Basic Digital Photography Guide - Easy to Understand

Today is digital era. Digital cameras are now being more produced than analogue cameras. With its easiness and low cost in developing, many people buy digital cameras.

Compact cameras are mostly used by traveler. It is fully automatic. Just press the shutter and you have the picture.

Well, if you want to start learning photography, it is better to use a camera that is not fully automatic (at least there are P, A(or Av), S(or Tv), M shooting mode).

• >A or Av is the Aperture priority mode, here you could set the aperture.
• S or Tv is the Shutter Speed priority mode.
• In the Manual mode (M), you can adjust both Aperture and Shutter Speed.

So, these are the basic: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (also known as ASA).

1. Basic Digital Photography Guide: Aperture

The aperture or blend opening has the same function as pupil in our eyes. The bigger the opening, the more light you will get.

In the front side of the lenses, there are numbers such as f/2.8-f/3.2. This number refers to the blend opening. Small number represents big opening (example: f/2,8 or smaller number) and big number represents small opening (example: f/8 or bigger number).

The big opening gives you more light and vice versa. It is very useful to own a lens with big opening especially in low light situation.

Beside the light exposure, the aperture also determines the Depth of Field (DOF). Wait a minute... DOF? What is that? Deep of Field determine the sharp area in a photo. The sharp area is in front and back of the focus area.

2. Basic Digital Photography Guide: Shutter Speed:

Shutter speed determines how long is the light exposure. Logically, the longer the exposure, the more light the sensor will receive.

If we want to shoot an object that moving pretty fast, use the high shutter speed, e.g: 1/200 second. Using low shutter speed in such case will not guarantee you to take sharp images of the moving object. The long exposure time normally used to take picture at night or low light condition.

A small but fascinating tip: If you shoot streets where many cars passing by at night, you will get a fantastic picture. Try it by yourself.

If you want to use the low shutter speed, especially when you take pictures of buildings or steady objects, use a tripod or put the camera on platform that is stable.

3. Basic Digital Photograph Guide: ISO/ASA:

ISO is a term which is used for the films (analogue cameras), and today the digital cameras use sensor. But this term "ISO" is also used in digital photography which determines the light sensitivity of the sensor.

High ISO speed (e.g: 400 or 800) gives you more possibility to take photos in low-light condition, because the light sensor is more sensitive than the low ISO speed (e.g: 100)

In digital camera, the ISO speed can be set manually and automatically.

The disadvantage using high ISO speed is noise. It also depends on the size of the camera sensor. The smaller the sensor, the more noise will appear. That is why when you take pictures with DSLR, the pictures seemed to be less noisy than if you use a digital pocket camera.

I usually use the low ISO speed (normally 100 or 200), because I want to prevent the noise. In some situation I use ISO 400 or 800.

Christofer Yie is a photographer who want to share his photography experiences. Check my site to learn much more about photography and how to be a professional photographer.

Canon Powershot SD1100is 8mp

Don't Ever Buy A Canon Digital Rebel XTi

While there may be plenty of good reasons to buy a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, not every camera is good for every photographer. So, depending on what's important to you, and how you take pictures, you should probably be aware of the short comings of this camera. There's plenty of information out there about how great this camera is, but for just a minute or two, lets be brutally and critically honest.

The Canon Digital Rebel XTi, is guilty of underexposure in any and all lighting conditions, specifically with the auto setting turned on. Even Canon will have trouble disputing this claim. I heard from one XTi owner that went as far as to send in pictures taken from two separate XTi cameras to Canon, and ask what was wrong. All the pictures were dark and underexposed, and Canon told them, that yes the camera used to take those pictures was defective. Not realizing of course, that the pictures came from two brand new cameras. Apparently the problem is really with the auto settings. If your the type of photographer, that never uses the out of the box factory settings, then this may not be a issue for you. Otherwise just take a pass, there are plenty of other good cameras you should be considering.

The XTi has a rather annoying habit of locking up when quickly taking a consecutive number of pictures in a row. The shutter just locks up and issues a busy signal. According to Canon, this is normal and the camera is performing as designed. At first glance, this may seem like just a case of not enough battery power for the strength of the flash. But, no, it's actually the way the camera is designed to work. The XTi manual comes right out and says this is a safety feature intended to protect the flash. Again, you need to judge if this is an issue for you. If your the type that likes to fire off twenty or so pictures in a row, then this camera will likely annoy you to no end. Otherwise, this is really a non issue.

One last thing. It's pretty standard, that all digital cameras come with an LCD screen. It's pretty nice to be able to use the LCD screen while taking a picture, so the don't need to have the camera right in your face. The little point and shoot digital I bought for my daughter went so far as to eliminate the view finder altogether. Apparently that manufacturer realized using the LCD is the favorite choice of most users. With the XTi, Canon made the unusual decision to go the other way. The only way to see what picture your taking, is to use the viewfinder. The 2.5 inch LCD is very nice, you just can't use it to see what picture your currently taking. It's only used to review pictures already taken, or to adjust the camera settings. I guess they're just trying to save battery power. Who knows? Once again, it's all a case of what's important to you and how you take photos.

So, if I haven't convinced you yet not to buy a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, or you would prefer to hear some nice things about the Rebel XTi, that's fine. Here's some other nice cameras to consider. Just remember, it's always good to get a balanced opinion and then decide what is really right for you.

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