Learning the Basic Manual Settings from a DSLR Camera
From the time we held a our first DSLR camera, our shots were always the automatic setting with the accompaniment of a pop-up flash.
But what if I tell you that your DSLR camera has more capabilities than that? After all, the DSLR camera isn’t just built for the automatic setting. Once you look at the others, the automatic setting will feel so small.
First that you must know is the most basic setting other than the automatic: the manual setting.
Of course, to do this, you must first set your DSLR to manual. You can see the “M” in the top part of the camera.
Now, we go to the basic of the basics. In the manual setting (or perhaps almost all the settings), there are three of the most important elements you can see there. These are the:
It is very important to input the right values of each element/setting in order to get a near perfect photo. What do I mean? For example, the ISO will be set to 3200, the shutter speed will be set to 1/8, and the aperture is set to F4.5. Again, this is just an example and the values of each element/setting depends upon the place where you will take a photo or what kind of photo you want to take.
First is the ISO. The ISO indicates the camera’s sensitivity to the available light you have in the area. Lower ISO means lower sensitivity while higher ISO means higher sensitivity to light. The problem with a high ISO is that it adds what we call “noise” or the grains we find in our photos. Here is an example of a photo with noise and with no noise
See how the first photo has those rough-looking things? Those are what we call “noise” which indicates that the camera had a high sensitivity to light when it was taken.
Now we go to the second which is the shutter speed. Among the three elements, the shutter speed is the most edited or changed setting since it is heavily reliant on the amount of light that enters the lens. Shutter speed is responsible for either freezing movement or blurring motion. Either of the two that I mentioned in the previous sentence are good ways of adding a dramatic effect in the photo. Having a low shutter speed creates a blur if there are any movement done in the photo while having a high shutter speed freezes the motion of the subject. Here is an example of low and high shutter speed.
The small fan on the far left is captured with a high shutter speed while the one on the far right is taken with low shutter speed. Pretty amazing, right? That is the magic of the mighty shutter speed.
On to the last of the three which is the aperture. Among the three this is the most talked about setting. The aperture has the ability to blur a background which gives focus and a dramatic effect to the subject and it can also sharpen the background which gives emphasis to both the subject and the background. Having a low aperture will give the photo a blurred background while the subject remains sharp and a high aperture gives a sharp background with the subject also sharp. Here is an example of a low aperture and a high aperture.
The picture on the left has a high aperture while the left has a low aperture. The blur gives total emphasis on the subject which makes the viewers to focus completely on the subject. Among the three, this is my most used setting.
So now you have learned about the three elements of manual photography. From here on out you can experiment by tinkering the settings of the manual setting. Remember, each of the elements compliments each other so it is better to set the right values for each element. Have fun with the manual setting!
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