Great Snapz Photo Studio Blog

Most DSLR cameras will require you to insert a memory card to store the photos, and you can take the card out and swap it with another card and continue shooting.  This is much like a roll of film, except that most memory cards made today are large enough to store hundreds or thousands of photos instead of the very few 24- or 36-exposures that a film roll will allow.

In this article, I am going to focus on SD type memory cards because there is so much information that is relevant to all types of memory, we will dig deeper into the specifics of other types of memory card in a later post to keep this from being extremely long.

When you purchase a DSLR camera you will have to contend with the fact that you will need your photos stored on a device while taking photos.  When you want to copy your photos off the camera, you will have options...  Many cameras let you plug in a USB cable and transfer your photos that way, but if you are working on-location all day, you likely will need to store possibly thousands of photos.  So how do you manage this? Choosing which memory cards you purchase will make a massive impact.  Let me explain...

Types of SD Memory Card

Because I shoot Nikon, I am going to have a limited number of examples that I am knowledgeable about but in my case, camera (Nikon D810) has two memory card slots.  One is a "CF" card (also called C-Fast) and another slot for an "SD" card (stands for Secure Digital).  Most people are familiar with SD cards, and use them for a plethora of projects.  Some small Internet of Things (IoT) computers use an SD card as a hard drive for example.  SD cards are generally known to be slower than CF cards, but there are also different speeds of memory cards of all types and this is important to pay attention to.

When you purchase your camera for personal use, it is most common to simply buy a 32-Gb or 64-Gb SD card and call it a day.  This is fine and all, but when you are taking steps to run photo shoots shooting all day, these memory cards can help or hurt you.  If you have a smaller size, you will be able to store less photos, and that may be desirable because you will have less photos to copy and therefore can enhance your workflow speed, but you will have to swap memory cards more often and this can impact your photo shoot's "flow."

Recently when I shot a birthday party for over 4 hours, I used three 64-Gb memory cards and had well over 1,900 photos taken.  If I was not prepared for this, I would have had to choose to shoot in a lower resolution format, and most likely only JPEG.  This would limit my editing abilities and I would not be able to fully edit the photos as necessary to accomplish a high-quality project for our client. Because of the fact that I shoot in the highest quality, my camera saves 70 Mb RAW files (Nikon uses .NEF file format).  This can be frustrating if I purchase memory cards that are not "fast."

Shopping for memory cards can be a daunting task with many options available for different prices... So what's the right one for you?  That depends on your need and what your camera is compatible with. 

Memory Card Capacity

Memory cards in the "SD" card shape that fit the same port are not all compatible even though they fit.  SD cards come in SD, SDXC, SDHC.  SDHC stands for "Secure Digital High Capacity" and have a capacity between 2Gb and 32Gb, while the former stands for "Secure Digital eXtra Capacity" and can be much larger than 32Gb - up to 2Tb of storage size.  When you have more storage to copy, it takes longer so there are also many speed "classes".

Memory Card Speeds

When you purchase a large SD card, such as a 256Gb behemoth, you will have to determine the speed class that is compatible with your camera. An SD card speed rating is called a "speed class" and refer to the absolute minimum sustained write speeds.  Reading and writing to your memory card are generally two different speeds because it is easier to mechanically read information than it is to record or write it to the memory card. Here are some common speed class ratings:

Class 2 - Min 2MB/s

Class 4 - Min 4MB/s

Class 6 - Min 6MB/s

Class 10 - Min 10MB/s

(Please note these are minimum write speeds)

SD Card manufacturers may also list speeds that say "up to" 80 MB/s for example. The wording is important because although it is possible to achieve these speeds with ideal conditions and equipment, you may only see that speed in a burst such as when you copy one file but if you transfer the entire storage space, it will more than likely slow down.

I cannot recommend that you use anything less than a Class 10 - and in fact there are even better memory cards but I cannot guarantee they will be compatible with your device unless it is newer.

UHS Speed Class

The UHS speed class for SD cards stands for "Ultra High Speed" and refers to a sustain writing performance that is acceptable for recording video.  The maximum read speed for UHS is 104MB/s which is exponentially faster than Class 10.  UHS started to appear with the growth of 4K-capable video devices that needed faster write speeds.

