Introduction

If you’re anything like me, shooting while using anything but automatic on your DSLR is absolutely terrifying. It just feels like way too much to think about, way too technical, and way too risky. Don’t worry- I get it! I was once there too. Although it looks scary, the skills required to master this kind of shooting are completely attainable. 

Shooting without using automatic is like riding a bike- once you learn, it is really hard to forget. But, similar to riding a bike, at some point, you have to let go of those training wheels and fall a few times before finding success! Although it sounds scary, you will be so glad you took the leap of faith. 

In this blog, you will learn the basic concept of several key terms that are needed to master the technical side of photography. I have chosen not to include instructions on where to access these on a specific camera. Since there are so many different digital cameras out there, you will be on your own to determine how this knowledge will translate to your own personal camera. I felt as though the information on the concepts was more than enough to get you where you want to go. 

Regardless of this, by the time you are done reading this blog, you will be able to successfully translate this information into your own photography and life. 

Key Concepts

There are a few key concepts that you should definitely know (and know well) if you want to become good at the technical side of photography. I have included the ones that I feel are the most important to include for a beginner. With that being said, the ones outlined within this blog are not the only important technical aspects of photography. Especially as you advance your skill, you will find that there is so much more to learn than what I have included here. I encourage you to continue to seek more knowledge about photography- there is so much to learn. Get out there and find it! 

The first sections of this blog will contain elaborate descriptions on The Exposure Triangle, Shutter Speed, Camera Shake, Aperture, Depth of Field, ISO, and Image Quality. In future sections, we will talk about what those things are able to come together and create. 

Alright… let’s jump right into it then!

Defining the term DSLR. 

To start off, let’s define the word DSLR. DSLR stands for digital single-lens reflex camera. These cameras are best known for allowing multiple lenses to be used with the same camera body. More simply you are able to use multiple lenses with the same camera. Although this term is used very loosely to describe any type of digital camera, there are many different types of digital cameras, and the DSLR is merely a subcategory of that. 

The Exposure Triangle 

The Photography Exposure triangle includes shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. These three features work together to control the lighting of the photo that your camera will produce. Because these controls are all a part of the triangle, if one side of that triangle changes, at least one more feature needs to change in order to maintain an appropriate exposure. 

Shutter Speed 

Shutter speed can simply be defined as the length of time that light is allowed to enter the camera. It is measured in seconds. To combine both of those thoughts, the amount of time you select will let your camera know how long to keep the shutter open, which will affect how much light is able to enter the camera, affecting how light or dark your shot will turn out.

Some examples of shutter speeds include 1/60, 1/15, or 1/2. Based on these options, the 1/60 would allow the least amount of light into the camera, and the 1/2 would allow the most. 

Camera Shake

With all of that being said, shutter speed also has a big impact on how blurry your photos come out. This is also known as a camera shake. Blurry photos are not always bad, and in some situations, they are even desired. Shutter speed allows you to control this blur. As we just discussed, shutter speed is defined as how long you are letting your camera allow light to pass through. (For the sake of this lesson, we will assume you are taking handheld photos.) After the lens opens, anything movement before it closes will be captured in the image. So, to capture a more crisp clear photo, a faster shutter speed is ideal. Vice versa, to capture a blurry photo, a longer shutter speed is necessary. 

Aperture 

Next up is the Aperture! The definition of the actual word aperture means an opening, hole, or gap. So, to bring that into a photography setting, the aperture is talking about the size of the hole or gap in your lens which controls how much light enters your camera. Although this is a similar concept to shutter speed, it is not the same thing. Aperture is able to help you with something called depth of field. 

Depth of Field

Depth of field determines how much in a photo is in focus, or sharp. The wider you allow that gap in the lens to be, the less will be in focus, and the smaller you allow it to open, the more things will be in focus. 

When shooting portraits, a wider aperture is ideal considering that you want your subject to stand out against the background. An ideal aperture for this situation would be anywhere from f/1.4-f/2.8. 

If your goal is for everything in the image to be in focus, or sharp, you want to choose an aperture that allows the lens to open less. To translate this to real life, this situation could be a landscape. An ideal number would be anything from f/8-f/13. 

ISO

If you have ever shot using a film camera, this will be a much easier section as you are already aware of the effects of ISO. If that is you, go ahead and just skip this section. If not, keep reading! Although simple is one of the most important concepts in photography, especially in regard to mastering manual shooting. 

