Holideck

Here is a nice tutorial for picture taking. It’s an online program and very interactive. It allows users to changes a few settings (Aperture Size & Shutter Speed) and then take a trial picture. If you’re not satisfied with the picture quality, the program allows you to modify the settings and see how the modifications affect the image.

The website gives a very good explanation on Aperture Size, Shutter Speed, and Exposure Meter.

Aperture Size

The size of the aperture determines how much light passes through your lens, as if it were a light faucet: large apertures let more light pass through, small apertures let less light pass through.

Aperture settings are referred to as f-stops, or f-numbers, expressed as a fraction, such as f/22. However, to save space, f-numbers are often denoted by just their denominator, such as 22. Note, the larger the f-number, the smaller the relative aperture.

On a manual camera, f-numbers are usually adjusted with a ring outside your lens barrel. A typical sequence of f-numbers on a camera run, from largest to smallest aperture: 1.8, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22.

The difference between each f-number is twice the amount of light. Hence, aperture setting f/16 lets in twice as much light as f/22.

The aperture size determines the depth of field, or zone of sharp focus, that surounds your subject: whereas small apertures (high f-numbers) produce a long depth of field, large apertures (small f-numbers) produce a short depth of field. Therefore, if you’re taking a picture of a landscape, and you want both foreground and background to be in focus, use a small aperture such as f/16. On the other hand, if you’re taking a picture of a friend or family member, and you want to place more emphasis on them by blurring the background, use a large aperture such as f/4.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed determines how long your film is exposed to light passing through the aperture: the slower the shutter speed, the longer the shutter remains open, the more light reaches your film. Hence, both aperture size and shutter speed determine the final exposure of your picture.

Like f-numbers, shutter speeds are expressed as a fraction, such as 1/60 second. However, to save space, shutter speeds are often denoted by just their denominator, such as 60. Hence, the larger the shutter speed number, the shorter the amount of time your film is exposed to light.

On manual cameras, the shutter speed is usually adjusted by a circular control knob on top of the camera. A typical sequence of shutter speeds on a camera run, from slowest to fastest: 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000.

The shutter speed determines the amount of motion blur a moving object will have in your final picture. Use a fast shutter speed (such as 1/500 sec) to freeze fast moving objects in their trajectory, or use a slow shutter speed (such as 1/2 sec) to illustrate movement by creating motion blur.

Like f-numbers, the difference between each shutter speed setting is twice the amount of light. For example, shutter speed 1/60 sec lets in twice as much light as 1/125 sec.

Due to the doubling/halving nature of both aperture and shutter settings, closing the aperture one stop (halving the light) while simultaneously decreasing the shutter speed by one setting (doubling the light) produces no effective change in the amount of light reaching your film. The same is true for closing the aperture two stops while decreasing the shutter speed by two settings. This means there are several aperture and shutter settings which produce the same overall exposure of your final picture. For example, the combination f/4 and 1/60 sec produces the same overall exposure as f/2.8 and 1/125 sec, or f/5.6 and 1/30 sec. This is not to say these settings will produce the same final picture since the combination you choose will determine the depth of field surrounding your subject (aperture size) and the amount of motion blur of moving objects (shutter speed).

Read more on: http://shutterbee.thinkrandom.com/