When you are taking photos at high quality, you are normally fine using any speed memory card, but if you are shooting a highly-active event such as sports, this can affect your performance.  If you use a slow memory card, the photos will save slower and therefore take longer to write to the memory card.  When your camera is doing this, any subsequent photos that you take will be temporarily stored in your camera's buffer as it waits to write the photos to the more permanent SD (or CF) card. 

Different cameras have different size buffers but ultimately you can only take a certain number of photos before you have to start waiting for your photos to finish writing.  If you spend the extra money on a faster memory card, this can make the difference between getting "THE" shot and getting "just a shot" -- which may not work out so well most of the time.

While shopping for memory cards that are UHS, you will find more modern equipment may even require UHS-II speeds, which is a maximum 312MB/s read speed. One important note is these are not sustained speeds, but rather a maximum read possible speed.

What should I buy?

When you are buying memory cards, it may sound obvious to just go buy a big expensive fast card, but it may not work on your device if it is older for example.  Some cameras can only accept up to 128Gb memory cards, or some cameras may not be compatible with UHS class cards.  All of this is information that you can find about your camera quite easily.

First, you should start with knowing what is compatible with your equipment, followed by how much storage you need.  If you are shooting for yourself then you likely aren't going to need to shoot as many photos for an event, or maybe you shoot photos a d put your camera away for weeks at a time... Well if that's the case, then you probably don't want to break the bank.  For most modern cameras, a UHS or Class 10 memory card with 32Gb of storage space is likely a very good card.

If you are a daily professional who needs to constantly take photos, copy them to storage, and re-use your memory cards, then you likely have equipment that is more capable of reading/writing to the newer memory classes. 

As a professional, I cannot operate efficiently with less than 64Gb, and all my memory cards are UHS-II so that copying files and shooting bursts are never an issue for me.

Here is a list of a few memory cards available on Amazon.com that you may be interested in:

Everybody has a camera in their pocket thanks to cell-phones.  After all - anybody can take a great photograph on any camera, right?  So what's the big deal with photographers and why would anybody want to hire one?  First, you may want to consider the benefit of delegation.  Simply allowing someone else to handle a task may be very well worth your while but we will dig a little deeper into some other reasons you may consider hiring a professional photographer.

You probably have a family member or friend who is really into photography and probably has some expensive camera. Maybe they really like to click photos but they may not have jumped into the business side of it.. So why not just let them take photos when you have an event? 

Below we will give you a few topics you may want to consider which is why photography is so invaluable to just about anyone.

Knowledge and Education

Professional photographers have spent a lot of time studying their craft. It is true that anybody can create a photograph, but it takes a trained and skilled eye to consistently take great photos through the course of an event, for different people, locations, lighting, etc. 

This means they will need to know what settings to adjust on their equipment, and do it quickly.  Some events such as a wedding mean that a photographer only has a couple seconds to adjust and be ready for a shot.  The exposure and framing and sharpness all must be taken into consideration for these moments and you can't always go back and retake that shot.  Having someone be in place at all times who has studied and trained for these situations is a great reason to hire a professional photographer.

Experience

Any professional in any field relies on their experience to guide them through decision making processes. While it is possible to study topics and to learn concepts, it is entirely different to execute on the job. Photography is no different, and a professional photographer will know to take extra shots, they understand posing, and lighting techniques, and can anticipate when a moment is about to happen.  Guiding groups of people and keeping a flow to the photo shoot is also something that is gained through experience. 

On top of the photo shoot, you also have to consider the photos themselves, and the post process. If you are relying on someone with a cell phone, they will only have JPEG files to work with and this is going to severely limit your options.  A professional-level camera will offer the photographer a "digital negative" that allows them to make much greater photo adjustments and retain the highest quality photograph, but it also requires a lot of computing power and drive space for storage. 

These are all things a professional will have in their wheelhouse and workflows in place to churn out the final images after your shoot and this is likely one of the biggest parts that a hobbyist simply does not put much of their monetary or learning resources into.

Understanding the Light

The word photography itself means "painting with light" when you translate it from the root meaning.  This means that it is crucial for a professional photographer to understand any and every single aspect of light and how it affects their photos.  Some people understand lighting easier than others but nonetheless it is one of the largest topics of study for this line of work and when you are working with a professional who understands these concepts properly, they will know what to do to make a scene look good in-camera. 

Understanding what the light does is important but also at a deeper level it is important for the professional photographer to understand what the light will do once it reaches the camera and how the camera will react to this.  Experience and study both are combined to understanding light, lighting techniques, and the camera settings required to achieve desired results.

