Reading the numbers! - Photography PART 1

Why the title?! A biased thinking applied on my (and almost everyone else's!!) interest- photography.

Although a simple point and shoot camera would not show the complication in numbers, an SLR would. In my opinion, the latter (SLR) presents its owners quite a challenge. Yes, a challenge - that when learned by heart would enable its users to fully utilize its features and capability.

Problem is - we often tend to forget that those numbers and texts are actually there for a reason! Hence, I have decided to discuss a bit about it.

Photography is the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light. - Merriam Webster

Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge that photography is an art. However, in spite of what was quoted, I would like to touch a bit its technicalities for I think that understanding the instrument is of equal importance. We do want to "perfectly" capture those 'moments', don't we?!

Nikon Prime Lens - 50mm f1.8

Pictured above is the priceless Nikkor 50mm prime lens and we will be using it in the following examples. By the way, it only costs 500dhs or 5,000php yet it works wonders! Thanks to our friend, Von, for introducing it to us!

The numbers: 

∞ – 20 – 7 – 4 – 3 – 2.5 – 2 – 0.45 : distance in feet of your focus point

∞ – 3 – 1.5 – 1 – 0.70 : distance in meters of your focus point 


*focus point - that object which you are trying to take photo

*∞ , infinity: distance over the maximum or farthest indicated.

‎Say you are taking a photo of your friend who is about 3 feet away from you: 

Assuming that you are manually focusing - so you look through the viewfinder of the camera (stating the obvious!).

Next you try focusing the lens (by rotating it either ways) until the subject is clear hence, focused.

Now, check that white bar on the lens. To what distance is it pointing?! Yes, approximately at 3 feet! Amazing right? At least, I was amazed J

22 – 16 – 11 – 8 – 5.6 – 4 – 2.8 – 1.8 (ends in 1.8 since this lens is 50mm f1.8) 

These are your full stop “f numbers” or f stops (maybe we’ll discuss in some future post what is full and what is not). It’s related to the aperture which is also related to depth of field.

*aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. – Wikipedia  

*depth of field refers to the section of a photograph that appears to be in sharp focus -
John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide, John Shaw, 2000
http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html




Just a trivia: 

See the pattern? Next, how it works..
Please have a look at the table below and try to figure out what it tries to tell you..


Then, refer to PART 2 of this post.

Depth of Field Table

Source: http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html