Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Camera Terminology Explained Series, Part 1 (A-B)


Aperture

The aperture on a camera denotes how wide open the lens is, determined by an f/stop number.  A small f/stop number such as f/2.8 denotes a wide open lens, whereas a high f/stop number such as f/22 denotes a small opening of the lens.

A wide aperture (i.e. a low f/stop number) gives a shorter depth of field and helps to keep close up objects in focus while blurring out the background, whereas a small aperture (i.e. a high f/stop number) gives a longer/sharper depth of field for objects further away.

The aperture is used in conjunction with shutter speed to determine how much light you let in to the camera to take your photo at the right exposure.


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Auto Exposure (AE) & Auto Exposure Lock (AE Lock)

Auto Exposure (AE) denotes the camera’s ability to automatically set the right exposure depending on the light conditions of the scene.  The camera will automatically choose a combination of aperture and shutter speed, known as Programmed Auto Exposure.

Some cameras allow you to choose Aperture or Shutter Speed Priority which gives the user the choice to decide for example which aperture setting they want to use and then lets the camera determine the shutter speed based on the choice of aperture.  Shutter Speed Priority works in the same way in that the user chooses what Shutter Speed they want to use and then the camera determines which corresponding aperture setting to use.

Auto Exposure Lock (AE Lock) enables the user to lock the exposure from a different part of a scene and then refocus on another part of the scene with the exposure values already captured.  This is typically achieved by pressing and holding the shutter button half-way down to lock the exposure and then moving the camera round to focus on a different part of the scene and then pushing the shutter button all the way down to capture the scene.


Auto Focus (AF)

Cameras with auto focus (AF) ability normally work in the same way as the Auto Exposure Lock (see above).  The user can focus on one part of the scene and then press and hold the shutter button half-way down and then move the camera round to focus on a different part of the scene and then push the shutter button all the way down to capture the scene at the previous determined focused point.


Auto White Balance (AWB)

Cameras with the Auto White Balance (AWB) feature will automatically set the correct white balance.  White balance is important to remove untrue color casts from your images so that white images truly appear white in your photos.  Cameras have to take into account the color temperatures of different light sources to help prevent your photos from appearing with blue, green or red hues.


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Further reading/articles in the Camera Terminology Explained Series:

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