44 PracticalPhotograPhy
Therearea numberof settings
th atyoucanchangeon your
camera,butarguably,nonehas
a gr eatereffecton the creative
pr ocessthanaperture(shutter
speedonlyreallycomesinto
ef fectatthe extremesettings).
Al teringtheapertureaffects
thedepth-of-fieldof an image,
changinghowmuchof theshotis
in sharpfocus.Photographersuse
a wide apertureandthe resulting
narrowdepth-of-fieldto isolate
th eirsubjectfromtheenvironment,
andif youhavea veryfastlens
(f /1.8or wider)youcanreally
controlthe focusdepth.So, with
aperturelayingclaimto beingthe
se ttingyou shouldaimto master
tothepointof obsession,a really
goodprojectis to finda subject
- su chas a fallenleaf– shootit at
ev eryapertureon yourlensand
re viewthe results.
shoot one subject
at every aperture
project
W
hatdoesyour
camerado foryou?
thatexpensivebox of
tr icksmightbe your
constantcompanion,
oran occasionalfriend
broughtalongforspecialoccasions,
but it’spurposeis simple– to take
photographs.Manyphotographerswill
te ll youthattheywantedto be ‘artists’but
theycouldn’tdraw,andso theypickedup
a camerainstead.But photographyisart,
and thepurposeof thecamerais to be
a to olthatallowsthephotographerto
cr eateandpresenttheirartisticvision.
havin g thistoolis no useif it getsin the
way of theprocess.
Workingin tandem
thinkof yourcameraas an extensionof
yourhandsandeyes.your relationship
withit shouldbe a symbioticandseamless
one,whichmeansdevelopinga working
re lationshipwhereeverybutton,setting
and functionis intuitiveto you.
gettingto knowyourcameraon an
in timatelevelis vitallyimportant,and
thisdesireforfamiliarityis why many
usersstickwithonemanufacturer.you
shouldpractisewithyourcamerato the
pointwhereyoucansetall of thevital
functionswithyoureyesclosedand,
if youoftenswitchbetweendifferent
genres,makeuseof theuser-defined
presetsthatletyoualtersettingswith
oneaction.
hone the settings
that Work for you
tip
tryout
everymode
Yourcamerais fullof tricks.
Makesureyouknowwhatit
can do by shootingwith
ev eryavailablesetting
and mode.
7
shotat f/2.8
Landscapes
A gr eatlandscapeshotis all aboutquality.Whilea narrowaperturewill deliverthe
deepestareaof focus,mostlensesgivethebestresultsaroundf/8to f/11.Often
la ndscapephotographersworkin fullmanualto havetotalcontrolovertheexposure.
helen
hotson
