7

Modul
PHOTOGRAPHY
Combining Digital Photography

into Multimedia Presentation

Using Digital Camera

By : M. Taufik, ST.

AMIR HAMZAH VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

2012

PREFACE

Module entitled "Photography - Combine Digital Photography into Multimedia Presentation" is a teaching material that is used as a guide practicum training participants Vocational School (SMK) to form one part of the competency areas of expertise in Information and Communications Technology Multimedia Skills Program.

This module describes the steps that necessary to perform Digital Photography Technique starting from the Photography Introduction, using Digital Camera, combining Digital Image and Creating Digital Image art.

This module is linked with other modules that discuss the Combining Audio into a Multimedia Presentation. Therefore, before using this module participants have taken the required training module.

Indrapura, Juni 2012 Author,

M. Taufik, ST.

MAP OF MODULE

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL & EQUAL TO IT

PASS FROM VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

D A

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DESCRIPTION :

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T

Preparing Proposals Understanding the Production Process Flow OF Multimedia Products Assembling Personal Computer Understanding Etymology of Multimedia Create and Manage Web Pages Applying the Techniques of Production Shooting Caring for Multimedia Equipments Perform Basic Operating System Installation Create Key Animation Stop-Motion Mastering How to Draw a Clean-Up and Insert Applying the Principles of Graphic Arts in Visual Communication Design for Multimedia Combining Text in Multimedia Presentation Combining 2D Images into a Multimedia Presentation Combine Digital Photography into a Multimedia Presentation Health and Safety, and Environmental in Working Combining Audio into a Multimedia Presentation Creating a Storyboard Multimedia Applications Explains the Basic Lighting Applying Special Effects to the Object of Productive

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GLOSSARY
Instant Camera - a camera producing finished pictures, directly from the camera within a short time of taking. Lens - One or more glass elements used to focus an image onto the focal plane. Lomography - movement that promotes (and exploits) the use of Lomo cameras (predominantly the LC-a) and a "shoot from the hip" attitude. Medium Format - A film format larger than 35mm but smaller than large format (typically 120 film) wound onto spools. Metering - measuring the amount of light for an exposure. Monopod - A one-legged camera support. Parallax - An effect in photography where the image seen in the viewfinder is not the same as the image seen through the lens, due to the viewfinder being slightly apart from the lens. Point-And-Shoot - Camera designed to eliminate the user's need to make focus and exposure settings. Red Eye - an unwanted effect achievable with a flash near the lens, common with compact cameras, where eyes appear to have red dots. This comes from the flash reflecting back from the eye's retina. RGB - Red/Green/Blue - a method of representing colours in a digital image. Shutter - The mechanism that opens and closes to make an exposure. Tripod - camera support with 3 legs. Viewfinder - The part of a camera you look through when composing your shot. Wide-Angle Lens - a lens whose focal length is less than the "normal" length for the film format. Zoom Lens - a lens that adjusts to cover a range of focal lengths.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
FRONT COVER INSIDE COVER PREFACE .......................................................................................................................... MAP OF MODULE ........................................................................................................ GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................... TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................... CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. A. DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................... B. PREREQUISITE .................................................................................................... C. INSTRUCTION FOR USE MODULE ................................................................ a. For Student .................................................................................................... i ii iv v 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 11 11

b. For Teacher .................................................................................................... D. FINAL DESTINATION ....................................................................................... E. STANDARD of COMPETENCE ........................................................................ CHAPTER 2. LEARNING ............................................................................................. A. STUDENT LEARNING PLAN .......................................................................... B. LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Learning activity : Using Digital Camera .................................................... a. The purpose of Learning b. Description of Learning Activity ............................................................ Using Digital Camera 1. Fotography ......................................................................................... 2. Operating Digital Camera ................................................................ 3. Camera Parts ...................................................................................... 4. Menu Operation ................................................................................. 5. Camera Focusing ...............................................................................

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12 13 15 18 21
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6. Photo Lighting ....................................................................................

7. Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed ......................

24 33 41 47 62 68 70 72 72 72 72 74 74 75 76 77

8. Camera Metering ............................................................................... 9. Shooting Subject ................................................................................. 10. Image-Recording Quality : Image Compression ........................... 11. Correcting Digital Image .................................................................. 12. Transferring Image ............................................................................ c. Summary ..................................................................................................... d. Task ............................................................................................................... e. Formative test ............................................................................................. f. Answer ......................................................................................................... CHAPTER 3. EVALUATION ....................................................................................... A. TASK ...................................................................................................................... B. EVALUATION CRITERIA ................................................................................. CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................

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CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION

A.

DESCRIPTION TITLE Module entitled "Photography - Combine Digital Photography into Multimedia Presentation" is a teaching material that is used as a guide practicum training participants Vocational School (SMK) to form one part of the competency areas of expertise in Information and Communications Technology Multimedia Skills Program. This module describes the steps that necessary to perform Digital Photography Technique starting from the Photography Introduction, using Digital Camera, combining Digital Image and Creating Digital Image art. This module is linked with other modules that discuss the Combining Audio into a Multimedia Presentation. Therefore, before using this module participants have taken the required training module.

B.

PREREQUISITE Before continue this module participants have taken the required training module. To continue the next module, participant have to pass this module.

C.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF MODULE 1. Instructions for Participant Training Training participants are expected to play an active role and interact with learning resources that can be used, because it must consider the following matters: a. Learning steps to be taken 1. Prepare tools and materials! 2. Please read carefully the description of the material in each learning activity! 3. Watch for job steps in any learning activities before working, if not clearly ask the instructor! 4. Return all equipment used practice! b. Equipment must be Prepared To support the safety and smoothness of task/ work to be done, then prepare all equipment needed, learn this first module and books that support. c. Training Results Training participants are able to Assembling Personal Computer operation task to perform in accordance with the manufacture of assembling procedures. 15

2. Role of Teachers Teachers who will teach this module should prepare the best possible strategy of including aspects of learning, mastery of the material, selection of methods, tools and media learning tools. Teachers must prepare a draft learning strategy that is able to realize the training participants were actively involved in the process of achievement/ mastery of competencies that have been programmed. Preparation of draft learning strategy refers to the performance criteria (KUK) in each sub-competencies that exist in GBPP. D. Final Destination Training participants able to perform the assembly of personal computers and computer peripherals installation according to the procedures.

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BASIC COMPETENCE
1. Using Digital Camera

INDICATOR

LEARNING MATERIAL

LEARNING ACTIVITY

ASSESSMENT
Written Test Verbal Test Practical Test Product Observation

TIME ALLOCATION TM PS PI
2 4(8) -

MATERIAL SOURCE
Digital Camera Manual Instruction Camera Handbook Additional book Computer Internet

Digital Camera Using Operated Digital Correctly Camera Viewing input and output by Tools and Firmware Features Viewing editing software and features correctly Digital image is saved and viewed by available image format

2. Combine digital image into multimedia presentation

Creating digital image using image editor software Edit digital image and save image using image editor

Understanding Manual Instruction of Digital Camera Observe Turn On Camera process according procedure Perceiving Turn on process Identify buttons on camera Understanding button function Understanding camera menus and features Understanding focus and lighting effects Configure Exposures, resolution, lighting, brightness and contrast to produce image Shooting image correctly Convert digital image into any available format Copying image that saved in digital camera to any other media storage and format. Digital Choosing multimedia Image and image editor software 2D Graphic Operating image editor Art software Inserting digital image Perform image editing process Correcting and configuring

Written Test Verbal Test Practical Test Product Observation

Digital Camera Manual Instruction Camera Handbook Additional book

3. Create Digital Image and 2D Graphic Art

software Digital image is Combined into multimedia presentation Edited image evaluated and interpreted as final result and viewed as multimedia presentation Creating Digital Art and modifying image.

digital image Combining digital image into multimedia presentation Evaluate editing result as presentation display Saving digital image into any available format

Computer Internet

Digital Operating digital image Image and editor software 2D Graphic Load Digital Image Art Arrange digital image, adjust correction to be printed as relevan procedure Saving digital image into any available format

Written Test Verbal Test Practical Test Product Observation

Digital Camera Manual Instruction Camera Handbook Additional book Computer Internet

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CHAPTER 2 : LEARNING

A. Student Learning Plan No Type of Activity Date Place Time Change Instructors initials

Using Digital Camera Combine digital image into multimedia presentation

Class

Lab

Create Digital Image and 2D Graphic Art

Lab

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B. Learning Activity : USING DIGITAL CAMERA 1. Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. The result in an electronic image sensor is an electrical charge at each pixel, which is electronically processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing. The result in a photographic emulsion is an invisible latent image, which is later chemically developed into a visible image, either negative or positive depending on the purpose of the photographic material and the method of processing. A negative image on film is traditionally used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print, either by using an enlarger or by contact printing.