Camera Lenses

A professional photographer will have a set of lenses they can change on their camera.  Sometimes they will even run around with two or more cameras so the don't have to keep changing lenses at a moment's notice.  This alone is worth the cost of having a photographer because the investment in equipment is so great that it would be cost inhibitive to rent everything you will need, as well as needing the time to understand each piece of equipment, and then also to know what results you will get when you use that combination of equipment and settings. 

Lenses are expensive and they serve specific purposes based on different framing needs, but this could be a lone reason for hiring a photographer for many people - quite simply because they have the equipment and know how to use it.  Sure you can rent lenses yourself, but this still requires you to have proof of equipment insurance, a deposit, or a lot of trust from the lens rental place.  No matter which approach, acquiring a lens for your needs is likely a hefty task if you are not already in possession of them.  This is a great reason to simply delegate and hire a knowledgeable professional photographer.

Understanding the Camera and Equipment

Photographers develop an intimate relationship with their camera body and photography equipment.  One of the reason I think is because there are a nearly infinite number of configurable settings and to be able to master the knowledge of where every setting and adjustment is can be of great satisfaction to a professional photographer.  

Let's say someone gets close and they want to blur the background, a professional will know how to adjust the camera's aperture while peering thorough the viewfinder without having to look at the back or buttons.  Or let's consider a situation where the family pet is jumping through a crowd during a birthday celebration, in that case a professional photographer will know how to anticipate action and adjust the shutter speed, while also still looking through the viewfinder, on the fly, without having to take extra time to change settings, and to capture that moment as it happens perfectly.  Finally if there is a situation where the sun is going down, and there is a birthday cake about to get blown out, but the aperture and shutter speed should not be changed or the photo will get blurry in this case the professional photographer will know they should adjust the ISO setting on their camera, and how much. 

All of these examples continue to showcase the level of experience, dedication, study, and time that a professional photographer has put into their craft and why they are valuable.

Professionalism

When you hire a professional photographer, they are working for you.  It is in their best interest to provide the highest level of satisfaction.  You are not their friend or relative, but their client, and they will provide you with a level of professionalism that a nephew, cousin, or brother-in-law may not.  A professional will have the true-grit mentality, the fortitude, and will work for hours on end before becoming worn out thanks to training, experience, and conditioning. 

Many people who I see that are asked to photograph an event may sit down, chat with people at the party, put their camera down, and often times want to drink with the rest of the crowd.  A professional photographer will operate throughout events without doing any of these things.

Photo Retouching

A professional photographer will make sure your photos are professionally retouched.  Sometimes they have the skills and other times they will hire a dedicated retouch artist.  This level of professionalism will stand out in your photos and it is necessary to start with the best possible photograph with proper exposure, lighting, and other elements before a professional retoucher can improve the image.  If you have poor composition, lighting, and exposure, then a retoucher isn't going to help very much and would be a waste of time and money.

Final Package

So with the above six reasons you can start to see that hiring anybody means that you value their time, but also when you are hiring a photographer it is going to be the best decision you can make.  When you hire a professional photographer, you will be in your photos instead of behind the camera for those precious moments.

Also, if you are organizing an event, it may prove to be frustrating if you try to photograph a moment when you should be making sure something else is happening.  After all, how can you get a photo with mom holding the 1-year old in front of the birthday cake if you are also taking photos? 

With experience, equipment, skill, professionalism, and other things like prints, frames, and retouching, these are all reasons that you may want to put the cell phone down and spend time with your family while the photographer captures moments that you would otherwise struggle to have.

My Final Thoughts

Exposure determines how light or dark the image is on your photograph and is determined by three fundamental components of your camera. The amount of light that enters your sensor (aka exposure) is measured with something called "stops" or better known as "stops of light."

We will discuss stops of light and the scientific measurements in a future article but for now it is best to understand that each stop is a difference of doubling or halving the measurement of light that you are starting with. You can adjust the amount or stops of light by using one of the three fundamental components on your camera. We have already discussed each of these components and they are:

Shutter Speed

Aperture

ISO

When you combine these three settings, they create the concept of the "exposure triangle" and each individual component setting will affect each of the other two and how you use them depends on the type and amount of light available to your camera sensor.

Let's look at each setting and relate it to the exposure triangle.  If you would like to read more about each item, you can click on the link above or the title of the component below.

