Technical controls P3 (b)

On this lesson we learned how to use different camera's settings for making over exposed composition. 

First of all we were looking at aperture in the settings. Aperture is the size of the lens opening that allows light in the camera. It's possible to blur the foreground and background that bracket the subject of the photo shoot by opening up the aperture with a low f-stop number. At the same time it's possible to keep the photo sharp from the foreground through the background by closing the aperture down with a high f-stop number.

Shutter speed is another setting which makes quality of the picture better. It's the speed of the light that passed through the aperture. The Shutter Speed setting controls how long the shutter opens to expose the image sensor to that light.If it's opened just for the small amount of time it helps to freeze fast moving subject and at the same time it's possible to show the movement of a fast moving subject by keeping it open longer with a slow shutter speed.

Next setting is ISO. It's a camera's image sensor can be adjusted to detect more, or less light as needed for a good exposure. On a bright sunny day too much light hitting the sensor can cause an overexposure so make it less sensitive with a low ISO number. If your shooting conditions are dark the sensor needs to detect more light so increase its sensitivity with a higher ISO. High ISO will cause graininess so as a rule use the lowest ISO possible. The photo effects you want to achieve with the aperture and shutter speed will impact the amount of light reaching the sensor, so use the ISO to adjust its sensitivity and get a good exposure. 

As we can see this picture has been made with "normal exposure program" that means that camera made own decision on aperture, ISO and shutter speed. The aperture was opened very wide therefore photo looks bright and light as many light came into the image. We can clearly see details on the image. In the room it was quite dark but ISO was 400 therefore we can see the effect of high key lighting there. ISO helped us to get good exposure with the wide opened lens (small aperture value).

We used aperture priority while taking this image. ISO was really high this time and the light in the room was quite dark but because of ISO there is a effect of high key lightning. The aperture is low on this image therefore more light came into the lens. With the high ISO we can see composition very clear. But I don't like the point of view how this photo has been made because we can see shadows on the foreground. Also when there are fruits on the foreground instead of saxophone the image looks more interesting. 

This image has been made also with aperture priority and all settings except shutter speed were the same. Shutter speed there is faster. The image here is a bit unfocused in compare with the photo above. That's because of slower shutter speed. If I used tripos while doing this photo I would have better quality photo as camera wouldn't move before the picture are done.

This photo is also made on aperture priority. Aperture number there is f/2.2. The lens was wide opened and all light came into the image that's why photo is really light and clear. ISO here is low so more available lighting goes into the image. I would prefer to make this image with higher aperture and ISO I would leave the same because this image has too much light. Shutter speed should also be lower because this photo is unfocused and it's possible ti make it better.

This image is interesting. This is a good example that using of tripod sometimes might be really important. Shutter speed of this image was really fast therefore little movement of the camera during taking photo affect the quality and picture become really unfocused. The size of aperture was higher than on images below therefore more area is in sharp focus and less light goes into the image but ISO is low that's why picture still has available lighting. 

Photos of the production process:

White Balance 

White balance setting helps camera to shoot photos with right exposure and to stabilise light which goes into camera and correct colours. In tricky lighting condition we have to make right white balance to ensure result which we want to achieve. White balance balances main colours temperature to produce the best image.  

There are seven standard white balance settings, your choice of which will depend on the type of light you are shooting in.

Auto white balance

Auto White Balance works by evaluating the scene and deciding the most appropriate white point in it. The setting works reasonably well if the colour temperature of the ambient light is between 3,000-7,000K.

Daylight white balance

Use this setting if you are shooting in bright sunshine. It will balance for a colour temperature of around 5,200K, which is actually very slightly cooler than noon sunlight. 

Shade

The colour temperature is actually higher (bluer), usually around 7,000K. This setting is most suited to areas of light shade rather than very heavy shadow.

Cloudy

This sets a colour temperature of around 6,000K. It is best used on days when the sun is behind the clouds, creating a very even and diffuse light.

Tungsten light

The first of the artificial lighting settings, this assumes a colour temperature of around 3,200K and is suitable for most tungsten lamps that normally emit a yellow light. 

White fluorescent light

The second artificial light setting is set for around 4000K, the approximate colour temperature of fluorescent lights. The problem with fluorescent lights is that there are six types, each with a different colour temperature. They also emit an interrupted spectrum with peaks over quite a wide range.

Flash

For use with either a built-in flash or an external Speedlite. Flash is a very white light with a colour temperature around 6,000K.

Custom

Custom White Balance allows you to tell the camera which area in the scene is supposed to be white. The camera can calculate the colour shift required to make that surface white. It then applies that shift to all colours in the scene to provide a correct colour balance to the image, whatever the lighting.

Color temperature

If you have a separate colour temperature meter then this may be the best setting to use as you can set the exact colour temperature shift needed. It enables you to save the colour temperature of light so you do not have to colour balance each time. 

Information is taken from: http://cpn.canon-europe.com

Own Examples

After we did right white balance on a camera with help of the image of white paper sheet we created a range of images with using different options of white balance settings. As we can see all images were made inside and they are different.

First of all we did an image with custom white balance. This setting makes the image in the right colours and it doesn't depend on the lighting in the room. This image is one of the most natural images from the whole range of pictures.

This image was made on the automatic white balance. The camera did own decision about the light in the image. I think that because of the abundance of the light around the automatic decision wasn't right because the colours are colder on this image than they should be.

Here we used daylight setting. This was the most appropriate setting for out situation because we had a day light in the room. The colours are not too warm or cold but it's should be a bit colder but as the light in the room was quite bright we can see a balance of colours in this image.

This picture was made on shade setting. The colours here are really warm and bright as it was already bright in the room while we were taking this shot. This setting is more suitable for light shadow environment rather than in the full of light room. But this effect is still interesting  and eye catching and this might be useful for some compositions.

Here we used cloudy setting. The colours here are still warm but much less than on other example. This setting should be used on cloudy day rather than in the room.

This is a tungsten light. This effect is useful when it's sunny outside or when we use professional bright lighting. The colours here look really cold and this is not an appropriate when there not special light equipment inside otherwise picture looks wanly.

This is an example of white fluorescent light. This image has quite warm colours therefore it even looks quite pink. But at the same time it different to other "warm" settings in white balance. Colours there are a bit blur.

This is an example of flash setting. This setting usually is used together with external speedlite. It uses very white light but with the big number of colour temperature. Therefore the colours in here look warm but not bright. This image looks natural even with special white balance setting.

This is a colour temperature setting. The colours are as warm as at the previous picture. This effect is useful while doing same picture to have different effects and to picture looks a bit different.