The aperture in a camera is the hole that lets a certain amount of light in. It controls how much light will be let in and how exposed the image will be. The more light that comes through the lens, the brighter the image will be and the less light that comes through the darker the image will be.

Aperture is measured in f-numbers. For example, an aperture of f/8 would be a balanced exposure as it roughly lets in a balanced amount of light while allowing for shadows to have details. However, an aperture of f/1.4 would let in a large amount of light as the hole opens the most. The lower the f-number, the bigger the hole will be and therefore the more amount of light let into the lens. So, an aperture of f/22 would let in the least amount of light as it is on the opposite side of the spectrum and the hole would be the smallest.

Over exposure is when too much light is let into the lens as the aperture is too big. This gives it a washed-out look as their is less detail in the shadows. Balanced exposure is when the amount of light let in is balanced while also allowing for darker parts of the image to remain detailed. Under exposure is when not enough light is let into the image which makes it very dark if the aperture is very low. F-numbers in the images above are (from right to left) f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16.

Over exposed, Balanced exposure, Under exposed

The tonal range (or dynamic range) refers to shadows, midtones and highlights in a photograph.

Shadows - The outline that appears when an object or living thing blocks a light source from reaching a surface

Mid-tones - Neither light or dark but both at the same time, average brightness.

Highlights - The brightest parts of an image. Typically the part of the image where the light source reaches.

Above are examples of creative use of overexposure, underexposure and balanced exposure. The over exposed image uses overexposure to emphasise the mist/fog around the field and windmill. The underexposed image uses underexposure to give the figure a silhouette as well as make the inside area dark in contrast to the brightness outside. The final photo used balanced exposure to give a lot of detail to the landscape.

Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. This can be adjusted to achieve different effects on an image. E.g. a completely blurred image, an image where the subject is blurred or an image where something moving is frozen.

Above are these examples. For the fully blurred image i used a shutter speed of 1/20 and an aperture of f/16. I slightly jolted the camera as I took the photo to give it the blurred effect which mixes different parts of nature together. For the subject blur, I used a shutter speed of 1/30 and an aperture of f/13. We stomped on the ground near the birds and took the photo as they retreated. Finally, for the frozen image I used a shutter speed of 1/350 and an aperture of f/4.5. I took a photo of a moving car.

The technique used for the all blur image was a slow shutter speed with high thin aperture. The photographer jolted the camera up when the picture was being taken which gives it the blurry effect. For the subject blur image, the photographer likely used a tripod to avoid unnecessary blur and to achieve the effect that only moving things are blurred. They likely used a low shutter speed and thin aperture similar to the all blur. For the frozen image, the photographer used a high shutter speed and wide aperture. photo of ball

These images are more ambitious examples of the shutter speed work I have been doing as I used more creative techniques and ideas when approaching my work. These are mostly images with the freeze effect as I have used a fast shutter speed. For the panning photo I set my shutter speed to low and tracked the van as the shutter was open which creates the blur effect around everything but the van.

Focal Length is the length of the lens used on the camera. It determines the angle and how much of the scene will be captured. The longer the focal length, the higher the magnification.

Depth of field is the zone within a photo that appears sharp and in focus. In every picture, there is a point of focus. Depth of field can be calculated based on focal length, distance to subject and aperture. Using different depths of field will capture more or less details depending on how wide or shallow the depth of field is.

Below, you can see the difference between a wide depth of field and a shallow depth of field. The left photo has a lot more detail in the background and foreground as the depth of field is wide and the photo on the left has little detail in the background as it has a shallow depth of field.

For the images above, I kept the focal length consistent throughout while altering the aperture and shutter speed. From left to right, I used a thin aperture and slow shutter speed to achieve a wide depth of field. For the middle photo, I used the default shutter speed and aperture. For the photo on the right, I used a wide aperture and fast shutter speed in order to achieve a shallow depth of field.