Virtual Digital Photography Simulator

Hello guys,

After going through the basic lessons I think you all are ready to have some hands on experience on a Digital camera. While going through the web, I discovered this interesting web simulator of a digital camera.

In order to use it, I would suggest start by changing one of the parameters (say ISO) and then see what changes do you observe in the picture. This will give an answer to what to expect when you have some particular setting. However it could have been better if the simulator could have given you an opportunity to change the environment and then change the settings to see what suits for what environment.

Anyway enjoy this interesting simulator...

Digital Camera Simulator

Now that you have tried and tested your concepts, there must be some further doubts. Please leave your doubts as a comment below.

Cheers,

Kumar

What is Shutter Speed in Digital Photography?

Shutter Speed is simply the speed with which the shutter of your camera shuts down. Ashutter is a way again to control the amount of light that you allow to enter your camera. A faster shutter speed will close your camera quickly and thus allowing lesser light to enter and for a slower speed you will get more light and hence a brighter picture.

Having said this, you need to first understand what happens when some object is moving. When an object moves, basically for every single minute position change that it undergoes, we can have a new image. Now if you try and take a picture of all those different positions that the object takes while moving on a single photograph, it would look hazy/blurry. It is sometimes desirable but undesirable most of the times. Now coming back to our shutter speed, If you keep your shutter speed slow, then you are keeping your photographic sensor exposed to longer time and so, allowing all the images that are formed during the movement of the object to appear on a single photograph. This gives a blurry image for a moving object.

It is therefore advised to have a very high shutter speed to capture moving objects in still mode. A high speed shutter closes in a fraction of second and so it captures just one position taken by the mobile object. However, sometimes we want to have Blurry image in which case we need to have slower shutter speeds.

Look at this falling fruit. First image is taken at higher shutter speed and the second one at a lower shutter speed. Note: Blurry effect and Still photography

Another important thing about shutter speed is that, since with slower speeds, you are allowing more light to enter your sensor, so even if it is a dark area, the sensor is exposed to it for longer time. So, atleast a few light rays will surely strike the sensor and so you can have an image brighter than normal photoshoot. However make sure your camera does not move during this time if you want a still image. This stabilization of camera can be achieved through an accesssory called Tri-pod.

From next article onwards, we will be moving to some Higher concepts in Digital Photography.

For further explanation regarding anything related to Shutter Speed, its settings, types and any practical problems, just leave a comment below and i will try my best to elaborate it here itself.

Cheers,

Kumar

What is Aperture in Digital Photography?

To begin with, Aperture as its english meaning says "an opening", is the opening in your camera from where the light enters. Now if you have a larger aperture, you get a brighter image and if its small, you have a darker image.

Having understood its basic meaning, we now move on to the technical details. Have a look at the image below which shows an Aperture in an SLR camera.

The image on right shows aperture as is faintly visible in a Digital Camera. (do not worry if you can't see it in your camera, just understand the concept !)

An important thing related to aperture is DOF(depth of field). Remember, the aperture also determines how many of the incoming rays are actually admitted and thus how much light reaches the image plane (the narrower the aperture, the darker the image for a given exposure time).

Picture this: you are taking a portrait picture. You focus the lens on the subject's eyes. Behind him is a tree. If you set the lens at a large aperture (small number) the tree behind him will not be in focus. If you use a small aperture (large number) the tree will be in focus. This byproduct of adjusting the size of the aperture is referred to as 'depth of field' and translates into the depth (or distance) of the area which will remain in focus for a given aperture and focus distance.

Note: how the depth of field has been kept small and so the farther images are not clear while nearer ones are very clear

The creative utility of adjusting the depth of field should immediately be apparent. By changing how big a part of the photograph is in focus, you can control exactly which details show up, and which do not, allowing you to lead the viewer's eye anywhere you wish.

Selecting proper Aperture Values are very important

Now having learnt the two most important concepts, lets move on to the Shutter Speed in Digital Photography.

For further explanation regarding anything related to Aperture, its settings, types and any practical problems, just leave a comment below and i will try my best to elaborate it here itself.

Cheers,

Kumar

What is ISO in Digital Photography ?

In traditional Photography, ISO was meant for the sensitivity of the photographic sensor.

In Digital photography ISO means the same however the photographic sensor is inbuilt and you need not change it anytime. If your sensor is more sensitive, it means you will have have more light imprints and hence an effect called Grains develop in the photograph.

To understand this assume a picture being made up of large number of pixels. Now suppose there be another picture with fewer number of pixels. This would make the other image looks grainy. Another simplified example of ISO is like assume a picture imprinted on a rubber balloon. Now if we fill in the balloon with a fluid, it inflates out. Now if you look at the imprint on the balloon, its a little bit fragmented into multiple pieces. This again is called grainy look. Similarly with an ISO. An ISO setting is a setting for the photographic sensor inside your camera measuring its sensitivity to light. A higher ISO means more grainy picture and a lower ISO means a less grainy and hence finer picture.

Image at 100-ISO and 3200-ISO (note: there are grains in the 3200-ISO image on the right)

Personally, while taking a print till ISO 400, it won't matter much (unless you want to take a really large print). Moreover by adjusting ISO you can have pictures even at low lights (may be a sunset scene or a person's image in dark). Another important thing about ISO is that it gives you an ability to increase your shutter speed without compromising much with the quality. With higher ISO, you can achieve higher shutter speeds. Do not worry if you are not understanding this concept right now, just move on to Shutter Speed section. We will now move to the Aperture in Digital Photography section.

A short, simple advised reference :

ISO 50-100. Suitable for bright light (like outdoors on a sunny day).

ISO 400 and 800. Use these values when the light is getting dim but it is not yet night.

ISO 1600 and above. Use for indoor or night shots. Also useful to freeze the action in sports shots. These values will produce the most noise.

For further explanation regarding anything related to ISO, its settings, types and any practical problems, just leave a comment below and i will try my best to elaborate it here itself.

Cheers,

Kumar

Learning Exposure Triangle : ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed

If you are reading this article I am sure you are either one of the amateur photogaphers or, just beginning to learn photography. This is for the sole reason that Exposure Triangle is the most basic learning for a person interested even slightly in the realms of Photography (digital or analog).

What is an Exposure Triangle?

It is basically a quick reference diagram to understand and remember Exposure techniques in Photography. Before I entangle you in this triangle, lets explore what is exposure and why should we be conscious about it?

Any photograph that you take is basically a reflection/imprint of the actual, real image on the photographic sensor (camera film) of the camera. For this imprint to be bright/dull/vivid/dark/etc., what needs to be controlled is the amount of Light that falls on the sensor. This is called Exposure (of the film).

ISO, Aperture and, Shutter speed are the different ways of controlling exposure of the photographic sensor. Do not worry if you are not able to comprehend the picture fully. It will become more clear once you read each of these terminologies further.

ISO: the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light.

Aperture: the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken

Shutter Speed: the amount of time that the shutter is open

To get the details of each of these terms click on their links. For any explanation on how does light actually forms an image or, on what exposure means (further explanation) leave a comment below and I will answer it to my best.