Photography – terms and concepts, Part 1
Two of the key terms used in photography are aperture and shutter speed. The aperture determines how much light is let in and with the shutter speed regulates how light or dark the picture is.
The shutter speed determines how long the film or image sensor may be light on it. This means that the longer times more light and brighter images. You look at the animated picture above the different shutter speeds. The longer the more “blurred” images when something moves, and the images will also be brighter.
Even with a simple compact digital camera you can set the aperture and shutter speed manually. Automatics are aware of it, and otherwise set the aperture and shutter speed for the image to be as good as possible. However, automation is not always sufficient in all situations.
Aperture called aperture in English and it is good to know because most of the cameras functions refer to the English words. Similarly named shutter shutter speed.
If you have a large aperture ie the aperture is very open. With a large aperture you get a small depth of field and what is behind the object you’re shooting becomes blurred. It is a great way to highlight the item you’re shooting. If you instead reduce the aperture so you get a long depth of field and more of the image in sharpness. See pictures below.
