Taking a Picture

Creating a photograph requires only the single act of pushing the button that triggers the shutter, which is a moving curtain that lets light fall on the digital sensor for a set length of time. Everything else is preparation and internal mechanics. Photography, in other words, can be 99 percent anticipation and 1 percent action. The parallel between a photographer and a hunter, in which the trigger pull is analogous to the push of the shutter button, is obvious. Both shoot. But a hunter sends out a missile; a photographer draws in reflected light. He or she must make an artistic calculation beyond simple aim. Modern digital SLRs, increasingly user-friendly, allow photographers to concentrate more on that aesthetic than on mechanics.

1. Framing the Picture
■ Light enters the lens.
■ Light bounces off reflex mirror and through pentaprism to viewfinder.
■ Photographer sees what the camera sees through the viewfinder.

2. Taking the Picture
■ Photographer depresses button.
■ Reflex mirror rises.
■ Shutter opens at designated shutter speed.
■ Aperture opens to designated measure.
■ Light travels straight to sensors.