Understanding Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Exposure

Understanding Aperture

This is to give you an idea of aperture sizes changing with f/number changes.
These are not to size in any way.

It seems one of the trickiest aspects of photography to get your head around
is the aperture of your cameras lens, be it a highly expensive pro styled lens or
the zoom on your point and shoot (most point and shoots will control aperture
for you), the aperture of the lens will control aspects of your photography in
the same way. Hopefully after reading this short guide you will have a basic
understanding and be able to take it further in your photographic life.

The Basics
You may have heard people talking about fast lenses or stopping down their
lens, mentioning f/numbers or many other examples (Im not going to go
through all the possibilities you may have come across). But what do they all
mean? Well they are all talking about apertures.

You need to understand that photography in its base form is about capturing
light; and light changes! Whether it is natural or not, different scenes or areas
will have different levels of light. In order to deal with these as a photographer
we need to be able to control the input of this light, and one way of doing this
is with the aperture on a lens, this controls the amount of light that is taken
into your camera through the lens (among other things). The other way would
likely be through shutter speed (a subject not covered on this page).

Right, clear enough? No? OK, well, for your photograph to work you need a
certain amount of light hitting your camera sensor (or film if you still work in
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that medium). Look at it in terms of putting water into a jug (a strange
analogy I know but bear with me) the water represents light and the tap
represents your lens. If you needed 100ml of water (1 second of light), you
turn the tap on for the length of time it takes to get that volume of water,
we'll call it 1 second (on your camera press the shutter release for one second).
If you wanted twice as much water (light) you have two options; increase the
length of time you had the tap on to 2 seconds (have your shutter open twice
as long, 2 seconds); or you keep the length of time the tap was on the same
(shutter open 1 second) but make the hole that the water comes out of (your
aperture) larger, so that double the volume of water (Light) is dispensed.

Im hoping that is clearer, the aperture is basically the hole in your lens
through which light passes to hit your sensor/film.

The f/number represents the size of the hole. Strangely a lower number
means a larger hole (so f/1.8 is a much larger hole than f/22) I know this
seems odd, but this is called wide open, having your lens set to the smallest
f/number. Each increase in number decreases the amount of light coming into
the camera by half (an example of aperture numbers f/1.2, f/2, f/2.8, f/4,
f/5.6, f/8 .) The smaller the number the more light comes in through the
hole and the faster the lens is. It is worth noting that many lenses use 1/3
f/stop increments e.g. f/1, f/1.1, f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.6, f/1.8, f/2 so the hole does
not grow by one stop of light for each of these (I hope that is clear).

Depth of Field Example:

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Depth of Field Example - To show you depth of field differences. ?Ashley
Beolens http://www.fatphotographer.net

Fast Lens
A lens will be known as fast if it has a large aperture as its maximum, low
f/number (f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.8 etc.). This is because the lower the number the
larger the hole and the more light can enter the camera lens, this means that
shutter speeds can be much quicker (hopefully that is one question cleared
up).

Fast lenses are great for low light (music concerts, indoor events etc.) or fast
paced action (sports, wildlife etc.). If you find yourself photographing subjects
in these situations you will be glad of a large aperture.

Depth of Field
The other aspect that is controlled by aperture is the amount of your subject
that is in focus Depth of Field. The larger the hole the less of an area will be
in focus and vice versa. Landscape photographers will quite often work with
large f/numbers, smaller apertures (f/22+). This is because they get a greater
depth of field (as in more of the image will be in focus). Other people like to
have a solo subject really sharp while the background is blurry so they will use
a smaller f/number, larger aperture, for a shallower depth of field (f/2.8 etc.).

Using depth of field is a great way to play with your photographs (for those
not familiar with full manual settings try aperture priority settings; you set the
aperture, your camera sets the shutter speed (refer to your manual for which
setting this is). Some interesting images can be had with a manually worked
depth of field (dont just assume that shallow is best, sometimes you would be
surprised).

Stopping down
'Stopping Down' is a term used quite a lot in photography circles, from forums
to magazines, so it is worth me explaining this term briefly as it can be
confusing. Stopping down means to decrease the size of the aperture by
increasing the f/number.

To sum up (and just to confuse people more) a wide open lens will have a
large aperture, with a small f/number and a shallow depth of field, stopping
down one or two stops will decrease the size of the aperture by increasing the
f/number. All perfectly clear, Im sure you will agree.

