STILL PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNICAL SHEET PHOTOGRAPHER ACTIVITY BADGE
2 CONTENTS Page 3 Get To Know Your Camera Page 4 Aperture And Depth of Field Page 5 Colour And Mode Page 6 Analogue and Digital differences April 2015 The Scout Association. Registered charity numbers: 306101 (England and Wales) and SCO38437 (Scotland)
3 GET TO KNOW YOUR CAMERA FOR THE SECOND PART OF THE PHOTOGRAPHY BADGE YOU NEED TO SHOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF A DIGITAL CAMERA AND HOW THESE AFFECT THE FINAL IMAGE AND PRINT. YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO SHOW KNOWLEDGE OF THE TYPES OF REMOVABLE MEMORY AVAILABLE. Spend a while reading this sheet to understand the workings of the camera, before you head off to take photographs. CAMERA FEATURES ISO settings ISO stands for International Standards Organisation. The camera s ISO settings measure the sensitivity of the image sensor. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive your camera is to light which means your pictures will be less grainy. High ISO settings can produce grainy (or noisy ) pictures. This incredible pic of a dog splashing though water has been taken using a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement and capture some of the water droplets mid-air. A wide aperture is often needed when using a fast shutter speed and this has given the image a narrow depth-of-field, so the dog stands out from the background. Shutter speed The shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter stays open for. It is measured in fractions of a second, for example 1/60th of a second is average. The higher the fraction then the faster the shutter speed is and the less exposure time for capturing the subject. GOOD TO KNOW A slow shutter speed was used to capture this shot of a girl. She is standing still so she appears sharp while the train behind her and the two passers-by are moving and appear blurred. Higher ISO settings are generally used to get faster shutter speeds, in darker conditions, indoor events and at a sports arena when you want an action shot in low light. Fast shutter speeds can create interesting blurred backgrounds, so can be useful if you are taking action shots at a race and want to create a feeling of speed. Tip Holding your camera correctly will help to avoid camera shake. This is where movement of the camera results in an image that is slightly out of focus, blurred, or soft. Pick up your camera by the grip with your right hand, leaving your index finger free to use the shutter button and the main dial (if you have an SLR camera). Your thumb should naturally sit across the back of the camera. Then cup the camera in the palm of your left hand to support it, using your thumb and index finger to operate the lens as required.
4 APERTURE AND DEPTH OF FIELD An aperture is a space through which light passes. A large aperture lets more light into the camera and a small one lets less light in. The size of the aperture also affects how much of your photo will be in focus. The higher the aperture number, the smaller the space for light to pass through is and the more detailed your picture will be, this means that more of the background will be in focus. The area of sharpness in an image is called the depth-of-field, and it is one of the main creative controls you have over your pictures. It is possible to make some of the out-of-focus areas appear sharper. Using a smaller sized aperture such as f/16 will give you more depth-of-field than a larger one, such as f/1.4. FOCAL POINT You can control how much of your photo is in focus by adjusting your aperture. Create an image with a sharp subject and blurred background and foreground by selecting aperture-priority (Av) on the mode dial and adjusting it. A lower aperture number will mean less foreground and background will be in focus. AF - AUTOFOCUS SYSTEM The AF (autofocus) will automatically adjust your camera lens to help you get sharp images of your subject in different conditions. It can often focus on objects up-close. Sometimes, you may want to take a photograph where you have to make a creative decision on what to keep in focus and what to let become a little less sharp. Your camera can t decide that for you. The photographer here used a very wide lens aperture, f/1.4. The focus is on the second bollard from the front. The depth-of-field is very narrow so most of the scene is out-of-focus. A large aperture (e.g. f/1.4) lets more light through the lens than a small aperture (f/16). A camera lens can only focus on one plane of the subject. This is the only area of the scene that is really sharp. This landscape shows the extreme depth-of-field given by a small lens aperture, f/16. Everything from the foreground grass to the distant horizon appears sharp. GOOD TO KNOW However, a wider area of the scene may appear to be sharp. This area of apparent sharpness is called the depth-of-field. You can set the aperture using aperturepriority AE (Av) mode. This way you choose the aperture and let the camera decide the shutter speed for correct exposure.
5 COLOUR AND MODE PLAY AROUND WITH COLOUR AND TONES IN YOUR IMAGES. YOU CAN DO THIS BY CHANGING THE MODE SETTING ON YOUR CAMERA AND CHOOSE THE PICTURE STYLE YOU THINK IS BEST. Playing with perspective You have probably seen the classic photo of a road tapering into the distance and leading the eye to a car. This is known as receding perspective. You can see this for yourself if you take a photograph looking down a road, the lines of the road or track appear to meet even though we know they are still parallel. MODES Try them all out and see the effects for yourself! S: The default mode is the S for Standard it will produce sharp images, good contrast and strong colours. Landscape enhances the greens and blues in your picture and increases saturation (this shows the amount of grey in a colour). Portrait softens edges slightly and produces more accurate skin tones. Neutral produces natural but subdued colours. Faithful creates colour as closely as possible to how your eye sees it in daylight. Monochrome is for black and white photos. You can also add different filters (yellow, orange, red, and green) and toning effects (sepia, blue, purple, and green). If you select Auto then the camera will choose the style for you based on the scene. Expert tip Some cameras have a Grid Line display mode which shows a grid on the LCD screen. You can switch this on to help you get used to the rule of thirds, it can also help you keep your horizons level. TECHNICAL TIP Most picture modes will also allow you to adjust the ambience and lighting settings for your image which will enhance the tones and colours. Ambience: Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker, Monochrome Lighting: Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Sunset
6 ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL DIFFERENCES DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Within seconds of taking your digital picture, you can see the captured image on the built-in LCD screen and decide whether you want to keep or erase the image. You can also tell whether the shot is good enough and whether to re-shoot, although remember that is not possible, if capturing an action shot or one-off event. ANALOGUE PHOTOGRAPHY When shooting with film you have to be careful not to shoot too many images because these would all have to be processed, which can take some time, as well as paid for. There are usually 24 or 36 shots per roll of film. With digital photography photographers can shoot away knowing they can delete any unwanted shots. USE AND RE-USE Digital photographs are captured as digital files and stored on removable media cards. Unlike film, the cards are reusable. Once the files have been transferred to your computer, you can clear the images from the card and reuse it again. This cuts out all the film and processing costs. SHARE AND CARE Meanwhile, digital images can be digitally copied or saved over and over again without any loss of quality. Copies can be sent to friends, posted online and kept in more than one picture library. Digital sensors are arranged in an ordered grid. Film grains are scattered randomly in the emulsion. RAW OR PROCESSED FILES? RAW RAW files are also known as digital negatives because they can be processed and printed in different ways to produce different results, just like the negative of a film camera. If you are planning to edit images after they have been downloaded to your computer it is better to shoot RAW files. They keep all the data captured by the camera and it is your computer that processes the data. Jpeg A Jpeg is a standard format that is readable by most image programs. The images are processed within the camera discarding any unwanted image data to create a much smaller file, and they are ready to use immediately for printing, posting on Facebook or sharing with friends. If the images are not quite perfect, then the digital images can be improved afterwards in a picture retouching software such as Photoshop. This is not the case for images taken on film. Extra prints have to be made using the original negative. It is possible to scan film transparencies to create digital files, then copy, share and re-touch the images, although the effect may not be the same as using digital in the first place. Tip If you re taking digital photographs, think about composition and how you will fill your frame when you take the picture, rather than leaving it to edit later on.