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Aperture (AV mode)Aperture allows you to control the depth of field, this is how much of the photograph is in focus. The different settings on this particular tool change the picture as you can have a wider aperture meaning that you can make the background as out of focus as you like or you can have a narrow aperture that makes the focus on a larger area meaning you can see things in the background as well as the objects that may be closer up. A narrow aperture is used a lot in landscape photography as they need to capture a larger area and in most cases need to allow a lot of the image in focus, including the things that may be further in the background. The wider aperture is used a lot more on portraits because they want the background to be blurry meaning that the model is the main focus in the image, this aperture may also be used in some cases where the photographer just wants to focus on one thing but have other things in the background as well but looking less clear and visible.The aperture size is measured with ‘F-numbers’, the smaller the F number the wider the aperture which means that the depth of field is a lot smaller and focused on one area. This results in the lens letting in more light making it easier to take the image as it avoids the image being dull or too dark to see. However the bigger the F number the smaller and more narrow the aperture is which means that the image focused on a much wider area, but this doesn’t let as much light come in to the image making it quite dull in some cases. This may mean that a tripod is needed to focus and you need to wait longer for the exposure time which can correct the loss of light in the image. For example, A low F number like f1.4 would be used if the photographer wanted to focus on one main object in the image as this would make the aperture wider meaning the depth of field is smaller and narrower which closes off the background objects and allows much more light to come through the lens. However a higher F number like f8 would be used if the photographer wanted a lot of the image to be in focus and cover a large area that needed to be in focus. This would make the aperture smaller meaning the depth of field is wider and more can be seen clearer in the image.

I have used the lowest F number for this image which is F5.6, this means the aperture is fairly big which has made the depth of field narrow and has let it focus on a smaller area as the models face in is full focus. You can also see that by using this smaller F number it has blurred the background making it obvious that the main focus is the model.

Here I have used F13, this is considerably bigger than the other image and you can see this as it has focused on a slightly larger area, however this shows that the larger the F number the wider the depth of field as you can see some of the background in clearer detail but this still isn't entirely focused. If the F number was bigger than this the background would be much sharper.

I have used F25 for this image and you can see the slight change as the image is a lot more focused and sharper on the background in comparison to the others. Using a larger F number has made the aperture smaller meaning that the depth of field is far wider and has made a lot of the background in focus.

F 5.6

F13

F25

Shutter Speed (Tv mode)The shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open from when you press the button to take the photograph, the settings in the shutter priority mode allows you to change the amount of time the shutter is open. This changes a lot of things with the photograph as it can change the amount of light that is let in to the lens and it also changes what the image is going to look like. The shutter speed is shown on the camera by fractions of a second, the smaller the number is the quicker the photo is taken as the shutter opens and closes quicker than if the number is higher. The numbers can be anything from 1/1000 s or higher which means the photo is taken very quickly and captures the image as it is when you see it, instead of if it is at 1 whole second which means the photo is taken a lot slower and the image will be very different as it may not capture exactly what you have seen as it has taken longer. Many people chose to use a slower shutter speed if they wish to capture movement in an image, this shutter speed can capture movement as it takes longer to take it meaning the movement won’t freeze it can be shown in the image instead. This shutter speed can also capture movement so well as it gives more time for the movement to be seen, registered and taken in the image so you can actually see the movement.However if the shutter speed is a lot quicker it actually freezes movement as it is happening as the shutter is opening and capturing the image so quickly. If the image is taken with this shutter speed it means that you can see the image in a different way that you may have seen it in person as the camera can capture all of the movement that has happened but in a stand still. The faster the shutter speed means that the image can capture things that the naked eye cannot register and see as it just freezes the whole scene. Using a slow shutter speed means that a lot of light can be let in to the image as the light has longer to get in to the image, however this does mean that tripods have to be used sometimes as it takes longer meaning that the chances of camera shake are greater. A faster shutter speed is different from this as because the picture is being taken quicker it doesn’t show the movement happening. This shutter speed means that the image is a lot sharper and clearer as it can capture something that we cant see ourselves as it can freeze what we can see and what is happening.

This is a fast shutter speed as it has captured the model running, yet it hasn’t blurred it out and it has frozen the image entirely meaning we can see it in more clarity. We can see that this is a faster shutter speed as it shows the image is clearer and a lot sharper than the images below. We can also see that this image is slightly darker in comparison to the others, this is due to the shutter speed as the light hasn’t had enough time to enter the lens as the shutter was so quick.