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Modes
When it comes to using aperture you will need your camera set in manual
mode or the partial manual mode of aperture priority to benefit best from the
understanding you have (hopefully) gained with this tutorial.

Manual Mode speaks for itself, you control everything in the camera from
aperture to shutter speed.

Aperture Priority in this mode you select the aperture you want to shoot at
and the camera will choose the best shutter speed (this mode is great for
action shots where you know the depth of field you want but altering shutter
speeds etc while on the fly could prove complicated).

Final point
I hope that has given you a clearer understanding of Aperture, Id love to hear
from you if it has helped or if it is too complicated (I can ramble sometimes),
so please get in contact.

Finally if you only remember one thing from this entire article, remember this:

Small f/number (f/1.2) = Large aperture (hole) = Shallow depth of field and
more light entering the camera (so shorter shutter speed).
Large f/number (f/22) = Small aperture (hole) = Deep depth of field and less
light entering the camera (so longer shutter speed).

UPDATE
This article was originally written as a basic understanding of aperture, I chose
not to go into great detail about other variables such as focal length as I felt
that while important it wasn't a great factor in the actual understanding of
what is meant when people talk about aperture. So far I have only had
positive comments about how it has helped people understand aperture
where they couldn't before.

That being said, I have been asked a few times for a more complete
description of what things mean so this update should help clear these things
up.

F/Number, what it means

When looking at f/numbers we must remember that they represent a ratio
where the F equals focal length and the number equals the relative diameter
of the effective aperture. Think of it like a fraction, f/4 will represent one
quarter so a 100mm lens set at f/4 will have a 25mm aperture but at f/2 it
would have a 50mm aperture or at f/10 would have a 10mm aperture. This is

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why the larger the number the smaller the hole, after all 1/2 is more than
1/22. (I guess this helps explain why "faster" lenses are bigger, a much larger
effective aperture is needed).

Focal Length
This factor leads to the second aspect that I did not originally cover, that focal
length will play a large part in how the aperture affects depth of field. As the
above equation hopefully leads you to see a 100mm lens at f/4 will have a
very different aperture size to a 50mm at f/4 (100mm at f/4 equals 25mm
aperture, 50mm at f/4 equals 12.5mm aperture). This then means that the
100mm will have more of the image in focus than the 50mm would.

I hope this clears up a few of the missing elements from the original, please do
feel free to let me know if you prefer this or the original, or if you think I am
still missing elements.

Understanding Shutter Speeds

An old style shutter control dial - Ashley Beolens

I've said this before but I think it is a valid point to make (even repeatedly).
Photography is about capturing light. It has been likened to painting with light
(however this can also relate to another technique of photography so I'm not
going to use that).

Photography is all about exposing your sensor (or film) to the right amount of
light to correctly expose the scene in front of you, this is done with the
cameras shutter (other factors are used to determine the shutter speed; but in
all cases, no matter what your other settings, it is the amount of time your
shutter is open that determines how well exposed the photograph will be).
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On fully automatic modes (or partial modes in cases like aperture priority) the
shutter speed will be determined by your camera, but most cameras will allow
you to control the shutter speed yourself, either through manual or shutter
priority modes.

Shutter Speeds
Shutter speeds are generally measured in parts of a second - 1/500 equates to
your shutter being open (to allow light in) for one (1) five hundredth (500ths)
of a second (you obviously can have your shutter open for much longer in
seconds or with certain settings for as long as the shutter button is pressed),
the blow chart shows the standard shutter speed settings:

Fast shutter

A fast shutter speed was needed to freeze the owl in motion ?Ashley Beolens
1/8000
1/4000
1/2000
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/60
1/30
1/15
1/8
1/4
1/2
1 Second

Bulb - as long as you hold down the shutter release button.

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In many cameras nowadays there are 1/3 (one third) incremental steps, in-
between those listed above (your camera manual should inform you of these).
There are also steps above (1/16000 etc) and below (2sec, 3secs and the
relative incremental steps) the settings of the above chart.

Modes
Full manual mode as you would imagine gives you full control over shutter
and aperture and is the setting that allows for the most independent
alterations of a photograph. Shutter priority mode means you select the
shutter speed you want to achieve and the camera will alter ISO and aperture
to make this happen (as much as possible).

