Today is our third Photography Friday tutorial and I hope you have all learnt a lot so far like I have!! I'm having so much fun learning my camera and today we will be teaching you how to set up your camera to shoot in Aperture Priority mode!
Aperture Priority is the most widely used and 'useful' of all the modes on your camera! Basically there will be no Auto or Pre-set modes needed once you have mastered this, so if you want to learn some more and improve your photography to no end just keep reading, it's much easier than you think...
So what is this 'Aperture Priority' mode anyway??
Aperture Priority is one of the settings on the Mode Dial of your camera (labelled #2 in the diagram below) - it'll be labelled as either 'AV' for Canon's or 'A' for Nikon's. If you turn your dial to this setting you are in control of the Aperture (depth of field) for any images you shoot and your camera will then calculate the appropriate Shutter Speed and ISO setting for you, fab!!
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| You want to select 'AV' ('A' if you have a Nikon) on your Mode Dial for Aperture Priority mode! |
Why would I want to control the Aperture of my camera? Why not just stick with Auto or Pre-set modes??
Shooting in Aperture Priority mode allows you to be truly in control of the depth of field in an image. So with some shots you might want a deep depth of field (a landscape with everything in focus) and other times you might want a very shallow depth of field (just one flower out of a bouquet in focus). Aperture Priority mode is pretty fabulous as it allows you to choose, you can really 'create' a shot using this method and it's really quite simple to master!
So I really want to learn about this Aperture Priority stuff! What else do I need to know??
For a quick recap of Aperture theory, in last week's tutorial we learned all about the Exposure Triangle and how different Aperture or f-stop numbers affect your Shutter Speed by speeding it up or slowing it down, we learnt that:
Here is a great image I found of what your aperture looks like at each f-stop setting - pretty cool! I tend to picture this in my mind as I'm shooting and it really helps...
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The f-stop range goes both higher and lower than the numbers shown but it gives you some idea of what effect each Aperture will have on Shutter Speed as it's opened or closed.
Last week we also learned that the lower the f-stop or Aperture the less that is in focus in your image and the higher the f-stop the more that is in focus.
For a little more reinforcement, the following images were taken at a variety of f-stop settings on the scale:
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You can see that at the lower f-stop numbers of f 4.5 and f 5.6 very few of the lemons are in focus and that at the higher end of the scale f 8 and f 20 most of the lemons are in focus!
Got it! So how do I actually change the Aperture or f -stop setting on my camera??
Every DSLR camera will have a dial either on the back or top of the camera's body that you can roll backwards and forwards to change the Aperture up or down while in AV mode, easy huh?! Just check your manual if you can't find it and have a good play around with it - I promise it doesn't bite and it's so fun to play with! :)
My husband's advice is to take shots at every setting your camera and lens allows you to, you will soon notice that at different levels of zoom and in differing light conditions the aperture you can achieve will change slightly, oooh!
I'm trying out all the f-stops on my camera but the f-stop number won't go lower than f-3.5, why??
I hear ya, I had the exact same problem and here's why; your lowest aperture or f-stop will be determined by the lens on your camera.
So, I currently use the kit lens that came with my camera it is an 18-55mm f 3.5 - f 5.6 lens and most of you will probably have something similar if you bought your camera with a kit lens. The numbers on your lens are key to the kinds of apertures you will be able to achieve and that's why there are so many different lenses you can buy - some of them at exorbitant prices!
Basically, the f-stop number on your lens is the minimum aperture your lens can achieve. So when my kit lens is zoomed all the way out it can reach f 3.5 and when it is zoomed all the way in it can reach f 5.6 so it's called an f 3.5 - f 5.6 lens. So the kit lens I (and probably you) own will never get lower than f 3.5, boo!!
To be able to get to the lowest f-stop number available on the scale, around the f 1.4 mark (which would give tons of that gorgeous background blur everyone loves) I would need to buy a different lens, but for everyday purposes your 3.5 -5.6 kit lens will do just fine!