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2. Operating Digital Camera

Turning On the Power Before turning on the Camera, we have to recharge the battery and installing the battery to camera body.

Charging the Battery

Tips for Using the Battery and Charger Recharge the Battery on the day before or on the day it is to be used. After recharging the battery, detach it and unplug the charger from the power outlet. When not using the camera, remove the battery. If the battery becomes exhausted quickly even after being fully charged, the battery has worn out. Purchase a new battery.

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Installing the Battery Load the fully charge battery into the camera.

Switch the Power On

About the Automatic Self-Cleaning Sensor Whenever the power switch on <ON> or <OFF>, the sensor cleaning will be executes automatically. During the sensor cleaning, the LCD monitor will display < to stop the sensor cleaning and take a picture. If you turn <ON>/<OFF> the power switch at short interval , the < be displayed. This is normal and not a problem. About the Auto Power Off To save the battery power, the camera turns of automatically after about 30 seconds of non-operation. To turn the camera again, just press the shutter button halfaway. You can change the auto power-off time with the menus Auto Power Off setting. When camera is turned on for the first time, or date/time has been reset, the Date/Time setting screen will appear. Follow the procedure in camera manual instruction to set Date/Time. Turn on Process > icon might not >. Even

during the sensor cleaning, you can still shoot by pressing the shutter button halfaway

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3. Camera Parts

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Button Function
Power Switch ; To turn on the camera power Shutter Button; To perform capturing still image Mode Dial; This button has Basic Zone Modes, Creative Zone Modes and Movie Shooting Modes to give more control shooting various subjects and Fully-automatic shooting. 17

ISO Speed Setting Button To set the image sensors sensitivity to light

Flash Button To pop up the built in flash light

Lens Release Button To release the lens from camera body

Menu Button To set various function such as the image recording quality, date/time, flash control, etc.

Playback button To playback image that have been saved/ recorded

Aperture/Exposure Acompensation button To set both the shutter speed and aperture as desired, and make the image brighter

AE Lock/FE Lock button/ Index/ Reduce button AE Lock button ; to lock the exposure FE Lock button ; to lock the flash exposure setting over the desired area of the subject Index/ reduce button ; to make index view or reduce magnification in playback mode

AF point button/ Magnify button To set AF point as desired To increase magnification in playback mode

Setting button To execute setting

Cross Keys To select menu or setting

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4. Menu Operation
The camera can be set in various functions with the menus such as the image-recording quality, date/time etc. when looking at the LCD monitor, use the <MENU> button, cross keys, and set button on the camer a back.

Menu Screen

In the basic zone modes and movies shooting mode, certain tab and menu options will not be displayed.

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Menu Setting Procedures

Formatting the Card

If the card was new or was previously formatted by another camera or computer, format card with the camera. When the card is formatted, all image and data in the card will be erased. Even protected images will be erased, so make sure there is nothing you need to keep. If necessary, transfer the images to a computer, etc., before formatting the card. 20

Executed [Format] in the following cases :

The card is new. The card was formatted by different camera or a computer. The card is full of images or data.

A card-related error is displayed.

About Low-Level Formatting

Do Low-Level Formatting if the cards recording or reading speed seems slow. Since Low-Level Formatting will erase all recordable sectors in the card, the formatting will take slightly longer than normal formatting.

You can stop Low-Level Formatting by selecting [Cancel]. Even in this case, normal
formatting will have been completed and you can use the card as usual.

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5. Camera Focusing
To Focus means to adjust a lens or its optical elements for achieving a sharp image of subjects in a certain distance from the camera.

AutoFocus [AF] Mode

A camera's autofocus system intelligently adjusts the camera lens to obtain focus on the subject, and can mean the difference between a sharp photo and a missed opportunity. Despite a seemingly simple goalsharpness at the focus pointthe inner workings of how a camera focuses are unfortunately not as straightforward. Note: Autofocus (AF) works either by using contrast sensors within the camera (passive AF) or by emitting a signal to illuminate or estimate distance to the subject ( active AF). Passive AF can be performed using either the contrast detection or phase detection methods, but both rely on contrast for achieving accurate autofocus; they will therefore be treated as being qualitatively similar for the purposes of this AF tutorial. Unless otherwise stated, this tutorial will assume passive autofocus. We will also discuss the AF assist beam method of active autofocus towards the end.

Changing the AF Mode

Select the AF Mode suiting the shooting conditions or subject. In the Basic Zone modes, the optimum mode is set

automatically.

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AF mode: ONE SHOT vs. AI SERVO & Continuous

The most widely supported camera focus mode is one-shot focusing, which is best for still subjects. The one shot mode is susceptible to focus errors for fast moving subjects since it cannot anticipate subject motion, in addition to potentially also making it difficult to visualize these moving subjects in the viewfinder. One shot focusing requires a focus lock before the photograph can be taken. Many cameras also support an autofocus mode which continually adjust the focus distance for moving subjects. Canon cameras refer to this as "AI Servo" focusing, whereas Nikon cameras refer to his as "continuous" focusing. It works by predicting where the subject will be slightly in the future, based on estimates of the subject velocity from previous focus distances. The camera then focuses at this predicted distance in advance to account for the shutter lag (the delay between pressing the shutter button and the start of the exposure). This greatly increases the probability of correct focus for moving subjects.

One-Shot AF for Still Subjects

Suited for Still Subjects. When you press shutter button halfway, the camera will focus only once. When focus is achieved, the dot inside the AF point achieving focus flashes briefly in red, and the focus information light in the viewfinder will also light. With evaluating metering, the exposure setting will be set at the same time focus is achieved. While you hold down the button halfway, the focus will be locked. You can then recompose the shot if desire.

AI Servo AF for Moving Subjects

This AF mode is for moving subjects when focusing distance keeps changing. While you hold the shutter halfway, the subject will be focused continuously.

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 The exposure is be set at the moment the picture is taken. When AF point selection is automatic, the camera first uses the center AF point to focus. During autofocusing, if the subject move away from the the center AF point, focus tracking continues as long as the subject is covered by another AF point.

AI Focus AF for Automatic Switching of AF Mode

AI Focus AF switches the AF mode from One-Shot AF to AI Servo AF automatically if the still subject start moving. After the subject is focused in the One-Shot AF mode, if the subject starts moving, the camera will detect the movement and change the AF mode automatically to AI Servo AF.

Selecting the AF Point

In the Basic Zone mode, all the AF points are active. Generally, the point covering the closest subject will be selected to focus. Therefore the camera sometimes may not focus subject you want. With the < P > (Program AE), < Tv >, < Av >, and < M > modes, you can select one AF point to focus where you want.

Shooting tips :
When shooting a portrait up close, use One-Shot AF and focus the eye. If it is difficult to focus, select and use the center AF point.

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 To Make easier to focus a moving subject, set the camera to automatic AF point selection and AI Servo AF.

Continuous Shooting
You can shoot up to about 3.4 shot per sec. This is effective for shooting your child running toward you and capturing the different facial expressions.

6. Photo Lighting
Natural Light in Photography
Paying more attention to light is perhaps the single most important step you can take to improve your photography. With many landscapes, having good natural lighting can even be more important than the choice of subject itself. Different types of natural light can also produce a wide variety of subject appearances even though these all have the same light source. Learn how to achieve the right light for your subject by utilizing the unique qualities of your particular time of day and weather.

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Flat Natural Light

Better Natural Light

Three factors influence how natural light renders a subject: time of day, camera direction and weather. We'll first explore time of day under clear skies, then move onto specific weather conditions; lighting directions will be saved for a future tutorial. Overview Even though all natural light originates from the sun, a subject's illumination is actually comprised of several components: Direct Sunlight Diffuse Skylight Bounced Light

(warmer, high contrast)

(cooler, low contrast)

(has qualities of reflecting object)

Depending on the time of day, the relative amount of each component changes resulting in an overall illumination with a different white balance or contrast. We'll start with astronomical high noon (when the sun is at its highest), then see what happens as the day progresses to sunset (or reverses to sunrise).