What determines shutter speed

As you would imagine, your shutter speed is determined by a number of
factors, firstly it is the light. It will take a certain amount of light coming
through your lens onto your sensor in order to correctly expose your
photograph, and if you work on a base level that is all that dictates shutter
speed (the same level of light produced will always require the same amount
of light hitting the sensor to expose the photograph correctly - this is why
controlled studio light is so effective). However as explained in understanding
exposure there are other ways to get that light rather than one set timing for
opening the shutter. Look at Exposure value, ISO sensitivity in understanding
exposure or adding/subtracting light or focal length links, both found later in
this tutorial, as ways to alter shutter speeds.

Focal length and shutter speed

It is worth thinking about the lens you are using when talking about shutter
speeds, this is because there is a rule of thumb that says for hand holding a
lens comfortably the shutter speed should be equivalent or above (faster)
than the length of the lens.

Slow shutter

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 An example of how a slow shutter speed has completely altered this image,
it shows movement, both of the back ground and the subject

In other words a 400mm lens should be used (hand held) with a minimum
shutter speed of 1/400 (the higher above the better), a 200mm lens at
minimum shutter of 1/200 and so on. This rule is kind of altered with modern
image stabilization advances (these can usually give an extra couple of stops.

Other shutter controlling elements

So from other tutorials we have seen how aperture or ISO can affect shutter
speeds, and we have seen above how lens focal length can help determine the
shutter speed but what else will change the shutter value?

To answer that question we must look at external elements that we can

introduce that will alter the light coming through the lens (as discussed it is
light levels that affect shutter speeds). One option we have (especially in close
quarters) is to add light through flashes or static lights (be they studio lights or
strobes), with this we will be increasing the light levels and therefore speeding
up the shutter times (limitations apply with flash durations etc.). Alternatively
we can redirect some of the light already available through the employment
of reflectors (bouncing light back to where we want it, think of a mirror and
how it brightens a room when placed opposite a window, reflectors work in
the same way).

If we want to reduce the light levels we can add elements to the lens in the
form of neutral density (ND) filters, these are dark pieces of glass/plastic that
while reducing light allow the same clarity of light (hence the neutral bit) If
you see images of milky water it is usually using this technique. We can also
use reflectors but instead of with light coloured material we use blacks, these
absorb light and prevent it being reflected back.

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Shutter control use
So now you can understand what your shutter does and a little about how to
control its speed, but why would you want to? surely all you need is a shutter
speed that makes sure there is enough light to correctly expose the photo?

Well the control of shutter speeds allows you to control the image in such a
way that two photos of the same subject shot at different shutter speeds
would look vastly different. There are also shots that you would never be able
to achieve without the control of, for example, the bulb setting.

Movement

This image again shows movement as the background and foreground but the car is frozen,
this is achieved with shutter control and good panning

Not every photo must be pin sharp, in fact to add movement (or the
impression of movement with a term known as motion blur) a slower shutter
speed is required, usually along with a good panning action or some other
technique (placing the camera and subject on a moving object etc.).

As alluded to above sometimes very long exposures are needed to create

stunning firework images, or car light trails or star trails moving across the sky,
without shutter control many of these things would not be possible. Likewise
images of frozen athletes mid leap or birds wings would not be achievable
without controlling shutter speeds.

Finally
As you can see there are a lot of determining factors and it is not always as
simple 1 plus 1 equalling 2 (photography tends to be like that), but hopefully I

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have given you some deeper insight into your shutter (and some further
reading), and it will help move your photography forward.

Understanding ISO

ISO (or International Standards Organisation) is the name by which different

films (or these days digital sensors) sensitivity is measured. Im going to tailor
this article to digital cameras more than film but much of it goes for film in the
same way.

Every camera has a base ISO level (usually ISO100 but can be ISO50 or even
ISO200) the actual name of this level really doesn't matter it could be ISO1 it
makes no odds, what is important to know is that it is this base level that is
the least sensitive to light. It is also this base level that will give you the best
image quality and the least noise (in film it would have been grain).

When you increase your ISO (step it up) you increase the sensors sensitivity to
light (decreasing ISO decreases sensitivity). This increase in sensitivity is
double the previous ISOs level. This is why the steps are usually ISO100,
ISO200, ISO400,600 on up to 3200-6400 or even higher in top end cameras
(This level is likely to increase over time with new technology so may well be
out of date). What this means is that if it took 1/25 of a second to correctly
expose an image at ISO100 then it would take 1/50 of a second at ISO 200 and
1/100 at ISO400 (you increase shutter speed with each increase of ISO).

