getting started in digital slr photography (1)

7/28/2019 Getting Started in Digital SLR Photography (1)

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Claim 3 issues of DigitalSLRPhotography magazine today for only1! You 'll get the next 3 issues delive reddirect to your door and if you like what yousee, your subscription will con tinue at theLOW RATE of JB.99 every 6 issues.Asaving of 18% on the shop price - only3.16an Issue. Instead of 3.90 In the shops!If DigitalSLR Photography rsn"t for you. Jsimply wnle tocancel. and pay no f-more than 1!


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GettingStarted in Digital SLR Photog"",hy EDITOR'SWELCOME/ O-- - - -

Welcome .."As you have no doubt discovered. by using a digital SLR. youhave taken a major step towards shooting better pictures.Boasting an incredible level of versatility, delivering superbimage Quality and forming the heart of a system that can beexpanded with lenses. flashguns and various other accessories.the DSLR has led to a revolution In photography that you arenow part of. While the digital SLR is relatively easy to use forsimple 'snapshot' photography. the truth is that getting the very best fromyour camera kit and. more importantly, developing the c reative side of yourphotography. requires some time and dedication to learning new techniquesand skills. The good news is that Getting Started in Digital SLR Photography.produced by the experts at Digital SLR Photography magazine, is packedwith Information. advice and techniques that will help you become a betterphotographer. If you"ve ever looked at images from the professionals andwonde red how they managed to get such great resu lts. then th is guide is foryou. We've covered a ll the basic s of photography and provided tr ied and testedpractica l techn iques fo r shoo t ing stunning images, along with expert adviceto chOOSing the bes t gear and pages of inspiring images to get your creativejuices flowing. Good luck with yo ur photogra phy. All the bes t !"DANIEL LEZANO , EDITOR

Meet ourdigitalphotcgraphyexpertsAll our experts are learnmerTtlersor regulCW" cootnbJtors to DigitalSLR agazine.For lTI()'e e)(pe ft adviCe and inspiration. PIC k LfI the latest issue. available on the second Tuesdayof e--tery month. For further IIlformation. visit the magazine"s website at www.dI8Italslrphoto.com


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006 / UNDERSTANDlNG YOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedm Digltal SLRPhotogrophy------- ---


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GettingSlartedmDigital SLRPhologrophy UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill/ 0-----------


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OOS / UNDERSTANDINGYOUR DIGITALSLR _ _ Getting startedmDigltalSLRPhot"""",""

GETTINGTOGRIPSWITH YOURDIGITALSLRWh ileevery camera brand designsdigital SLRs in their OVo/n way. the reare many similarities in the controllayouts of most models. We'vehigh lighted the key functiO'lS thatyou shou ld get to know as soon aspossible. as understarding howyour DSLR works will he lp you tocapture grea t pictures with ease

I) SHI.IT'1UIIElLASEPress the shutter releasebutton halfway down toactivate the autofocllS andexposure systems thenfully to lake the picture. \ . :.5\,,:1This is an importantexposure override. usuallydesignated with a +/ -symbol. Use it 10 increase ordecrease the exposure in 1/3or lI2-stop increments.l) EXPOSUREMODEDW.

The exposure modedetermines how scenes areCilptUred. Full Auto is ideal forbeginners. but you shouldaim toshoot usins one of thesemi-auto modes.The range ol the built-in fla shis limited to a few metres butis ideal when taking picturesol friends and family. Mostmodels include a number offlash modes.The integrail lash is veryuseful for nearby subtectsbut when extra powerorfeatures are required. thesolution is to slip a lashgunon the hotshoe.Some cameras sport a fn(ftJnction) button ki f fastaccess to regularly selectedfunctions, such a$ 15Orating. White Balance. Afmodes or the drive function.With most DSlRs. youpress a flash button to popupthe integral flash whilein one of the 'creative'modes. such as aperture-or shutter-priority.


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Getting Started in Digital SLR Photogrophy UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSLR 10--- - ---

When reviewing your storedphotM. you can zoom into theimage 10 check sharpness. Byusing the four-way control. youcan I1"IO'Ie from one area of themagnified image to another.i!Jtl , i l ! i , j , . jThe viewfinder image comes viathe lens and the reflex mirror.which bounces the image lipinto the pentapiism. A hoodcuts out stray light to provide aclearer, brighter image.

This handy control, found 011most DSLRs. offers an up. down.left and right control and allowsyou to quickly navigate throoghthevarioos menu options thatappear on the LCD monitor." ,

Dependingon what you 'reshooting. you can set your OSlRto fire one frame only (Single) orlire sequences (ConIinlJOU$).You also use this button to selectthe self-lime t.

The on-5Creen menu systemallows access to the majOfityof a camercfs functions andis quickly activated bypressing the MENU buttonbeside the LCD monitor.ffi1 :" 1 , I it )Use these to chaf'@esettingssuch as apertures and shutterspeeds. They're usually foundon the handgrip. on the rearwhere your thumb rests or. onsome models. in both positions.14) MEMORYCARD SlDT

DSLRs require memory cardsboasting big capacities (youshould aim for 2GB-8GB).CompactFlash, SDISDHC andMemoryStick cards are able to holdseveral gigabytes 01 information.

This is the information centre ofyour digital SLR. allowing accessto most of the camera's settings.as weli as the chance to reviewand edit images and , with manymodels, shoot in Uve View.

DSlRsoffermulti-point AFsystems and )'0\.1 have theoptions 01 leaving all AF pointsactive, individually select thecentral po intor choose ooe 01the surrounding AF points.

A choice 01 metering patternshelps you deal with difficultlighting situations. Most modelsoffer multizone and centre-weighted average. as well aseither spot or partial.

HELP ( INFO BUTTONYou1I fond !hat many dlgll3l SlRs boastan Infoor Helpbutton that prOVIdes anaplanatlOll d "anous camera fl.lllcllOllS.whICh 15 a real benefit when trying tounderstand how your camera works


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Aperture-priority AEIn our opinion, thiS is the most useful and versatile rncxieend we reoommend It for 95 percent of yQUr APERTUREPRIORITY AE is without doubt the most popular choiceof eKposure mode with DSLR photographers. It's termed a semi-automatic mode. be(:ause you determine the aperture and thecamera automatically selects the corresponding shutter speed.This mode is suitable for virtually all types of photography and isusually labelled on DSLRs as A or Av (Aperture value). It isparticularly popular with landscape and portrait photographerswho use it to control depln-ol-f ield and determine how much of thesce ne appears sharp. Landscapes are often shot wi th a sma llaperture to have as much of the scenery as possible appearingsharp wh ile with portra iture. a wide aperture is used so thebackground behind th e subjec t is thrown ou t of focus. An illustratedgu ide to apertures and depth-of-field is shown below.

Turn the dIal to Av (or A) and lhen move the input dial (OOfmally foundbehind the shutter button or on the top right-hand corner on thecamera's rear) lochange the aperture. lightly depress the shutterbutton to see the corresponding shutter speed. As you adjustapertures. the shutter speed auiornalicallychanges.

Yoo 'il normally find the eXpoSUremode dilll on the top Ielt of thecamera. We've shown examplesfrom loo t leadlnl bra nds Ibcwe.Once set to Av or A, l"1.Itate the Inpu tdia l to select yoor lperlure, whichilppeal1l on the l CO monilor. Pressthe shutter button hillfw /IY ilnd theo;amera sets the shutter speed.

Howgperturesatlect.deptl!:oHielc!The following set of images, shot on a Nikon D200 with a 287Qmm lens,shCMI how changing the aperture affects dep thof.lield .

At iI mid-aperture selt ing. most ofthe SURe Is in loeus btlt distantS1J bjec ts still ilppeilr so li.Set the !em to its SfTIiIUest ilper!ureilnd you'll diSCOVl'f thallilr more ofthe scene ilppeilfS sharp.


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ShuHer-priorityAEChoose to capture movement as astreaked blur ora rozen moment by controllingthe shutter speedTHIS IS A SEMI AUTOMATIC mode that allows you to select theshutter speed you want to use and lets the camer.l automahcallyset the correspOflcling aperture. II's the best choicewhen thefe is amoving sublect in the frame, as it allows you to coo trol whe ther tofreeze its mo tion by selectJl'lg a fast shu tter speed, Of reco rd it as ablur Of streak by selecting a loog exposure time.

Usi,ng _Shuttet-RQority: AEThe procedu re for sett ing shutlerprior ity AE is very similar to howyou"d se lect aperture-priority AE. Turn the dial 10Tvor San d thenrota te the input dial to select the shutter spe ed . All disp lays OI1 ly showthe denominator of a fraction, so 11250sec appea r as 250. whi le wholeseconds are usually dIsplayed with a , e.g two seconds wou ld be 2".

Shutter- priority AE Is often IiI bcolledii ' Tv (Time vlIlue) or S on theex posure mode d,al and the LCDmonitor. See: above fot fou texampf es. Once sele


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Shul1erspeeds lormoving subjectsThis table provides a starting point of shutter:>pee


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OI4/ UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSIR Getting startedm Digltal SLRPhotogrophy----- -------AutofocussystemsNew fa" treSCIefCepart we explain he secrets of hc:madigital SLR focuses.;rd tuN to use It to yo.;radvaltageASK MOST PEOPLE how autofocus on a digital 5LR works and theanswer yQl(1I gel IS something like press the shutter buttonand the lens focuses before taking the While there'snothing wrong with this statement. It'S a very sim ple way ofdescnbing a highly sophisticated and accurate system. Wh ile wewoo' t blind you with science as we cove..- au tofocus systems, It'Sfa lf to say there is plen ty to take in. Here we provide a jargon-freeexplanation of how your DSlR's autofocus system works.