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Time of Day 1. Midday 2. Evening & Morning 3. Golden Hour & Sunrise/Sunset 4. Twilight, Dawn & Dusk

Contrast Colors Highest High

Direction of Sun

Neutral White Near Vertical Slightly Warm Mid to Low

Medium Warm to Fiery Near Horizontal Low Cool Pastel Below Horizon

note: the contrast characteristics are intended only for clear skies Time of Day. Further from high noon, the sun dips closer to the horizon. This results in lower contrast, because sunlight has to pass through more atmosphere, and more easily bounces off the ground toward the subject. In addition, the atmosphere selectively filters more of the sun's blue light resulting in warmer light overall.

Weather. Along with time of day, the type and extent of cloud cover is the other most influential cause of lighting variation. It primarily influences lighting because it changes the balance between direct sunlight and diffuse skylight, which in turn affects the apparent contrast and color temperature of the light source. We'll discuss this more at the end.

Clear Midday Sunshine

Midday lighting is primarily comprised of direct, downward sunlight. Such light has little chance to scatter and diffuse through the atmosphere, or to bounce off the ground and 27

illuminate the subject indirectly. This results in the hardest and most neutrally-colored lighting of any time of day, and is typically the least desirable type of natural light. Due to these drawbacks, too often photographers put their camera away potentially missing unique opportunities. For example, water may appear more transparent, since light penetrates deeper and direct reflections off the surface are less likely. Alternatively, other types of photographs are more about capturing a particular event, as opposed to achieving an image with optimal lighting.

Overcoming Unique Challenges. Just be aware that color saturation is typically lower, and that downward shadows generally don't produce flattering portraits, or make other subjects appear as three-dimensional.

Many photographers encourage liberal use of polarizing filters to manage contrast, since this is often when they're most impactful, but at this time these can also more easily make the sky appear unnaturally dark and blue. If shadows appear too harsh and colors aren't sufficiently saturated, try converting to black and white, since these may even benefit from the high contrast of midday light.

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Evening & Mid-Morning

Evening and mid-morning light becomes slightly warmer, and begins to cast noticeable shadows. Since direct light now originates from an upper side, subjects often appear much more three dimensional. Such lighting is usually much more predictable than sunsets and sunrises, primarily because this time is less dependent on the effect of surrounding mountains, or the location of the cloud line.

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Overcoming Unique Challenges. Mid-evening and morning has perhaps the most compromised lighting: it's not as neutrally colored as during midday, but also not as warm or intense as a sunset. It's also less harsh and originates from a better angle than during midday, but also isn't as soft and diffuse as during twilight or overcast lighting. These qualities make it a good all-around time of day for photography, but also run the risk of making photos appear too ordinary, since one cannot use any uniquely exaggerated lighting traits to emphasize particular features in their subject.

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Golden Hour & Sunrise/Sunset

The hour just before sunset and just after sunrise (the "golden hour") is typically regarded as having the most desirable light for photography. This is characterized by horizontal light that casts long shadows and gives subjects a warm glow. Sunsets and sunrises make for exciting and highly varied lighting, primarily because these are heavily influence by subtleties in the weather. Clouds are rendered using sunlight which reflects off them from underneath as opposed to sunlight which has diffused through them from above potentially causing the sky to light up with a soft, warm light.

Overcoming Unique Challenges. Sunsets and sunrises are often spectacularly vibrant in person, but this isn't always translated well into an image. Make sure that your camera's 31

auto white balance doesn't counteract an otherwise warm-looking scene, or that the color saturation isn't overly conservative to minimize the risk of color clipping. Ironically, when the lighting is most dramatic is also when your camera is most likely to make an error with its exposure; try to take several photos, or use partial or spot metering just in case.

Sunrise vs. Sunset. Although sunsets and sunrises are in theory identical, weather patterns can cause these to be consistently different, so many photographers prefer one over the other. Some find that they're more prepared to photograph during sunset over sunrise, because light quality builds steadily prior to a sunset whereas with sunrises, the light often starts at its best and gradually fades. In addition, being awake and on-location for a sunrise is often impractical in the summer months. On the other hand, sunrise photography is usually void of potentially distracting crowds, and more often has a low-laying mist and dew on foliage. Sunrises often also have a calm, quiescent quality particularly with scenes involving water that isn't present during sunsets.

Twilight, Dawn & Dusk

Twilight, dawn and dusk typically describe the half hour before sunrise or after sunset when the sky is still bright but there's no longer any direct sunlight. The primary source of light effectively becomes the entire sky, with one side appearing warm and reddish and the other becoming a cool blue or purple. This can produce wonderfully soft, multicolored lighting that gives a calm, peaceful mood to subjects.

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Overcoming Unique Challenges. Perhaps the biggest disadvantages are the lack of contrast and ambient light. Hand-held shots are therefore rarely possible, and achieving a sufficient sense of depth may require more attention to composition. Cameras also often over-expose twilight scenes when using automatic exposures potentially washing out the otherwise delicate colors since twilight almost never contains any fully white objects. Alpenglow. If you're lucky, a phenomenon called "alpenglow" may appear as a red or pinkish glow in the sky furthest from the setting sun, but it's never a guarantee. Alpenglow can be a helpful effect for extending a sky's warmth well beyond sunset.

Shade & Overcast Sunlight

Shade and overcast light typically have a cool, soft appearance, since the source of such light is spread across the entire sky, and doesn't include any direct sunlight. Textures therefore appear much subtler, and reflections on smooth surfaces are more diffuse and subdued. The color of such light is also more heavily influenced by bounced light from nearby objects, so subjects shaded by foliage can even incur a greenish tint. 33

Many photographers shy away from this type of lighting, but doing so is often a mistake. For example, depending on the degree of cloud cover, bright overcast light can actually be ideal for outdoor portraits and wildlife (as long as the cool white balance is corrected), since it doesn't cast harsh shadows across the subject's face. Bright overcast light may also enhance close-up photography, such as with flowers, since the appearance and saturation of colors usually improve. Alternatively, low contrast light can also be better when the subject itself is high in contrast, such as subjects containing both dark and light colors.

Overcoming Unique Challenges. A common trick is to keep the gray sky out of the photo unless the clouds are particularly moody and highly textured. Since shadows play much less of a role, achieving a sufficient sense of depth may be difficult just as during twilight but this time one also doesn't have the appealing pastel lighting to compensate. Images straight out of the camera often appear more bluish than desired, so shooting in RAW and adjusting the white balance afterwards is also encouraged. Liberal use of the levels tool and curves tool may also be helpful if one wishes to use the full contrast range in a print.

Other Specific Weather Conditions Weather is effectively just a massive filter that lies between the sun and your subject. At one extreme, light could be relatively warm and highly localized, such as sunlight from a clear sky. At the other extreme, light could be cooler and envelop the subject, such as diffuse 34

sunlight through a densely overcast sky. The thickness and extent of cloud cover is what decides where in this continuum your particular weather will have its effect. When the sky is partly cloudy, one can effectively use the sky to paint their scene with light if one is willing to wait for just the right moment. This is an excellent and often overlooked opportunity, especially during the middle of the day. Alternatively, stormy weather can produce extremely high contrast light since rain clears the air of haze and dust. Sunsets after a storm are also often the most dramatic, in part because the sky can become much darker than the land providing a nice high contrast backdrop for front-lit subjects. This is also when rainbows are most likely to appear.

Evening Light During Stormy Skies

Selective Light from Partly Cloudy Skies

Other scenarios include photography in the fog, mist or haze. This not only greatly decreases light's contrast just as during an overcast day but also does so progressively for more distant objects.

7. Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed

A photograph's exposure determines how light or dark an image will appear when it's been captured by your camera. Believe it or not, this is determined by just three camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed (the "exposure triangle"). Mastering their use is an essential part of developing an intuition for photography.

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Understanding Exposure

Achieving the correct exposure is a lot like collecting rain in a bucket. While the rate of rainfall is uncontrollable, three factors remain under your control: the bucket's width, the duration you leave it in the rain, and the quantity of rain you want to collect. You just need to ensure you don't collect too little ("underexposed"), but that you also don't collect too much ("overexposed"). The key is that there are many different combinations of width, time and quantity that will achieve this. For example, for the same quantity of water, you can get away with less time in the rain if you pick a bucket that's really wide. Alternatively, for the same duration left in the rain, a really narrow bucket can be used as long as you plan on getting by with less water. In photography, the exposure settings of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed are analogous to the width, time and quantity discussed above. Furthermore, just as the rate of rainfall was beyond your control above, so too is natural light for a photographer.

