Camera basics

A digital camera has 4 main modes of use:

Auto, manual, programme, AV and TV. I will break these down and explain each mode and when you would use each one, depending upon what is being photographed and the desired outcome.

Auto

Auto mode is the safest and easiest camera function for anyone new to photography. It gives a person the opportunity to strip everything back to the basics and enables the focus to start with just getting used to a camera and to start taking pictures. Auto mode sets the aperture, shutter speed and the ISO for you. 

ISO

ISO originates from the days of film negatives and relates directly to the sensitivity of the film. In the simplest of forms the ISO measures how much light is carried to the cameras sensor. ISO ratings vary but the most common are: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000. Most digital cameras have the ability of a much higher ISO setting and variations in between. To give a simplified breakdown the lower the ISO setting, the less light is getting in; a higher ISO of 800 allows more light onto the sensor. You could you ISO 100 - 200 when photographing outside in bright sunny conditions, and ISO 400 inside, pushing it higher if the lighting conditions are very low. The issues found whilst using a higher ISO is that more grain is created within an image. ISO, aperture and shutter speed are to be used in conjunction with each other. This is just a brief and simple explanation of ISO and what it does. Below is an image I have sourced online to further explain the importance of ISO and when to use a lower or higher ISO.

Image Source: Pinterest.com Via forums.thebump.com

AV Mode

AV stands for Aperture Priority - this mode allows the photographer to set the aperture manually, the camera then automatically sets the shutter speed. On a digital SLR the aperture setting is delivered as a F-number value. F numbers start from as low as F1.8 up to F22. You would use AV mode if you are purely wanting to control the depth of field of your images. Simply put depth of field relates to how much of an image is in focus. A large depth of field means most/all of the image is in focus. A small or shallow DOF means that more of an image is out of focus. Therefore to clarify F1.8 will create blur in the background of your images, increasing the aperture to F16 will give more overall focus to an image; using a wider aperture of F16/F22 is handy when shooting landscapes and a photographer wants to capture the overall scene not missing anything out, from the foreground to the background.

F - Numbers and Depth Of Field

This is where people can become a little confused, some of the technical parts within photography can seem very backwards, aperture would be one of those times! Here is a diagram that helps to see where the difference in F number values lie and how they are used to create DOF and to also help out with different lighting conditions. 

Image Source:Pinterest.com originally found on somewhatsimple.com

You can see from the diagram above how the lens is fully open when set to a lower f-stop such as F1.4, and the lens is almost fully closed at F16. So with an F-stop of 1.4 we can also see that MORE light is able to be captured giving brighter images, but at F16 or more LESS light is getting in through the lens, creating a much darker image.

As well as a lower F number allows more light into the camera, it also creates a very shallow depth of field - meaning that the background is blurry and the foreground is pin sharp, depending upon your focal point. A larger F number creates a large depth of field, meaning that more of the subject is in focus - foreground and background. 

I will go into more detail regards DOF and aperture settings in another post and show some examples of images using this technique. 

TV Mode

T.V stands for " Time value ", this mode is used primarily to control the cameras shutter speed. By selecting TV mode you can manually select what shutter speed you would like to use, the camera will then automatically set the aperture for you depending upon what lighting conditions you are shooting in. Remember you can compensate using the ISO. Shutter speed basically determines how fast or slow the shutter releases/stays open for. A fast shutter means the shutter release fires open and closes quickly, and a slow shutter speeds allows the camera shutter curtain to stay open longer. A easy way of grasping what 'shutter curtain' means is to imagine a pair of curtains - the longer the curtains are open the more light is let in, the less time the curtains are open the less light can get in. 

Shutter priority (TV mode) is best used when your main priority is to either have a long exposure - slow shutter or if you are shooting a lot of movement where you want as little blur as possible, like a sporting event or someone running or dancing - fast shutter speed. Most pro digital cameras have a shutter speed value up to 1/8000th of a second, some more entry level cameras can go up to 1/4000th of a second. Bear in mind that most cameras can still be hand held at a 60th of a second, anything slower than this will need a tripod to avoid camera shake and unwanted blurry images. For a quick visual guide to explain shutter speed and an idea of when to use different time values, I have included an image below as a reference.

Image source: capturebylucy.com. Originally found on Pinterest.com

Program Mode

Using Program mode gives you a little more control over the camera and is a step up from using Auto Mode. Program mode will set the aperature and shutter speed automatically, but you have free control over the ISO setting, flash - if your camera has an inbuilt flash you can chose whether to use this or not, also program gives you control over exposure compensation, meaning you can either increase the exposure and decrease depending on the lighting conditions you are faced with. The main advantage of Program mode is that it allows for more creative use of the camera and to get to know your digital camera without fear of getting the wrong exposure and it is a good way of easing out of Auto Mode gently. The image below is to demonstrate how the exposure compensation diagram will look when looking through your lens or on the back of a digital SLR.

Image Source:freedigitalphotographytutorials.com

Manual Mode

Manual Mode does exactly what it says - allows the photographer to control the cameras settings manually; it gives full control over: aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I personally feel more comfortable as a photographer using Manual Mode as I feel I can control all the elements I need to get the results that I require. It can feel very daunting for any beginner in photography, therefore I feel it is always best to start out using Auto Mode, moving onto Program Mode and working up to working on Manual Mode more confidently.