Noise
The issue with increased ISO and the reason we dont all always shoot at the
highest ISO we have available (not always wanting fast shutter speeds aside) is
that with the increase in sensitivity comes the problem of digital noise (that
random pattern that can affect the image). Digital noise is the result of
electrical interference between the photosites, more commonly called pixels,
the more pixels you have on a sensor surface the more risk there is of noise
(one of the reasons point and shoot cameras with small sensors suffer more
than SLRs with larger sensors). Better spaced pixels have less chance of
interference so larger sensors (or lower pixel counts) usually produce less
noise (although technology is improving the noise filters of cameras all the
time).

Last note
Lower ISO means less sensitivity to light but better image quality (IQ), higher
ISO means greater sensitivity to light but at the risk of more noise.

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Understanding Exposure

Perfectly exposed image

As part of our basic series Fatphotographer.net is trying to give some

understanding into the basics of photography, and it has to be said that
understanding exposure is one of if not THE most important aspect of
photography (I guess with automatic settings on cameras it could be argued
that composition is most important, but lets not start a debate now).

My aim with this article is to give an understanding of exposure, there is far

too much to detail in full on one page, in fact there are plenty of books written
just on exposure so I hope you will forgive me for keeping it short but
hopefully to the point. It is worth noting at this point that the advice on this
page is aimed at those who are comfortable altering their camera settings,
those that have only mastered automatic settings so far SHOULD learn this,
but until you learn to be comfortable using your cameras other settings you
wont really be able to change much. So get out there and learn your camera.

Exposure
Photography is all about capturing a scene on film or on your digital sensor
right? Well, yes and no, what it is actually about is capturing the light reflected
from surfaces, without light there is no photo, too much or too little light and
there is no photo, so photography is really all about learning to capture light.
(Learning to control that light is a step you will learn over time and in different
tutorials to this).

Exposure is the term used to describe showing enough light to your sensor or
film to create the desired image that you want to capture (sorry if this sounds
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very basic or patronising but it is an important element to learn), too much
light in areas and you will have elements of your photo with blown
unrecoverable highlights (objects you can see no detail in, think a white object
in an otherwise dark scene), too little light in areas and you have the opposite,
no details at all. It is important to learn that while images that are over
exposed or under exposed may be recoverable within post processing software
learning to get it right in your camera may stop heartache at the missed photo
opportunity.

Dynamic Range
Our eyes are fantastic organs, they are able to see the detail in deep, dark
shadows or crisp, bright light, they can adjust in milliseconds to the altering
light; cameras on the other hand cannot (yet) do this. Our eyes can see in a
single moment a range of light equal to around double (or more) of that which
a camera can pick up. Cameras pick up around 10+ stops of light (depending
on the camera) at one time, anything outside that range will be black or white
(under or over exposed).

It is the skill of the photographer to know which way to place the ends of your
dynamic range, lack of exposure will give a more moody look, more light will
give a more peaceful serine look, neither is correct and neither is wrong it is
all interpretation.

There are ways to increase the dynamic range of your camera, filters such as
graduated Neutral Density filters will allow the camera to be tricked into
giving more range, or you can use software to create HDR (High Dynamic
Range) images with layering of differing exposures creating one final image.
But high range is not everything.

Metering
In order to get a really well exposed image you need to find out what sort of
light you have available, this used to be achieved with a hand held light meter
(and still is by many pros and studios) this was a simple tool that you placed
where the subject was, it then measured the light and told you which settings
would give the technically correct exposure, allowing you the ability to alter
your cameras settings to suit the light of the scene. These days most cameras
have built in light meters that are pretty accurate. These work with the same
principle, so you can use this to set your camera. See our understanding your
light meter for more information.

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Under Exposed Image

Sample of Original shot under exposed

Altering Exposure
There are three in camera elements with which you can control the light that
enters your camera (external elements like flashes or reflectors are not
covered here), and thus alter exposure (These are known as the Exposure
Triangle):

* Shutter speed.
* Aperture size or F/Stop.
* ISO speed or film speed.

Shutter speed: When a shutter opens light passes through your lens onto the
cameras sensor until the shutter closes again (I will use Sensor from now on
but it equally refers to film). Controlling the speed of the shutter dictates how
much light can pass through, the faster the shutter speed (measured in
fractions of a second) the shorter the duration of the opening, resulting in less
light being passed through to the sensor and your exposure time is reduced.
Most modern cameras have a quickest shutter speed of 1/4000 (this equates
to 1 4000ths of a second that the shutter is open) or even above (this will
obviously change over time so may be wrong.