HOW AUTOFOCU SSYSTEMSON DIGITAL SlRS WORKDigita l SLRs use wha t is calledapass ive auto focus system(also known by its moretechnica l name - phase-detection system). a high lyaccurate and incredibly Quickform of focus ing. regardless Ifthe subject is a lew leel awayor towards a distant horizon.worI\s by using a beamspl itter to direct light on to asensor, that measures what is knownas the phasedifference to determine the sUJject's di5talc:e from thecamera . 11"5a very accurate n most circumstances. butstrua les in certa in Si tuat ions. such as when wori


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Started in Digital SLR UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITAL SLR /

When to switch to single-pointAFSometimes It IS better to SWltch from trUltt-pomt Afto slJ1glcpomt AF wtrj? Wcll. occasoollally. yuill hodthat the subtect you want to locos on IS qUIte far awayand when USIfI8 multi-point AF, the camera keepsfocUSing on objects nearer to you. thiS is otten thecase With portrMS when )OJ want to focus on theut rt's the nose that the C


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Autofocusmodes f autofocus modes.optionS. one for focuS ing on afor focus ing on amoving subject and a ia hybnd of the first two. We'll show you when touse each shortly. One thing to note is the AfVlewf lf'\def icon (usually a Crcle) in the VIewfinder. !fit 's permanentlyIII the AF has locked on to the subject. if it's blinking it indicates the AFcannot focus on the subject. I! can also be used to ass ist with manualfocusing - when the sublect is in focus, the icon will appear.

j )SingJeffiotAl'Th is is the AF mode you'll most likely use fOf themajority of pictures you take. In th iS mode. oncethe autofocus locks on to the sub ject. it doesn'tshift. Its focus, even if the subject distancechanges. So, If you focus Of! a subject threemetres nd either you or the subjectmoves so that the camera to subject distance is.say 3.5m, the lens will stili be focused at 3m.Th ismakes this AF mode unsuitable for oving subjects, but it's a great choice in other ways. Its biggest benefit is that you can lock OIl to a subject andthen recompose the Image to SUIt. So, If for instance, you'reshooting a scene and want to focus on a tree and then position it atthe edge of a frame, you'd select this mooe, focus on the tree, thenrecompose the frame while partly holding the sh utter button down(see Focus Lock) before fi ring, In single-shot AF mode, the camerawill not take the picture until the AF has locked 0f1 the subject.

Focus LockKnowIng row to use Foo...sLock IS essentaal to takrrga perfectly focused shotin AF-S rTIOde. The greatth,l"g IS that Irs very easyto do. Shutler buttonshave a I'Ml-stage actIOn- a gentle pressthe Af and metenrg.....tl!1e fullyt tzMs the IXfI,lI'aIt's the first stage wt1crean use Focus lock - all)QUtodo IS focus on the Sltltect and keep appIyll g gentle pressu-e onthe shutter button to lock the AF As long as you 1TI


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AFa:;sistMany SLRs offer an AF asSist IaTl> thatprOVIdes addrtlOllalligh! to aid a "">gg':r-.lutofocus system. IllS normally _located in theI'> thelflIegral flash or on the carner.fsfront and autcmahCill1y fires whenlight levels falls below acertain value. TheAI" ilSsislla"nprnmalty projeCtsa patterned beanor a strobe fOf" theAF to lock on and- """""an be SWitChedoff I.JS>I1g cus tomfunc tlOfls.


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2)ContinuousMWhen you're photographing moving subjects. you want to switch from single-shot to th is mode.The major difference with th is AF setting is that he autofocus system will constantly analyse thesubject distance and make adjustments, so If thesubject moves, the autotocus will shift position tostay focused on the subJeclln this mode, you dohave to take care because the shutter will fireeven il the subject is outof focus. for generalshots, using rnulti-p04nt AF is the best choice. but

if you're tracking fast moving action. such as motorsports, youmight find switching to the central AF point improves acctJracy.PREOtcTIVE AFTh is is the term given to the continUOUS AFsystem used by many cameras. Predictil'e AFworI


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Whi le autofocus systems arehighly accura te and reliable,there are times when youmay have to SWitch from AftoMf and focus manually. Aswell as the typical $Ituallons whereAf struggles (see panel AutofocusProblems),lhe olher occasionwhere you may find yourself USingmanual focus IS when shootingclose-ups, When working at veryshort fOCUSing distances, especiallywhen you're using a macro lens 10shoot tiny subjects, it is critical thatyou focus on the correct part of thesubject. While autofocus systemscan WQ(k OK in these Situations,you'll probably find it easierandqUicker to use manual focus.


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020 / UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedm Digltal SLRPhotogrophy---- - -----

Understanding SOratingsSO rating stems back tathe film era a1d knoNing rtsonglns 'Mil help understand I1CM' It M:lI'ks WIth OSLRsWHAT OOES ISO STAND FOR AND WHAT DOES IT RELATE TO?There's some hiSlOl)' invotved here. so bear wrth this explanation! ISO standsfor International StandardsOrganisatIOn and the ISO rating ooginally relatedto how the sens.tivlty 01 film emulsion 10 light was stated. In other woWs. itwas a standard 'measure' 01 how sensiliYe film was to light Up until the ISOrating was introduced, filmspeed was stated in varIOUSASA and DINbeing the most commonlyknown) so having one universal standard madeeverything far more Simple, Because sensitivity affectsthe exposure reqUired for an image. ISO ratingswere also termed 'film speeds' and describedasslow,mediu rnand fast-terminologythat is stili usedwi th digital cameras. So.in summary. the ISO rating provkjOO ameasure of II film 's sensitivity to light.With the advent of digital cameras,the ISO rat ings were retained. 8S itwas a fam iliar system forphotographers 10 work with. so thaithey coold adapllhe ir wayofthinking by using the tned and testedISO settings to work out the changesin 'sensitiVity' 01 the sen5Of.

How d-1SO rotings WOIk?The ISO raling,Ith theshJtter speedand aperture,p / a vital part In how the exposure is calculated.All three are linked together, so chanslngone has abearir"on theothers. Every camera has af SO settings, with ISO 100-1600beir"the most common, and can be changed in increments of lI3. V. orone-stop steps.The most common ISO speeds are as follows:fill.. , , , . . )',)

Changing the ISO increments WOI1


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Some DSLRs!\ave acustom fl.nCttOnthat extends the ISO range to 1nc;1ude alow(l)3I1dhigtl(H)seltll'W. Whilethe lsettlr'41: IS use ful.hot WIth H art!normaMy very r()ISY an:! best


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022 / UNDERSTANDINGYOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedmDigltal SLRPhotogrophy---- -----

ISOcomparisonfrom ISO lOO64OO ' ! ' ..zoom set to Vl4. As you C


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GettingStarted in Digital SLR Photogrophy UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITAL Sill/ 0--- - ---

Howo:xnThe choice of ISO rating you use has an enormousImpact on the final result 01 )OUr images. Its mammfluence is that rt will affect Nhat combinationsofaperttJres and shutter speeds are available to you, forIIlstanc:e. in low light, Increasing the ISOcana11owyou 10 choose a shutter speed for hancl1eldphotography that isn't available at a lower ISO speed.II also has a big$a'{ in overall imagequality, withnoise (digital's eQI..IIV(llent to film griIIn), colourreproduction and contrast all being affected by theISO rating you choose. Utllnlately, it influencesSingle image you take as it has a direct associationwith shutter spe!s and apertures when determiningthe exposure, soyoucan" alford not to understand itIf you really wan t toprogress your pho tography.

So I)oy{lioes_\he ISO Ja!i!lgalfeg \heAs we've mentioned. the ISO rating is used along with the shutler speed aml aperture to give thecorrect exposure. Wha t you should set the ISOto depends on the situation, the lighting and theelfectyou're trying to achteve. and this knowledge will come through practice and experience.Understandlrlg the fundamental rules of expooure will help you know wh at to set.Your OSLR has a set shutter speed range (most have between 30 seconds to 1/4OOOsec) and )'Ourlens Will h3'l'e a choICe fA apertures. When you're taking pictures. you'll have many of these availableto you and by ch.:wIging the ISO rating, you will be abl e10 vary your seleclion.For any given situation. using a low ISO rating (e.g. ISO 100) will mean that you'lI have to set longerexposure tllnes. wider apertures, or a combination of both. Setting a fast ISO (e.g. ISO 1600) meansyoucan use lasler shutter speeds. smaller apertures or a combinallOll of both. Use a rnedil.lfl1lSOspeed like ISO 400 and you'lI have apertures and shutter speed options between these two eKlrernes.What youset really depends onubject. the amount r:I all3ilable light and the effect you'retrying locapture. There are no hard and ast rules and as already mentioned. experience (andother pholographers' irTlilQeS) will help {OlIIO grasp the basics .What you need 10 get used to about is determining which ISO is best suited for whatyou're Irying10 shoot For instance. If you're handholding the camera and uSing a loll!: teIeroom. youshould know thai you'll need to keep Ihe shutter speed quile high to avoid camera shake, SO raisingthe ISO allows for a aster shutter speed at a given aperture. If your camera is on a tripod and shakeisn't a problem, then you can set a lower ISO. Within this guide, wc'lllook at the most commonshooting scenarios and provide essential advice on how to set your ISO ra tings to he beslpossible results. Once you've read this t;:uide, we'd strongly recommend thai you spero a couple 0/hours shooting a couple fA scenes at different ISO ra tings 10 see the affect it has on aperturesandshutter speeds. In particular, try it out in IICfY brit;:ht and qu ite dim lighting cOflclitions and see howchanging the ISO ra ting allO'NS you to choose shutter speeds and apertures not ava ilable al other ISOspeeds and wI1 ich could be the difference between adecent image and a poor one.


