How to Use Your DSLR

7/27/2019 How to Use Your DSLR

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Contents

How To Use Your DSLR - From Taking Snapshots To Shooting Like A Pro .................................................... 3

Different Brands Of DSLR's............................................................................................................................ 3

Exposure Modes ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Aperture ........................................................................................................................................................ 4

Shutter Speed ............................................................................................................................................... 5

Exposure........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Using Exposure Modes .................................................................................................................................. 7

Proper Exposure In Manual Mode ................................................................................................................ 7

ISO ................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Depth Of Field ............................................................................................................................................... 9

Image Sharpness ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Sensor Size and Crop Factor........................................................................................................................ 12

White Balance ............................................................................................................................................. 12

RAW vs. JPEG .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 13


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How To Use Your DSLR - From Taking

Snapshots To Shooting Like A ProSo you've bought this shiny new digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, and you've

paid good money for it. Since the camera cost so much more than your old point andshoot camera it should take better pictures, right? I mean, that's what you bought it for,

isn't it?

If you are like most people you will find that just because you have a new camera with

all the bells and whistles you won't be taking pictures that are all that much better...that

is unless you know how to use it right. When you learn how to take your camera out of

'P' mode and make the camera work for you, everyone will be able to notice a vast

improvement in the quality of your pictures.

Different Brands Of DSLR'sThere are many brands of DSLR cameras. The most popular are Canon and Nikon.

There are other brands as well, but these two are the most common. I happen to use a

Canon. If you haven't chosen a DSLR yet it is important to consider what you will be

purchasing.

One of the main considerations is the choice of lenses. You can't put a Canon lens on a

Nikon camera. If you are just starting out the chances are your camera will come with a

lens. But one of the major benefits of using a SLR is being able to change the lens to fit

different conditions.

If you choose either Canon or Nikon you will likely be happy with your choice. But this

report will be somewhat generic. Some of the modes may be different than what is on

your camera, but the concepts will be the same.

Exposure ModesThe exposure mode is set by the dial

on top of your camera. The main

modes to understand are:

P - Program Mode - This is

the mode that most amateurs

use, but it's the mode you

should almost never use. It

may be OK to use when you

are in a rush, but you shouldn't expect great results in this mode.


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Tv - Shutter Priority - The Tv can be confusing as it stands for Time Value, but

most people call it Shutter Priority. In this mode you set the desired shutter

speed, and the camera will automatically give you the needed aperture (we'll

discuss aperture later). For Nikon cameras this will be the "S" setting.

Av -Aperture Prior ity - The Av stands for aperture value. In this mode you set

the desired aperture, and the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to

give you the proper exposure. For Nikon cameras this will be the "A" setting.

M - Manual - This is the mode of professionals! When you understand how

aperture and priority work together it becomes easy to use Manual mode. In this

mode you set the aperture and shutter speed. But when you know what to look

for your camera will tell you the right settings.

ApertureThe definition of aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. When we

discus aperture settings we're talking about the size of that opening or how much light it

is allowing to hit your image sensor.

Common aperture settings (sometimes called f-stops) are 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0,

11, 16 and 22. You can see that every other number is doubled in value. Each of these

movements is a complete stop. We will cover this more when we discus exposure. Butit is good to understand that from 4.0 to 5.6 is 1/2 stop. From 4.0 to 8.0 is one stop.

As you can see in the picture above, the smaller the f-stop number the larger the

opening...meaning more light can come in. The higher the number, less light is allowed


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on to your image sensor. It can seem confusing since the smaller number is actually

the larger aperture.

Aperture size is one of the major advantages in owning a DSLR. Point and shoot

cameras are usually small and cheap. They almost always have very small apertures.

Professionals love the ability to choose their aperture size. There are times when largeis best, and there are times when small is best. The point is knowing when you need

each one, and we will discuss this later.

One factor that determines the cost of a lens is its maximum aperture. A cheap lens

may have a maximum aperture of 5.6. A professional lens may have a maximum

aperture of 2.8 or even 1.4. You can expect to pay big bucks for a quality 2.8 lens. But

for a professional it's worth it.

Shutter SpeedThe shutter speed is measured in seconds, or fraction of a second. The shutter speed

works in conjunction with the aperture in order to get the proper exposure.

There are times when you are shooting something in action like someone running, and

you want to stop motion. For this you would need a faster shutter speed. Maybe

1/2000. There are other times where you want a slower exposure. Taking a picture of

a waterfall is a good

example. Taking the

exposure over time will

cause the water to flow

while the shutter is

open giving you a nice,

smooth image of the

water showing motion.

In this picture of a

creek I was able to

capture the flowing

nature of the water by

setting my shutter

speed to 1/8 of a

second.


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Most of the time you will be more concerned about aperture, and you adjust your shutter

speed to match the aperture for proper exposure. But there are times where the shutter

speed is most important.

