There are many interesting subjects to photograph along the trail. Hikes will encounter wildlife, landscapes, interesting people, and more along the trail. Learning more about the basics of photography will help you capture that memorable image, whether it is for your house or for a photojournalistic project. The basics of capturing a photographic image all apply to some degree. The three basic elements in capturing an image are the aperture, shutter speed and the ISO. The focus of this article is to provide an introduction to these elements. Later articles will address some of the other elements of photography such as composing images, lighting and more.
The aperture setting of the camera is the feature that controls the amount of light that is exposed to the film or imaging processor. The aperture setting controls a mechanism of the camera which adjusts the size of the opening which allows the light to pass through to the film or image processor. By controlling the aperture two aspects of the image are affected, the intensity of the light and the scene's depth of field. The depth of field refers to the amount of the foreground and background of the image that are in focus. The following series of photographs demonstrate the affects of controlling the aperture.
Shutter speed is the length of time the shutter exposes the light to the film or imaging processor.
ISO is the sensitivity of the film or imaging processor to light.