So, what do images shot in AV mode with a standard kit lens really look like??
Well, I'll show you some of mine! Below are some shots I've taken in Aperture Priority mode as a complete beginner with my kit lens with the Aperture setting chosen by me and the ISO and Shutter Speed determined by my camera...
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While in 'AV' mode I chose:
Aperture: f 5.6 (I just wanted the door in focus)
So the camera chose: Shutter Speed: 1/60 (fast)
ISO 160 (low as it's daylight outside and already very bright!) |
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I chose: f 5.6 (my fave aperture setting with the kit lens)
Camera chose: Shutter Speed: 1/2000 (super fast as we're outdoors)
ISO 100 (very low as it's extremely bright already) |
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This photograph used the exact same settings as the one above at f 5.6.
Do you see now how you don't need to do much at all in 'AV' mode to get a good shot? |
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I chose: f 10 (since I wanted all of the image in focus)
Camera chose: Shutter Speed: 1/500 (still very fast as it was so bright outside)
ISO 100 |
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I chose: f 5.6
Camera chose: Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO 100 |
So can you see how you're only changing one factor (Aperture) and the camera is doing the rest??
TIP: While shooting in Aperture Priority while you are primarily controlling the Aperture do keep an eye on your Shutter Speed in your viewfinder. You should be able to see it in the lower section of your viewfinder as you shoot (consult your manual if you're not sure which of the numbers in your view finder is Shutter Speed).
You can see in the viewfinder image below the Shutter Speed is sitting at 1000, this stands for 1/1000th of a second - a very fast shutter speed to capture the birds in flight:
So if you ever find that the Shutter Speed the camera is choosing is too slow for you (say you are photographing your kids and they are moving too much and looking a little blurry) you will need to adjust your ISO sensitivity as Shutter Speed cannot be controlled directly in Aperture Priority mode.
Hmm, okay so what is ISO again??
Do you remember how we learnt last week that ISO is the third principal of exposure?Well, your ISO control can be found in your 'Menu' and on my camera, as per the first tutorial, there is an ISO shortcut button that can be pressed (it's right on top of the camera), check to see if you have something similar, it's pretty handy!
So by choosing a higher ISO number you can cause your camera to become more sensitive to light which means your shutter speed will increase, eliminating any motion blur once you get the right number (I found that ISO 500 gives the perfect Shutter Speed for capturing my dogs running around without any blur so an ISO around there would be great for shooting the kids too!)
CAUTION: Be mindful that a high ISO may create some 'noise' in your image. For my camera anything over ISO 1600 can do this but it will vary by camera so make sure you check yours as you increase your ISO, older camera's may not go anywhere near as high without noise.
Here is an example of what 'noise' looks like in an image, you've probably seen it before, it looks all grainy - the noise show up as tiny coloured 'spots' in your photo...
So just keep an eye out for it in darker shots and adjust your ISO accordingly! With time you will find out your camera's limits and when you can push it that little bit further.
Right, so that's it for today girls!
I hope we've given you a good jumping off point to begin shooting in Aperture Priority mode! If you have any questions or run into any problems, ask away, I've probably run into the same thing at some point over the last three weeks of DSLR camera ownership and if not, my husband is great at trouble shooting!
Next week we will be talking about shooting in Shutter Priority mode ('TV' on the Canon mode dial) - in this mode you control the Shutter Speed and the camera chooses the ISO and Aperture for you, the opposite of AV mode! You definitely won't use this mode anywhere near as often as Aperture Priority but it's good to understand it just in case!
Oh and as usual, today's tutorial will be filed under the Photography Friday tab for future reference and the previous tutorials are there too if you missed them or are just catching up now!
Enjoy your photography this weekend girls, I'd love to hear how you're getting on and I'll share some more of my photo's soon so you can see my progress, maybe a photography link party is in order too! Talk soon...
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