Camera Bag Essentials

1 LENS RELEASE To remove the lens press this button and twist the lens in an anti-clockwise direction. Make sure you have the protective body cap or another lens to hand when performing this task, because you don’t want to leave the sensor exposed to dust. 2 SHUTTER RELEASE To capture a photograph, press the shutter release button on the top panel. To focus and meter the scene, half press the shutter release first. 3 LENS The beauty of owning an SLR is that you can change the lens. This makes it far more versatile than a camera with a fixed lens because you can alter the angle of view. 4 SENSOR The sensor is where your images are recorded, before being processed and then stored on your memory card.…

Understanding how exposure works is probably the most fundamental photographic skill you need to master. Learn how to control your camera’s aperture, shutter speed and ISO and you’ll be able to take control of how your images look. Whether you want to isolate the subject of your photo from the background with a shallow depth of field, or capture the misty effects of moving water as part of a moody seascape, you’ll need to understand the basics of exposure. At first it might seem that there are just too many options with apertures, histograms, ISOs, metering modes, f-stops and so on to juggle. However, once you understand the basic principles you’ll have all the tools you need to take control and get creative. Today’s digital SLRs come with functions and…

Auto mode If you’re a complete novice, this mode is ideal because the camera takes care of all the settings automatically Auto Flash Off mode The same as Auto, but for museums, theatres or indoor sports venues Portrait mode The camera softens skin tones and uses a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus Landscape mode Designed for vivid landscape shots taken in daylight. The built-in flash is switched off and you might need a tripod Child mode In this mode, the camera makes backgrounds and clothing colourful but keeps any skin tones present soft and natural-looking Sports mode The flash is switched off and the camera uses faster shutter speeds to help freeze fast-moving subjects Close-up mode This favours a narrow aperture to improve depth of field.…

The concept of aperture can be tricky to grasp. The physical side of it is incredibly simple. Here’s what’s going on inside your lens barrel, where a motor keeps aperture under control… No matter what camera or exposure mode you use, there are just two main ways to regulate how much light reaches an image sensor. One is shutter speed and the other is aperture. These are key concepts that all all photographers need to master. Aperture has an important effect on depth of field, which we explore later, but it can impact on the sharpness of your images in other ways, too. It’s also directly related to the working distance when you’re using flash, and maximum aperture is an important factor in differentiating lenses. Yet the concept of aperture…

Wide apertures The widest apertures have f-stops with the smallest numbers. The maximum aperture available depends on the lens you’re using. On many zoom lenses, for example, the maximum aperture gets smaller as you zoom in Medium apertures The middle apertures on your lens tend to give you the best-quality images. However, they might not give you the amount of depth of field you require. Think of it as a balancing act, with some compromise required Narrow apertures Most lenses have a minimum aperture of f/22, although some stop at f/16 while others go down to f/32. As aperture gets narrower, depth of field increases. Ultimately, though, the image resolution deteriorates due to diffraction The crucial point is that aperture numbers are fractions: f/2 means focal length (f) divided by…

The majority of lenses use a standard scale of f-stops to indicate the size of the aperture, although the range of settings available varies depending on the lens being used. For instance, a 100mm macro lens typically offers an aperture range of f/2.8 to f/32, while a 28mm f/1.8 lens typically offers a range of f/1.8 to f/22. Each time the aperture is opened by one stop (from f/11 to f/8, say), twice as much light is let in. The reverse is also true: close the aperture by one stop and half as much light makes it to the camera sensor. There are two key reasons for changing the aperture. First, it ensures the sensor receives the right amount of light. If you’re shooting in the dark, for example, or…