Week 4: Using my Camera

Week 4: Using My Camera

This week I learned about Exposure Modes and how to apply ISO, aperture, and shutter speed for a purpose.

Exposure Modes P, S, A, M

There are so many individual settings possible, and some are probably not useful to me. I learned the purpose of the M, A, S, P modes is to allow the photographer to choose a manual option, and allow the camera to activate the most appropriate automated settings. This is meant to simplify getting the best shot. 

P: Programmed. For point and shoot photos

S: Shutter-priority auto:  Use this to freeze or blur motion. I choose the shutter speed, camera selects aperture.

A: Auto Aperture Mode. Use to blur background, or to bring both foreground and background into focus. In this setting, I choose the aperture, the camera chooses the best shutter speed.

M: Manual:  I select both shutter speed, aperture.

These photo examples show the result of changing f-stop and shutter speed at a set ISO. Thinking about this week's readings, metacognition is the difference between taking a picture and photographing. My learning process is all about tasks, strategies, and goals. In order to make the photo with enough light, but not too much I have to think and plan to apply the concepts I'm learning together in the correct proportions. I have to constantly check myself as I read for understanding. 
Additionally, as a beginner, I feel there is so much to learn. I could easily overwhelm myself with the volume and complexity of so many great resources. As a strategy to prevent this, I'm using each week's blog as a way to pace myself, and net expect too much of myself. Image Source 

How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time!

I don't have the experience or perspective to understand when to use each exposure mode. So I checked in with an experienced photographer for more info.

Spyros Heniadas is a fantastic photographer. He answers photography questions through his vlog at selfhelpphotographer.com. He posted this video about how to choose the right aperture, shutter speed and ISO in Manual mode. It was super helpful as I considered how to capture shallow or great depth of field.

Spyros talked about making decisions about which settings to use based on the lighting and your subject. The content is both a production (if-then statement.), and a script. This video is full of sensory information, but I really just want to focus on the decision tree he talked about. Here's a summary of the options he mentioned regarding aperture. This chart will help me review the reasons for each decision until they're incorporated into my own schemata for aperture.