Aperture

Aperture is based around how much light you allow into your lens when
taking a picture. It is simply a way of controlling how much light you are

allowing into your lens when taking a picture.

larger amount of light that gets in.

The larger the hole the

Aperture is measured in f-stops (as seen above). Changing to another f-stop

either doubles or halves the size of the hole that opens in your lens. Changing
your aperture has an overall effect on what you depth of field (DOF) will be. DOF
is the amount of your picture that will be in focus. A large depth of field means
that the majority of your image will be in focus, even if it is only a close up or a
landscape.

Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the length of time that the shutter is open. In relation to film
photography, it is the length of time that the film is exposed to what you are
photographing. Similarly in digital photography, shutter speed is the length of
time that the image sensor actually sees what you are trying to capture.
Shutter speed is measured in seconds and also fractions of seconds. The bigger
the denominator the faster speed, for example 1/1000 is a much faster shutter
speed than 1/30. When deciding what shutter speed to use, the lowest you may
go is 1/60th of a second as anything slower than this can cause camera shake,
which can result in a blurry photo. Shutter speeds are available on most cameras
and usually double with each setting. Most cameras have the following shutter
speeds; 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8. The fact that each one
doubles is useful considering aperture also doubles the amount of light that is let
in, meaning that increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture
results in giving you similar exposure levels.

Focus
A lens is an optical device that consists of a
curved material that allows light to pass
through it. Depending the design of the
camera lens, whether its built in or
attachable, consists of one or more
elements that both diverge and converge
light to focus it onto the photosensitive
surface and re-assemble the light reflecting
from the scene that has passed through the optics, resulting in an image. In
order to create an image, we dont actually need to bend the light to create an
image. The issue with the film, sensor, or back wall of your eyeballs is usually
much smaller than the view we are trying to capture. Therefore, the light needs
to be bent to reduce the size of the image. The lens slows down the light, as well
as bending it. The speed of light changes when it passes through the translucent
materials, so light is bending and slowing as it enters and exists a lens. The job
of the camera lens is to direct that light onto the film or sensor.
The way a lens works is similar to that of a magnifying glass when you are trying
to burn holes in paper or leaves, as there is a direct correlation between the
convergence of light and distance from the object onto which you are trying to
project that light. When you are focussing the light of the sun into a tiny sport to
start a flame with a lens, you are focussing the light from a single light source.
The camera, as well as your eye, is focusing the light from an infinite number of
light rays that are reflecting from other objects. By moving the lens closer or
further away from the sensor or film is how the camera and lens channel the
light in order to recreate the image clearly. If the camera or lens wont focus,
then you have to move the camera closer, in order to get a clear picture.

Lenses
Knowing how to work a camera lens can the user more creative control to digital
photography. Even the most simple camera lenses contain complex elements,
and each of the elements directs the path of light rays to recreate an image as
accurately as possible. They aim to minimise aberrations, while still utilising the
fewest and least expensive elements. Optical aberrations occur when points in
the image do not translate back after passing through the lens, creating a
blurred image, an image of reduced contrast or misalignment of colours.
Typical rectilinear lenses can be thought of as improved pinhole lenses. A pinhole
lens is simply a small aperture that blocks most rays of light ideally selecting one
ray to the object for each point on the image sensor. Pinhole lenses have a few
sever limitations.

A pinhole camera with a large aperture is blurry because each pixel is

essentially the shadow of the aperture stop, so its size is no smaller than
the size of the aperture (below left). Here a pixel is the area of the
detector exposed to light from a point on the object.
Making the pinhole smaller improves resolution (up to a limit), but reduces
the amount of light captured.
At a certain point, shrinking the hole does not improve the resolution
because of the diffraction limit. Beyond this limit, making the hole smaller
makes the image blurrier as well as darker.

In photography, there are four types of lenses that you can use. A standard lens,
telephoto, wide angle and zoom lens. The standard lens has a fixed focal length
(50mm, 85mm, 100mm) and reproduces photos similar to what humans can see.
A narrow field of vision is given to you when you use a telephoto lens, as it
enables you to compress what you are capturing and pick out specific objects
that may be in the distance. Telephoto lenses are often used for wildlife, portrait,
ports and documentary photography. Wide-angle lenses have a shorter focal
length in comparison to a standard one.