ISO deals with the amount of sensitivity to light that you are allowing your camera to have. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light it is. Additionally, the higher numbers are better for darker settings. For a very sunny day, it is best 100 or 200 ISO. This will give you an evenly lit image. For a darker setting, like in a dark room, ISO 1600-3200 would be best to use. 

Image Quality

Image quality in this sense is all about the grain. More commonly known as noise, grain is the tiny dots you see in a photo. By using a higher ISO, you will get more of this grain. Similar to blur, sometimes grain is what is desired. If that is the case, be sure to kick up that ISO a bit more than you normally would. Otherwise, try to keep your ISO as low as possible to avoid this. 

White Balance

Disclaimer: white balance is a setting that is only used in manual mode. Have you ever been shooting, and thought to yourself- “Man, this camera just does not capture what my eyes are seeing.” If you have, and you were talking about the colors, white balance is your solution! As previously mentioned, you have to be in manual in order to access this setting. But, once you do have the access to it, you will be able to make simple adjustments to the color in the camera. 

The way you do this is color correcting what the camera sees as white. If the colors are off, it is possible that the camera has more of an off white color considered to be white. 

This is also a great way to ensure that skin color is accurate on the camera. White balance is very effective at removing yellows and reds from a person’s skin tone. 

Camera Controls

Wow! That was a lot of individual information. Moving forward, we will talk about how to successfully put these individual concepts together in order to create a beautiful final product (the photo).  

Shutter Priority

Now that we know how shutter speed works, the real question is how do we control it in a way that positively affects our pictures? Shutter Priority is a setting that can be found on almost all digital cameras, and all DSLRs. By shooting in this mode, you are letting the camera automatically adjust all other settings except for the shutter speed. This allows you to isolate the shutter speed as the only controllable variable, allowing you to adjust it however you like it. 

Aperture Priority

Similar to shutter priority, aperture priority allows the photographer to isolate a singular variable in order to change one feature at a time. With this setting choice, aperture priority lets the camera know to use automatic settings on the other components, and the photographer is responsible for manually adjusting the aperture.

This is a great feature to use when you are shooting portraits, since you want to make sure that you have good control over your depth of field. While shooting portraits, you want your client to be perfectly crisp and the background blurred. Aperture priority lets the camera know that the photographer will be manually adjusting the aperture to create that crisp and blurry look that they are looking for. 

Manual

Okay, here comes the hard part. Shooting manual lets the camera know to essentially sit back, kick its feet up, and relax. In manual mode, the photographer is responsible for every single setting and component that goes into the captured photo. This is the hardest part in photography because not only do you need to know all of the tiny key concepts, but you need to be able to combine them in a way that produces a well exposed, well lit, and well shot photo. In my professional opinion, shooting manual is the scariest part of photography. But like previously mentioned, at some point you need to take those training wheels off and fall a few times before reaching success. 

So, let’s try to take those training wheels off today! The recommended sequence of events is as follows:

1. Set your white balance

2. Adjust your aperture based on the desired depth of field results 

3. Decide on the appropriate shutter speed based on how sharp you want your photos to be. 

4. Set your ISO based on the surrounding lighting conditions 

1. Oftentimes you will then need to change the settings for aperture and/or shutter speed, but luckily if you did it right it shouldn’t be by too much.

Keep in mind that adjusting all these settings does take up quite a bit of time. It is a good idea to use manual mode while in unchanging settings with a pretty stagnant subject. But, if you are shooting in a situation where the sun is coming in and out or the subject is changing positions and locations frequently, it might be best to avoid manual, 

Conclusion

You have learned about what makes up exposure, how to ensure a balanced color palette, which settings to use in each situation, the appropriate selection within each setting to select to achieve what you are looking for, and last but not least- how to add these elements together in a way that creates a beautiful photo.

Photography is the culmination of thousands of little details, and it is hard. But, the only way to learn is through failure. I encourage you to take off those training wheels! Try to get better at these technical skills, and over time you will.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. Make sure to click the blue button below for a weekly subscription of this blog. By doing so, you are gifting yourself one new skill to add to your photography toolbox. Join by submitting your contact information to the forum with the subject named "Subscribe".