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How To: Camera Basics, by Mike Farley LRPS
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Using the Camera Controls

Setting the shutter and aperture controls is by one of three main methods.

  • Cameras usually have two means of setting both shutter and aperture for itself, with one being totally automatic which prevents the user from making any alterations. Clearly this is of little use to anyone who wishes to exert command over the camera to achieve a particular aesthetic effect. For this reason, there is also a Programme mode, which allows the aperture to be altered with corresponding changes to the shutter speed.

  • More useful are the aperture and shutter priority modes that allow the aperture or shutter to be fixed and the camera makes the corresponding adjustment to the other component in setting the exposure. The photographer has the full benefit of flexibility and automation whilst retaining creative control. In situations where the photographer feels that incorrect exposure will ensue, it is possible to specify an adjustment to modify the settings determined by the camera.

  • The last way is manual exposure, fixing both aperture and shutter without possibility of alteration by the camera.

Fully manual operation is how it always used to be done and brings us back to where we started at the beginning of this article, where the question was posed as to the benefits of automation.

Technical developments have certainly brought photography a long way, especially over the last few years with the advent of digital imaging. It has always been the case that manufacturers have strived to make their products as simple to use as possible, albeit in the past the methods used were less sophisticated than we are used to nowadays. Many are content to leave their cameras in a fully automatic mode, but for those who want to take their photography further an understanding of photographic principles remains essential.