ISO Aperture and Shutter Speed

The first thing to understand when you move into the manual / creative zones of your camera the the relation to the three primary factors.

1. Shutter Speed
2. Aperture
3. ISO

The shutter speed relates to the time which the camera opens up to allow light inside. It is measured in units of time. For e.g. 1/125 secs means that the camera will open for that small amount of time to allow light to fall on the censor / film.

The aperture relates to the size of the opening in the lens. The wider the opening the more light that comes in, the narrower the opening the less light that comes in.

Both the shutter speed and the aperture go hand in hand to determine the right exposure. If you let in light though a bigger opening then you would need a faster shutter speed and vice versa.

The aperture is measured in f stops, The lower the number the bigger the opening. e.g. f1.8 has a bigger opening than f5.6.

The ISO is how sensitive the senor or film is to light. It is measured as ISO 100, 200,400,800,1600. The lower numbers indicate a lower sensitivity and the higher numbers a higher sensitivity. The lower number require more light to expose the film and the higher number require lesser light to expose the film.

ISO settings have a direct effect on the quality of the photograph. The lower the ISO the smoother is the resolution and the high ISO setting yield grainier images. Think of it this way, when you are studying a book, if you skim though the book fast, then you have an overall understanding but loose out the details, but a more thorough study takes you more time and will give you a finer understanding.