Visual Technology Production- A True Love in Photography: Weekly Reflection 3- Touch UP!

Weekly Reflection 3

24/2/2014

This week was an exciting week to be awaited for. It was because we were given the opportunity to borrow an DSLR to do our assignments!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

OH YEAH!! Thank you Dr. Jamaluddin, Encik Fuad and Faculty of Education to be so kind to lend us a DSLR as I have no one previously and now, with this opportunity I can learn more to be more skillful in photographing as the saying goes, "Practice Makes Perfect".

--------------- Pictures of the Camera Will be Uploaded Soon -----------------------

After we borrowed the DSLR from Encik Fuad from the Photography Lab, we happily returned back to our class to enjoy the lectures delivered by Dr. Jamalludin on SD card, basic settings of the camera and the preset scene modes in DSLR.

SD card is an memory expansion slot to offer more space for storing pictures captured by the camera. The advancement of the technology brings us different levels of SD card to fulfill the needs of different requirements from different ages of customers. There are 3 types of SD cards:

SDSC - Secure Digital Standard Capacity (Maximum storage, 4GB)
SDHC - Secure Digital High Capacity (Maximum Storage, 32GB)
SDXC - Secure Digital eXtended Capacity (Maximum Storage, 2TB)

Meanwhile, we can easily noticed there is a number in SD card which is encircled which is 4 and 10 in normal case. The bigger the number, the faster the transfer speed to save or store the pictures from the camera to the SD card. Usually the class 10 is used for video capturing.

SDHC 32GB Class 10

SDXC GB Class 10

After the description of the SD card, we learnt on the basic settings of the camera and how to interpret the logos from the camera screen. It is best illustrated from the pictures below:

Lastly, the preset modes in mode dial camera were discussed which were listed as below:

1. Aperture Priority

It is symbolized by "A" or "Av" depending on the camera brands. Using this mode user can adjust the aperture settings freely while leaving the camera to adjust itself the shutter speed automatically. Aperture priority is useful when users want to control the amount of depth of field in image. For example. the user wants to set aperture at a wide f/18 to blur the background or a narrow f/11 to have more of the scene to be in focus. This mode is usually preferable in normal shooting.

2. Shutter Priority

It is usually represented by "S" or "Tv". Using this mode user can adjust the shutter speed settings freely while leaving the camera to adjust itself the aperture automatically. Shutter priority is useful when users wants to freeze an action at a faster speed while produce a dark scene by leaving the shutter to open for a period of time.

3. Program Mode

It is usually capitalized by "P". In this mode camera takes over most decisions automatically. The difference between program mode and auto mode is that users are still given authority to change exposure setting other than aperture and shutter speed such as ISO, white balance, metering and using the exposure compensation to quickly brighten or darken a scene.

4. Manual Mode

"M" is for manual. This is the mode where user can adjust the shutter speed and aperture settings manually. Using this mode indicates the users are comfortable with both settings and clearly understand the effect of changing each other on another. The camera will adjust only the ISO settings, unless the user wants to adjust it manually too.

5. Dedicated Scenes

Other than the four modes mentioned above, there are other preset scene modes available in each types of camera. Depending on the brands, the icons differ from camera to camera, but usually there will be portrait, sport, macro, and landscape modes.

Knowing what these modes can do is the best to help me to capture the most satisfactory pictures under different circumstances.

Below were the photos of the camera I borrowed: