I told you this is so basic and a journey. I am learning everything from scratch here. Last week I was messing with manual mode taking self portraits trying to experiment to better understand how the camera works and how settings effect the photograph.

I setup my tripod and camera in the kitchen area with overhead light on and began snapping photos. I ended up landing on these photo with flash, the only variation being shutter speed.

On each photo you can see the camera settings, here is what it looks like and below is what it means.

Left Photo Camera Settings:
Canon EOS Rebel SL3
EF-S18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
4000 x 6000 · 7.10 MB        JPG

Focal length    21 mm
Shutter speed   1 sec
Aperture        f/6.3
ISO             100

Here’s a translation of what the settings mean:

• Canon EOS Rebel SL3: The camera body used to take the photo; a Canon DSLR with an APS-C (crop) sensor.
• EF-S 18–55mm f/4–5.6 IS STM: The lens used; EF-S means it’s made for Canon crop-sensor cameras, 18–55mm is the zoom range from wide-angle to short telephoto, f/4–5.6 is the maximum aperture range that narrows as you zoom in, IS stands for image stabilization to reduce camera shake, and STM refers to a quiet, smooth autofocus motor.
• 4000 × 6000 · 7.10 MB: The image resolution and file size; a 24-megapixel image that takes up 7.10 megabytes of storage.
• JPG: The file format; a compressed image type that’s easy to share but loses some detail compared to RAW.
• Focal length — 21 mm: How wide the lens was set when the photo was taken; 21mm is wide-angle and captures more of the scene.
• Shutter speed — 1 sec: How long the shutter was open; one second lets in a lot of light and usually requires a tripod or very steady camera.
• Aperture — f/6.3: The size of the lens opening; a moderately small aperture that affects brightness and depth of field.
• ISO — 100: The sensor’s light sensitivity; very low sensitivity that produces the cleanest image with minimal noise.

These photos were taken on a tripod, With a wide-angle focal length (21 mm), capturing a broad view of the scene, with a low ISO, With a moderately small aperture (f/6.3), at varying shutter speeds.

So it is normalized with settings except the shutter speed.

Notes from each photo:

• Left 1 second shutter speed
  • The photo had the slowest shutter speed. Although I stood still, you can see some blur in the photo. Also because the shutter was literally open longer, more light hit the sensor, making the photo much brighter.
• Middle 1/15 seconds shutter speed
  • Much faster shutter, and the photo has NO blurring. The photo is much darker overall and you can clearly see the shadow on the wall from the flash.
• Right 1/30 seconds
  • The fastest shutter of the three, darkest shadows on wall, wall looks dark gray, very similar light on face as the middle photo, no blurs.

Putting all this together is the beauty of photography. Making the camera do what you want in the moment, that will be a super power. For now, I am moving slow, and I am excited to get better at taking shots. Cheerleading competitions are coming up soon and I’d like to have a lens that can zoom in more, and also I’d like a flash I can hold in my hand so I can to take dope portraits like Terry did for Vice.