Understanding How Cameras Work
Most people know how to use a basic camera – point it at what you want a picture of, make sure it’s focused, hit the button and move on. Unfortunately, many people never stop to understand the intricate way in which a camera actually works – knowing why and how your camera does what it does can make your photos stronger and increase your ability to adapt to changing situations. So, here is an overview of the basics of a camera and what goes on inside of it.
The Inner Workings of the Camera
The basics of camera technology hasn’t changed too much in the last 50 years – they’re all lightproof boxes that control the amount and timing of a piece of film’s exposure to light. Most cameras nowadays are what is called “single-lens reflex,” or SLR for short. This simply means that they have one primary lens and some sort of mirror system that gets the actual lens image to our eye. Similar to the way in which our eyes work, a camera lens actually sees things upside down – this image is then reflected by a mirror on the front of the shutter into a prism that fires the image back to our eyes right-side-up.
The advantage in looking directly through the lens as opposed to a representation of what it would be (seen in many digital cameras) means that your photographs will always come out almost exactly as they looked when you framed them up. Behind the camera’s shutter there is a frame of film (or light sensitive cells) waiting to be exposed. Once you push the button to take the picture, the shutter lifts for a fraction of a second and the image hits the film (or cells) rather than hitting the mirror. It’s worth noting that new digital SLRs actually work in the exact same way, except instead of film being exposed it’s an array of light sensitive cells.
Operating Your Camera
Naturally, one size does not fit all in terms of how long the shutter stays open. If the shutter is open for too long it will over-expose the film, and if it’s not open long enough the film will be under-exposed. That’s why cameras either calculate the appropriate speed automatically or let you adjust the shutter speed manually.
You can also adjust the amount of light that makes it through to the film by changing your camera’s aperture settings. Around the lens of an SLR camera, you’ll find a ring with a bunch of f stop numbers listed. These f stop numbers represent the size of the aperture opening. A high number denotes a small opening and very little light, whereas a low number means the aperture is wide-open and will allow more light to hit the film.
With all of these things working in concert together, it’s easy to see how complex the art of photography can be. Thank goodness that most cameras do the calculations for us, but being able to manually adjust the f stop and shutter speed is an important foundation for any serious photographer. By learning how your camera functions, it gives you more insight into how you can better adjust your camera so you can ultimately get better pictures And then you can proudly display your pictures in your own home on the wall in hanging picture frames or maybe even in the local art studio in nice metal picture frames.
It’s always good to experiment with the individual settings on your camera and go through a roll of film or a memory card to get comfortable using your camera. Take a lot of pictures using different shutter speeds and then try adjusting only the f stop to see what kind of results you get. As you get more comfortable with how your camera works, you’ll be able to create better pictures by being able to adjust your camera to get exactly what you want.
Film vs. Digital Cameras
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