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024 / UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedm Digltal SLRPhotogrophy---- - -----

ISOand general photogJaphySo you're out and aOOut shooting anything that catches your eye:some sceniCS. a ew candlds. the odd archrtectural image. Howshould you determine'Nhich ISO to use? Daniel Lezanoexpla inshow he considers which ISO to set when thesubJects he'sshooting are constantly ChangingI'VE BEEN TAKING pictvres lor arourod 2Syears 1'lCPN. so I have had plenty ofpractice when It comes to getting my head around ISO ratings! And. as anyonewho learned the ropes USIng film will testify. the ISO ralml! was far more of aconsideral1on then than it s today. wtrf! Well in the 'old days' of/ilm photography,you had to decide the ISO you were going to use before you loaded upthe carnera.because each film had itsown ISO ratin!!. The of being able to change 150sbefore each shot didn't exist. Instead, you were stuck loa pa rticular 'film speed'for 24 Of 36lrames. Looking back. th is constraint was a great 'fasMrack' methodfor gettm8 lo grips with 150s. as you had to real ly give the ISO some thoughlbefore buy inglloading your film. If I was out for the dayshooting landscapes , I'duse ISO 50 or ISO 100 for the best quality, whi le for general photography an d lorflash, ISO 200 or 400 galle more lIexibility. Ionly loaded with IS08000r hil':he rwhen I knew that I was handholding in low li l':ht and had no option but to sac r ificeon qua lity to get the extra speed that was need to ':ille decent shutter speeds .rile earned this ISO-ph ilosophy over into how I shoot d igitally and halle foundthat it works pretty well. When I want the best possible quality. 1"11 use as low anISO as I can ge l aHay with and I'll onlyupthe speed if there is the risk of shake when handholdil'18 the camera. That said, I'm far happier to use speeds ofISO 4OO800then Iever was with film and each r.ewwi'Necf DSlRsseem to raisethe bar in termsol high-ISO quality. However. I'll still always try to avoid goir'@above 150800. as that's when noise becomes evident and sharpness suffers..Towards the end 01 my time With film. I found Iwas often usmg ISO 400as mygeneral-purpose speed as emulsions had got so good. Ihave to say that I-vecarried thiS workJng practice c:tJef to drgrtal. The quality 01 ISO 400 on DSLRs isnear-inclisbnguishable to lower speeds (unlessmakmg enlargements)and theexira two stops. oompared to setting ISO 100 is invaluable for a variety ofSituations. such as shooting on-the-spot portrait opportunities. or handheldsceneson a typiCally muggy British (Say_I'll drop to ISO 100on bright days orwhen usmg a tripod. unless thiS risks subject blur through movement, such astrees blOWing in thewind, but usually sticllio ISO 400. So. if you want the'wisdom' of a ooupleof decades of trial aod error, start out at ISO 400, drop downto tSO 100 when using a tnpod or on very bnght days and bump it up to ISO 800when you're shooting in dim conditions.

GENERAL FAST ACT tONThe exi ra speed 1110 !!!!!II Shlllter speeds 1110 !p!!dcftS0400 necd to be ascompared 10 tSO high as po$sible100 lMans IIiat .. ... so a fasllSO like you're mOfC tikely SOOorl600,asto have a 5hlllter .. ,.., welt as a wide " ,speed lha l allows EmIl apertllre, witt ..fo.handheld fre.ez e movi ngphotogrnphy, SlJbjects,

ISO speed

ABOVE : Youhave 10 slartsomewhereand for generalphotog.aphy,IS0400'5aaood choice,as it offersutra spe:edwilhmlnimattoss In qll"tity,RIGHT:When you'resnooting in lowlil!hl, yotI.choke cf tSOwi tt vtJirt. Ifyou're usllIj Itri pod, "tOIl eIIn. lford to set Itow ISO but iIhandholdina.you're bestse llinl " taslISOstJdl astS08OO.

O Il,..,

100200

ST t lH trEWh en YOI.I w"ntthe best possibleandcamera 5hakesubjtelsn'laproblem, then se tthetoweslpo$sible ISO.

8001800

ISO !;!Ie!ICI. - ..,... ,..,..


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GettingStarted in Digital SLR Photogrophy UNDERSTANDINGYOUR DIGITAL SLR / 0--- - ---

Expertadvice from prosonpicking thebest SOratingFour experts shed some light on selecting the nght ISO for landscapes. studio 'MJI'k. and natureISO IllIingsand natureNatureegularly haveto contend WJth poor lightingconditions and Slb)ectmovement. While II fast shutterspeed is essential to freezemovement and eliminatecamera shake. which is II realproblem v.1le11 using IIte lephoto lens handheld (8tr ipod is often imprncl ical).1have to compromise on anexposure that allows me toshoo t durinll dawn 's low light.I'm not II fan of flas h either.especi ally when shootingcl ose-ups ,as it can des troy thena tural fee l,So, Igain the ex traspeed by ra ising the ISO. 1 rynot to use speeds upwards 01ISO 800 as,althoue:h signalnoise has been greatlyimproved at higher 150s, ItcIoesgrow l'T'IOfe VISible. An ISO400 S usually sufficient,especially when combmedwith an uTlage stabilised lens.While I always reoommerdUSlI'lg the lowest ISO ratingpossible. don" bewary 01increasmg it even if it's at thesake of image Quality. A slightlynoisy image is nearly alwayspreferableCNeI a blurred one.By RO$s Hoddinott

ISO IllIings and)andscaJ:lE'SAs a andscape photographer,image quality takes precedenceover flexibil ity, so I try to opt lora small aperture and keep theISO to 100.Th is invariabl yresu lts in slow sl>utter speeds,but withmJ tripod-mountedDSLR camera shake is rare.Similar to wate r, plants shot ona WIndy day can benefit Iromslow shu tter speeds as itcreates ffiO'I'eITIent in an image.But when captlM"ing wildlife inlandscapes, I try to keep animalas sharp as posSIble. while alsore ta ining depthat-field. The smallaperture needed to keepfront-to-baclI sharpness meansthe only parameter open to meto stop fI'lOYeI'TIent at the animalis he ISO rating. Inthese cases. I tend to increaseit to between 200 and 400:enough to give a faster shutterspeed while keeptng noise to aminimum. At the end of theday. landscape photography ISabout keeping a balancebe tween the highest qualityImage and the mostaestheticallypleasing effect.By Adam Burton

Nature pllotography often requiresthe ISO to be ",ised to >etp provide-of-roeldand so 5et a low ISO. long sh..nterdd a nicI! blur to waler.

...... ..' .

When I'm shootlllg portraits.the thoughtat the forefront ofmy mind i$ deplh-offield.So.for whatever subject I'mshooting, whether" it bewedc::hngs or babies. I knoW theoptimum aperture I W!lt1t to set.Therefore, I constantly changethe ISO rat ing to ensure I have awor kable shutler speed for theshooting conditions and toavoid camera shake.If I 'm photographing a si rlgleperson or aba by I normally usethe widest aperture Ican 10 geta minimum depth-olfield,so Iget away with a very low ISO.Whereas. If I"m shooting acouple, 1"11 need moredepth-of-field (VS.6). so needat least a medlumspeec! of ISO400, whiJe; at weddmgs I useISO 16tX)-3200 for versatility.Sure there Will be more noise,bu t I'd rather have a noisysharpshollhan a blurry one,and sowwld my clients. As arule-ol-thl.lffib. ifcoodillonsar.darll_ I'll bump the ISO ratingupandwhenil"sbrighll'llknock it down_Irsa system thaihas never let me down!By Brett Harllness

ISO IllIings andstudioflashWhen I'm shooting portraits orlashlon imCl8es, I'll try to usethe iowestlSO toreta inall-important llTlage qua lity andaccurate Skin tones. The beau tyot st ud lo lights isyou canal terthe powerat the f lashheads tosuit your requirements. Ifyou're outside on a dull day andwant dep th-atfield.you would end up ha'-'ing to usea long shu tter speed to get asmall aperture. forcing you toup the ISO. With studio lighllng,you don't have this problem;you really can have your cakeand eat It. You can use a lowISO rating, narrow aperture anda fast shutter speed. prOVIdingyou have l lash heads with adecent amount 01 power. Afine for portraits. The only timeyou may find yourself having toraise the ISO speed is whenyour flash heads aren-tdelivering enough powerDecause they'rehe(l\lllydiffused. such as soft boxes, oryou want to ba lance flash andambient light. which will ottenreduce you r shutter speed.By Matt Henry

Shooting portraits presents manydifferent challenges and lighting((IrIdiUons.so I'm constantlychanging the ISO rating to give methe deptll-ol-fiekll need.

,.'". ..-I lake great ca re with my

stooiollash outfits when se tting upmy fashion images so to ligtrt mysubjects carefully. Geltlnll he bestima&e qua lity also requm as low_ISO .........

200

""8001800


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026/ UNDERSfANDINGYOUR DIGITALSLR GettingSlartedmDig,tal SLR Photogrophy-- -------------- ------

WhiteBalanceYour camera's sensor isvery sensitive to the co lourtemf:rature of light. and It'S theWhi te Balance setting that helpswith oo lour reproductionYOU'LL HAVE PROBABLY noticed thatdaylight can appear warme r or coolerat certain times of day, or season. alldthat some artific ial light sou rces producea colour cast. This is because light haswhat is known as a colour temperature,measured in Kelvins, wh ich can have amajor effect 011 how accurate ly coloursappear in your images. Digital SLRs havea While Ba lance (W8) facility thai allowsyou to set the sensor's sens itivity to aparticular Kelvin ra ting so that you canshoot images without any co lour cast.Using it correctly wi ll ensure accurateco lours in your shots.KELVIN SCALE This sca le ind icates the range of oo lourtemperatures and the Kelvin rating of the main Wh ite Ba lance presets, (it's worth I10tinglhallheselemperalures may vary from model to model), The Kelvin sca le runs from warm to cool, with the Kelvin value increasing as the light

Daylight flash1

CloudyI . Shade7QOOK 8000K 1000QK

AWB (AUTO WHITE BALANCE): The camera eva luates thescene and sets ils own Wh ite Balance accordingly. It's a goodchoice for beginners, but you should think about setting theappropriate prese t for the lighting conditions you 're shooting inwhenever possible,as il will give the most accurate colours.The value for Fluorescent light varies because the colourtemperature given off by fluorescent tubes can be different. Somecameras, in tact. have three settings 10 balance these differenttypes of fluorescent light. With Custom, you set Ihe White Ba lanceby fo llowing your digital SLR's preset procedure - it's agoOOchoice when shooting in mixed lighting.WHITE BALANCE BRACKETING Some cameras allow you tobracket the White Balance of your exposures, Th is fires an image atthe White Balance prese t you have selected, then another framethat's slightly warmer and another thaI's coo ler.SETTING THE WRONG WHITE BALANCE! You'll find that settingan incorrect White Ba lance for a given lighting condition can giveinteresting resu lts. For instance, setting Daylight when shootingindoors in arlificial (tungsten) lighting will give a st rong orangecast: setting Shade or Cloudy in brigh t sunlight wil l give a wa rme rtone, whi le setting Tu ngsten in day light wi ll give a cool. blue cast.

