Third Week Carousel Evaluation

Photography 

The Nikon DSLR

In this week's session of the Carousel, we worked on the photography side of media. We mainly focused on the key aspects of using an old Nikon DSLR and understanding the basic functions like the shutter speed, the aperture and actually understanding how these cameras tend to work. To start things off , we were all shown an image which labelled all of the camera parts inside and out which taught us that cameras work using mirrors hidden inside the body of the camera. The light will come through the detachable lens of the camera and refracts of these mirrors. Which therefore allows us to see an actual image through the live view of the camera.

We first experimented the shutter speed to start off with and this basically means that, say we had a fast shutter speed it would mean that there is a shorter time for the image sensor to be exposed to light; vice-versa ( slower shutter speed longer the exposure). By having a slow shutter speed it creates a blur to the image as it is out of focus, whereas a fast shutter speed is more focused and creates a sharper image. So me and James tried using a slow shutter speed at first to see what wonders we could create and, surprisingly, we created some good shots! In this example here, we were able to capture me throwing these little berries towards the camera and it caused this blur, which works really well. In the other example we used a higher shutter speed and as you can see there was more focus to the picture - just without the dirty mirror.

Our example of a slow shutter speed ( on the left ) and a high shutter speed ( to the right )

After our experimentation, we moved onto the aperture which is known as the lens diaphragm inside of the lens. The aperture is measured in two ways; one being a low aperture like f/2 and then a higher aperture like f/16. The lower apertures allow more exposure into the camera lens and this creates a wider depth of field, thus creating a blurred background. Again vice-versa, the higher the aperture, the thinner the depth of field and a sharper background. By manipulating the aperture we were able to produce several shots that proved we were able to understand how it worked. 

The left photograph was with a high aperture which you can tell through a sharp background, and the right was with a low aperture which is noted by the blurry background

This Carousel session proved very useful for me and something that I really enjoyed as photography is one of my interests. By going through this session it's provided me with useful knowledge and skills that I never knew how to perform before, and this then will go to help with being able to widen my ability to take photos and perhaps take far better shots As well as being useful for future projects that involve creative photography.

- Owen Bowra