Digital Photography basics and terminology.?

Question

Hi !

I am new to Digital photography and need to understand a few terms before I get started.

Shutter speed?
ISO?
White balance?
Also - when we press the click button, in different cameras it takes different time to actually click the picture.. can we change that? is that shutter speed?

Please help me understand these terms.
Thanks a ton already!

Answer 1

Hi and welcome to digital photography!

Shutter speed: The shutter is the device that controls how long light hits the film (or the sensor in a digital camera) Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter stays open, measured in fractions of seconds. This will be a short time in bright light, and longer in dimmer conditions. This is why pictures taken inside with no flash are often blurry. The camera moves more in the longer exposure time, this records as blur.

ISO is the sensors sensitivity to light. Slow. such as 50 or 100 is less sensitive, and takes longer to obtain a proper exposure. Fast. 400, 800, or 1600 gathers more light faster, but in most digicams makes images with lots more "noise". Noise is the digital equivalent of film grain, and is usually undesirable.,

White balance: Light has different "temperatures" on the color scale. Tungsten bulbs look yellow, florescent usually records as green, shade is blue, etc etc. The white balance takes the ambient light into consideration and corrects the color cast. On most digicams, the auto WB does a good job. If you take a picture and the color is off, you can try again using a different white balance.

The time between pushing the button and the camera actually taking the picture is called shutter lag. Overall, this measurement has improved greatly in the last few years. DSLRs have very little lag, digicams have more.

The "Dummies" book series has one on digital photography that's very good for beginners. Also read your camera manual and understand what the settings are and how they affect your pictures.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Your best bet is to subscribe to a magazine or look for tutorials on the web for either film or digital and read all you can get your hands on. Most terms are carry over from film cameras such as, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, program mode, etc. White balance is digital only but, better left on auto until you get all the other stuff down.

Answer 4

Shutter speed is the time that the shutter is open while you're taking a picture. It allows light to go into the camera to reach the image sensor. Shutter speed is measured in seconds and the longer the shutter is opened, the more of a need you'll have for a tripod (to reduce movement). Lower speeds are great for water pictures, to show the water moving down rocks.

ISO refers to a film's sensitivity to light. Something with a low ISO requires a longer light exposure (longer shutter speed) and something with a higher ISO requires a shorter exposure (shorter shutter speed).

The time it takes after pushing the button is the shutter speed...there are also 2 other settings:

B - meaning "bulb" ... the shutter will stay open until you take your finger off of the button...

T - keeps the shutter open until you press the button a 2nd time...

Answer 5

Shutter speed: how fast the camera can take a picture (adjusting this can be useful in a very fast picture environment or very slow)

ISO & White balance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_balance
both relate to possible color and contrast capabilities.

Also - when we press the click button, in different cameras it takes different time to actually click the picture.. can we change that? is that shutter speed- Cant change the speed it all depends on Processing power of the camera.

Digital Photography Depends on what you planning to do Casual Pictures for Home use or looking for professional looking work.
1. Home use- go with sony cameras best picture quality all around.
smaller version of the camera always better to carry around, big is typically not better here. T9 is a great camera
*Digital Zoom is crap ,optical is the only one that matters.
*MegaPixel anything around 5MP is good anything higher is a waste unless you plan to print our on billboards.
*Battery Life is one of the most crucial parts of these cameras, ones that take regular batteries last for almost not time Lithium based are better.
*Internal memory dont matter much either as you buy a mem stick for pictures and dont based it on the internal 10 pics mem.
*Movie quality always going to suck on those cameras dont base buying a camera base on the video capabilities of it.
much more to know but best is to only buy from a place you can return for full refund (circuit city type) so you can play and feel the camera for yourself before you decide to keep it.

only by choosing respectable brands that are around $250+ you can get decent quality else you may loose alot in low light situations(restaurant inside a home..) you get uber crap pictures

Answer 6

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By the end of this course you will have developed an instinctive skill-for-life that will enable you to capture truly stunning photos that not only amaze your friends and family... but could also open the doors to a brand new career.

Answer 7

VaWedding has her terms mixed up. Her first paragraph describes shutter speed. Further down she says "the time it takes after you press the button is shutter speed" It's not, it is called "Shutter Lag." And you can't change it. It depends on the power of the camera's processer to move those tiny electrons through the length of the camer's circuits.
White balance - There are different "types or wavelengths" of light. Your eye can adjust and see things ok with sunlight, florescent lighting or regular incandescence light bulbs. The camera lens can not, and the picture will show a blueish or redding cast to it unless you change the white balance.
www.dpreview.com is a good site to learn and ask questions of other photographers.

Answer 8

Photography is actually the capturing of light just like the eye. The shutter speed controls the speed of the eye lid opening and closing. The aperture controls what size the eye is open. Eg, in bright sunlight we squint our eyes, so less light comes in, or it will over exposed. For capturing motion in action we need faster shutter speed to have clear images of each step of motion in action. If the shutter speed is slow, it shows a blurry action in motion. ISO is the speed of the film. How fast the film can capture light. White balance - colour is relative. White is used as a benchmark to guage other colours. White balance can be adjusted.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

if you go to circuitcity or best buy online
they have a dictionary of photographic terms
in the digital camera section