Whi1eBalance You can use the Custompreset to sct an exactWh ite Ba lance by US inga white su rface or grf'!-jcard (depend ing on )':XI'DSLR) as a bnchma rk.An aiterna i ll/C is to buy acustOITNTlade disc tha t ISplaced in fron t of the lens 10

,," , , ' "bk e a Wh ite Balance read ing from The adv,miage is thai it's smallenough to keep With you everywhere 'fXI go. We 'd recommerx:iyou look at the ExpoO lsc (www.f laghBad .co_uk)or obta inacheapand cherlul grey card from your loca l photo retailer.


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Getting Started in Digital SLR Photogrophy UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill/ 0--- - ---


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028/ UNDERSTANDINGYOURDIGITALSLR Ge1tlngSlartedmDig'talSLRPhotogrophy

ImagequalityWhen you take pictures. you can savethem as Raw files andAJr JPEGs. Eachfi le format has its O'Nl1 advantages anddisadvantages. which are covered hereID The Raw f ile has often been desc ribed asa 'digi tal negative ' This description relates tohow the image has been captured in its purestdigital form. with no image processing applied.Shooting in Raw is a l ittle more involved thanshooting in JPEG alld because the f iles are notcompressed, it takes longer for the image to betransferred to the ca rd . Also. you' ll find thatun less you have compatible softwa re, you won "be able to open or manipulate the image in thesame way that you can w ith JPEGs. However.when you come to open a Raw fi le. you'll find thatyou' ll be presented with severa l options to 'tweak'the image before it' s opened. For instance, ifyou've set the Wh ite Ba lan ce to Tungsten whenshooting in daylight and all your images have astrong blue cast. don 't worry, you can set theWhite Balance to Daylight on the software andinstantly correct the error. You 're also able towork on othe r parame ters like sharpness ,cont rast alld exposure. so shoolillg Raw doesgive you more fall-back op tions should you makeany mistakes.THE ADVANTAGES OF RAWt / The best possible qualityt / The opportunity 10 charlge paramete rslike White Balance and exposu ret / You can wo rk offlhe origirlal arld save asmany variarlls as you likeDISADVANTAGES OF RAWX Takes up more memory space)( Slower to processX Requires compatible software to processhe JPEG (Jo int Photographic E, pertsGroup) is the most popular type of file format.due to its versatility. Ir s wha t's krlown as a 'lossy'format, which means that you lose some imageinformation when you shoot in a JPEG format. asthe file is 'compressed so that it takes up lessspace on a memory card or computer.Theamo unt you lose is up to you - you can dec idethis by the qua lity setting you apply on yourcamera and when savillg the ima ge on yourcomputer. We'd recommend you always shoo t atmax imum quality, as yOUll be hard pushed tonotice any degradation of the image. Startincreasing the compression and you 'll discardmore image information. degrading the fina limage and lead ing to unwan ted 'artelacts'spo iling the final resu lt.THE ADVANTAGES OF JPEGt / Take up less memory. so you can li tmore images on your cardt / Faster read alld wri te transfer speedst / Sma ller l ile size makes il easie r to emailDISADVANTAGES OF JPEG)( Compressillg the fi lecan lead toimage degradation)( If you mess up with something such as theWh ite Balance or exposure. irs muchharde r to sa lvage the resu lt

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GettingSlartedmDigital SLR Pholog"",hy UNDERSTANDINGYOURDIGITALSLR/ 0--------------- -

Shooting in JPEG is very convenient and if you keep compression to aminimum, quality is In crease compression and qua lity drops.

To get the best out of your JPEGs. size and compression are two importan t factors to be consideredIMAGE-SIZE OPTIONS When you're shoot ing JPEGs. you'll usuallyfind yourself presented with twooptioos thai affect image quality.The firs! is to set the size of the image you'd like to capture. inother wo rds the number of that make up the shot. Thesettings ava ilab le are usually slated as L. Mand S (l a rge. Mediumand Sma ll ) or in mega pixels. Normall y, you'll shoot althe highestrating to make full use of all of the pixe lson the 5eflsor (i ,e. shoot asix-million pixel image if yoor DS LR has a s ix-mega pixelresolution. But if you're snooting for web use, you mightwant toreduce the image size to ma ke the tiles more manageable .

Camera I MaXimum Medium I LOlRstresoluhon resoluhon(best QualIty) (med, 1m IIQNt'S1 aualJlvlCanon EOS 400D LNikon D80 &;lOlympus E-400 SItQPHlax KlooD 6M

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IMAGE-QUA LITY OPTIONS The other qua lity setting relates not toimage size lxit to the level of compression, For the best qua li ty,always keep compression to a minimum and only choose olle of theother options as a last reso rt if yoo' re running out of capacity on you rmemory card. You'l l usually lind com pression stated as an icon orworded as Best, Beller and Good . He re's how quality settings areshown on fou r popu lar models:

Brand Least I Medium I CompreSSion Compression Compression(Dest qual'lyl (mro,um Qplrlyl (IO'M,t Qual'ly)Canon EOS400D ..Nikon D80 Normal BasicOlympus E4oo I n.7 U4 or 1/8


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OlO/ BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photography---- - -----

UnderstandingRawGetting to know what Raw files are and how they differfrom JPEGs is an essential step towards ImprovementWHATOOESRAWMEAN?Raw isn't a mode or a 'feature ' that )'01/11 lind 00 your camera: it's the namegiven to the file lormat 111 whICh you reo:rd the image. Whethe r you know itor not. you'll most likely have been shooImg aod savmg your images asJPEGs, a file format that prO'o'idesa convenient W


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UNDERSfANDING YOURDIGITALSLR/ 0


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032 / UNDEllSTANDlNG YOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photogrophy---- -- --

TheprocessofconverlingRawlmagesTaking photographs with your DSLR set to RaN rather than JPEG prOJldes you WIth literally the r


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UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill / 0

While overcast days provide ..pleasanL lattering light lor$hooll"g portraits, it can resuoIt inima&H with dllM oIoIw!. (we i_ I).Using features slJCh lIS Contr.t5t,with a slight tweak of the Exposure$Iider, transformed this shot. add ingpunc h to prev;oos/y lifeless tORe$.


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034 / UNDERSTANDING YOUR DIGITALSill Getting startedm DigItal SLR Photogrophy---- - -----

SetupyourDSLRthewayyou ike t!In less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, you can leam something newabout your digital SLR that will change the way you take pictures - guaranteed!

In the days of film, you pICked your ISO rating and you stvdI With it br thenext 36 frames. In the digital world Ihough.ISOs have become anothervanable. just like apertures and shutler speeds. You can change them inhatves or thirds 01 a slop over a range of some seven stops, dependingonyour camera. ThaI's more than th e aperture range in some standard zooms.To reflect. this, most DSLRs have anAuto ISO sett1!lgYr1'lere the ($0 isra ised automatically as light levels dim. usually in order to maintain ashutler speed for shake-free handheld shooting, Some Pentax andSamsung DSLRs ellen go so far as to include an ISO pdodty mode (SAv). wt1ere the shutter speed andaperture are both locked and it is only the ISO thot is changed ir'l response to changing light.Auto ISO is a particularly useful function fO( the street photographe r, When light levels are chang ing , butyou are working qu ickly ,you 000'1 always have chance to nohce whether your shutter speed has dipped intothe camera-shake territory or not. arKIup the ISO to compensa te,WI-ry not let your camera do this for you?Many DSLRs allow you to customise their Auto ISO option. spedfylllg a minimum shutter speed afterw11 ichthe camera will start to change ISO instead.You' ll also be able to spec ify the ma ximum ISO va lue he re, whichis crucial if this featu re isgoing to work for you. lor as the ISO climbs higher. pictu re quality terKIs 10 degrade.with mise becoming more apparent. it's worth e>cperimen tlng with your cameralof ind your own ISO limit -a setting w11ich you're happy to work at. but not beyond. If you are lucky enough to have ahigh-Spec fu ll-framecamera - like an [oS 50 Mkll or Nikon 0700 - ther1 thiS COUld be some ISO 3200 or higher. BacIc in the realworld though. it is more likely to be around ISO 640-800 on .some thing like a Canon OS 4500 or Nikon 090.

UYeVIewmodeLive s a feature that lets you compose a picture onthe D$LR's LCD monitor - a $ you might with a compactcamera - instead of through its viewtinder. When it wasfirst introWoed. many labelled It a girnrrllCk. but sincethen more and more uses lor thIS techl'lOlogy haveemerged_ The most otMous use lor Live VieW is workingat different Viewpoints WIthout puilingamuscle. Shootingfrom down below or t:Nef heads in large crowds is mucheasier this way- But there are othe1' advantages 100. Someargue that it's easier to see whether a composition willwork orl1Otbyusing the LCD monitor


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Getting started in Digital SLR Photogrophy UNDERSTANDINGYOUR DIGITAL Sill / 0- --- ---

The great thing about digital photography is the control you have CNeffactorssuch as colour sat\Jrat1()l1. C01lrast and sharpness when editingpictures on your computer - but did you kncm you can also do thiSin-camera? Most digital SLRs offer the facility to tweak image settingslike this. Some have pre'Cletermlned picture 5cltings. such asLandscapeor PortfCljt. while others give more individual cootrol CNefsettings like btightness. conbast and saturnlion, letting you save theseas presets. If your camera ofters manual control over pICture settings,here's one to get you started: try reducing the coiour saturation asmuch as you can WithOut makil'l8 theompletely mono, andthen pump uptheCO!1trast as high as it'll SQ. You'll get a hard, grittylook that is grea t for striking portraiture. Landscapers may like to trythe oppos ite - boosting saturation and leav ing con tras t set to normal.