Aperture Size: The amount of light hitting your sensor can also be controlled
by having a larger aperture. A bigger hole allows more light through (in a
shorter time) than a small hole; one full stop will increase/decrease the size of
the hole by half and therefore alter your shutter speed by 1 stop (1/200
becomes 1/100 or 1/400 depending on whether you increased or decreased
the size). Altering the aperture also has other effects as well, but is a way to
increase or decrease the amount of light.
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Film/ISO Speed: When film was much in use different film had different
sensitivities to light, ISO100 (ISO standing for International Standards
Organisation) was the common everyday film; If light was an issue then more
light sensitive film was needed ISO200 doubled the sensitivity to light, 400
doubled that up to 6400 in pro shops. These terms have been carried over to
the digital world, and similar speeds are available (in fact there are some
extremely sensitive camera sensors equivalent to ISO12800+). This doubling of
sensitivity means that for each increase in ISO your exposure time is reduced
(so quicker shutter speeds are used). Unfortunately with digital sensors this
has created its own issues; high ISOs tend to produce digital noise which
are not all that pleasant in large printed images (Film grain had a unique
quality that sometimes improved images digital noise does not).

Over Exposed Image

Sample of Original shot over exposed

These settings can all be used in conjunction with one another in order to get
an exposure that really captures a scene in a manner you wish. So if the light
doesnt allow you to get a movement free image (and that is what you desire)
with just altering shutter speed, think about opening your aperture more
(wider, lower f/number) or increasing the ISO sensitivity. Likewise if the scene
is too bright reduce your aperture (higher F/number) less light will be coming
in so you will have a better exposed image (although it is worth reading the
above link on aperture first to understand the possible effects with depth of
field).

Exposure Value
Combining aperture settings and shutter speeds using single stop increments,
1 full stop increasing the size of your aperture (decreasing the f/number)
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means one full stop increasing the speed of your shutter speed (and the other
way around as well) will keep the light coming onto the sensor at the same
level. This is known as Exposure Value (EV) and can be tricky to explain clearly
and understand so here is an example of one of the many EV charts you could
use.

If the light dictates you need a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a sec af f/1.4 then
to achieve a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second would require the aperture to
be set at f/4. The following chart shows the full comparison to show how each
incremental stop changes things:

1/1000 at f/1.4
1/500 at f/2
1/250 at f/2.8
1/60 at f/5.6
1/30 at f/8
1/15 at f/11
1/8 at f/16
1/4 at f/22

This is obviously just one example, if the shutter speed was 1/2000 at f/1.4 it
would be 1/1000 at f/2 etc. it is the principle that needs to be remembered
not this one chart.

ISO and Shutter speed

In a similar vein ISO changes will affect shutter speed in the same way, each
step up in ISO value will increase the potential shutter speed, while allowing
the light to have the same effect (unlike changing aperture value though
depth of field will not be affected but noise levels will). Again see the chart
below.
ISO 100 - Shutter speed 1/125
ISO 200 - Shutter speed 1/250
ISO 400 - Shutter speed 1/500
ISO 800 - Shutter speed 1/1000

Again, as with the previous example the numbers are arbitrary it is the
principle that counts, I could have chosen any shutter speed as the starting
point and doubled up as the ISO changes.

Filters and other accessories

Beyond the settings of your camera it is possible to use a number of other
items in unison with your camera to alter exposure; from flashes to help light
the image to Neutral Density (ND) filters that allow much longer exposures

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(graduated versions can help expose one plane of your photo while stopping
another being blown). But this is not an article about those.

Creativity
You can use exposure to create some stunning images, look at most
photographers collections and you are likely to see some really interesting
portraits with dark backgrounds, with deep shadows creating the definition on
the face or high key images with the subject isolated on a clear white
backdrop, or even those creamy water pictures that seem to be all the rage at
the moment (2012) this is all achieved by knowing how to control exposure.

One important thing to remember is that there is no correct exposure. There

is exposure that is technically well done, but that does not mean it is the ionly
option. Take for example and image of a twilight scene, technically correctly
exposed it will be crisp and light enough, but as the time of day dictates in our
heads that it should be in between day and night an under exposed scene will
actually look more natural.

It is all about learning to control light, once you have mastered that your
photography will come on in leaps and bounds. Please follow the links above
to get a better understanding of exposure and how to really control it.

Ashley Beolens
http://www.fatphotographer.net

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