Thursday, January 19, 2012

Photography

I love photography. It has been my hobby for a couple years, therefore I have had a little time to figure out how my SLR camera works. Although I did not read the user's manuel I have figured a few cool things out and realized the lens of my camera works similarly to our eyes. Both our eyes and use convex lenses to perceive the image. The eye uses its retina while the camera uses film to detect the image. 





The way the camera reacts to light is very similar to the way our eyes do. With a camera, the exposure triangle is what deems how the camera should react to its environment, to the picture it is taking. This exposure triangle is comprised of ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. The ISO is the camera's sensitivity to light, which varies form one camera to the next. The aperture is the size of the opening of the lens when the picture is taken. The shutter speed is the amount of time the camera remains open. On a sunny day, the aperture would be higher, which means the camera lens opening would be smaller, which means that less light would enter the camera, which is needed on a bright and sunny day. The lower the shutter speed, the less time the lens remains open. This ranges from up to 30 seconds to 1/4000 of a second. On a sunny day, a smaller shutter speed would be preferable, if not, the picture will just be blob of brightness.
Like this:



Our eyes do the same thing, our pupils dilate according to the light in our environment so that we can see.



2 comments:

  1. I have never thought of a camera that way! if only i would have a photography memory, then i could capture all the beautiful moments that have occured in my life! Oh, and you should post some pics that you have taken with your SLR camera in your next post :)

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  2. Sadie, great post! I am always struck by how so many of our modern inventions are based on how a living thing works! Do you have a site where we can see your photography, like Flickr? Also, I heard a fascinating talk by Richard Feynman, a famous physicist, about light on youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjHJ7FmV0M4
    He has a real knack for explaining things!

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