Shutter Speed on the Exposure Triangle

We have discussed that shutter speed controls the amount of time your camera sensor is exposed to light.  While you are looking at your viewfinder most cameras will display the exposure meter and will inform you if you will have an underexposed or overexposed photograph.  

If you are taking a photo of a moving object, you will normally want to adjust your shutter speed to eliminate or lessen motion blur.  For vehicles moving I think it's fun to find the balance with shutter speed to do the following:

Panning while shooting to give motion blur behind the vehicle

Make shutter speed fast to eliminate hand shake

While keeping shutter speed slow enough so we see motion blur on tires

Maintain proper exposure while also accomplishing the first three

When you are learning photography, you will start to pick up on what shutter speed you will want to use for different situations and it will come naturally the more you practice.

If you are photographing nature or birds for example, you most likely want to use a fast shutter speed so you can maintain clarity and capture all the detail your lens can possibly give you.  This is where using a priority mode such as Shutter Priority can be useful.  Using a Shutter Priority mode will allow the camera to determine the aperture and ISO. This gives you the ability to focus on only setting the shutter speed and it will maintain the best exposure your situation can accurately give you based on the chosen settings.

What changes are necessary to

aperture

and

ISO

when you change

shutter speed

?

With the shutter speed being fast, (higher number 1/1000) you have less light entering your camera sensor, therefore you need to find either a larger aperture or increase your ISO or sometimes both. If you can't adjust those any further then you will want to consider using a slower shutter speed.

Using a slow shutter speed would be something like 1/30 or even slower like 1/10 of a second. First, it should go without saying that you should be using a steady tripod or have the camera somehow mounted in a way that will keep it from moving.  This will allow much more light to enter your camera sensor, and it's fun to play with and learn about more.

If you are using flash, this should be between 1/100 and 1/250 under normal conditions.

Aperture on the Exposure Triangle

Aperture adjustments will affect your depth of field, or quite simply what distance will be in focus on your photo. If you are using a wide aperture, such as f/1.8 you will have a very narrow depth of field. 

If you want to create a blurry background, you will want a smaller aperture (larger f/number) but it will restrict your light.  If you use a larger aperture (smaller f/number) you will capture more light.  Depending on your situation this can create desirable or undesirable effects.  I suggest that you understand how your image changes based on your aperture.

As an interesting challenge, I would like to see links to your photos that show a large aperture vs smaller aperture while maintaining the same exposure.

ISO on the Exposure Triangle

If you are losing light in your scene, and you have your aperture as wide as you can allow it, and your shutter speed is open for as long as you can allow it without motion blur or hand shake, then you may be left with only being able to adjust your ISO setting.

Photographers will nearly all agree that using your lowest ISO setting is generally the ideal situation because it has the least amount of film grain or "noise" and will under most circumstances look the clearest.  

I think it is useful to explain that many people are happy to enable an auto-ISO setting and this will allow you to adjust aperture and shutter speed without needing to maintain the ISO.  One reason this is useful can be for adjusting shutter speed or aperture while your lighting changes frequently for example if you are moving between areas of low light and bright light.

Anyone can take photographs, but not everyone knows what makes a great photograph.  What makes a great photo?  The answer is subjective but I think it comes down to one word: communication. If you can communicate to the viewer and evoke emotion through your photograph, a story is told through the composition, you use good lighting, and present attractive subject matter, you have taken a great photograph.

Obviously there is much more that can be discussed around this topic and we will dive into some of those parts and pieces. At this point it is important to understand that focus, color, clarity, megapixels, and many of those technical aspects of taking a photo do not make a "great photograph" if you can communicate to the viewer with the image that is presented to them, that is all you need.

This is only part of the equation.  Some photos are considered great for many reasons and a lot of it can be narrowed down to context.  If you are in an art gallery you may find that an image that is half black but shows only a silhouette of an object may be a "great photo" or conversely if you are working with a company that is constructing a large building, you may get great photos from the architectural aspects of the subject matter.  

But let's dig into the specific elements that all great photographs share, and here is our attempt to define them.

Composition

Great photographs will have a general sense of form and compositional structure.  This causes a pleasing balance to the eye, but that does not mean symmetrical.  It is a great idea to understand the basic rules of composition, and one of the most popular is the "rule of thirds."  With that said, it is critical to understand that this is only a guideline and not an instruction that says only great photographs utilize the rule of thirds.  That's foolish, and there is a thin line between following the rules and creating a great photograph.  Sometimes it is important to get your subject in frame rather than placing it in a part of the photograph based on this rule, but it is still important to understand the different compositional guidelines available for photography and art.