Exposure Triangle: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed

Each setting controls exposure differently: Aperture: controls the area over which light can enter your camera Shutter speed: controls the duration of the exposure ISO speed: controls the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to a given amount of light

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One can therefore use many combinations of the above three settings to achieve the same exposure. The key, however, is knowing which trade-offs to make, since each setting also influences other image properties. For example, aperture affects depth of field, shutter speed affects motion blur and ISO speed affects image noise.

The next few sections will describe how each setting is specified, what it looks like, and how a given camera exposure mode affects their combination.

Shutter Speed A camera's shutter determines when the camera sensor will be open or closed to incoming light from the camera lens. The shutter speed specifically refers to how long this light is permitted to enter the camera. "Shutter speed" and "exposure time" refer to the same concept, where a faster shutter speed means a shorter exposure time.

By the Numbers. Shutter speed's influence on exposure is perhaps the simplest of the three camera settings: it correlates exactly 1:1 with the amount of light entering the camera. For example, when the exposure time doubles the amount of light entering the camera doubles. It's also the setting that has the widest range of possibilities: Shutter Speed 1 - 30+ seconds 2 - 1/2 second Typical Examples Specialty night and low-light photos on a tripod To add a silky look to flowing water. Landscape photos on a tripod for enhanced depth of field To add motion blur to the background of a moving subject Carefully taken hand-held photos with stabilization Typical hand-held photos without substantial zoom

1/2 to 1/30 second 1/50 - 1/100 second

1/250 - 1/500 second To freeze everyday sports/action subject movement

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Hand-held photos with substantial zoom (telephoto lens) 1/1000 - 1/4000 second To freeze extremely fast, up-close subject motion

How it Appears. Shutter speed is a powerful tool for freezing or exaggerating the appearance of motion:

Slow Shutter Speed

Fast Shutter Speed

With waterfalls and other creative shots, motion blur is sometimes desirable, but for most other shots this is avoided. Therefore all one usually cares about with shutter speed is whether it results in a sharp photo either by freezing movement or because the shot can be taken hand-held without camera shake.

How do you know which shutter speed will provide a sharp hand-held shot? With digital cameras, the best way to find out is to just experiment and look at the results on your camera's rear LCD screen (at full zoom). If a properly focused photo comes out blurred, then you'll usually need to either increase the shutter speed, keep your hands steadier or use a camera tripod.

Aperture Setting A camera's aperture setting controls the area over which light can pass through your camera lens. It is specified in terms an f-stop value, which can at times be counterintuitive, because the area of the opening increases as the f-stop decreases. In photographer slang, the

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when someone says they are "stopping down" or "opening up" their lens, they are referring to increasing and decreasing the f-stop value, respectively.

By the Numbers. Every time the f-stop value halves, the light-collecting area quadruples. There's a formula for this, but most photographers just memorize the f-stop numbers that correspond to each doubling/halving of light:

Aperture Setting f/22 f/16 f/11 f/8.0 f/5.6 f/4.0 f/2.8 f/2.0 f/1.4

Relative Light 1X 2X 4X 8X 16X 32X 64X 128X 256X

Example Shutter Speed 16 seconds 8 seconds 4 seconds 2 seconds 1 second 1/2 second 1/4 second 1/8 second 1/15 second

The above aperture and shutter speed combinations all result in the same exposure.

Note: Shutter speed values are not always possible in increments of exactly double or half another shutter speed, but they're always close enough that the difference is negligible. 39

The above f-stop numbers are all standard options in any camera, although most also allow finer adjustments, such as f/3.2 and f/6.3. The range of values may also vary from camera to camera (or lens to lens). For example, a compact camera might have an available range of f/2.8 to f/8.0, whereas a digital SLR camera might have a range of f/1.4 to f/32 with a portrait lens. A narrow aperture range usually isn't a big problem, but a greater range does provide for more creative flexibility.

Technical Note: With many lenses, their light-gathering ability is also affected by their transmission efficiency, although this is almost always much less of a factor than aperture. It's also beyond the photographer's control. Differences in transmision efficiency are typically more pronounced with extreme zoom ranges. For example, Canon's 24-105 mm f/4L IS lens gathers perhaps ~10-40% less light at f/4 than Canon's similar 24-70 mm f/2.8L lens at f/4 (depending on the focal length). How it Appears. A camera's aperture setting is what determines a photo's depth of field (the range of distance over which objects appear in sharp focus). Lower f-stop values correlate with a shallower depth of field:

Wide Aperture f/2.0 - low f-stop number shallow depth of field

Narrow Aperture f/16 - high f-stop number large depth of field

ISO Speed

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The ISO speed determines how sensitive the camera is to incoming light. Similar to shutter speed, it also correlates 1:1 with how much the exposure increases or decreases. However, unlike aperture and shutter speed, a lower ISO speed is almost always desirable, since higher ISO speeds dramatically increase image noise. As a result, ISO speed is usually only increased from its minimum value if the desired aperture and shutter speed aren't otherwise obtainable.

Low ISO Speed (low image noise)

High ISO Speed (high image noise)

note: image noise is also known as "film grain" in traditional film photography

Common ISO speeds include 100, 200, 400 and 800, although many cameras also permit lower or higher values. With compact cameras, an ISO speed in the range of 50-200 generally produces acceptably low image noise, whereas with digital SLR cameras, a range of 50-800 (or higher) is often acceptable.

Camera Exposure Modes Most digital cameras have one of the following standardized exposure modes: Auto ( ), Program (P), Aperture Priority (Av),

Shutter Priority (Tv), Manual (M) and Bulb (B) mode. Av, Tv, and M are often called "creative modes" or "auto exposure (AE) modes."

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Each of these modes influences how aperture, ISO and shutter speed are chosen for a given exposure. Some modes attempt to pick all three values for you, whereas others let you specify one setting and the camera picks the other two (if possible). The following charts describe how each mode pertains to exposure:

Exposure Mode Auto ( )

How It Works Camera automatically selects all exposure settings. Camera automatically selects aperture & shutter speed;

Program (P)

you can choose a corresponding ISO speed & exposure compensation. With some cameras, P can also act as a hybrid of the Av & Tv modes.

Aperture Priority (Av or A)

You specify the aperture & ISO; the camera's metering determines the corresponding shutter speed. You specify the shutter speed & ISO; the camera's metering determines the corresponding aperture. You specify the aperture, ISO and shutter speed

Shutter Priority (Tv or S)

Manual (M)

regardless of whether these values lead to a correct exposure. Useful for exposures longer than 30 seconds. You specify

Bulb (B)

the aperture and ISO; the shutter speed is determined by a remote release switch, or by the duration until you press the shutter button a second time.

In addition, the camera may also have several pre-set modes; the most common include landscape, portrait, sports and night mode. The symbols used for each mode vary slightly from camera to camera, but will likely appear similar to those below:

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Exposure Mode Portrait

How It Works
Camera tries to pick the lowest f-stop value possible for a given exposure. This ensures the shallowest possible depth of field.

Landscape

Camera tries to pick a high f-stop to ensure a large depth of field. Compact cameras also often set their focus distance to distant objects or infinity. Camera tries to achieve as fast a shutter speed as possible for a given

Sports/Action

exposure ideally 1/250 seconds or faster. In addition to using a low fstop, the fast shutter speed is usually achieved by increasing the ISO speed more than would otherwise be acceptable in portrait mode. Camera permits shutter speeds which are longer than ordinarily allowed for hand-held shots, and increases the ISO speed to near its maximum

Night/Low-light

available value. However, for some cameras this setting means that a flash is used for the foreground, and a long shutter speed and high ISO are used expose the background. Check your camera's instruction manual for any unique characteristics.

However, keep in mind that most of the above settings rely on the camera's metering system in order to know what's a proper exposure. For tricky subject matter, metering can often be fooled, so it's a good idea to also be aware of when it might go awry, and what you can do to compensate for such exposure errors (see section on exposure compensation within the camera metering tutorial). Finally, some of the above modes may also control camera settings which are unrelated to exposure, although this varies from camera to camera. Such additional settings might include the autofocus points, metering mode and autofocus modes, amongst others.

8. Camera Metering
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Knowing how your digital camera meters light is critical for achieving consistent and accurate exposures. Metering is the brains behind how your camera determines the shutter speed and aperture, based on lighting conditions and ISO speed. Metering options often include partial, evaluative zone or matrix, center-weighted and spot metering. Each of these have subject lighting conditions for which they excel and for which they fail. Understanding these can improve one's photographic intuition for how a camera measures light. Background: Incident vs. Reflected Light All in-camera light meters have a fundamental flaw: they can only measure reflected light. This means the best they can do is guess how much light is actually hitting the subject.