I[sln9.your h!sIogJmllTake a picture on)lO(.lf DSLR and we bet the first thing you do afterwardsis take a good long look at the back of your camera to review the pictureon the LCD monitor. Nothing wrons with that, of course - it'sone of Ir.ebest things abou t digital photography - but car'!)10(.1 really believe whatyou are kxJklng at in this preview?Well, yesand 00 , You can zoom in andcheck that the sharpne$S is OK. and of course it'll sho:fw yoor compositionand framing, but when it comes toe)(posure, the hurrblescreen doesn'talways show the truth. It coo be influenced pailcularly by ambient light- bright sunhgtrtwill make pictures appear undere)(posed, while dimconditions Will make ttllflgS look 100 bright. The answer is to use yourcamera's histogram. thiS IS a graphIC representation of how thetones are distributed throughout the picture:on the X-axis are tones. frompure black on left-handside to pure while on the righl. On the Y-axis is thenumber oj pixels In thescene that haYe a specilic lone.Rather than interpretlhe histogram in terms oj hard andfast n..-nbers.it's better to look lor trends and shapes. For an aYerage. properly-exposedscene that contains a variety of tones. you'd expect to see an evendistributionof tones throughout the hist08ram. If the scene isunderexposed though. the hlst08ram will be skewed 10 the left-hand side(the black end). likeWise, if overexposed, the peak Will appear on thenght 0/ the scale. thiS is a much more reliable indication 01 exposureacruracy than lookll1(l at the Image itself.This is. oj course, only true for '8'Ief'age' subjects. Shoot a high-key orIO'N-key scene (ie, one filled mostly with dark or light tones) and )QUshould expect to see the his lOiram biased towards one end of the scalearrjWay. Aga in, onceyoo knO'N what 10 1001


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www .nikon .co .uk0800230220

At the heart of the Image

Karen finds it easyto take beautiful pictures.


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Getting Startedm Di9'talSLR Photogrophy BASICTECHNIQUES/ O- - - - - - - - - - -

BASIC TECHNIQUESThe essentia l knowledge you need to take impressive photos with your digital SLR


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038/ BASICTECHNIQUES GettingSlartedmDig'tal SLRPhotogrophy------------------------------------

1be undamentalsofcompositionEVERY TIME WE ra ise


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Getting started in Digital SLR Photogrophy BASICTECHNIQUES/ 0- --- ---

The first deciSIon you reed to make when oomposing aphotograph is decJdIl"lg how much, or how httle,of thescene or subject you actualty want to include - this ismainly controlled by which lens you use . Wide-anglelenses obviously have a generous angle-ot-view ldcan capture more than our eyes can see, whereastelephotos magnify the scene so you can be moreselective about what you include in theZooms CXlYeI1ng wide -angie and telephoto settings areIdeal because you can control what you include oreJa;iude Wlth greal precision.But lenses do more thanthts they also allow you to make use 01 perspectiveand scale,Wideangles seem 10stretch perspective sothe feattKes in a scene appear spaced apart. which isgreat for hnes and foreground interest.Telephotos. on the otherhand, appearto compressperspective so the features ,n a scene appearmorecrowded together than they reaUy are. allowing you tocreate clramatic images. Finally. wide-angle lensesgiveextensive depth-o ffiekl. especiall y at small apertures,so you can achieve front-Ie-back sharpness. Whereastelephotos limit depth-o(field so you can throw thebackground andrtr foreground out of focus and makespecific parts of the image stand out. such as a pe rsoosct against a potent ially distract ing background.


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Thebasicsof exposureOur largon-free guide to the fundamentals of exposure prO'v'ldes everythingyou need to know to get to gnps With apertures and shutter speedsEVERY EXPOSURE YOU take is made up 01 acombination of an aperture


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042 / BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photography---- -- --

UnderstandingyourDSLR'smetering systemBefore 1ookll"'at how you GCrI influencethe exposure. rt's best to understand haNyour canera's meteringworks. HereweVe 0JVered the essentials you need to know inorder to pick the best metering mode for different shooting ronditionsDIGITAL SlRS BOAST \.'ery sophisticated exposure systems and offer achoice of metering patterns each wor1ung out the expos!Jre in adifferent way to suit varying IIghling conditions. A camera's exposuresystem works on the assumplion that the area of thescene that is beingmetered is a mld,tone, or 18% grey to be ellOCl: the average If all dark,lights and mid,tones were ogether, It's the basis of all meteringsystems and works surprisingly well. It's important to be aware of thiswhen you're taking pictures (even if you don t fully understand it) as ithelps you know when you may have problems with exposure.While this system IS fine in the maioflty of shooting situations, it canlead to incorrect exposures when the scene or subject is cons iderab1yligh terordarker in tone than 18%grey, very darll subjects.like a black bu ilding, can fool the me lering sys tem into thinking that thegeneral scene is mUCh darllerthan it really IS and ,as a resu lt. willoverexposed the image . Similarly,very light subjects,such as a snowscene, can 1001 he camera into underexpos ing them - making themappear darker than they are - as the light meter will take a readingdesigned to render them as a mid,tone.lt's in these trickier lightingsituations, where the popular mu lti -zone pattern tIlat provides thecorrect exposlJre for around 90 percent of shots struggles as it tries tometer the entire scene . It's in cases like this where using the otherpa tterns such as partial and spot are useful as they offer more control.As a camera is trying to render an image grey, it's your job to ensureyou compensate to keep the tones true to life.To do this you have toeither overexpose the caffiCfa s reading to give a hghter result than thecamera wants. or underC!Cpo5e to give a darker result than the camerawants. So with the black building, the camera 'sexposure readingWilllead to overeJIposure, which will lighten the bllliding to grey, so you needto reduce theC!Cposure to keep it black. Wllh the snow scene iI's givingless exposure than is necessary, which ..... ll make the snow appear grey,so you need to add o make the snow look white. If you're still alittle unsure. don 't worry, ....t1en you start shooting light and dar!! objectsand then try to override thecamera 's readings, you'll soon get to gripswith it, By ur expert advice you should also increase thechancesd keeping any exposure o a minimum.

Multi-zone meteIingIn theory, you could take every using multi -zone metering andnever have a 03d ClCposure .Wel l almost... The multizone pattern is thenewest and most sophisticated type ofmetering pattern and the onemost photog raphers stick to lor the majority of their shots. While everymanufacturer has their own types of multi-zone meter, each with vary ingnumbers and shapes of zones, all work in much the same way. Basically.the entire image area is divided intoa number of ZOf)eS and whenactivated, ind ividua l meter readings are taken fmm eac h one of them.The camera's microprocessor then evaluates all these individualreadmgs and uses complex algorithms to calculate the final exposure .To improve accuracy, many cameras also boast a library of tens ofthousands of images taken in various lighting conditions , which arecompared in a micrO"second With the ne .... scene to produce theexposure value, This system has proven highly reliable and ge ts theC)(posure correct in over 90 peI'Ceflt of shooting situations. It's notpcrlect however, Wth unusualty light (eg a snow scene or white wall) orVCfY dark (eg a black door) subjects being incorrectlyexposed.Multi-zone meterscan also have trouble with VCfY high-contrast scenes.such as a backht subject, This is why there are other metering patternsavailable, as well as II choice of exposure overrides.

Recognising the multi-zone pattem loon, ,,," , ', " ", 0" ,"c" .. ,M (, ( , ' '. , " , ," l' :-'J ",- .I@ 1 Ir ..1'::...11 IKe)]1 'ee)'; ;I


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Getting Stmted in Digilal SLR Phologrophy BASlCTEOINIQUES / 0--- - ---

Exposure:ThemainproblemsAs menbrned earlier. zone meterlll: is reliable. but there are srtuatlons that can cause It problems. Here wehighlight the most romrmn sceraios to beaware of and how yo J can prevent and solve any exposure errcr

BACKlIT SUBJECT The strona bad get the torre


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044 / BASIC TECHNIQillS Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photography---- - -----

ExposurecompensationThIS IS the most oommonly used 0IeITIde ard allONSyou tomake adjustments to Increase or decrease the exposure

ONCE YOU AR aware 01 how systems WOf'II. and havegained a littleexperience usingSLR. the limes wheo theexposure system is likely to make mistake; become easier topredict and compensate lor. The SImplest way to IWerride your camera'smetered aposure is to use exposure compensation. which allows you todial In a set aposure Increment to increase (+) or decrease (- ) theexposure. For instance, a subject that IS signllicantly lighter than amid-tone.like abriCe's while wedding dress. IS likely to beunderexposed by your camera. so you roeed to select positive (+ )compensation. lIthe subject is much dariler than a mldtooe.like ablack dog, It is likely tobe rendered overexposed. Therefore. appl ynegat ive (- ) compensation. compensation is quitestra ightforward and with experience you'll be able to judge how much isneeded. All digital SLRs have a dedicated exposure compensationbutton to make it a quick and easy process in eithe r automatic orsemlautomatic exposure modes. The com pensation you set is oftenshown as + or - EV (Exposure Value). If you add a hal f-stop of e>:posureit will display as +lI2EV. whilea 113 stop reduction is shown as -JI3EV.

Exposure compensation functions differently depending on themode you use. In aperturepriority the compensation bychangmg the shutter speed. but when using shutterpriority. it'stheapertUfe thats adlusted. In program mode. the cameraautomatically decides between the aperture anctror shutter speeddepending on the hght levels so to mmimise camera $hake..

