ISO

Exposure Summary

Once you’ve understood aperture, shutter speed and ISO, you need to learn how each of these elements of exposure work together.

For all those basics of photography, exposure is the most important.

If you don’t have this down, composition and framing become a moot point in beginner photography.

In this post, you will learn about the ‘stop’ based system for measuring exposure. But, more importantly, how to prioritize the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for the best photo.

Depth of Field

When you’re shooting in low light, you invariably have to widen your aperture to allow enough light into the lens. But this has one rather a major side effect. A shallow depth of field.

This can be used very creatively (often to excess) but it’s not the only possibility. There are many situations, such as landscapes, where you’ll want to be using a narrower aperture so that the whole scene remains in focus.

This tutorial walks you through everything you need to know about choosing the right aperture (and therefore the depth of field) for the right situation.

When it comes to covering all of the basics of photography, depth of field is very important

White Balance

White balance is something I wish I’d learned more about much sooner than I did. I look back on some photos now and wonder what I was thinking.

The white balance changes the color cast of the entire photo. It is responsible for the overall warmth. It can determine whether your photo appears blue or orange, cold or warm.

Auto white balance doesn’t tend to do a particularly good job, particularly with tungsten light. The sooner you learn about this basic photography idea, the more accurate your photos will look.

Focal Length

Have you ever wondered what the ‘mm’ on your lens actually means? Or why people use longer focal lengths for portraits?

It’s all discussed in this tutorial. The focal length affects more than just the ‘zoom’. It also influences the perspective.

I cover which focal length you would want to use in different situations. As well as their possible side effects.

It’s a really worthy read and one of my favorite tutorials to date.