If all objects reflected the same percentage of incident light, this would work just fine, however real-world subjects vary greatly in their reflectance. For this reason, in-camera metering is standardized based on the luminance of light which would be reflected from an object appearing as middle gray. If the camera is aimed directly at any object lighter or darker than middle gray, the camera's light meter will incorrectly calculate under or overexposure, respectively. A hand-held light meter would calculate the same exposure for any object under the same incident lighting.

18% Gray Tone

18% Red Tone

18% Green Tone

18% Blue Tone

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Above patches depict approximations of 18% luminance. This will appear most accurate when using a PC display which closely mimics the sRGB color space, and have calibrated your monitor accordingly. Monitors emit as opposed to reflect light, so this is also a fundamental limitation. What constitutes middle gray? In the printing industry it is standardized as the ink density which reflects 18% of incident light, however cameras seldom adhere to this. This topic deserves a discussion of its own, but for the purposes of this tutorial simply know that each camera has a default somewhere in the middle gray tones (~10-18% reflectance). Metering off of a subject which reflects more or less light than this may cause your camera's metering algorithm to go awry either through under or over-exposure,

respectively.

An

in-camera

light

meter

can

work

surprisingly well if object reflectance is sufficiently diverse throughout the photo. In other words, if there is an even spread varying from dark to light objects, then the average reflectance will remain roughly middle gray. Unfortunately, some scenes may have a significant imbalance in subject reflectivity, such as a photo of a white dove in the snow, or of a black dog sitting on a pile of charcoal. For such cases the camera may try to create an image with a histogram whose primary peak is in the midtones, even though it should have instead produced this peak in the highlights or shadows.

Metering Options In order to accurately expose a greater range of subject lighting and reflectance combinations, most cameras feature several metering options. Each option works by 45

assigning a weighting to different light regions; those with a higher weighting are considered more reliable, and thus contribute more to the final exposure calculation.

Center-Weighted

Partial Metering

Spot Metering

Partial and spot areas are roughly 13.5% and 3.8% of the picture area, respectively, which correspond to settings on the Canon EOS 1D Mark II. The whitest regions are those which contribute most towards the exposure calculation, whereas black areas are ignored. Each of the above metering diagrams may also be located off-center, depending on the metering options and autofocus point used.

More sophisticated algorithms may go beyond just a regional map and include: evaluative, zone and matrix metering. These are usually the default when your camera is set to auto exposure. Each generally works by dividing the image up into numerous sub-sections, where each section is then considered in terms of its relative location, light intensity or color. The location of the autofocus point and orientation of the camera (portrait vs. landscape) may also contribute to the calculation.

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When To Use Partial & Spot Metering Partial and spot metering give the photographer far more control over the exposure than any of the other settings, but this also means that these is more difficult to use at least initially. They are useful when there is a relatively small object within your scene which you either need to be perfectly exposed, or know that it will provide the closest match to middle gray. One of the most common applications of partial metering is a portrait of someone who is backlit. Metering off of their face can help avoid making the subject look like an underexposed silhouette against the bright background. On the other hand, care should be taken as the shade of a person's skin may lead to inaccurate exposure if it is far from neutral gray reflectance but probably not as inaccurate as what would have been caused by the backlighting. Spot metering is used less often because its metering area is very small and thus quite specific. This can be an advantage when you are unsure of your subject's reflectance and have a specially designed gray card (or other small object) to meter off of.

Spot and partial metering are also quite useful for performing creative exposures, and when the ambient lighting is unusual. In the examples to the left and right below, one could meter off of the diffusely lit foreground tiles, or off of the directly lit stone below the sky opening:

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Notes on Center-Weighted Metering At one time center-weighted metering was a very common default setting in cameras because it coped well with a bright sky above a darker landscape. Nowadays, it has more or less been surpassed in flexibility by evaluative and matrix, and in specificity by partial and spot metering. On the other hand, the results produced by center-weighted metering are very predictable, whereas matrix and evaluative metering modes have complicated algorithms which are harder to predict. For this reason some prefer to use it as the default metering mode.

Exposure Compensation Any of the above metering modes can use a feature called exposure compensation (EC). The metering calculation still works as normal, except the final settings are then compensated by the EC value. This allows for manual corrections if you observe a metering mode to be consistently under or over-exposing. Most cameras allow up to 2 stops of exposure compensation; each stop of exposure compensation provides either a doubling or halving of light compared to what the metering mode would have done otherwise. A setting of zero means no compensation will be applied (default).

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Exposure compensation is ideal for correcting in-camera metering errors caused by the subject's reflectivity. No matter what metering mode is used, an in-camera light meter will always mistakenly under-expose a subject such as a white dove in a snowstorm (see incident vs. reflected light). Photographs in the snow will always require around +1 exposure compensation, whereas a low-key image may require negative compensation. When shooting in RAW mode under tricky lighting, sometimes it is useful to set a slight negative exposure compensation (0.3-0.5). This decreases the chance of clipped highlights, yet still allows one to increase the exposure afterwards. Alternatively, a positive exposure compensation can be used to improve the signal to noise ratio in situations where the highlights are far from clipping.

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9. Shooting Subject
Before shooting subject, understanding camera basic operation is very important to do first, such as configuring standard setting to full automatic shooting.

Holding the Camera To obtain sharp image, hold the camera still to minimize camera shake. Wrap your right hand around the camera grip firmly. Hold the lens bottom with your left hand. Press the shutter button lightly with your right hands index finger. Press your arms and elbows lightly against the front of you body. Press the camera against your face and look through the viewfinder. To maintain a stable stance, place one foot in front of the other.

Shutter Button The shutter button has two steps. You can press the shutter button halfway. Then you can further press the shutter button completely.

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Preventing Camera Shake Camera movement during the moment of exposure is called camera shake. Camera shake can cause blurred pictures. The camera mechanical shake caused by the reflex mirror action can affect image taken with a super telephoto lens or close up (macro) lens. In such case, mirror lock up is effective. To preventing camera shake, note the following : Hold and steady the camera as shown on previous page. Press the shutter button halway to autofocus then press the shutter button completely. Camera Shutter Speed A camera's shutter speed can control exposure, but it's also one of the most powerful creative tools in photography. It can convey motion, freeze action, isolate subjects and smooth water, amongst other abilities. This tutorial describes how to achieve these various effects, in addition to hopefully stimulating other creative ideas for using shutter speed in everyday shots. For a background on how it factors into exposure.

Slow Shutter Speed

Fast Shutter Speed

Photos on left and right by Creativity103 (spinning top) and Kyle May (light bulb), respectively.

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Background A camera's shutter is like a curtain* that opens and lets in light to start the exposure, then closes to end it. A photo therefore doesn't just capture a moment in time, but instead represents an average of light over a timeframe. The term "shutter speed" is used to describe this duration. Whenever a scene contains moving subjects, the choice of shutter speed therefore determines which of these will appear frozen and which will be recorded with a blur. However, one cannot change the shutter speed in isolation at least not without also affecting the exposure or image quality:

Camera Settings

Adverse Side Effects Speed image noise

Faster Shutter Speeds: Slower Shutter Speeds:

ISO

f-number ISO

depth of field Speed hand-holdability

f-number

sharpness**

**only if the f-number increases so much that it causes visible diffraction

The above combinations of ISO speed and f-number (aperture) enable an amazingly broad range of selectable shutter speeds. Regardless of the combination, more light enables faster maximum shutter speeds, whereas less light permits slower minimum shutter speeds. For a given exposure, SLR cameras also typically have a much greater range of selectable shutter speeds than compact cameras. For example, this range is roughly 13-14 stops (or 10,000X) with most SLR cameras, but often just 8-9 stops (or 500X) with compact cameras. *Technical Note: At very short exposure times (typically 1/500 a second or faster) the shutter mechanism works more like a moving slit than a curtain. In that case, the shutter speed instead represents the amount of time that each region of the sensor is exposed to light, not the duration over which light reaches the entire sensor.

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Conveying Motion While some might see still photography as restricting, many instead see this as liberating, because still capture enables nearly full control over how motion is conveyed. For instance, should the subject be rendered as an unrecognizable streak, or as a more defined blur? Or should the subject remain sharp, with everything else blurred? These and other choices are all under your control.

Photos on left and right by alan cleaver and tyler durden, respectively.

