Photography: Cameras, Shutter Speeds & F-Stops

This lesson is part of the series: Fundamentals of Photography - Film & Digital

Photographers use different cameras, but how you use the camera makes a larger difference in your photos than the brand. In this lesson, learn how to use your Single Lens Reflex, or SLR camera. First, learn the basic operating principles of the camera-how it uses light to record an image. These principles of how a camera works are the same, regardless of whether you are using a standard film or digital SLR camera.

Then, learn what an f-stop and shutter speed have to do with taking great photos. These numbers often confuse beginning photographers, but Brian explains them fully. The f-stop on your camera controls the amount of light that is allowed through the lens. The shutter speed adjusts how long the film is exposed to this light. Learn how the f-stop and shutter speed are expressed as fractions, and how they work together to control the light volume and exposure time of the film.

This lesson is excerpted from the DVD Learn Photography, Film & Digital. It is the first lesson cut from the DVD and includes Chapters 1, 2, 3 (on Cameras, How Cameras Work, and Shutter Speeds/F-stops)
FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHY INFORMATION: www.Photo-Seminars.com

Brian Ratty, internationally known photographer, educator and founder of a multi-million-dollar communications company, hosts and writes many instructional DVDs, videos and audio programs on photography. Over the past twenty five years, he and his staff of writers and photographers have completed thousands of professional assignments around the world. Mr. Ratty is a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography and holds an honorary Master of Science degree.

How a camera works

03/20/2009

~ alexjurek

An explanation of how a camera actually works makes aperture and shutter speeds so much easier to understand. I never fully comprehended this before, and just left my camera on 'automatic' mode. Now I think I will actually experiment with the different f-stops and shutter speed settings.

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