Terms to know for beginners

Aperture: 

In essence, the aperture is the eye of your camera. This aperture regulates the amount of light that reaches the camera. Light enters the camera through the aperture, which is quantified by an f-number; the smaller the number, the narrower the aperture opening. A smaller aperture results in a larger opening and more light; for instance, an aperture of f/2.8 is large, whereas an aperture of f/22 is quite small. 

Depth of field: 

The amount of your scene that is in acceptable focus is measured by the depth-of-field. A high depth-of-field means that practically everything is in focus, whereas a short depth-of-field means that very little is. Three things influence depth-of-field: 

• Your aperture 
• Your distance from the subject
• Your focal length 

Your depth-of-field will be reduced by applying a longer focal length, getting closer to your subject, and having a wider aperture opening, such as f/2.8. Therefore, your depth-of-field is increased when you do the opposite. 

Shutter speed: 

The amount of light that enters the camera depends on both your shutter speed and aperture. A slower shutter speed allows more light to enter the camera by keeping the shutters open for longer. Less light enters when the shutter speed is increased.

The amount of motion in your scene will also depend on the shutter speed. The movements of your subject are frozen when you use fast shutter speeds, such as 1/500th of a second. Their movement can be softened by using a slower shutter speed. Camera shake can also be seen when using shutter speeds slower than 1/30th handheld. Your photo might not be pin sharp, but it could also be somewhat or totally blurry. This effect will be decreased if you position your camera on a tripod or another sturdy surface. 

ISO: 

The International Standards Organization, or ISO, is a global standard for determining how sensitive film is in digital sensors. The film or sensor’s sensitivity decreases with lowering ISO, meaning it absorbs less light. Generally speaking, low ISO settings are often used during the day and high ISOs during the evening.

High ISO levels are undesirable because they cause noise on digital sensors. At higher settings, all cameras will produce some noise, but more durable cameras will produce less noise than less costly and smaller ones.

White balance: 

This has an impact on your photos’ color. Every light source has a distinct color temperature. Some are warm, like incandescent lights, while others are cool, like fluorescent lights. Your images will show an unusual color shift if you have the incorrect white balance set. They could be excessively green or blue. While sunny, cloudy, shady, incandescent, and fluorescent are common white balance settings, there are various color temperatures in between. Certain cameras enable manual color temperature adjustment and customized white balances.

Metering mode: 

These settings have an impact on how your camera decides to expose a scene. Three primary categories of metering modes include: 

• Matrix 
• Center-weighted
• Spot

Most cameras use matrix by default, which looks at the entire scene in an effort to achieve the right exposure. The majority of scenes work well with this mode, although high-contrast scenarios, such as sunsets or backlit subjects, fail to perform well. When metering, center-weighted ignores the boundaries of your frame and instead looks at the middle of your scene. Spot mode assesses exposure by examining a tiny spot. Spot mode allows you to select the location of the spot and, frequently, the area it covers. 

Focusing modes: 

Since almost all cameras have autofocus, it doesn’t take much to explain how to focus one, but many people are unaware of the various autofocus modes and how they operate. Three general modes include: 

• AF-A
• AF-S
• AF-C

The automatic mode is called AF-A. The camera tries to determine the best focus method by evaluating the scene. A single object will be the camera’s focus if the scene is static. If the subject moves, the camera will attempt to follow them.  

AF-S is used to focus on a subject more precisely. Depending on where your focus points may be, the camera will concentrate once on a subject when you click the shutter button halfway down. The camera’s focus won’t change whether you move it or if people move in the scene. As long as the shutter button is partially pressed, it is set. 

The AF-C is for constant focus. When you need to track moving subjects, you use this. When you press the shutter button halfway down, the camera will use your focus points to concentrate on a subject. It will keep adjusting the focus as long as the subject is moving closer or farther away, maintaining focus. 

Picture control: 

Although picture styles on Canon cameras are frequently overlooked as fundamental camera knowledge, they significantly impact how your images seem. Adjusting the contrast, saturation, and sharpness of your camera’s images is possible using picture control. By default, most cameras are set to Neutral, which gives you the most flexibility for post-processing options, even if it might not result in the best-looking photographs. However, you may adjust the Picture Control settings to look somewhat more saturated or contrasted if you want your images to have a bit more impact from the beginning.