However, achieving the intended amount of blur can be difficult. For a given shutter speed, three* subject traits determine how blurred they will appear:
Speed. Subjects which are moving faster will appear more blurred. This one is perhaps the most obvious of the three, but just as important. Direction of Motion. Subjects which are moving towards or away from the camera usually won't become as blurred as those moving side to side even if both subjects are moving at the same speed. Magnification. A given subject will appear more blurred if they occupy a greater fraction of your image frame. This is perhaps the least obvious, but is also the one which is most under your control, since subject magnification is the combined effect of focal length and subject distance. Longer focal lengths (more zoom) result in more magnification for a given subject distance, but this also increases the likelihood of blur due to camera shake.

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*Although not a subject trait, the display size may also be important. Blur which appears optimal in a small size on-screen may appear too pronounced in a large print, for example.

Shutter Speed: 1/2 1/10 1/30 1/400

Regardless, developing an intuition for shutter speed under different scenarios can be difficult, but with plenty of experimentation you'll be well on your way. A specific but common application of using shutter speed to convey motion is with moving water. Shutter speeds of around 1/2 a second or longer can make waterfalls appear silky, or waves look like a surreal, low-lying mist. Move your mouse over the various shutter speeds to the right to see this effect. Note how freezing the motion of splashing water required a shutter speed of 1/400 of a second. Since this is a wide angle photo, a shorter shutter speed could have achieved a similar look if one were instead zoomed into just a portion of the waterfall. One can also use a slow shutter speed to emphasize a stationary subject amongst movement, such as a person standing still amongst a bustling crowd. Similarly, unique portraits can be achieved using moving trains as a background when the shutter speed is as slow as about 1/10 to 1/2 a second: 54

1.3 seconds

1/3 second

Photos on left and right by nathanhayag and moriza, respectively.

Moving with the Subject & Panning Instead of blurring the subject, one could instead render everything else blurred. This requires the camera to either be located on the moving subject itself, or aimed in such a way that the image frame moves with the subject (called "panning").

shutter speed: 15 seconds; photo by Dande Chiaro

Try taking a photo from a moving car, an amusement park ride (be safe!), or another moving object to create an interesting effect. As before, the required shutter speed will depend on the speed of motion, potentially in addition to the stability of the moving object. Regardless, somewhere around 1/30 of a second is often a good starting point, then adjust accordingly after viewing the results on your camera's rear screen. 55

panning photo at 1/45 sec and 110 mm

Alternatively, the panning technique doesn't necessarily mean that the camera itself has to travel at the same speed as the subject just that the image frame has to move this fast. Fortunately, even fast subjects can be captured by slowly pivoting the camera, especially if this subject is far away and you're using a telephoto lens. Make sure to aim so that your image frame smoothly follows your subject, while also pressing the shutter button all in one continuous motion.

A successful panning shot requires a shutter speed which is just slow enough to cause the background to streak, but just fast enough that the subject still appears sharp. This can be tricky to achieve, so the key with panning is to experiment and take many more shots than you would otherwise. Regardless, longer streaks produce a much more dramatic effect; using an image-stabilized lens that has one-axis* stabilization, or a tripod with a pan-tilt head can help you achieve this. In addition, panning requires a textured background that isn't completely out of focus. Subject backgrounds which are closer will also appear to streak more for a given shutter speed and panning rate.

*Lens Panning Mode. This is called "mode 2" IS on canon lenses; nikon lenses with vibration reduction (VR) automatically switch to panning mode when the lens motion is in one direction. 56

An added benefit is that panning permits slower shutter speeds than would otherwise be needed to capture a sharp subject. For example, available light might only permit a shutter speed of 1/50 second which might be insufficient to render a particular moving subject as sharp with a standard shot but with panning, this shutter speed might be fast enough to make the subject appear sharp.

Freezing Fast Action & High-Speed Motion High speed photography is capable of new and exciting representations of subjects in motion, in part because we are incapable of seeing and processing movements which are much faster than a running person. Examples include water droplets, birds in flight and moments in sports, amongst many others.

photo by Lazlo

However, capturing fast-moving subjects can also be challenging. The key is to learn to anticipate when your subject will be in the desired position, since shutter speeds shorter than 1/5th of a second are faster than our own reaction time. Simply reacting and pressing the shutter button will likely miss the moment. To make matters worse, many cameras also impart a delay between when the shutter button is pressed and the exposure begins (called "shutter lag"). With SLR cameras this is often just 1/10 to 1/20 of a second, but with compact cameras this can be as high as 1/2 a second. However, these times exclude the additional 1/2 to 1 second (or more) that it can take your camera to autofocus. Pre-focusing on or near your expected subject location can therefore greatly reduce shutter lag. 57

Sharp high speed photos also require one to be attentive to variations in subject motion, and to potentially time the shot to coincide with a relative pause in the action. For example, with jumping or racing subjects, try to time your shot for when they're at their highest point or are changing directions (and are thus moving the slowest). Even with proper timing, one might also need to set their camera to continuous shot mode (or similarly named setting). The camera can then take a burst of shots while you hold down the shutter button and hopefully capture just the right moment with one of these. In any case, knowing the necessary shutter speed also takes practice. The following calculator estimates the minimum shutter speed needed to make a moving subject appear sharp in an 8x10 inch print:

Shutter Speed Calculator show advanced

Camera Settings
Digital SLR with CF of 1.6X

Lens Focal Length Subject Distance Subject Speed

8

85

mm ft mph

100

in side to side direction Minimum Shutter Speed:

1/500 sec

Notes: CF = "crop factor" (commonly referred to as the focal length multiplier) Calculator assumes the same sharpness criteria as used to determine depth of field; to instead calculate based on sharpness when viewed at 100% on-screen, use "show advanced" above.

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The above results are only intended as a rough guide. In general, 1/250 to 1/500 of a second is sufficient to freeze everyday motion of people, but one may require 1/1000 to 1/4000 of a second if subjects are up-close or extraordinarily fast. Notes on Subject Speed. Just because a subject is moving at a given speed doesn't preclude portions of this subject from moving even faster. For example, the arms and legs of a runner might be moving much faster than their body. Furthermore, the above subject speed refers to the speed in the direction across your frame (side to side); you can typically get away with a 4X longer shutter speed for subjects moving directly towards or away from you, and a 2X longer shutter speed for subjects which are moving towards/away from you at an angle. Keep in mind that most cameras are only capable of shutter speeds up to 1/2000 to 1/8000 of a second. If the above calculator indicates that you'll need a shutter exceeding the capabilities of your camera, your only other options are to try panning with the subject to offset some of their motion, or to resort to using flash photography.

Zooming Blur

Photo on right by jeremy vandel.

Another interesting technique is to change the zoom during the exposure itself (often called a "zoom burst"). You can achieve this look by (i) setting your camera on a tripod, (ii) using a shutter speed of 1/15 to 1/2 a second, and (iii) twisting the lens's zoom ring while also trying

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to avoid moving the camera itself. One can also try only zooming during part of the exposure to lessen the effect. This causes subjects to have increasing radial blur near the edges of the frame, with the center appearing more or less unblurred. The effect can be used to draw attention to a central subject, or to make the viewer feel as though they're moving rapidly. The zoom burst technique is usually only possible with SLR cameras, but may also be possible with compact cameras that have manual zoom capabilities. Alternatively, zooming blur can often be perfectly replicated using normal photos and post-processing, such as with Photoshop's radial blur filter.

Abstract & Artistic Effects Sometimes photographers will intentionally add camera-shake-induced blur to give their image a unique and artistic effect:

Abstract Blurred Light Effect

Artistic Painted Effect

Photos on left and right by Kevin Dooley and Unukorno, respectively.

One typically needs to use shutter speeds of 1/30 - 1/2 a second (or more) since this is just beyond the limit of hand-holdability, but not too long that the subject will become smoothed out entirely. Predicting the end result can also be difficult, so these types of shots will likely require many attempts (at potentially different shutter speeds) before you are able to achieve the desired look. Also keep in mind that the painted look is often easier to achieve with filters in Photoshop or other editing software.

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Conclusions & Further Reading We've seen several creative ways of using shutter speed, but what if the amount of light required for a correct exposure prevents you from selecting the desired shutter speed even after all combinations of ISO speed and aperture have been attempted? For faster shutter speeds, one can try switching to a lens with a larger maximum aperture, or one can add more light to the scene itself by either changing the shooting location or using a flash. Alternatively, for even slower shutter speeds, one can block some of the light by using a neutral density filter or a polarizing filter, or can use the image averaging technique to create a longer effective exposure. In either case, also make sure that you're not accidentally over or under-exposing the photo and thus potentially shifting your range of available shutter speeds.