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ThI s is .typica l example of when a subjed deceives ameter ing system. When photograph ing thewhite Ull,the eamer.a attempted to rKOrdits bright, whiteplumage itS /I mid -tone andthe WitS se lected aompensationva lue01+ EV andthe subsequent imai/t Is exposed.Your DSLR"s exposurecompensation facility isuseful in any situation whenyou wish to make II picturebrighter/hghterO f darkerthan the exposure set by thecamera. While exposurecompensation IS designed forrt'l":I I\."'corrective purposes. the fC3 n fn . IJeffect can be used creatively. \ :2Ii'sextremelyeasytouse:try .,. . .. .:2 pptymg . and '-sethngs .. _ _ _ _on subjects with different ---ri\ CJ*.91 I1e @toresandseetheeffectithas. 5} \$J----=\. \ .Heffl'showtodoil: :::---r ,_....\ I. 0 , \I) Press and hold in)'OllO' QfTIer\1I's expOSUreutton(normally indicated by a +/-Icon).2) Rotate he .put dial to sele


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Started in Digital SLR BASICTECHNIQUES/ 0

Auto ExposureLock(A&-L)This useful function alloNs you to 'lock' a l exposure reacllng from asubject ClJtside your focus area, VoIhen the mainfocal point is rot a md-toneand can fool the canera s multi-zonemetenng system into giving an Inaccurate exposure

PRACTICALLY EVERY DSLRhas anAEL button. whIChis normally found on the top right 01 the camera's rear,or near the LCD monitor. AE-L is an abbreviahon lorAuto Exposure lock. It IS designed to lock the current exposure settingso that it doesI1', change when you recompose you r image - even if theIncarrllng light levels change. AEL can be used In any exposure mode.although it is pointless If you are shooting in manual mOOe.When you press the shu tter button down halfway, you engage the AFto focu s and the meteringsys temlo take a reading.ThaI's ideal most 01the time, but what about when you wan t to focus and meter fromdlffCfent subjectsor parts of the scene? That's where AE-Lock comes in.Th is uselul feature allows you to take an exposure read ingindependerrtly of where you locus, which is ideal if your sub ject is verydark or light or positioned in a bright or dim area o/the scene .AE-L is most comlTlOl1ly used with the spot or centre'weightedmetering pattern in orde r to 'Iock ' the reading ta ken from a specific areaof the frame. Thi s s pa rticu larly useful in tr icky lighting cOl1d itions thatca ll fool your melering system - l ike backlit objects orsubjects withvery dark or lie:ht backe:rounds .For instance. if )oQU are shooting a scenecontainine: a brie:ht lie:ht source in part of the frame. yourcamera'smultl'zone metercould be fooled by this light area imo thinl


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046/ BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photography---- -- --

Histograms:Anaid tocheckingexposureOne of the most useful tools available to digital SLR photograrilers IS the hlStogrGm, but It is also one of the leasturdersto::xj. Here we explaln.......t1at function it and hem}QlJ can use It to check exposure on locationIN BASIC TERMS, a histOSranl is atwo-dimensiooal graph, often resembling a range 01 mountarnpeaks thai represenls an image's tonal range.. While, at firs! glance. histograms may appear qUitecomplex and confusmg, they are actually very simple to read, They are an essential aid for digitalSLR photographers striving 10 achieve conSIstently correct exposures in-


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Getting started In Digital SLRPhotogrophy BASlCTEOINIQUES/ 0- --- ---

Advanced Technique ExposingJo_the 'Expos ing lethe right' is fast becomino: a widely-acceptedapproach to he lp maximise Image quality - although it app lies if you shoot in Raw. With this echt1iQue youefteclnl'ely push exposure settings as close tooverexposure as possible without clipping the highlights.The result isa histogram with the majority of 10the right - hence the term 'expose lolhe fight'.The togk: of this ilPPfoach can only be understoodonce you awedate that CGo and CMOS sensors countlight photons in a linear fashion. Unear capture hasimportant implicalionson exposure. Most digital SlRsrecord a 12-M ,mage capable d recording 4.096lonalvalues over six stops. However. while you might automaticallythink that each IA;top of the Six-slop range would record anequal amount of the tonal value total. this is not so. The levelcorresponds exactly to the number 01 photons captured. so inreality. each stop reoords half the light of the prevIOUS one. forexample, half of the levels are devoted to the brightest stop (2,048),half of the remainder (l024 levels) are devoted to the next stop etc,Asa result, the last of the si . stops only boasts 64 levels, At l irst,this might seem confusing and the relevancy not obvious, However,in simple terms, ....mat it means is if you do not properly use the rightside of the histogram, which represents the majority of tonal values,you are wasting up to hOllf the 8VOIilable encoding levels.So if youdeliberately underexpose to ensure detail is retained in thehighlights - a common practice OImong many digital pho tographers- you are potentially losing a IOIrge perce ntage of da tOl. No ise can be

Significantly IIlcreased as a result - particularly to midtones andshacIows. This is because, wilen you open upthe shadow areasdunng Raw conversion, in orOOlo lighten an image, you have tospread the64 levels in the darkest stop over a wider tonal range. So,while it"s important not tooYerexpose images so the highlightsIlkm, 'ClIPOSlng to the right' is a logical approach tOCliposure. Themethocl needs applying With care. and re lies heavily on using thehistogram toavoid 'cllppmg', Image Quality, When using th isapproach you may notice that images appear light and washed outon the lCO moOilO!". Don't worry - colour and contrast can bequickly restored during Raw conversion, 'Exposing to the right" is anadvanced technique that many experienced photographers are stillgetting used to. so don't worry if you find it confusing. Mas ter ou rbasic techniques atld once you're confident, give this one a try.


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048 / BASICTECHNIQUES Gettmgstarted m Di91talSLR Photogrophy- ---

ShootstunningsunsetsRoss Hoddinott provides expert advice onhowto proouce perlectly exposed sunset shots

WHO CAN RESIST reaching lor theircao:nera wheo po-esenled wrth acolourfulSlXISet? One of nature's most

.,

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photosraphers make when shooti"!! sunsets isto take pktures ...nile the sun is still too high andbright in the sky. Unless the Sll is heavilydiffused by cloud or haze. ils inlcrlSlty will be toostrong lor your camera's sensor 10 feca-d.ConseQuently. the sun (


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GettingStarted mThgttal SLR Photography BASICTECHNIQUES/ 049- -- ---

WhIle Balance and sunsetsCok:u temperature has a huge impact Qf l the lookand leel of your elCpostJreS. To keep the coloursfaithful to the original scene. it is important 10marually select the White Balance preset that mosttlosely ma tthes the prevailing lighting tonditions.000 '1ely on the autOlTliltic setting. ForeX6l1Ple . select your camera 's cloudy J)""eSeI whenit is overcast. White Balance can also be usedas a lorm of in-t3mer3 filtration. By deliberatelymisma tchillg the W8 setting to the scene. you caneither intff ltionally warm up or cool down the image.For example, selecting the Shade preset will addexira wa rmth to sunsets. some thing tha t is oftendesira ble. The following sequence illustrates theeffect 01 Wh ite Balance presets on a sunset scene.

When shooting suR5eb, the tightwin often be quite dim, so it'sdifficult to assess the exposureby IooI


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050/ BASICTECHNIQUES GettingSlartedm Dig,tal SLRPhotogrophy-- -------------- ------

ExposingbacklitsubjeclsPaul Stefan shOW'S how a spot meter, reflector and till-in flash are all too ls to help you J::rfectly expose a backlit subject

tlHOOT ING A BACKLIT subject ( i,e.with

.. the sun behil1d t hem) ISno t someth in g I dotoo often, as It certa inly comes w ith

its chal lenges. If you're not prepa red torit. your re5U ltscan often be qu ite unpred ictab leand , rnoreoften than not. your sub ject will beunderexposed and look rather flat. This tutorialfor begi nners will help you to understand there lat ively stra ightforward steps you can take toend up with great results.Let"s beg in with why letting the camera makethe dec isions fo r you is not the best opt ion , It'soften so easy to stick your camera on Full Au tomode and lei it dec ide lheexposure, For portraitsin wllich the ligh t is shi ning OIl the sub ject 's face.or off slig htly tothe side . uSing Aulomodesometimesworks just fine. as theexposurelevels may not be too extreme, Howeve r, it youpos ition your subject so that the light source is

behind them (so you're shoot ing towa rds themand thesunor ligll t source), your camera is like lyto get the exposure wron.g and usua llyunderexpose the subject,This happens because thecamera'smulti-zone exposure sys tem wi llevalua te theoVral l scene , Given that you are poi nting thecamera towards the light sou rce, t will alwayslook to expose the shot for a bright scene,causing the darker areas - in this case theperson - to be unde rexposed,Tak ing rTIOfC control overyour camera willgreatly impr(1Ve the image and enable you to gettheexposure you rea lly want. One of the eas ieslways for beg inners todo Ihis is10 set you r DS lRto ape rture -p riority and use the spot meter alongwith AE Lock to fix the light read ing. With thismethod, you take a spot reading from theperson's face , regardless of the ight cond itions

around the subject, wh ich should result in ape rfectly expose d person every time (assu mingyour sub ject hasCaucas ian skin - if not, take aspot meter reading off clothing, grass or any areaof mid- tone in the same lighting cond itions).Wh ile this isan easy and qu ick method, itdoesn't come without issues. For example, if thesurround ing scene is also important for the sho t,you may find that it turns out to be overexposedif it's ighter than your su bjec t. One way aroundthis wou ld be to take the mete r read illg from aninbetween subject and then use you r camera'sflash to fill the foreground in with light, giving amore ba lanced exposure across the whole scene.Equally, a reflector will also he lp this, as it willbo unce natu ral light back towards your subjectand hallC a similar fill- in effect. If you're fee lingreally adllCn\urous, why not try a mi>


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Shootinga scenewith lots ofskyRoss Hoddinott explains how to use NO grad filters to achieve a perfectexposure In a scene in which the sky is far brighter than the foreground

INCWOING LOTS OF sky can adddrama ca l images - one exposed for It-.eforegrou nd and OIle for the brighter sky - ar"Idmerge them OIl your complJler. Howeve r, mostlandscape pho tographe rs prefer to correc t theproblem in-came ra using Neu tral Density (NO)graduated filters . These filters are halfclear andha lf-coa ted wi th a transitional zOile where theymeet. Theneutral density coat ing is designedto absorb light. so by positioning it In the filterhojder sc that the coated area oovef'S the sky,you can balance the and achieve acorrect e:.:posure throughout tt-.e scene with oneframe and without the hassle 01 having to blendimages. Graduated NDs are 311ailable in differentdensities to '>lIit different lighting condltions-a O.3ND equals a one-stop e:.:posure reruction,O.6ND a and D.9NO equates to threestops. To show you how to solve the problemd shooting an UIle\e"IIyht scene. boasting alarge sky, I headed out to the rugged beauty 01Roughtor on Bodmm moor WIth my Lee FilterslOOnm NO graduate set.

