LA – Exposure Basics – My Reflective Journal

Question 1

I have a Nikon D5100 camera.

Name all the functions/buttons on the front of the camera:

AF-Assist illuminator

Flash mode

Microphone

Function button

Lens Mounting mark

Lens release buttion

Infrared reciver

Name all the function/buttons on the back of the camera:

Information Edit

Mode dial

AutoExposure/autofocus lock button

Command dial

Playback button

Multi-selector

OK button

Memory card door

Delete button

Playback zoom in

Thumbnail/playback zoom out

LCD/information screen

Infrared receiver

Explain how you would set the correct ISO:

ISO is one of the three factors of exposure, along with shutter speed and aperture. ISO allows you to choose the level of sensitivity of the camera sensor to light.

Which ISO to choose, depends on the level of available or ambient light. The more light, the lower ISO number you need. I learned a rule that outside on sunny days, ISO 100 will be perfect, on cloudy days or indoor photos, 400 will be around alright. Shooting at night, maybe you need to go as high as 1600. But you always must try first and see which ISO will be the best, with as little noise in the photo as possible. And always try to use the lowest ISO possible for max quality.

Explain how you would change the aperture:

Aperture is the hole in the lence. Here I think about how much of the picture I want to be blurry. The lower number, the more in focus the object gets, and blurry the background.

Explain how you would change the shutter speed:
The shutter speed is how long time the shutter is open before it closes. Shutter speed is the length of time the camera is exposed for light. On bright days, you can use fast shutter speed. If you shoot at night you need more time for the lens to be open, more light in. For moving objects I would use fast shutter speed (to freez it), and for more creative blur, I would use slow shutter speed.

QUESTION 2:

Complete the exercise in Chapter 1 & 2:

The first chapter in my book was to set up the camera settings. So first I changed the imagine quality, ISO, and color space. Then I went outside and tried out the white balance on the camera, to get a hold on it. Then I tried out single point and AF-S mode, and recomposing focus before taking the picture. Then I looked over all the pictures in the LCD display and learned a bit about the shooting information for each image, and histogram. Then I practiced holding the camera and played around with the manual modes on the camera.

Chapter 2 –

Here I was formatting my SD card, updating firmware version, cleaning my sensor and tried out recording video.

3. Take five pictures every day for the next five days. The subjects of your pictures can include a series of different objects, people and landscape. Submit your six best pictures:

1/3200 sek f/5,3 175mm ISO 500 (here the ISO could be 100)