Other important points and clarifications are listed below.

Shutter Priority Mode. This camera setting can be a useful tool when the appearance of motion is more important than depth of field, or just for letting you know whether your desired shutter speed is even possible using available light. It allows you to pick a desired shutter speed, then the camera's metering tries to combine this with an aperture setting (and potentially ISO speed) that will achieve a correct exposure. Camera Shake. The above analysis assumes that subject motion is the primary source of blur, but in many photos camera shake can instead be more influential particularly when using telephoto lenses or with unsteady hands.

Camera Shake with Hand-Held Photos We've all likely encountered this problem many times: blurry photos due to camera shake with hand-held shots. It's especially prevalent for those of us who are unfortunate enough to have unsteady hands. While it cannot be eliminated entirely, fortunately there's a number of steps you can take to greatly reduce its impact and hopefully prevent it from becoming visible in the first place.

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Blurry Photo from Camera Shake

Photo Without Camera Shake

Photo from the base of the Eiffel Tower at night - Paris, France.

Overview Camera shake is visible whenever your shutter speed is slow compared to the speed of unintended camera motion. Reducing its impact may therefore include:
1. Methods for increasing the shutter speed (shorter exposure time) 2. Methods for reducing camera motion

On the one hand, many who are new to photography often don't appreciate the importance of using fast shutter speeds or a tripod, but on the other hand, many experienced photographers often overestimate their impact. More often than not, it is one's shooting technique not high-end lenses or high megapixel cameras that ultimately limits the resolution of a photograph. While either method alone can be of great help, the most effective solution is to take both into consideration. Even the calmest hands cannot hold a camera sufficiently steady during a several second exposure, for example, and fast shutter speeds are unlikely to freeze motion from a telephoto lens held by shaky hands. Also, increasing the shutter speed helps freeze a moving subject, whereas reducing camera motion does not.

Methods for Increasing the Shutter Speed There are unfortunately only three ways to increase your shutter speed: (i) optimize your exposure

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settings, (ii) avoid over-exposure and (iii) improve how your subject is lit.

Choose optimal exposure settings. Make sure you're making the best trade-offs with the camera exposure triangle; are you really using the highest ISO speed and/or the lowest fstop possible with your subject matter? Make sure to consider whether you need an extended depth of field when choosing the aperture. However, if you're using your camera in automatic mode, then it's likely already doing whatever it can to increase the shutter speed. Avoid accidental over-exposure. A common cause of blurred shots is due to the camera's metering system mistakenly choosing a longer exposure time than was necessary. Dark shaded subject matter and uneven indoor light can easily trick your camera into overexposure.

Use a flash or improve ambient lighting. If you're using a compact camera with a built-in flash, also try getting closer to your subject so that they'll be more brightly illuminated. If you're shooting people without a flash, try relocating closer to the light source(s), or waiting until the subject passes through a more brightly lit area. If none of these are sufficient, then you'll also need to employ one or more of the techniques discussed in the subsequent sections below (but ideally one should use both).

Improve Your Hand-Held Technique Although increasing the shutter speed is often the easiest technique to implement, how you take hand-held

photographs can often times make even more of a difference. Try one or more of the following tips:

Example of a photographer leaning against a wall to brace the camera.

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Brace yourself and your camera. This might include leaning up against a wall, kneeling or sitting, or using the viewfinder instead of the rear LCD (since the camera gets braced against your face). Just try to have at least three points of contact between your body and the ground, walls or other stable objects. Always avoid situations where your position or equipment causes you to strain while taking the photograph. Holding your camera directly against a wall or other object also improves stability even further. Make sure to stand in a position that leaves you calm and comfortable.

Optimize how you grip the camera. It's important to hold your camera firmly but not tensely, and to use both hands. With large telephoto lenses, make sure to place one hand under the lens and the other on your camera. Make sure that your arms remain close to your body and in a comfortable position. Using your camera more often can also make your grip feel more natural and get your hand muscles more acclimated to the task. Also make sure that you keep yourself nice and warm.

Practice better shutter button technique. Always try to press the shutter button half-way first, then gently press the button with no more pressure/speed than necessary. It might also help to pay attention to breathing. Try taking a deep breath, exhaling about halfway, then pressing the shutter button.

Take three shots in rapid succession. Often the very act of knowing you'll have to hold your hands steady can make it more difficult to do so.

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First Photo (most blurred)

Second Photo (sharpest - keeper)

Third Photo (medium blur)

You'll likely find that there's a big difference in sharpness between each successive image, in part because you're less concerned about individual shots. Just make sure to review these at full resolution; differences often won't be as pronounced as the above example.

10.Image-Recording Quality : Image Compression

An important concept which distinguishes many image types is whether they are compressed. Compressed files are significantly smaller than their uncompressed counterparts, and fall into two general categories: "lossy" and "lossless." Lossless compression ensures that all image information is preserved, even if the file size is a bit larger as a result. Lossy compression, by contrast, can create file sizes that are significantly smaller, but achieves this by selectively discarding image data. The resulting compressed file is therefore no longer identical to the original. Visible differences between these compressed files and their original are termed "compression artifacts."

Setting You can select number of megapixel to record of the image quality.

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JPEG File Format JPEG stands for "Joint Photographic Expert Group" and, as its name suggests, was specifically developed for storing photographic images. It has also become a standard format for storing images in digital cameras and displaying photographic images on internet web pages. JPEG files are significantly smaller than those saved as TIFF, however this comes at a cost since JPEG employs lossy compression. A great thing about JPEG files is their flexibility. The JPEG file fomat is really a toolkit of options whose settings can be altered to fit the needs of each image. JPEG files achieve a smaller file size by compressing the image in a way that retains detail which matters most, while discarding details deemed to be less visually impactful. JPEG does this by taking advantage of the fact that the human eye notices slight differences in brightness more than slight differences in color. The amount of compression achieved is therefore highly dependent on the image content; images with high noise levels or lots of detail will not be as easily compressed, whereas images with smooth skies and little texture will compress very well.

Image with Fine Detail (Less Effective JPEG Compression)

Image without Fine Detail (More Effective JPEG Compression)

It is also helpful to get a visual intuition for how varying degrees of compression impact the quality of your image. At 100%, you will barely notice any difference between the compressed and uncompressed image below, if at all. Notice how the JPEG algorithm prioritizes prominent high-contrast edges at the expense of more subtle textures. As the

67

compression quality decreases, the JPEG algorithm is forced to sacrifice the quality of more and more visually prominant textures in order to continue decreasing the file size.

Choose Compression Quality:

100% 80% 60% 30% 10%

200% Zoom

Original Image

Compressed Image

TIFF File Format TIFF stands for "Tagged Image File Format" and is a standard in the printing and publishing industry. TIFF files are significantly larger than their JPEG counterparts, and can be either uncompressed or compressed using lossless compression. Unlike JPEG, TIFF files can have a bit depth of either 16-bits per channel or 8-bits per channel, and multiple layered images can be stored in a single TIFF file. TIFF files are an excellent option for archiving intermediate files which you may edit later, since it introduces no compression artifacts. Many cameras have an option to create images as TIFF files, but these can consume excessive space compared to the same JPEG file. If your camera supports the RAW file format this is a superior alternative, since these are significantly smaller and can retain even more information about your image. Useful Tips 68

Only save an image using a lossy compression once all other image editing has been completed, since many image manipulations can amplify compression artifacts.

Avoid compressing a file multiple times, since compression artifacts may accumulate and progressively degrade the image. For such cases, the JPEG algorithm will also produce larger and larger files at the same compression level.

Ensure that image noise levels are as low as possible, since this will produce dramatically smaller JPEG files.

