four pillars of photography

Aperture:

Aperture is the size of the hole inside the lens, it is controlled on the camera body. The more open the aperture is the more light that is let through the lens into the camera sensor. When the aperture is wide open the more shallower the depth of field will be, which means more bokeh (out of focus blur). When the aperture is smaller it means that less light will be let in but that also means more is in focus because the depth of field is larger. A smaller aperture will also mean that the image will be slightly sharper. We would open the aperture by decreasing the f/stop (The aperture controls the amount of light that enters the camera lens and it's measured in f-stops) if: we want to have a brighter image and/or if we want to have or have more bokeh. We would make the aperture smaller by increasing the f/stop if; we wanted more focus in the image or have a sharper image and/or darker the image.

ISO

The ISO of the camera determines how much the camera digitally brightens the image the stops that the ISO is measured in are ISO stops. The lower the ISO number the less digitally brightened the image will be. The higher ISO number the more digitally brightened the image will be. Increasing the ISO has the most downside of side effects of all the pillars in photography because increasing the ISO also increases the digital noise on the image, this will make the image appear grainy which will make it seem like a low quality image. So increasing the ISO should be the last thing to think of if opening the aperture up and decreasing the shutter speed doesn't get the image you want to have. ISO starts at ISO 100 and the image is usually clear enough up to ISO 800 to be usable. As soon the ISO hits 4 figures the digital noise will be noticeable and take away the nicer quality and look of the photograph.

shutter speed

Shutter speed is the amount of time that the cameras sensor is exposed to light. The stops that the shutter speed is measured in is seconds and fractions of seconds. Shutter speed applies more to taking photographs than videos and filming. For example taking pictures of a moving object requires a fast shutter speed, but taking picture of stars at night will require a slow shutter speed. Altering the shutter speed can still be used to noticeable effect whilst filming. Whilst filming the shutter speed can only go down to 1/30th of a second. At this shutter speed if you were to move something in front of the lens the object would blur and not turn out as high quality as wanted, but at 1/320th of a second most of the blur from the object would disappear making the image appear clearer. Increasing the shutter speed whilst filming which is done by shortening the amount of time the sensor takes data from the light it will reduce the blur and also darken the image. Decreasing the shutter speed whilst filming, which is done by increasing the amount of time the sensor takes data from the light this will increase blur and lighten the image.

white balance

white balance does not relate to aperture, shutter speed or ISO. But changing the white balance can change the look of an image highly. So white balance should always be thought about when setting up your shot. Before filming you set up a white balance which tells the camera what white looks like in that current lighting condition. When the sensor picks up light when the shutter is open , the sensor will be getting data and will give it to the camera. From having this information the camera will work out and realise what the other colours in the image will look like. If white balance isn't set up correctly the colouring in the image may appear very incorrectly. Different light sources will produce different temperatures of light. This can possibly be affected if the light source is being obstructed. For example the sun has a more neutral temperature whereas fluorescent lights in rooms will be warmer. by altering the white balance you can control what the camera will think is white an you can control the feel of the image and get the outcome you want from the image.