Exposure Triangle: Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO Flashcards
What is Shutter Speed responsible for?
- changing the brightness of your photo
- creating dramatic effects by either freezing action or blurring motion.
Slow Shutter Speed
- moving subjects in your photo will appear blurred along the direction of motion
- camera sensor gathers a lot of light, and the resulting photo will be quite bright
Fast Shutter Speed
- moving subjects in your photo will appear sharp along the direction of motion
- camera sensor is only exposed to a small fraction of light, resulting in a darker photo
Sunny Day vs Dark Day (Shutter Speed)
- On a sunny day, you may need to use a fast shutter speed so that your photo isn’t overexposed
- Or, if it is dark out, a long shutter speed may be necessary to avoid a photo that is too dark (which, in turn, could require a tripod, due to motion blur from handholding the camera)
Fast vs Slow vs Long Shutter Speeds
Fast shutter speeds are typically whatever it takes to freeze action
(1/250th of a second or faster)
(action, sport, wildlife photography)
Slow shutter speeds may not be able to handle them without introducing camera shake from your hands, especially close to the one-second mark.
(In between 1/100th second to 1 second)
Long shutter speeds are typically above 1 second
(low-light / night photography, or to capture movement intentionally)
What is Aperture responsible for?
- controls depth of field
(blurred background with shallow focus effect or sharp photo from foreground to background)
- makes photos brighter or darker
(alters exposure)
Define Depth of Field
amount of photograph that appears sharp from front to back
Shallow vs Deep Depth of Field
Shallow
- the background is completely out of focus
(Portraits Photography)
Deep
- both the foreground and background are sharp
(Landscape, Macro & Architecture Photography)
Aperture Affects:
- The brightness/exposure of your photos
- Depth of field
- Sharpness loss due to diffraction
- Sharpness loss due to lens quality
- Starburst effects on bright lights
- Visibility of camera sensor dust specks
- The quality of background highlights (bokeh)
- The focus shift on some lenses
- Ability to focus in low light (under some conditions)
- Control amount of light from a flash
Examples of Aperture Use: f/0.95 – f/1.4
ideal for any kind of low-light photography:
- photographing indoors
- photographing the night sky
- wedding reception portraits in dimly lit rooms
- corporate events
will get very shallow depth of field at close distances, where the subject will appear separated from the background
Examples of Aperture Use: f/1.8 – f/2.0
- offer slightly inferior low-light capabilities
- gets adequate depth of field for subjects at close distances while still yielding pleasant bokeh
Examples of Aperture Use: f/2.8 – f/4
- not as capable as f/1.4 lenses in terms of light-gathering capabilities
- provides image stabilization benefits that make them versatile, even in low-light conditions
- provides an adequate depth of field for most subjects and yields superb sharpness
Use For:
- Travel Photography
- Sports Photography
- Wildlife Photography
Examples of Aperture Use: f/5.6 – f/8
- provides the best overall sharpness for most lenses
Use For:
- Landscape Photography
- Architecture Photography
- Photographing Large Groups of People
Examples of Aperture Use: f/11 – f/16
Used For:
- Landscape Photography
- Architecture Photography
- Macro Photography
where as much depth of field as possible is needed
stopping down beyond f/8, as you will start losing sharpness due to the effect of lens diffraction.
Examples of Aperture Use: f/22 and Smaller
- only shoot at such small f-stops if you know what you are doing. Sharpness suffers greatly at f/22 and smaller apertures
