Introduction

When taking a picture you have to take two main things into consideation; lighting, and the appeture. These can be controlled using the shutter (how long you keep the shutter on) and the appeture (how much do you open the appeture). For example, 'picture A' has everything in focus and doesnt have much prospective. In other words it has a large depth of field, this is because it has a high F stock (appeture is open at a high degree).

However, 'picture B' demonstrates what would the picture look like if it had a shallow depth of field. (appeture is open at a small degree)

On a digital camera you can choose whether you want a large or shallow depth of field through two symbols.


The mountain/ landscape symbol would take a picture with a large depth of field which means it has a large F stock.

The smiley face/ portrait symbol would take a picture with a shallow depth of field which means it has a small F stock.

The shutter speed can also change the way your picture looks. The faster the shutter speed (1/1000) the image looks stronger,bolder and sharper.
As shown in 'picture C'

However the slower the shutter speed, (1sec/bulb) the picture looks more calmer and fairytake like. As shown in 'picture D.'

You can choose the shutter speed to be fast or slow in a digital camera by choosing the appropriate option;

The running man/sports option has a very fast shutter speed. This is so that the photographer can get the picture at the right moment.

The star/landscape option keeps the shutter on for a long time to get the details more smooth.

Picture A.                     
Source: picture taken myself (click picture to  enlarge)

Picture B             
source: picture taken myself  (click picture to  enlarge)

Picture C
Source:
http://www.reflectiveimages.com/images/FastShutterSpeed4x6.jpg

Picture D
source:
http://www.homephotog.com/tutorials/images/shutter-2.gif