I was a $tonny evening when Ivis ited Roughtor, so I decided toinclude mOft! sky than toregrOlJnd . 1settled on a simple composition, usingtile granite OIJ tcrops as loregrol.lnd Interest I sel my Nikon 03OOtoaper1l.1re-ptlority, selecling an aper1l.1re ofV16 for a dtoep dtopth-offield n order to preYf!nl high lights In tile sky from burning oul, I decided totake a spot meter read," , from t ile sky. I swltclled my OSLR to spot: meteringand took a reading from a briKhI re, lon of the $kyoTh is gave me a shutlerspeed of 1I80sec, I Iocked th rs settlng il)l press ing the AEl button, and to-ol


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s.eene's rangt! of brightness was too great lor my DSLR's dynamic"'n&e To show this, 1 ook another shot, this lime correctly metering for theioregtotlnd.1spot rom the granite, giving m e an exposure time of1I10sec - again at 1/16 .The det . . in the rock wMgood but. a, anticipated, thelonger expo$Ute blew out the sky. ruining the image. I could erged t l>esetwo eXpOSUrH in Ph(lioshop. bu ll wanted to a 'perfe.:I' exposure in"i:ilmera.

L!i!illill!J,dWe are used to seeing a sky that is brigt1ter Illan the land, 50smoothine out any dilference between them gives an unnatural resu lt. Thismeans it's best to use an ND grad wllh a density of around a slop less Ihanthe ac tual difference In brightn ess. For exa mple, if the difference betweensky and land Is four slops, use a th ree-slop grad (O.9ND). il it's three slops.use a two-stop grad (O.6ND) and 50 on. In Ihis C35e I replaced my thru-stofilter with II two-1ltop filter. and the I'HUIt looks much more natural.

I i ! E ]If the sky Is brighter than the land, you can balance the exposure positioni ", the gr;lIdua ted lone 01an NO gr;lId filter over the lighter sky, In thisInstance, the difference In ellPOiWre be\wef!n the land (1I10sec) and sky(1I8()se.c) amou nted to three slops.So, I positioned a three -stop graduated Nfilter in my camera', filter system, care fully aligning the transitional zone withthe horizon. However, the result looks a lillie too even and unnatural.


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The basicprinciplesof aperturesWhat ISan aperture? HQIN do yt>U control it? Whatdoes It actually do? All thesequestions and moreare answered In an easy to follow. Jargon-free styleWHAT IS AN APERTURE?An aperture is the iris within a lens that cootrols the amount all ightallowed to pass from the front to the rear of Ihe lens. A wide apertureallows lots of light through. while a narrow aperture restricts theamount of light. The various aperture settings appear as Vnumbers,wh ich you'll see on your LCD monitor and in the viewfinder. There's along-winded and boring scientific expl


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AperturesandexposureKnowing how aperture settings affect the exposure isone of the first things you need toget togrips withEVERY EXPOSURE YOU make Is determined by three key variables:aperture, shutter speed aocIlSO rating. When you take a picture inapertlJre-pl'lority mode. the ISO rating remains 'fixed' unless you changeit yourself. in othef v.ords the ISO isnot influenced by the aperturesetting)OU select. However, that's not true of the shutter speed, whichautomatically increa5eS or clecreases to provide the correct exposure !ofthe aperture thai you select. You can see for yourself by setting Av (or A)on your camet' lI and rotatpertwesarxi !ow-lig1ll9OI!9.i!ifmsWhen you're shooting indoors or in low ligl1t, you will be working with alimited amount of avai lable light and need to take the appropriateaction. Assum ing you 're notusing flash, the key thing 10 do s to have anexposure that doesn't suffer from camera sha ke.The two best ways to do this are as fo llows:I) SET A WIDE APERTURE AND INCREASETtISO RATING Select the wides t apertu re o SiYethe fastest poss ible shutter speed. If irs sti ll 100slow, increase the ISO rating un til you have a fastenough shutter speed, This is the best approad'lif harl


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For real creative oontroL practise using djfferent aperturesettings and see hoNsharpness d1angeswithin the sceneTHE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN apertures and depth--offield IS quite possiblythe most importsnt thing foro get to gnps with in photography. Thankfully.it's very easy to understand: here's a quick explanation. Depth--offield relates tothearea in front 01 and behind the point 01 focus that appears sharp. ThedeptI1--of-fieid m a scene is determmed by a nLrnber of factors, including th efocallengttl01 the lens you use and how far


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Apertures and 'sharRness'We've alreadyassessed how choosing a smallaperture increases depth-offield.whichboosts sharpness tMlughout the scene. II'salso worth notlflg how apertures call affectsharpness in two otherways. .OPTIMUM LENS SHARPNESSEvery lens has an optnnom senir'IQ to givethe very sharpest results and in the maJOrityof Instances. this is between IIa and1113.OlfTRACTION While a small aperture givesITlOfll depth-o(-field. it can also lead to inferioroptlC3! quality. so the benefit 01 one iscancelled out by the other. thiS usuallyhappens when V160r s used. Theeffect varies from lens to lens


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060 / BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting started m Diglta l SLR Photography---- -----

landscapesLandscape specialist Lee Frost shoNs whyaperture-priority is the most practicalexposure mode to use 'Nhen shooting scenicsONE Of THE FUNDAMENTALS d successful landscapephotography IS being able to control and assess to ensure thai the Image is sharp from frorn-to-bock.Aperture-priority mode helps you to achieve this, not onlyby forcing you to think about which aperture to set, bu t also bymailing sure that once it is set, that aperture won't change iflight leve ls fluctuate or rou attadl filters tothe lens. If theexposure has to be ad justed v.t1en shooting in aperture-prioritymode, tr.c camera does it by changing the shutter speed, sothe aperture remams cons tant. This is vitally importantbecause ac hieving depth of-field is not just aboutaperture se lection, but also focusing distance ,and aca refulbalancingac t between the two is requi red to ensure the bestpossible resu lts, You cou ld take every picture at tr22, willl thelens set to Infinity, and most wiolNngle sho ts wou ld end upwith f ront-to-back sha rpness. Unfortunately, this simpleapproach doesn'tork - so you're not going to get thebest results. Wide'angles and zooms lend to give their worstoptICal performance when at mmirll.Jm apertlXe and lheir bestround lI S 10 V13, so ideallyyou should shootasclose to these settings as you can to achieve optimum opticalquality, and focus the lens at a distance thai depth-of-field at that aperture.MyechnIQue IS based around somellling knownas hyper10cal fOCUSIng. whICh involves focusing on a point noknown as the hypertocal distance, where depthdfield ismaxlITl!5ed for the aperture in use. Lenses used to feature ahyperfocal distance scale on thebarrel but virtually none dotoday. There is an equation for calculating hyper10cal distancefor any lens


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062 / BASIC TECHNIQUE) Getting Startedm Dig>tal SLR Photogrophy

riority:ShootingnatureRoss Hodd inott explainshow this shootingmode helps him cap turegreat nature sho tsWHEN PHOTOGRAPHINGNATURE. one oftl1e keys to successis being ab le to select the most appropriate exposure sett ingswith speed and eff iciency, For example, when shooting flightybirds or insects, you can't afford to waste valuableljme bypressing too many buttons and twiddl ing dials, otherwise, you rsub ject might move Q( scurry away beforeyou 've had time torelease fuecamera's shutter. For this reason. whichevere!


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Getting Started in Digital SLR Photog"",hy BASIC TECHNIQUES/0


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064 / BASICTECHNIQUES Getting startedmDigltalSLR Photography---- -- -FwtheradvicetocontrollingAs well as expIalnulgwhat depth-of-field is. ..-.e'lishoN ycxJ hoN to rontrol l t for creative resultsWHAT IS OEPTH-oHIELO?thiS is the term that describes the extent fA theea in an image!hat appears sharp. This area is behind and in Iron! oIlhe actualpoint d focus and how much depth.j)/-lieId is In the imagedepends on oertam faclOI'5 (elCplamed in the panel below).Depth.j)/-lieIdcan be htefally millirnetresor extend acrossanentire landscape and learning how to conlrol and manipulate it is avital step on your road to taking better pictures.For general photography. depth-oHieJd extends one -third iniront of the POint of focus and two-thirds behind.It S importarTI toremember this, especiallywhen sI100ting landscapes.We'll coverthis n moredetaillater. particularly when exp laining hyperiocaliocus ing. Wilt1 mac ro photography,howel/er, the depth-oHield iniront oitrte point of focus is equal tothe amount behi rxLHOW MUCH OEPTH -OF-FIELD001 NEED?There are no rules 10 how muchdepth-oHield you r.eedtomake a picture work. asphotography isso subjective.However. photographers ....tIcspecialise in sI100ting certa insubjects tend to have distinctpreferencesas to theamount fA dep th-oHieldrequired. For instance.landscape. commercialand SC ientificphotographers generallytend to use broaddepth-o/-fieJd.so !hat as much 01 the scene as possibleappears sharp. whereas portmrt phoIographers lend tofavour a sI1a1low depth-ot-field. making the subject stands outfrom a nicety blurred baclqj:round.In olhef words. ....nile there is no hard and fast rule that says youmust ilIm for shallOW depth-of-fleJd when shooting subject 'X. andbroad depth-of-fieldwhen shooting subject 'Y', some types 01scene or subject are better SUited to a shallow depth-oflield. whileothers lOOk best W1th everything in sharp focus. Irsworth aiming toconform 10 these tried and tested methods to start with. !hen onceyou'l/e gamed a littlemore elCperience, start elCperimenting. Themain conslderotiOl1 to make is how you war'lt you r subject 10 relateto the res t of the scene - do you want it to stand out from thebackground,do you need enough deplh-oHield 10 keep a ce rtair'larea ir'l focus , or do you want the en tire scene to appear sharp?

