Iso, Aperture and Shutter Speed for Photography Beginners

If you are new in photography, you must learn the terms use in this industry. The three most common terms in photography are the following: ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

What is ISO in digital camera?

ISO is actually a common short name for the International Organisation for Standardization. What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. On digital cameras, you can change the ISO setting for each shot you take. That is one of the big advantages of digital photography. You get choices like 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and maybe 3200. A high ISO setting needed for indoor work, where flash is not allowed and the light levels are low.

What is Aperture?

The aperture controls the amount of light that reaches a digital camera sensor. When it is wide open it allows more light into the camera, and when it is smaller less light can enter the camera. The diameter of an aperture is measured in f-stops. A lower f-stop number opens the aperture and admits more light onto the camera sensor. Higher f-stop numbers make the camera’s aperture smaller so less light hits the sensor. F-stops are expressed in three different ways like f/4, f-4, and 1:4.

What is Shutter speed?

Shutter speed is the length of time that the shutter remains open. In a dslr camera, adjusting the shutter speed you can control the movement of the subject. A fast shutter speed will freeze the subject and a slow shutter speed will make it look blurred as the subject moves. Shutter speeds are usually expressed as 1/8th of a second. The range of shutter speeds can be expressed as: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, with each one being a fraction of a second.

There is a site, a simulation of a dslr camera, where you can practice shooting by adjusting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed of the camera. This is the URL http://camerasim.com/SLRsim.html. Try it and you will enjoy it.