Controlling Exposure

Understanding Exposure: How your Camera Works

Exposure affects much more than just how light or dark your photo is, although it certainly affects that.  The same controls that determine exposure levels also largely control whether the background will be blurred out or in focus.  They also control how much “noise” is in the picture.  And they also determine whether the action will be frozen or… Continue reading Understanding Exposure: How your Camera Works