| This is the first real camera I ever used. It's a classic. |
I liked outdoor photography so I took to the woods as soon as possible. I took pictures of deer, birds, squirrels, hawks and an amazing sunset. In no time I'd exhausted my only roll of film. Eager to get it developed, I sent it off. It came back blank. Nothing. Something went wrong in developing. I was distraught.
I went straight to Mr. Sleadd. He simply asked, "Did you load the film correctly?"
I replied, "Sure. I put it in just like my automatic camera, right?" He smiled and asked if I'd read the instruction manual. I hung my head and said no. He opened my camera and showed me how to load and wind the film correctly. Hence, fully manual. A hard lesson learned, but one learned indeed.
That Pentax K1000 taught me a lot about how cameras work. I learned the logic behind the magic. I learned what terms like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed meant. These things often get lost when shooting digital but they'll help you take better photos.
ISO stands for International Standardization Organization. Think of it as the old "film speed." For instance, 200, 400, 800, 1600 speed film. These numbers tell you how much light your image requires. With ISO 200, it takes more light than it would with ISO 1600. The photo will be clearer with ISO 200 than ISO 1600, but you cannot take photos of fast-moving objects or objects in low light as well with the ISO 200.
Think of creating a mural on a table with plates. Picture a dinner plate being the size of the light receptors for ISO 1600. For ISO 200, picture a tea saucer. If you were to create the mural with all dinner plates, it would take less of them to cover the table than tea saucers. The same goes for photos. With ISO 1600, it takes less light to fill the image. Less light but less detail. To create the picture with tea saucers, it would require more of them. With ISO 200, you need more light to fill the image. More light but more detail.
Although digital helps, ISO still matters greatly. I would recommend using ISO 400 or less when taking photos where you'd like great detail: bird feathers, flowers, extreme close-ups, etc. Use a tripod if you're going to use ISO 100 or lower. If you are shooting fast-moving subjects: sports, race cars, or running/flying wildlife, use ISO 400 and up. The same goes with subjects in low light settings: dusk or dawn.
Tomorrow I'll continue my series on "What I Learned From My Pentax K1000" with a look into aperture.