Lighting

Lighting may be one of the most important parts of making a great photograph.  This is because, quite literally, photography is based on the Greek words φῶς (phōs), (genitive: phōtós) meaning "light", and γραφή (graphê), meaning "drawing, writing" - so put together photography can be literally translated to "drawing with light."

Taking great photographs is ultimately done by utilizing light properly, knowing how and when to modify it, the physical properties of how it works, but most of the time it takes an artistic eye to understand the depths of these topics.  

If you look at some great photographs from a studio you will notice that lighting is many times hard to determine exactly how it was done, looks very soft, or has a specific trait that makes the subject look interesting.  

Timing

If you study a great photographer's work, you will notice that while they may use great light, and seem to have a mastery of composition, they also need to be aware of the moment so they will snap the shutter at the critical time to take the photograph.  Sometimes it takes patience and being able to read the scene to know when things are about to happen.  For example, a sports photographer can anticipate when their subject will be coming around a race track's corner and generally at what speed so they will sit and wait.  This patience is key to photography in whole, but more importantly for nature and sports.

Subject Matter

Finally it is just as important to have a clear idea of the message your photograph is conveying.  If you frame a bee in a corner of your photograph but there are many flowers and other objects in focus, it can be difficult for the viewer to know what the photograph is about.

Sometimes it is easiest to simplify the image, or to make the subject as large as you can in your photo.  Some of the best photographs have details or objects in the image that tell the story, such as in street photography.

Is It Really That Easy?

What is easy for one person may not be as easy as it is for another.  I think that comes from experience and perseverance.  Taking a photograph with your subject in the proper part of the frame, with enough light, and at the right time with the proper surroundings or background really is all you need for a great photograph.  If you remove any one of these elements, I think you would have to find a very creative or unconventional use of photography. 

Taking a great photograph isn't any harder than making sure you are in the right place at the right time with a camera, but once you understand the importance of each element, then yes I believe taking a great photograph with any camera can be quite easy - and better than that it can be very rewarding to see each element in your own photographs.

What About Phone Cameras?

Phone cameras can do amazing things, but most of this is from the software or the app you are using. Hardware limitations make pushing the camera to the limits difficult.  For example, if you are trying to take a fast motion shot, of the wheels on a moving car, you may end up with very strange behavior like warped lines. If you have low light, you need to use a flash but the built-in flash isn't exactly flattering, or adjustable. That reminds me - recently they have started to sell Bluetooth off-camera flashes for your phone! But certain conditions really do not end up working out very well for phone cameras.

Photographers can be very picky about their gear, and much of the useful equipment is prohibitively expensive to begin with.  Just because you can't afford to purchase someone a lens that costs $2,000 USD as a gift for your photographer friend or family member doesn't mean you have to resort to a gift certificate - or worse, one of those cheesy camera-lens-coffee-mugs.  

In this article, we have selected some photography-related gifts while keeping the budgets realistic. Enjoy!

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A shoulder sling is not only a great tool but can be beneficial for the weight your camera can place on your back if you use a neck strap. Memory cards are extremely important for photographers. There are many details such as which brand works best, but as a gift almost any brand will work. Sling straps will distribute the weight across your body and allow you to swing your camera into action at a moment's notice and the camera will rest against your hip.

Traditional camera straps are ddifficult to attach and detach, they are bukly, and expensive. Using a strap with a quick-connect system can be an affordable game-changer. Lens cleaning tissue paper is relatively inexpensive and safe to use dry or wet with cleaning solution. Custom t-shirts are a great gift for any photographer who likes to get out and about.

White balance may be one of the most important settings on your digital camera.  If you don't use the correct setting, you may get a picture with colors that are different from what you see in real life with your eyes.  In order to produce an image with true-to-life colors, you must learn to use the white balance of your digital camera.

The easy part is setting your camera.  The hardest part is understanding why you should make a particular setting choice, and in this article I hope to help you determine how to know what settings you need to use and when.

Color Temperature

Color temperature describes the spectrum of light which is radiated from a blackbody with that surface temperature.  A blackbody is an object that absorbs all incident light and does not allow it to reflect or pass through the material. This is analogous to heating metal or a stone; these are said to become "red hot" when they are at a certain temperature, and can be even "white hot" at even more extreme temperatures.  At the "cold" end of the spectrum, you will notice more blue hues and tones.

