How do the Parts of a Digital Camera Work Together to Create a Photo?

Exposure Concepts

This week we are going to talk about how the parts of a digital camera work together when you click the button. I know it may seem boring and geeky, but if you want to take better pictures, you NEED to understand this stuff! Nothing screams geek like when someone throws out terms like aperture and shutter speed. This week will give you just enough info to where you will be like “oooohhh…” and then you will be like “now what?” and then I will come back and give you a little more info and you will be like “sweet!” and then I’ll be like “no prob”…sorry, it’s late on a work night…let’s get our learning caps on.

All of the parts inside a digital camera work together to create correct exposure. Correct exposure means exposing the sensor of your camera to just the right amount of light. Too little light and you get a dark picture, or underexposed. Too much light and you have overexposed the picture. I am sure you can look in your drawer and find good examples of each. And if you can, we need to work on getting the main advantage of digital across to you, HIT DELETE! The important thing to remember here is that exposure just means the sensor got the right amount of light (aperture) for the right amount of time (shutter speed).

Let’s take a look at a video that shows what happens when light flows inside a digital camera to create the perfect exposure:

What you should take away from the video:
1. Aperture is the mechanism inside the lens that funnels light into the sensor. You could think of it as the pupil in your eye as well.
2. Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter needs to stay open (at that aperture size) to properly expose the sensor.
3. Aperture numbering makes no sense, f2.8 is BIGGER than f16.
4. Faster shutter speeds can be achieved by opening your lens wider, or setting your f-stop (#) to a smaller value.
5. MyCameraSucks.com needs to hire an actor and film crew.

Pop quiz from the video:
1. When indoors shooting your kid’s recital, basketball game, etc., should you use a large aperture or small aperture? Hint, you want to freeze the action and there isn’t much light!
2. When outdoors shooting baseball, shuffleboard or monkeys doing anything (monkeys are ALWAYS funny), should you use a small aperture or large aperture or does it even matter?
3. Is f1.8 a smaller or larger hole than f22?

Noodle on that info for a few days and I will confuse you a bit more with the concept of ISO. After that, I promise to show you how to actually apply this knowledge. I’ll get you off automatic settings and empower you to take the photos, not let your camera take all the credit!

In an upcoming lesson, we will actually take apart a digital camera and lens to see first hand what these parts of a digital camera like the shutter and sensor look like.