The thing to remember with exposure is that the longer the shutter speed the more light

your sensor gets. With a shorter speed you will get the less light.

When we are dealing with fractions of a second, the larger the second number the

faster the shutter opens and closes. For example, 1/100 is 10 times slower than

1/1000. A setting of 1/2000

is somewhat fast, and

1/60 is fairly slow.

I captured this picture at

a football game shooting

at 1/4000 of a second.That is an extremely fast

shutter speed. Notice

how he is stopped in mid

air without any motion

blurring? If you want to

stop action and have a

sharp picture of your

subject then focus on

using a fast shutter

speed.

ExposureNow that you know about shutter speed and aperture we need to learn how they work

together.

A photograph is properly exposed by having the right amount of light hit your image

sensor. If too much light hits your sensor your picture will look too bright and be over-

exposed. If you don't get enough light your picture will look dark and under-exposed.

Proper exposure is critical to the quality of your image.

In years past it was necessary to purchase extra equipment to measure the light falling

on whatever you wanted to photograph. Lucky for you, all DSLR's come fully equipped

with an exposure meter. If you learn to use it right you will get a properly exposed

picture every time.


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Your camera will tell you the settings you need for aperture and shutter speed. If you

take that setting and speed up the shutter speed you will get an under-exposed

photograph since less light is getting in. If you have a slower shutter speed you will get

an over-exposed picture. If you close down the aperture (higher f-stop number like 22)

your aperture will be smaller, letting in less light and you'll get an under-exposed picture.

If you open up the aperture (lower f-stop number like 4.0) you will let in more light with a

larger opening, and you will get an over-exposed picture.

Using Exposure ModesAs I mentioned earlier most amateurs us the P mode. This lets the camera choose the

aperture and shutter speed. That makes it easy, but it also gives you the least

interesting photos. You might as well be using a cheap point & shoot camera.

Somewhat more advanced and useful are the Av (A) and Tv (S) modes. In Av (A)

mode, you are telling the camera what aperture you are going to use. Let's say it's 2.8.

Your camera's light meter will determine what shutter speed it needs to properly

expose. As the amount of available light on your subject changes so will the shutter

speed to compensate. But your aperture will stay wherever you set it. The same can

be said about Tv (S). The difference is you set the shutter speed while the camera

automatically adjusts the aperture setting.

There are some professionals that will use Av (A) and Tv (S) modes. There is a simple

reason why I don't use these modes. Consistency. Your camera will check and changethe exposure for each picture you take. Sometimes if your sensor is reading a slightly

brighter or darker object in the frame your exposure can change from image to image. I

prefer to set it once for a set of pictures of the same scene. This way the exposure is

the same for all of them. If consistency within a set of pictures isn't critical for you or

you are constantly changing scenes then Av/Tv (A/S) modes may work fine for you.

Proper Exposure In Manual ModeNow it's time to start thinking like a pro! The first thing to do is turn that dial to M, andleave it there.

The first step in setting the right exposure is deciding if aperture or shutter speed is

most important to you for this shot. When you decide what either of those should be

you will set that. Then look in your viewfinder to finish your exposure.


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There should be a circle or box in the middle of your frame when you look into your

viewfinder. This is the area the camera uses to determine your exposure. What you do

is point that circle at the subject you want your camera to expose on. I'm a portrait

photographer, so I like to expose off of the person's skin. I will put the circle on my

subject's face and press the shutter button half way down. This will give me an

exposure reading below the picture I'm looking at.

Let's say I set my aperture at 4.0. Your shutter speed is probably too fast or too slow.

There's a chart below your image in the viewfinder that will point to where your

exposure is with your current settings. My camera goes from 2 stops under-exposed to

2 stops over-exposed. The zero in the middle indicates a perfect exposure.

What you do at this point is keep your camera pointed at your subject so that what you

want to expose on has the center over it. My aperture is already set so now I want to

adjust my shutter speed until the indicator on the exposure graph below the picture is

under the 0 mark. Now your exposure is set, and it won't change until you change it.

Not all cameras have their exposure meter calibrated perfectly. You may notice a trend

in your camera's metering. For example, you may find that your camera overexposes

by about a half stop. If that's the case you can simply target -0.5 on the chart to

compensate. But this will take some trial and error as well as time to figure out for your

specific camera. Some cameras have features that will allow you to set this

compensation into your settings, but that is beyond the scope of this book. Read your

owner's manual to discover your options.

ISOISO is another factor in proper exposure. In the film days you would buy film with

different sensitivities, and these sensitivities were rated on the ISO standard. The most

basic and common ISO setting is 100. But if a photographer needed to shoot in low

light and/or high speed conditions he might use 1,000 ISO film.