Color temperature is measured in "Kelvin" and is represented by the letter "K."  A 5,000K light will produce neutral light, while 3,000K and 9,000K produce spectrums of light that shift.  For example 3,000K will contain more blue wavelengths, while 9,000K will shift your image to a more orange or reddish color.

Real World: JPEG & TIFF

Modern digital cameras contain a variety of preset choices, which are normally:

Auto White Balance

Custom

Kelvin

Tungsten

Fluorescent

Daylight

Flash

Cloudy

Shade

When you are using JPEG or TIFF file formats, the white balance is embedded within the information of the image and you are essentially "locked" to that spectrum.

Real World: RAW

The best solution by far is to use the RAW file format if your camera supports it.  This will allow you to adjust the white balance after the photo has been taken.  Not only can you adjust the color temperature but the green-magenta shifts that also occur.

We will explain more in-depth how to adjust your white balance using Adobe Lightroom (or Adobe Photoshop) in a future article.

Using a Neutral Reference

A neutral reference is used for color-critical projects or even in situations where you may not be able to find a neutral white or grey spot in your scene to measure the color balance.

It is a good idea to carry a "grey card" around that you can photograph in your scene.  In post processing if you shoot using RAW file format, you can adjust your white balance based on the amount of color shifted from the "grey card" that you have taken a photo of.

Common Neutral References

Some common household neutral references can be (but not limited to):

White Paper

Pringles Container Lid

Coffee Container Lid (white)

White kitchen appliances

It is also recommended to reduce as much image noise as possible while you photograph your neutral color subject, normally by selecting your lowest ISO level.  If your software supports it (such as in Adobe Photoshop), you may also benefit from using a 3x3 or 5x4 pixel average to measure your white balance.

Notes on Auto White Balance

Certain subjects can create a problem for using your camera's auto-white balance.  For example if you are shooting an image with an overabundance of red or yellow, your camera may auto-adjust to the blue end of the spectrum and give you unnatural colors.   This is when your reference neutral color card can be very handy.

Another note is when you are using a flash, your camera may be adjusted for the scene colors but the flash you use may have more of a blue color and it can be tricky to know ahead of time exactly what your flash will do.  This can cause your image to shift incorrectly to be too warm and if you try to adjust it, then you will be left with an image that looks predominantly blue.   In this case I recommend to try experimenting with your camera to see what works best for you.

Want to Learn More?

After the light in your scene has passed through the aperture, filtered by the shutter speed, it reaches the sensor (or film), where we decide upon which ISO to use.

As you turn your digital camera's ISO setting up, you will increase exposure but at the same time your image quality will decrease because there will be more noticeable noise or "film grain" (although it is technically different, the digital aspects of ISO still produce similar results).

Most of the time you will want to use the lowest ISO setting your camera can operate at, and this will allow you to prioritizeyour shutter speed and aperture settings without worrying about an additional third item.

As the light decreases however you may find that you will need a slow shutter speed or you cannot open the aperture any further to collect a more exposed image.  This is where ISO can be bumped up to adjust for your lighting having been decreased.

Even as a pro photographer, I will use my camera's Auto-ISO setting so that I can leave the decision to the camera to reliably expose my images without having to consider that ISO setting.  This can be useful if you are constantly going indoors or outdoors for example.  

When you are learning photography, Aperture can be one of the more confusing subjects to learn. The aperture is an adjustable opening in the camera lens that works very similar to the iris in your eye.

This adjustment allows more and less light to enter the sensor or film of your camera by opening and closing the iris-like adjustments in the camera lens or sensor.  This setting can greatly affect the depth of field in your photo.

How to Measure Aperture

Aperture is measured using f-stops.  These numbers represent a fractional formula that represents the amount of light that is allowed to pass through the aperture.  In simple terms, the f-stop number gets bigger as the aperture gets smaller.  Each increasing f-stop number roughly represents half of the light reaching the film.  As the aperture closes, more of a scene will come into focus as the exposure will darken and you may be required to increase your ISO or use a slower shutter speed.

F-Stops and Depth of Field

Big f-stop number = more light needed = larger depth of field

Small f-stop number = less light needed = less depth of field

Many photographers teach that small aperture is a larger number and this can be confusing to someone learning the subject.  I find it easier to remember the f-stop number in relationship to the amount of focus (depth of field) in the photograph.  The larger the f-stop number, the more of your image (closer and farther) will be in-focus.

