Header Image: Benny Smith airing off the deck atop Winter Park, Colo. with Level 1 by Grant Whitty.
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In the first article of this series we looked at the first step on your way to becoming a ski photographer. We mentioned that we must first purchase a camera to the liking of one’s budget and begin shooting on the snow immediately. We will now take an in-depth look into how to operate a camera manually and how to correctly capture and expose the image.
Before one can learn how to use the camera, they must first understand the exposure triangle. The exposure triangle is a concept that explains how the each of the three manual settings in a camera work together to create a properly exposed image. The three different functions of a camera are the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Each function controls how bright or dark the image will be, as well as one secondary function.
Aperture is the change in diameter of the iris within the lens and is measured in f-stops or f/00. The smaller the aperture (f/16 - larger number), less light enters the camera via the smaller diameter iris. The larger the aperture (f/2.8 - smaller number), more light enters the camera via the larger diameter iris. Aperture has second characteristic knows as depth of field. Depth of field determines the length or depth of your focal plane. A small aperture (f/16 - larger number) yields a deep depth of field resulting in sharp focus from foreground to background. Furthermore, a large aperture (f/2.8 - smaller number) will yield a shallow depth of field, resulting in what is known as bokeh, or a blurred background in layman's terms.
Notice how the fencing in the foreground is out of focus. I used a mid-range aperture (f/5.6) to capture this image of Nick Goepper at Windells in August 2017. Goepper is perfectly in focus while the background and foreground are slightly out of focus. If a high aperture was used at f/2.8 Nick would be the only thing in focus. If a low aperture was used at f/16 or higher, the fencing all the way through to the trees would be in focus.
Shutter Speed is the change in the amount of time that the shutter remains open when clicking the shutter button. Shutter Speed is measured in seconds and fractions thereof. A fast shutter speed (1/1000 sec.) causes less light to enter the camera because there's less time for that light to enter. On the contrary, A slow shutter speed (5” sec.) causes more light to enter the camera because there’s more time for that light to enter. The second characteristic for shutter speed is the time itself. A fast shutter speed (1/1000 sec.) allows the camera to capture fast moving objects in stop-motion, ideal for for skiing. A slow shutter speed (5” sec.) allows the camera to record light over a period of time leaving light trails; ideal for night time long exposures.
ISO is how sensitive the camera is to the light it is absorbing. ISO is measured by even numbers and typically get larger by a factor of 2 (ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600,) Some cameras allow more precise exposure with ISO in between the standard. The lower the ISO (ISO 100) the darker the image. The higher the ISO (ISO 3200) the brighter the image. ISO does have a caveat, however.The higher the ISO (ISO 3200), the grainier the image. The lower the ISO (ISO 100) the finer the image.
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all factors of exposure and have their respected units of measurement. Exposure itself however, is measured by stops of light. It’s less intimidating that it sounds. One stop of exposure either doubles the light or reduces the light by half via the three settings we just learned. For example, if one were to change the aperture from a small f/16 to f/8, the image would then become 1 stop brighter, f/4 would be 2 stops brighter from the original aperture of f/16. See the trend? Again, if one were to change the shutter speed from 1/250 sec to 1/500 it would become 1 stop darker, 1/1000 would be 2 stops darker than the original 1/250. If you are confused by this, take courage and stick to learning it as this concept is crucial to becoming a photographer.
