ISO...

ISO, short for International Standard for Organization, really pronounced "eye so" but more commonly "eye- S- O" ( so much so I personally have never heard it pronounced eye so but who am I to argue with ISO).

In photography, when you talk about ISO you are talking about sensitivity to light, how sensitive to light is your film or digital sensor ? ISO speeds with a lower sensitivity to light such as 100 or 200 mean you need a lot of light to use that setting on your camera and have a correct exposure. You can do this either by shooting where there is lots of light, IE outside on a bright day, or opening your aperture ( IE f2.8, f4) to let in more light or going with a longer/slower shutter speed. ( IE 1/30, 1/15 ). Conversely, ISO of say 400 or 800 lets you shoot in areas of less light, ( maybe the inside of a house) or use a smaller aperture( bigger f number IE f22) or faster speed. So as you can readily see, correct exposure depends on these three factors, ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

So why not just jack up the ISO as high as you can then you can use the smallest aperture and fastest speed on your camera and forget about ever changing it ? Because higher ISO, like everything in life it comes with a price, namely more noise( that speckled, grainy looking stuff you notice in the shadows of that photo you took of Auntie Rose in the darkish living room a few weeks ago). You can use a noise program to reduce the noise( Noiseware Community is a good freebie, other programs such as Noise Ninja are available for reasonable cost. Some editing programs include a noise reduction setting as well.) BUT noise reduction comes at the cost of image detail...so rule of thumb is use the lowest ISO you can.

Cameras today are much better with noise than they used to be ( my Canon Rebel xt was pretty bad at ISO 400, unusable at 800 while my 40d is pretty good up to 1600 when I might need to remove a little noise, might not depending on the situation, some like the Canon 5d and upper line Nikons are even better) so the good news is with a newer camera you might be able to use a higher ISO /higher shutter more routinely..When? Why? Weally? Even on bright days an ISO of 100 or so might not allow me to raise the shutter speed high enough to take a photo of a flower when there is a stiff breeze blowing but a higher ISO will allow me to stop the action. Great!!!

So generalities...use as low ISO as you can go . If your subject is stationary, you don't really need a large dof , have a flash, or want to be able to print out some nice sized photos, a low ISO might be just the ticket. If you have a moving subject, a large dof, using natural lighting, don't mind a little artsy grain in your 8x10 or won't be printing bigger than a snapshot( noise is little and won't show up much in a small photo), move up the ISO....

But don't forget to lower it again next time ..sure sign you forgot is you will have a shutter speed of 1/8000 instead of 1/200...been there ;)

Aperture: What it is and how to use it

Aperture refers to the opening the light will pass through to get to the sensor or film and is used in conjunction with the shutter speed to determine the exposure of your photo...a "fast" shutter speed usually would require a larger opening to get enough light to the sensor and a "slow" shutter would naturally require a smaller opening...

When you hear the word "f stop" or see" f number" in relation to a lens , that is telling you the diameter that lens can open to, such as f1.8, f28, f4, f8, f11,f16,f22 and are really ratios so the smaller the number ( IE f2.8) the larger the diameter of the opening or the larger the aperture. If it is given as a ratio IE f3.5-5.6 that means at the widest angle( the shortest focal length such as 28mm) it has a top aperture( biggest opening) of f3.5 while at it's narrowest angle (the longest focal length such as 100mm) it has a top aperture of f5.6. Any lens would have a set amount of f stops, such as f2.8-f22, depending on the lens

Why should you care? First a "fast" lens, one with a large aperture or small f number such as 2.8 allows you to shoot in lower light situations since it allows a faster shutter speed due to the larger opening. I f you recall to keep a sharp photo you need to be able to set a shutter speed at least the approximate length of the lens, IE a 200mm lens a 1/200 shutter speed. At f8, you may not be able to get that fast a shutter speed due to the smaller amount of light going through the smaller aperture. That is one reason lenses with a larger aperture IE F2.8 are more useful, they can help you have a larger range of light conditions in which you can get a good photo.

Another benefit is, in general, apertures allow you to control the amount of the image that is in focus in the photo. If you want to take a portrait you want to have a smaller "depth of field" ( or "dof", the area of the photo that looks sharp front to back). Say you station the subject in front of a large bush to take their portrait... If you use a small f number ( IE f2.8, f4, so a large aperture) rather than a detailed, sharp set of leaves behind your subject you will get a nice bokeh, or blurred background which will make your subject stand out better and reduce any distraction behind him. Conversely, a larger f number is great for landscapes where you want clarity front to back.

More on depth of field some other time but in general, for something like a portrait or when you need a smaller dof...( as in second photo above,"Faded Rose " , f 3.5) you can decrease the dof by using a larger aperture and increasing magnification either by moving closer or using a longer focal length lens( IE 100mm). For something like a landscape(as in top photo, "Going Home", f11) you want a larger dof so use a smaller aperture( ie f11+), and a shorter focal length such as 28mm to give you more front to back sharpness.

The last camera setting you really need to know about to determine exposure for your photo is ISO...so next time.....

Photo Basics 101: Shutter Speed

Many digital cameras have a mode for "creative" features such as setting your shutter speed, aperture etc. Should you use them? What are some of the benefits? What exactly are the things like shutter speed and aperture you might want to set?



Read on as the next couple posts will help you jump into the deeper end of the photography pool ..

First what is shutter speed? Plainly put it's the time the shutter remains open, letting light into the camera to hit the film( film camera) or sensor ( digital camera). It is measured in seconds such as 1, a slow shutter speed, meaning the shutter remains open a long time or a fraction of a second such as 1/1000 meaning the shutter is fast and remains open for a very short time..

With Canon cameras the mode on the "creative" side of the dial that allows you to set what shutter speed you want the camera to use is called the time value or"TV" mode. That mode lets you choose the shutter speed while the camera will set the aperture to hopefully give you a nicely exposed shot. Other manufacturers may call it something slightly different but it should be in your manual.

Why would you want to choose the shutter speed instead of letting the camera choose? Two common scenarios....

Maybe you want to freeze the action , if so, set the shutter speed as high as you can, over 1/500 and it should stop the action without blurring. First photo, "Into The Sun"1/400 shutter speed. Useful for nature photos such as a bird in flight, sport photos, anything where the object is moving but you want to stop it so it will be sharp in the photo.

At the opposite end of the scale, maybe you are taking a photo of a waterfall and want that soft silky blurred water instead of seeing the water drops. Place your camera on a tripod, choose the slowest shutter speed you can, under 1/30 if possible and take your photo...nice silky water should result. Second photo, "Coffee Creek" , Shutter speed 1/13 of a second. camera. You can also use a slow shutter speed to create a motion blur to show speed, such as a car zipping past, or in dim light such as at night or indoors...BUT....

As a rule of thumb you can only hold your camera steady for a shutter speed that is the same mm as your lens length...for example if you have a 35 mm camera and a 200 mm lens ( or your optical zoom on a point and shoot goes that far) without any kind of image stabilization you need a shutter speed of at least 1/200 to get a crisp sharp shot. If you have a camera with a crop factor ( which would include most dslrs in the entry and prosumer lines) you have to use that crop factor in addition to the lens mm to expect a great sharp shot...for example if you have a camera with a 1.6 crop and a 200mm lens, you need a shutter speed of at least 1/320 ( 200x1.6). Of course if you have some kind of image stabilization built into your lens or camera or you use a monopod or tripod to stabilize your camera, you can achieve a sharp shot with a slower shutter speed than the rule of thumb, usually a few stops slower with the image stabilization or a monopod, many stops with a tripod and a timer or remote switch.

Of course there are other things to set to make your photo turn out how you want it so next we'll talk about aperture.

Do You Need Photo Editing Software?

Probably not, short answer ;)
long answer
I really think for many if not most, the editor that came with their camera will be enough..especially if you are the type that sometimes just downloads straight from the camera, maybe crops and makes prints or emails to Grandma.
But say you want to be more creative? I have and use a bunch of different programs but the one I think would be most usable for the majority of basic camera users is Photoshop Elements. I have 5, 6 is out, not sure how much it's changed.... It has most of the features of the full version ($$$$$) Photoshop but at around $80 won't break the bank. It allows you to do the basic crop, clone out the odd person's stray head* that you didn't notice, adjust exposure, saturation etc. I do think it has a learning curve, just like most everything in life, but if you want to get a little fancy with some of your photos it is a good buy. Some like Corel photo pro( think that is the right name) but it is not as user friendly to me but if you are in the market for a bigger badder editing software than what came with your camera , down load the free trials both offer and see which makes things easier for you. They are about the same cost.
If you have a dslr and would like to start shooting in raw, you can still come out ahead in the wallet if you get elements and Lightroom...the Beta addition that is out now( new release due in June) is great. I love it for converting raw files...but if you don't shoot in raw it's worthless to you. Elements can be used with a raw processor via the free download of Camera Raw by Adobe that is pretty much the same as the present Lightroom but not as good as the new edition( unless they update Camera Raw as well). You don't really have a lot of batch processing though and since you have to process raw files, that can be a pain if you just want family snaps.
If you are a relatively dslr newbie, maybe we'll talk about Raw vs Jpg, next blog so you can see what you have been missing.
* they could be really odd and sensitve about getting their photo taken if they have a stray head so cross over to the other side of the street and don't take their photo...but if someone sticks their head in your photo at the last second, use the clone tool to clone that out.

We Have A Winner!

Jennifer K. won an 8x10 of "Last Man Standing" just for visiting my site and entering the contest for April. Congratulations Jennifer!
You could win an 8x10 or 8x12 for May! Just visit my site and sign up on the contest/blog page.

win something !http://thepoetryoflight.net

visit my website for a chance to win a free photo!

Swhooooo

Haven't had time to write anything as been working on hubster's faux finishing site( check it out at http://interiorillusionsfx.com but did put on the slide show which i hope you enjoy!