A higher ISO setting is basically providing a higher sensitive to light....even magnifying

the light. It's basically artificially raising the light level of your subject. If you have your

aperture wide open but your shutter speed would be too slow for your shot all you need

to do is raise your ISO.

There is a drawback. As you increase your ISO you will notice that there is noise in

your picture. Remember in the old TV's when you turned it to a channel where there

wasn't a station? That screen was full of noise. Digital image noise is similar. You will


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get more and more noise as your ISO settings increase. Often times there are ISO

settings on your camera where the noise is just too high to make a clean photo.

On my Canon 5D I find that ISO 800 is very usable, but I do notice some noise. I will

sometimes use ISO 1000 in a tough situation. ISO 400 can show very little noticeable

noise. As technology improves the higher ISO's become more and more useful. Youwill need to run tests with your camera to determine your comfort level with high ISO

settings.

Most of the time my camera is set to 100 or 200, and I adjust as needed in lower light

conditions.

Depth Of FieldThe most important use of aperture to me is depth of field. Depth of field is the range

from your camera that will be in focus. If your subject is 5 feet away from the camera

and something 7 feet away is out of focus then you have a shallow depth of field. This

means that your background (and foreground if there is anything in the foreground) will

be blurry, or out of focus. When you are doing portraits it is great to have the

background out of focus. The person is your subject of interest, not the background.

The color of the background is helpful, but not when it's in sharp focus.

If the lens I'm using for outdoor portraits has

a maximum aperture of 2.8 then I'm going

to have my camera set at 2.8. This will give

me the smallest depth of field possible for

my equipment, and that's great for portraits.

If I'm shooting a landscape then that's a

different story. I will want everything in the

picture to be in focus. For this I would want

a closed down aperture like f16 or f22. This

will make it so that things will be in pretty

good focus from a few feet in front of you to

miles away.

I took this photograph in Sedona, Arizona.

My aperture was f16, and my shutter speed

was 1/20 of a second. Notice the incredible

depth of field I have in this photo. The

stones at the edge of the creek are in focus


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as is the rock formation a few miles away. Notice also the blurring water I got from the

slow shutter speed. This wouldn't look as good if I had stopped the motion of the water.

(You may notice that the trees are somewhat blurred, but that is due to the wind. I only

had one day in Sedona, and I had to take what I was given.)

Your lens focal length also plays a part in depth of field. The focal length is determinedby the distance from the image sensor to the focal point of the lens measured in the

millimeters. For example, you may have a 50mm prime lens or a 24-70 zoom lens.

Lenses below 50mm are considered wide angle while any lens larger than 50mm is

considered telephoto. Larger focal lengths make things look closer than they are. Wide

angle lenses can make things look farther away than reality.

If you are using a wide angle lens at 24mm you should get a lot of depth of field. This

combined with a small aperture will give you great landscape shots.

Consider the following two portraits. Which one do you like better?

I zoomed in tight and used a wide open aperture on the right. Notice how you can still

make out details of the background on the left? The background on the right gives us

color and texture, but it isn't as distracting. The right portrait is much better, and it

draws all of your attention to her face rather than the background.

If you are using a lens at 200mm you will get smaller depth of field. This combined with

a wide open aperture will give you shallow depth of field and make for a great portrait!

Image SharpnessThere are several factors that can impact the sharpness of your photos. If your image

isn't sharp at the point you focused on it won't be a good picture. Who wants to look at

a blurry picture (at least where it isn't supposed to be blurry)?


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The first thing that impacts your image sharpness is the shutter speed. If you have a

slow shutter speed there's more time for your camera to move around a little while the

shutter is open. This will cause your picture to be blurry.

The next thing to consider is your focal length. If you are shooting with a focal length of

200mm you will need some help keeping your picture sharp. As a rule, it's a good ideato try to have your shutter speed at least the equivalent of your focal length, if not faster,

when you are hand holding your DSLR. If you are shooting at 200mm your shutter

speed should be at least 1/200. If you are shooting at 75mm you should be at least

1/75 on shutter speed. But for a sharp picture faster is always better. The faster your

shutter speed is the sharper your image will be.

A tripod can make a huge difference if it's practical. It's not always convenient to drag

around a tripod, but it will give you sharp pictures. If you want to bump even that a

notch more in sharpness you could buy a cable release for your camera. There is a

port in your camera where you can plug it into. Then your shutter button is at the end ofthis cable. You won't even disturb the camera by pressing the shutter button.

There is also an option for a mirror lock. When you look through your viewfinder you

are actually looking through a set of mirrors. When you push the shutter release the

first thing that happens is the first mirror lifts up and out of the way so that the light can

get through to your sensor. This can cause a little vibration called mirror slap. It can be

overkill sometimes to lock the mirror in the up position, but it will give you the ultimate in

sharpness when you need it. J ust read your owner's manual on how to set it up and

use it.