What Depth-ol-lield isn 't con trolled by a single setting ordial on yourcamera, but ills Influenced by three main fac ton. Learning whatthese are andow they WOf1I togethe!' will allowyou toset up your shob to prodJce the effects you wanl1) APERTURE SETTINGThe aperture you select will have amajor affect on depth-d-field. Using aperture-priority, set awideaperture(i.e. use a lowfA1umber, l ike tl4)and thedepth-o/-field will be shallower than il you had sel a smalleraperture (sucfl as VI6). Changing apertures IS the eas iestto vary the amount d depth-o!-field m the scene.2) SHOOTING DISTANCE hedis tance betweeo subject andcamera, or shooting distance. alsohas a major influence ( ) f ldeplfl-ol-field.fo r any given aperture. the closer you are toyour subJect. !he less !he deplfl-of-field there will be. In otherwads. if you take a picture oJ a subject from two metres i fNajat lIS. the image Will have lessdepth-of-lieldthat shooting thesame subject from len metres with the lens still 3) FOCAL lENGTH o r LEN SThe Iongei'the focal lenglh of alens. the eplh-of-lield il giYeS at a given aperture. Forinstance, if you set flSon your 18-55mm ki t lens and take apicture of a subject at bo th extremes oi the leos , you'll seelha tthe shot at 18mm has more depth -oi-fi eld than at 55mm.

m ""

-- -

o these three factors. to get the maximum depth-ol-field. you'd usethe Widest possible lensselto the smallest aperture and shoot from a distance:and 10 get the least depth-of-field. you'd use the most powerful local lengthava ilable to you, setting the lens 10 its widest aperture and shooting at themir'limum focusing distance .Of course. going to these three elClremes is rarelypractical, bu t byfollowing one or two of lt1e above three factOl'5. you will have averygood degree of control over the depth-ol -field in your sho ts .


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Getting Started in Digital SLR Photogrophy BASIC TECHNIQUES / O

Some Jenses are specllicallydesigned to give the userfT'IOre control over locus anddeplh-of-field. TiIVshifl(perspectIVe control) lensesallow users to adjust theaogle 01 the focus plane.creatll-Ig very shallQ.'l (and highly.fieid. They arecorm-oonly used in abstract artistic andarchiteCIur.t1 phoI08raptry. AcheaperalternatJ'.'e is a Lensbaby. Sta"ting ataround 50. the effect Is reminiscent of thebellO'NS camera. as they allowusers tolocus by movins the bendy lens barrel,to pICk out a sweet spot' (area to be infocus). For detailson the Lensbabiesrange. VISIt: WWW,intr02020,C(/.uk

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OM / BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedm Digltal SLRPhotography--- ---Using depth-of-field inyourporbaitsBy altenng your Shooting distance. being creative with heM' you focus and thinkingabout yuur Choice of aperture. you can learn to really make your p,ytraltsstand outTHERE ARE fEW. if WIY. more rew'OfX last.preferrifl810 ooncentraleon interact,ng WIth thesubject and minifTllse having tochange settmgs.If you w..n to include more 01 !heenvironment inthe scene. a smaller aperture (usually coupled witha WIder lens) is required to keep the back8round. aswell as!he subject. in locus.While ambient light is often ideal. you should alsoconsider USing a studio-flash kit. As well as allowingyou 10 controllighhng d irection. you C l also adiustits intensity to provide the oorrect lighting levels youneed to use whichever aperture you wool.A echn ique that works really well is 10 capture aportrait ....nere the zone 01 sharp1eSS isextreme lyshallow.The easiest way to do Ihis is to follow all the'tricks' that are requ ired to gIVe an mage the mos tshal low deplh-oHield poss ible. namely using atelezoom set to the ma ximum aperturewith a ela tivelyshO!1 shooting distance. The resultof U1 is is a tight cropof the face where ,bar asmal l focused area. muchof

-HOOTING DISTANCEBoth shotswe re taken us lna; tile $aITIe lens andaperture,bu l depth-of-fi eld was by chana;ina;tile shooting distance. Theshorter distance gives essdepth-ol-field, which blurs the window blinds.

the frame is tlYownoutof focus .Theresull isa YC('j'soft' image that.with some thought grvento lighting.can iookroma nlic if lit bydlffused ligh t er more artyand striking il strOf'G directional light is used .Whenus ing this te


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_ Getting started in Digital SLR PhotO\j""'-""------- BASIC TECHNIQUES / 0

By shooting this rtr.>it itt112.8, imited10 the Sllbied's face. with her'-'Y and the b;K;kdrop "'.inabeautifuly out 01 focus.


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Oba/ BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedm Digltal SLR Photography---- -----Control depth-of-fteld inclose-upsBy reducing the distance between subject and camera, you Increase the Impactcaused by depth-of-field. Here, we give you a few key tips to better oontrolDEPTH-OF FIELD is one at the most important creatilleelements at close-up photography. The lack of distancebetween the subject and the carneras sensor means thearea thai appears sharp Will bevery limited. Dependingonhowethot up. itcould be just mere millirnetres.even when USing a small aperture! For thIS reason, macrophotographyreq .nre5 very accurate focusing, even beingfractionally off with)'OUr locus could result in anout-Q/-focus result. AgoOO kroaNIedge of apertures is thesingle most important factor. as the lhIumbef youchoosewill have the greatest infl l!enCe on the amount ofdeplh-oHield in your image. But macro photographybrings With it its own unique cha llenges and rules.One notable difference between macro and othertypes 01 photography is how dep thof.field is even lydistribu ted in Iront 01 and beh ind the point ollocus. Inother wo rds. the amount 01 the scene that appears to besharp will be equa l bo th in front 01 and pointol locus. nother areas of pho tography. the distribution is V3 in frontand 213 behind the point of focus.It is important to have an idea of how muchdepthot-field bes t suits you r subject. For arty. abstractcloseups. or shots in vm lch you only want one specifICpoint to appear in focus, such as on a flower. shallOYt'depthoHield is best. keeping only a small part of a petal orstamen In 10C1.ls- For this.ould use the widest apertureavailable on your lens. It. however. you were shootinganinsect, such as a dragonlty. and want to keep the wholesubject sharp.ould use a small aperture, such as tl22.The aperture is not the onlyhat you can influencedepth-oflield: the position of your DSLRs sensor is also crucial. The tocal plane runsparallel to the sensor, so If you want to keep your subject sharp. your subject must besquare on to the camera. By rotating or tilting the camera (and sensor plane) you canreduce depth-offield furthef. as the subject will fTlO\/e out of the focused area QUiCker.(To line up. use the back 01 your camera or the-9 - symbol on the top-plate as a gUIde. asit is parallel With the sensor!) Finally. the other way to have a major affect ondepthoIfield is by using selectille focus. as described belOYt'.

ABOVE: Theseshots show howthe depth-ol-rlelde.nbeVylimited whenshootinlj: at dose


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Thebasic principlesofshutter speedsSo.what are shutter speeds? How are they controlledand what do they do? Read on for the answers totheseand other shutter speed-related queriesWHAT ARE SHIJTTER SPEEDS?The shutter speed is the preeisely-callbrnled lengtholtime that a camera'sshutter remains open to enable the correct amount 0/ light to pass throughthe lens to expose the sensor. The majorityof images taken require speedsd just a fracllon ofa seconcI. although shutter times can potentially run tosecoods, minutes or. in the case of some specialised forms of photography,even hours. The shurterspeed dicta tes how motion is recorded. Afastshutter speed will frcezesubJect movement - perlecllysuspendingaclionand recording fifle detail. Setting a slow shutter will blu r movement -helping tocreate a visual fcel ins of motion and energy.Digital SLRshave a wide range of shutte r speeds , typical ly from 30seconds to speeds of.or exceeding , a staggering ly fast V4OOOsec. Mostdigital SLRs also have a 'Bu lb' setting. whidl allows the sIlutterlO beopened fOf as 10I'1!! a yoo depress theshutter release button.HOW ARE THEY CONTROLLED AND WHAT DO THEY DO?Combmed with any ens aperture, the shutter speed is des igned toallow sufficient light to reach the Image sensor to produce a correctlyexposed image. If the shutter speed Is too last, not enough light will reachthesensor. SO the resultlllg shot will be toodark, I.e. underexposed. InOOI1trast. ilthe shutter speed Is too slow. too much light will strike thesensor, resulting in an image that IS too bright. i.e. a.rerexposed.If you ere using your digital SLR inone of its automated exposuremodes. the shutter speed - along With the CO'"respondlng aperture - will beset automatically. While thiS IS the easiest option. it doesn't give youanycontrol CHef theYIa-I your subject IS recorded. After al l. while your cameramay be highly sophisticated, It IS not able to precllCi the effect you want toachieve. Therefore. if you haven't already. It is time to grasp control of you""carTlef3 !)It selecting shutter'prionty (S or Tv) mode.Shutter-pOorlty is a semiautomatic mode that allcM's you to manuallyselect the shutter speed, while the camera sets a rorresponding !Mop toachieve the a correct exposure. Therefore. it really isn't as complex ordaunting as you might il"T"lilgine and there are no tricky calculations tomake. Instead. thIS mode allows you to concentrate on selecting a shutterspeed that will suit the subject you are about to photograph. Thts choicewill grea tly dictate the look. of your final shot. influencing the appearance ofthesubJ!!Ct's motion .. as we Will discover ovef" the following pages.

II shooting longe1posures in low light.there wil l often bequitead itferen


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072 / BASIC TECHNIQUES Getting startedmDigltal SLRPhotography---- -- --

Shutter speeds& exposureYou've made a posItive step by selecting your camera'sshutter-priority exposure mode: but before you canbegm setting shutter speeds with confidence, you mustunderstand the affect It has on your exposureEXPOSURE IS INFlUENCED by three variables; shuttef"speed,lensaperture and ISO sensitivity. Thecamerawlll not alter the ISO sensitivityin shutterpriority mode (S or Tv) - only you can do this. by adjusting itmanually. However. the iMopwill alter, depending on the shutter speedyou select. This is because shu tter speeds and apertUf"es have a reciprocalrelationship - if you increase one. here must be an equal and oppositeadlustment in the other to maintain the correct exposure.To he lp you to understand this relationship, grab your camera. sw itch itloshutterpriorily mode. and adjust the shutter speed by rotating theinputor command dia l. You will notice howthe fflllJmber ch ilnges inresponse to the shutter speed you se lect. Thissimple exercise wi ll he lpyou to appreciate the way exposure works .For example. ilyou se l a fas tshutter speed. the ape rtu re Will be larger (a low f!number. such as 114 wi llbe selec ted) to allow more light to pass throogh; il you select a slowshutterspeed.

getting started in digital slr photography (1)

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