RAW File Format The RAW file format is digital photography's equivalent of a negative in film photography: it contains untouched, "raw" pixel information straight from the digital camera's sensor. The RAW file format has yet to undergo demosaicing, and so it contains just one red, green, or blue value at each pixel location. Digital cameras normally "develop" this RAW file by converting it into a full color JPEG or TIFF image file, and then store the converted file in your memory card. Digital cameras have to make several interpretive decisions when they develop a RAW file, and so the RAW file format offers you more control over how the final JPEG or TIFF image is generated. This section aims to illustrate the technical advantages of RAW files, and makes suggestions about when to use the RAW file format. A RAW file is developed into a final JPEG or TIFF image in several steps, each of which may contain several irreversible image adjustments. One key advantage of RAW is that it allows the photographer to postpone applying these adjustments giving more flexibility to the photographer to later apply these themselves, in a way which best suits each image. The following diagram illustrates the sequence of adjustments:

Demosaicing

Tone

Curves Conversion to 8-bit

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White Balance

Contrast Color Sharpening Saturation

JPEG Compression

Demosaicing and white balance involve interpreting and converting the bayer array into an image with all three colors at each pixel, and occur in the same step. The bayer array is what makes the first image appear more pixelated than the other two, and gives the image a greenish tint. Our eyes perceive differences in lightness logarithmically, and so when light intensity quadruples we only perceive this as roughly a doubling in the amount of light. A digital camera, on the other hand, records differences in lightness linearly twice the light intensity produces twice the response in the camera sensor. This is why the first and second images above look so much darker than the third. In order for the numbers recorded within a digital camera to be shown as we perceive them, tone curves need to be applied (see the tutorial on gamma correction for more on this topic). Color saturation and contrast may also be adjusted, depending on the setting within your camera. The image is then sharpened to offset the softening caused by demosaicing, which is visible in the second image. The high bit depth RAW image is then converted into 8-bits per channel, and compressed into a JPEG based on the compression setting within your camera. Up until this step, RAW image information most likely resided within the digital camera's memory buffer. There are several advantages to performing any of the above RAW conversion steps afterwards on a personal computer, as opposed to within a digital camera. The next sections describe how using RAW files can enhance these RAW conversion steps. The RAW file format uses a lossless compression, and so it does not suffer from the compression artifacts visible with "lossy" JPEG compression. RAW files contain more information and achieve better compression than TIFF, but without the compression artifacts of JPEG.

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Note: Kodak and Nikon employ a slightly lossy RAW compression algorithm, although any artifacts are much lower than would be perceived with a similar JPEG image. The efficiency of RAW compression also varies with digital camera manufacturer. Right image shown at 200%; lossy JPEG compression at 60% in Adobe Photoshop "Save for Web" mode.

Disadvantages

RAW files are much larger than similar JPEG files, and so fewer photos can fit within the same
memory card.

RAW files are more time consuming since they may require manually applying each conversion
step.

RAW files often take longer to be written to a memory card since they are larger, therefore most
digital cameras may not achieve the same frame rate as with JPEG.

RAW files cannot be given to others immediately since they require specific software to load
them, therefore it may be necessary to first convert them into JPEG.

RAW files require a more powerful computer with more temporary memory (RAM).

Other Considerations One problem with the RAW file format is that it is not very standardized. Each camera has their own proprietary RAW file format, and so one program may not be able to read all formats. Fortunately, Adobe has announced a digital negative (DNG) specification which aims to standardize the RAW file format. In addition, any camera which has the ability to save RAW files should come with its own software to read them. Good RAW conversion software can perform batch processes and often automates all conversion steps except those which you choose to modify. This can mitigate or even eliminate the ease of use advantage of JPEG files. Many newer cameras can save both RAW and JPEG images simultaneously. This provides you with an immediate final image, but retains the RAW "negative" just in case more flexibility is desired later.

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Summary
So which is better: RAW or JPEG? There is no single answer, as this depends on the type of photography you are doing. In most cases, RAW files will provide the best solution due to their technical advantages and the decreasing cost of large memory cards. RAW files give the photographer far more control, but with this comes the trade-off of speed, storage space and ease of use. The RAW trade-off is sometimes not worth it for sports and press photographers, although landscape and most fine art photographers often choose RAW in order to maximize the image quality potential of their digital camera.

11.Correcting Digital Image

White Balance
Simply getting the white balance right can often make the single biggest improvement in your photo's colors. An incorrect white balance will give your image a color cast, and can dramatically reduce both contrast and color saturation:

Incorrect White Balance Custom

White Balance

White Balance Correction You can correct the white balance that has been set. This adjustment will have the same effect as using commercially-available color

temperature conversion filter or color conversating filter. Each

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color can corrected to one of nine level.

Lens Correction Due the lens characteristics, the four corner of the picture might look darker. This is called lens light fall-off or drop in peripheral illumination. This can be corrected. For JPEG image, lens light fall-off is corrected when the image captured. For RAW image, it can be corrected Digital Photo Professional (provided software).

The camera (Canon EOS 500D) already contains Lens Peripheral Illumination Correction data for about 25 lenses. It will be applied automatically for any lens whose correction lens data has been

registered in the camera.

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12.Transferring Image
By connecting the camera into a computer, the images from the cameras card can be transferred by operating the camera. This is called direct image transfer. Before connecting the camera to a computer, be sure to install provide software.

Preparation for Image Transfer

The images sent to the computer will be saved in to [My Pictures] folder or [Pictures] folder in subfolders organized according to the shooting date.

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 All Images

New Images Images which have not yet been transferred to the computer will be selected by camera automatically and transferred.

Transfer Order Image

Select the image and they are transferred to the computer in a batch.

Select and Transfer Wallpaper

The image that select and transfer will appear as the computers wallpaper. To exit, press the <MENU> button.

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SUMMARY

1. Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. 2. Before using / turning on the camera, we have to load fully charge battery into the camera. 3. To have an easiest way capturing image with camera, use the Full Automatic shooting mode. 4. To prevent camera shake during capturing image, hold the camera still to minimize camera movement.

Task
1. Describe about how the camera works.

Formative Test
1. Explain how to hold Camera correctly?

Formative Answer Key

Holding the Camera To obtain sharp image, hold the camera still to minimize camera shake. Wrap your right hand around the camera grip firmly. Hold the lens bottom with your left hand.

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 Press the shutter button lightly with your right hands index finger. Press your arms and elbows lightly against the front of you body. Press the camera against your face and look through the viewfinder. To maintain a stable stance, place one foot in front of the other.

Worksheet
Camera, Camera Lens, Flash Lamp unit, Tripod, Manual Instruction Health and Safety 1. Lets Pray before starting revision. 2. Read and understand the instructions and procedures on each piece of lab work and learning activities. 3. Make sure the camera and equipment are in good condition, the camera ready to shoot. 4. While shooting subject, observe the result according to the procedure! Step Work 1. Prepare all the equipment needed! 2. Check all Camera, Parts and Equipments. 3. Using Camera according SOP. 4. Make sure the battery are fully loaded and the camera ready to shoot 5. After perform Using Camera, please collect the parts and equipments tidy in its place.

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CHAPTER III : EVALUATION

A. QUESTION

1. Explain about Photography? 2. Mention some Camera types that you know! 3. Mention some Camera vendors that most used! 4. Explain about Exposure! 5. What do you know about Autofocus!

B. CLUES 1. Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. 2. Some Digital Still Camera types : - Pocket Camera - DSLR Camera - Prosumer Camera 3. Some Camera Vendors : - Sony - Panasonic - Canon
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- Casio - Leica 4. In photography, the exposure settings of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed are analogous to the width, time and quantity. 5. Autofocus system intelligently adjusts the camera lens to obtain focus on the subject, and can mean the difference between a sharp photo and a missed opportunity.

B. EVALUATION CRITERIA Score Aspect (1-10) Weight Value Information

Cognitive (questions # 1 s / d 3) Clip an interesting, varied and creative. Value End Timeliness Category graduation: 80-89

Terms passed a minimum

value of 80 and score every aspect of

at least 8

: Meeting the minimum criteria. Can work without guidance.

90-100 : On the minimum criteria. Can work without guidance.

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CHAPTER IV : CONCLUSION

After completing this module and do all the tasks and the evaluation criteria and based on assessment, training participants training participants can be declared pass / no pass. If it passed then it can proceed to the next module in accordance with the flow map of modules, whereas if it did not pass the training participants had to repeat this module and not allowed to take the next module.

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REFERENCES

Canon Rebel T1i EOS 500D Manual Instructions http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/ http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/35-basic-tutorials-to-get-you-started-withphotoshop/ http://www.sitepoint.com/getting-started-photoshop/ http://www.vineyardesigns.com/tutorials/photoshop/index.shtml Posted by David Leggett in Photoshop Tutorials on April 25th, 2008 http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSEC964A47-477C-4487-8CF4332F92636117a.html http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/bllps502h.htm http://www.ehow.com/how_4557820_save-photoshop-image.html#ixzz1zLyqMMvM http://help.adobe.com/en-US/photoshop/cs/using/

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