Although there is a large number of f-stop aperture ranges available, depending on your lens, there is a common ground middle range that most consumer lenses are capable of operating within.

Common F-Stop Values

f/4

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

How to Set Aperture

Most cameras allow you to simply turn a setting dial on the camera body to adjust aperture.  Older manual cameras required you to adjust a dial on the lens itself that is marked with f-stop numbers.  New cameras allow you to adjust the aperture easily and this information is displayed on an LCD screen or inside the viewfinder.  The exact location of the setting dial will vary from camera to camera.  On some point-and-shoot cameras, there may not be a control to select specific aperture or f-stops.

If your camera does not have a way to manually set the aperture you may need to understand your camera's preprogrammed modes to obtain the desired aperture. 

Shutter speed controls the amount of time that your film or digital sensor is exposed to light. This is one of the three basic controls of the camera that you will get to know and use like it is second nature for you. The other two are Aperture and ISO (aka film speed).  These three elements together work to control the exposure of your photograph. 

This article will explain what shutter speed is and teach you how to decide which shutter speed to use and when.

What is a shutter?

A film camera uses a small pieces of plastic or a "curtain" that opens and closes to allow light onto the film to prevent light from reaching it when you are not taking a photograph.  

Digital cameras work in a similar fashion with some differences based on the type of camera you are using.  Most DSLR cameras have a mirror that will "flip" to expose the light from your lens on to a sensor that captures and stores the information much like how film would. 

This "shutter" is opened when you click or press the "shutter release" button on your camera to take a picture.  The "shutter speed" determines how long the shutter remains open.

Understanding Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is relatively simple and is generally measured in fractions of a second.

A shutter speed of "100" means the shutter will open for 1/100th of a second.

A shutter speed of 1 second or longer is generally marked with an apastrophe ( ' ), quote ( " ) or a similar mark after the number.  So if you see 3" on your camera, this means that your shutter will remain open for three seconds and will capture any and all light that enters the sensor.

The letter "B" is often used to indicate the 'BULB' setting.  This means that the shutter will remain open for as long as you are physically holding down the shutter release button.

A slower shutter speed (open for longer periods of time) will create a brighter image as opposed to a faster shutter speed (open for shorter periods of time).  A fast shutter speed is generally used to capture motion without blur, but your tradeoff is the amount of light that is allowed in to your sensor for that moment.

Slow Shutter Speeds

Shutter speed is considered to be "slow" when it is slower than 1/60th of a second. (Remember this is displayed as 60 on your camera or digital display).

This number comes from the fact that most people can only hold a standard lens steady for 1/60th of a second or less and will likely reduce or eliminate blur from handheld camera shake.

If a hand-held photo is taken at an exposure of 1/60 (such as 1/30 or 1/10), then you will have a high chance of camera shake and the image will look blurry.

This is different from the commonly used term "long exposure" which is when shutter speeds are over 1 second long and mostly used to capture photos at night.

Fast Shutter Speeds

Fast shutter speeds are considered to be those faster than 1/500th of a second.

These shutter speeds are used to freeze or stop motion on a moving subject to photograph a clear image without blur.

Hand-Holding Pro Tip

Taking photos without a tripod is very convenient, and we call this "hand-held" photography.  One important tip that most pros know about is the "reciprocal rule" based on the length of your lens and the shutter speed.

If you have a longer lens that you are using hand-held, for example a 200mm, that does not have image stabilization (VR, OS, IS, etc.) then you would want to use a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second and faster.

Note that the minimum hand-held shutter speed is not recommended below 1/60th of a second unless you have some level of image stabilization from your camera or lens but this is generally a good rule to follow once you understand how to expose your image properly which we will talk about in a future article.

How to Set the Shutter Speed

After you have a basic understanding of what the shutter speed is and how to measure it, you need to learn how to set it.  Each camera has its slight variations but this will give you a fundamental knowledge base to work from and make decisions based off of.

As a common step for new photographers, learning how to set your shutter speed is actually very simple.  Most cameras let you simply turn a dial to change your shutter speed.

In older manual-only cameras, this dial is on top of the camera body that is marked with numbers ranging from 1 to around 5000 (give or take 1000 or so).

I newer digital cameras, the shutter speed is displayed on the LCD screen while the photographer turns a setting dial that can be near the shutter release button.

