In photography, the exposure settings of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed are analogous to the width, time and quantity discussed above. Aperture controls the area over which light can enter your camera. Shutter speed controls the duration of the exposure. ISO speed controls the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to a given amount of light, aperture affects depth of field, shutter speed affects motion blur and ISO speed affects image noise. A camera’s shutter determines when the camera sensor will be open or closed to incoming light from the camera lens. The shutter speed specifically refers to how long this light is permitted to enter the camera. Therefore, all one usually cares about with shutter speed is whether it results in a sharp photo — either by freezing movement or because the shot can be taken hand-held without camera shake. With digital cameras, the best way to find out is to just experiment and look at the results on your camera’s rear LCD screen (at full zoom).

A camera’s aperture setting controls the area over which light can pass through your camera lens. The above f-stop numbers are all standard options in any camera, although most also allow finer adjustments of 1/2 or 1/3 stops, such as f/3.2 and f/6.3. The range of values may also vary from camera to camera (or lens to lens). A camera’s aperture setting is what determines a photo’s depth of field (the range of distance over which objects appear in sharp focus). Lower f-stop values correlate with a shallower depth of field. The ISO speed determines how sensitive the camera is to incoming light. Like shutter speed, it also correlates 1:1 with how much the exposure increases or decreases. As a result, ISO speed is usually only increased from its minimum value if the desired aperture and shutter speed are not otherwise obtainable. Common ISO speeds include 100, 200, 400 and 800, although many cameras also permit lower or higher values.

The camera may also have several pre-set modes; the most common include landscape, portrait, sports, and night mode. The symbols used for each mode vary slightly from camera to camera but will likely appear like those below. However, keep in mind that most of the above settings rely on the camera’s metering system to know what a proper exposure is. Some of the above modes may also control camera settings which are unrelated to exposure, although this varies from camera to camera. Such additional settings might include the autofocus points, metering mode and autofocus modes, amongst others. With many lenses, their light-gathering ability is also affected by their transmission efficiency, although this is almost always much less of a factor than aperture. It is also beyond the photographer’s control. Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. It varies depending on camera type, aperture and focusing distance, although print size and viewing distance can also influence our perception of depth of field.