We can see by this image that the shutter speed has got slightly slower than the image above as we can see it is very blurry and definitely not as sharp as the first image. This is because the shutter has taken longer to close and hasn’t been able to capture the image in a still position.

On this image it is clear that the shutter speed has got a lot slower as it has made the movement on the image very blurry and hasn’t been able to take the image in focus like the fast shutter speed can do. This is because the shutter has taken longer to open and close and capture the image meaning that it doesn’t actually have time to capture it in focus. We can also see that this image is a lot lighter than the others as the shutter was open longer, allowing more light to enter the image.

1/3200

1/500

1/160

ISO settingsThe ISO setting on a camera is the setting that tells you how sensitive the sensor is to light, this helps when taking an image as it can help control the light meaning you can end up with a clearer image. When using this setting you also need to control the ASA number as this is what tells you how sensitive the sensor is going to be to light in the image, you can see this image when taking a photo on your camera. The bigger the number is the faster and more sensitive the sensor is to light, this results in the image needing less light to take the image than if the ASA number is lower as this doesn’t allow a lot of light in and can result in the image looking dull in some cases. Increasing the ISO speed on the camera is most commonly done if you are shooting in low light conditions, this can help take the image more clearly and can add more light to the image. However there are negatives to increasing the ISO speed as it can create ‘noise’ on your image, this lowers the quality of you image dramatically in some cases depending on how high the ISO speed setting has been set. This can be avoided by using a low ISO speed, this is commonly done if the image is required to be of very high quality as the image noise can destroy the image. However in some cases ‘image noise’ is purposely used on images to create a unique effect, but in most cases it is classed as something you wouldn’t want in your photography. Image noise can change the light or brightness in the image in a negative way, it can also effect the colour in the photographs as it can commonly add coloured dots across the picture meaning the quality and the effect the image has is decreased. In some cases even if the image looks very high quality when it is first seen it can include ‘noise’ when the image is zoomed it and it can also show that the image isn’t as sharp as you first think.

This has been set at a very low ISO setting of 100, this has made the image much sharper and clearer than the others meaning that the image noise is at a minimum and not too visible.

This ISO setting has been set a lot higher than the first one as it is now as 1600, we can see this as the image starts to get some noise which is slightly more visible and has made the image appear less sharp.

In the last image I have used a much higher ISO setting, this shows as there is much more image noise that is more visible than the others. The noise is especially clear in the blue colour as I have zoomed in further to the image making it less sharp and in focus.

ISO 100

ISO 1600

ISO 6400

White BalanceThe white balance setting helps the camera to understand and register what white is, without this the white in images would be very dull or maybe another colour as it wouldn’t be able to register what is white and what is colour in each image. The auto-white setting is most commonly used when taking photographs as usually this usually helps the camera to register what is white, however in some cases the camera settings need to be adjusted slightly to understand colour. For example if you change your camera to the ‘cloudy’ setting in daylight it can change the images colour and make it appear slightly yellow and have a warmer look to it. This setting can be used in some cases to correct the colour in the image, however some people will use this setting to purposely add different colours to it making it more unique and different from how it really looks in person. The different colour settings add different moods to the image, it can make it blue which symbolises a cold look, a yellow tint which shows a more welcoming and warm approach and you can also set the image to a more neutral colour which doesn’t change it too much. White balance can remove unrealistic colours that have shown up on the image but aren’t really there in real life, this is used regularly as many images can change and show different colours in the camera. White balance is really useful when this happens in images as it removes the different colours and shows the white that you can see in real life.

. From taking these images I have seen that this setting can really change the effect the colour has on the image, the bottom right hand corner shows a cold, dull image and doesn’t look as it would in real life as it was bright and showed daylight. The bottom left hand corner shows the most neutral look for the image as it hasn’t changed the colouring to yellow or blue like the others, this has only brightened the image. The top right image looks a little lilac and blue and the setting has made it look quite old much like the bottom right hand corner image. Lastly the top left image looks fairly neutral, however we can see some change as it has given the image a yellow tint which makes it look a lot warmer than it does without these effects. Overall I have seen that these effects can really help with lighting and if the auto white balance setting isn’t working. It can help with lighting as it allows you to darken or lighten an image, and it can also help as it can change the mood of your image or it can be a good substitute if the auto white balance setting isn’t having the effect you want it to.

White FluorescentCloudy

Tungsten LightFlash

Original image

Cropped

Levels

Dodging and burning

Colour adjustments

Curve

13

1/6 sec; f/29; ISO 800

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1/100 sec; f/9; ISO 200

1/100 sec; f/11; ISO 200

15

White fluorescent light

Tuscan light