The exact location of the setting dial will vary from one camera to the next.  Many manufacturers keep a similar feel to their different models, but if you change from a Nikon to a Canon it will feel different in your hand.

Point and shoot cameras may not have a control to specifically select the shutter speed, and in this case you may benefit more from understanding your cameras pre-programmed modes to make it select your desired shutter speed.

How Advanced Modes use Shutter Speed

Pre-programmed camera modes are convenient, but shutter speed is important to adjust for many reasons and even in the advanced camera modes as well.  These are primarily available on SLR and DSLR cameras.

Program Mode

This is my favorite "Advanced Auto" camera mode.  The Program mode is marked by a "P" on cameras that have this option, and it allows your camera to respond to preset conditions that you can program through menus.

This mode will allow you to set either shutter speed or the aperture while the camera adjusts the other settings to maintain a proper exposure.

Closest mode to "Fully Auto" while still allowing you to dynamically adjust the camera settings you want without worrying about all of the settings manually yourself.

Shutter Priority Mode

The Shutter Priority mode can be marked with a "Tv" on your setting dial.  This means that isyou use the Tv mode and choose a shutter speed, then your camera will adjust your other settings (aperture, ISO) to maintain the correct exposure.

Use this setting when you know the shutter speed you want to use but are not concerned with the aperture or ISO (if you have auto-ISO turned on).

Conversely, Aperture Priority Mode (marked with "Av") will allow you to choose the aperture and the camera will automatically set the shutter speed and ISO (again - this is only if you have auto-ISO turned on).

Manual Mode

I shoot only in manual mode and on rare occasion I may jump to Program mode.  The manual setting is marked "M" on most cameras.  Manual mode means you are fully responsible for all three main settings in your camera.

If you set the shutter speed while in M mode, you will need to make an adjustment to the aperture and ISO in order to maintain a proper exposure.

Use your camera's light meter to ensure that you have a correctly exposed image.

Guide to Using Shutter Speeds

As you learn more about photography, this knowledge will become second nature.  This is especially true if you experiment and the more often you do the more natural it will become.  Here are a few guidelines that will help you start learning how to use different shutter speeds:

Stopping Motion - No Blur

The speeds listed here are the shutter speeds you may want to use to freeze action under normal conditions.  This means that your ISO setting is set as low as possible (unless you understand how to adjust this) and your aperture is set in a way that you will have your subject correctly in-focus and allow enough light into the sensor.

If you want to blur the action, decrease the shutter speed (longer time shutter is open).

To adjust for a very fast situation, increase shutter speed (shorter time shutter is open).

Flipping a shutter really fast to stop motion is a lot of fun but this works best when there is a lot of light available, or in more advanced situations with flash if the sync rate is high enough.  But light is the key to understanding how to use shutter speed and while these guidelines work best when there is plenty of light available. You will learn more how to use this setting the more you experiment and these are only a guideline that may change under low-light or flash situations for example. 

Baseball and Softball

Pitched ball parallel to photographer - 1/1000th (1/500 for some blur)

Pitched ball coming at photographer - 1/500

Players catching a ball - 1/350

Running players - 1/350 (changes with camera angle)

Players preparing to throw a ball - 1/350

Football

Players running towards photographer - 1/250

Players running parallel to photographer - 1/500

Cheerleader being tossed - 1/250

Kids Running

Toward the camera - 1/180

Parallel to the camera - 1/250

People Jumping

Unassisted - 1/350

Trampoline or with assist - 1/500

Water

Waves - 1/350

At its heart, this website is about one thing: Learning how to take your photos to the next level - or the next ten levels.

If you are a complete beginner at photography, you are in the right place.  Our blog starts from absolute zero and is guaranteed to enhance your photography skills.

Whether you have expensive equipment (camera, lens, flash, etc.) or only a camera on your phone, you can take great photos and we want to show you how!  If you want to grow your skills and jump into more advanced equipment later, we will work our way up to that point and beyond.  But what you have right now is the perfect starting point; small, simple and cheap.  

You can post your successes (or even your failures if you need help) on our Facebook Group page.  We are building a social place of peer-to-peer learning, filled with enthusiastic people from all over the planet.

If you feel you've already mastered the basics, then please feel free to suggest more advanced learning techniques and topics in the comments below.

In the first few articles, we will be talking about the three main fundamentals that every photographer needs to know about:

Photography Basics

Shutter Speed

Aperture