Camera Basics

So you just bought a new fancy camera and have been playing around on it. You’ve been taking some cool shots in automatic mode. But now you think you want to try you luck at manual.

Fear not. Though the thought of shooting in manual might seem scary at first, it really isn’t that bad. For the first part of camera basics, we’ll look at three important aspects of shooting in manual. Learn these three things and you’ll be shooting like the pros in no time.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the “exposure triangle” before. It looks something like this:

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. You need to become proficient in these three things if you want to shoot in manual. But fear not; these aspects are not difficult to understand.

Part I: Shutter Speed

The shutter speed of a camera refers to how fast the mechanical shutter inside the camera body opens and closes when you snap a photo. The faster your shutter speed, the sharper the image will be. This is critical for shooting things like a sporting event; where the subject is moving quickly through the frame. With a faster shutter speed, you’ll be able to take a shot of (for example) a football player at the moment…