When you hand hold your DSLR it is important to hold it firmly. I hold the side of the

camera with my right hand with my index finger on the shutter button. My left hand is

supporting the bottom of the lens which allows me to easily change the focal length on

zoom lenses. I prefer to then bring my elbows in close to my body. This gives me a

little extra stability as my hands won't want to move as much. If you happen to have

something to lean on or against that can be very helpful in stabilizing you and the

camera as well.

Some lenses come with a feature called Image Stabilization (IS). If you have the option

to buy IS then do it! These lenses have gyroscopes built into them. They can sensethe camera shaking, and they automatically adjust the lens to compensate for your

movement. IS lenses can give you 2-4 extra stops in speed, allowing you to use slower

shutter speeds if necessary.


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Sensor Size and Crop FactorThis isn't critical information to know, but it is good to have an understanding of it. The

35mm cameras are based on the size of the film used in the cameras. This fact is

included in determining the focal length of the lenses. So a 100mm lens is designed for

a 35mm camera.

Today's DSLR's usually don't have 35mm sensors. They are usually smaller. Canon

does have a couple of cameras that have "full frame" (35mm) sensors, but they aren't

cheap. The least expensive one sells for around $2,500 right now. Most DSLR's have

smaller sensors with a crop factor of 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon). That means that if you

have a 100mm Canon lens on a Rebel with a 1.6 crop factor, you will get the equivalent

magnification of a 160mm lens. J ust take your focal length and multiply by 1.6 (or 1.5).

Having a seemingly longer focal length isn't necessarily great. If you were to take an

image from a full frame camera you could crop it down in size to get the equivalent

picture. With a full frame camera you get more picture to work with. I use a full frame

camera, and I wouldn't want to use anything else.

This crop factor can impact your depth of field. When filling the frame in both the full

frame and 1.6 crop factor camera you will get less depth of field (more out of focus blur)

with the full frame camera. This makes much better portraits.

White BalanceThe color of light varies with different light sources. Have you ever taken a pictureindoors and get an image with a brownish orange cast to it? That is because the color

of the tungsten lights lighting the room is that color, and your camera didn't adjust

properly. Fluorescent lighting and light from the blue sky tend to be bluish. When

clouds cover up the blue sky it changes the color again. If your subject is laying in the

grass you will tend to get a green tone added. Our eyes easily compensate for this, but

our cameras need a little help.

There are probably different settings on your camera to set the white balance. You can

often use the auto white balance and be OK. For some cameras it may not work aswell. You can also set it to your specific need like daylight, tungsten, shade, cloudy, etc.

If you shoot J PEG's you really need to get the white balance right in the camera. But

you can be a bit more flexible by shooting RAW.


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RAW vs. JPEGHaving your DSLR in a mode to create jpeg's is the easiest, but not always the best.

You really need to make sure your exposure and white balance are close to perfect.

Because if you need to make adjustments it will start to damage the image quality. The

farther off your exposure or white balance are the more damage it will do to the image.

Shooting RAW is like shooting with film in a way. You have an exposure that can be

easily manipulated and optimized without damaging the image. It's a little like a digital

negative.

To shoot RAW takes a little more knowledge in knowing how to run the software and

manipulate your image. DSLR's normally come packaged with software to manipulate

RAW files, but most professionals don't use this software. The most common RAW

conversion software is Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw (built into Photoshop)

and Capture One by Phase One. The software isn't cheap, but it will provide you with

the best results.

In RAW converting software there are multiple improvements you can make that the

camera would normally try to make on jpeg's. The difference is that you can see the

improvements being made while the camera is just guessing.

You can adjust things like exposure, white balance, saturation, sharpness and much

more. You can easily recover images that have been over or under exposed by about 2

stops without noticing it was ever a problem. You can also get the right white balance

to get the perfect colors in your image.

There are different schools of thought on RAW vs. J PEG, even among professional

photographers. I shoot RAW, and I like the workflow. But there are plenty of

professional photographers that swear by JPEG. It all comes down to personal

preference. If you are happy with the J PEG's you are creating then maybe you should

stick with it. If you feel like you want more from your images then give RAW a shot.

The important thing for now is to know what it does and that it's available to you.

ConclusionYou made the right decision in purchasing your DSLR. J ust don't waste the potential in

your camera by using it like you would any old point and shoot camera.

Practice. That's how you are going to get better. You have a major advantage over

someone trying to learn even 15 years ago. Every time they pushed the shutter button

they were spending money. They were spending money on the film, and they were


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spending money on the processing. Now pressing the button costs you nothing. Plus

you get instant feedback in the back of the camera on its LCD! If you don't like the

picture you can make instant changes.

You have a great opportunity to learn how to take great pictures. Go out there and

make some good ones!

Documents

How to Use Your DSLR