Get The Picture By James Rich
Five Crucial Settings ! White Balance ! Aperture/F-Stop ! Shutter ! ISO ! Resolution
White Balance What is it? White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. An incorrect WB can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green color casts, which are unrealistic and particularly damaging to portraits.
Eight basic WB settings Auto WB Custom WB Sunshine Shade Cloudy Day
Flash
Fluorescent Tungsten/Incandescent
What the settings mean? Auto WB: Automatically sets the white balance based on camera light reading Custom WB: This allows the photographer to set their own custom light according to the light available at the location. EX. Gym lighting. Flash: This is used when the photographer is using a flash to assist them with their photos. Fluorescent: This setting is used in most classrooms and office settings. This is only good when taking photos with available fluorescent light.
What the settings mean? Cont. Tungsten: This setting is used in most gymnasiums and auditoriums. Use this setting when you are in your gym or where there are hanging lights instead of flourescent lights. Cloudy Day: This setting is used when you are outside and the sun is not shining. If it is overcast this works great. Shade: This setting is used when your are taking photos near a building overhang or under an breezeway where there is sun outside but the subject is standing in the shade. Sunshine: This setting is used (you guessed it) when the sun is very bright outside. HINT: you might however use a flash when there are many shadows from the sun.
What do they look like: The photos below were taken in the same lighting condition using the White Balance listed beside the photo.
Cloudy Day
Tungsten
Fluorescent
Flash
What is ISO? The ISO setting on the camera determines how sensitive the film/digital media of your camera is to light. The higher the ISO number the more sensitive the camera media is to light. The Lower the ISO number the less sensitive the media is to light.
What ISO works best? Classroom/outside: In the case of dim light use 400 ISO and sometimes 640 or 800 depending on light.
In the gym/auditorium: Use an ISO of 800. NOTE: Do not go above this because the higher the ISO the grainier the photo will appear in print.
How does ISO affect the photo? Classroom
200 ISO
400 ISO
800 ISO
How does ISO affect the photo? Gymnasium
200 ISO
400 ISO
800 ISO
What is Aperture? The Aperture refers to how wide the opening is inside the camera lens. The Aperture controls the amount of light traveling through the shutter when it is open. Aperture is measured by F-Stop numbers on the camera. Animation http://www.photocourse.com/itext/exposure/
Example: The larger the # the less light you have traveling through your camera making the photo darker. The lower the # the more light you have traveling through your lens making your photo brighter.
How does Shutter affect the photo? The Shutter speed affects both light and stopping action in your photograph. Shutter and Light
Shutter and Action
Fast shutter = Less light: darker photo
Walking = 1/60 Slow run = 1/125 Fast Motion = 1/200 Animation http://www.photocourse.com/itext/speedseries/
slow shutter = More Light: brighter photo
Animation
http://www.photocourse.com/itext/shutterspeed/
Examples of shutter & Action? The Shutter speed was changed on these photos to show the affect the setting had on action in the frame.
1/250 @ F-Stop 2.8
Auto @ F-Stop 2.8
1/60@ F-Stop 2.8
What is Shutter? The Shutter speed refers to the amount of time the camera medium(film,card) is exposed to light. Shutter is the door that opens either up and down or in rotation to expose the medium to light.
Putting shutter & F-Stop together The See Saw method is used to describe how the F-Stop works with the shutter to create the best light for your photograph. Fast shutter = Smaller F-Stop # For best light
slower shutter = Higher F-Stop # For best light
Animation http://www.photocourse.com/itext/seesaw/
How does resolution affect the photo? The Resolution of a photograph is measured in DPI(dots per inch). This refers to the amount of dots in the photo. The more dots you have the sharper the image will print. A 300 DPI photo will be sharper than a 72DPI photo.
Things to know about resolution? Most photos that can be emailed or pulled from a website are at 72DPI and are usually very small. In order for a photo to print at maximum quality it should be at the size desired and 300DPI. A 4”X6” photo at 72DPI becomes approximately a 1” X1” photo at 300DPI.
How does your camera affect resolution? While some digital cameras allow you to set your photo quality to either fine, medium or small. For maximum DPI always use the fine setting or Large setting. If your camera is less than 4 mega pixels most images are recorded at a very low resolution.
Taking a look at Resolution Photo 300 DPI
Photo 72 DPI
This photo was originally 8X10 72dpi now 3X5 300dpi
Useful information Contact information: James Rich: jarich@duncanvilleisd.org Useful websites:
http://www.photocourse.com
http://www.nikonusa.com/ http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/