Focusing Pixel Camera: Haiku-Inspired Sharpness

Haiku poetry is renowned for its ability to capture powerful moments in time, often drawing inspiration from nature. Similarly, a well-focused camera can capture powerful images, freezing a moment in time. The Google Pixel phone camera has autofocus and tap-to-focus features. However, some users have expressed frustration with the camera's tendency to change focus while recording videos. To address this issue, several third-party camera apps are available that offer manual focus control. These apps empower users to make conscious choices about what to include or exclude from the frame, much like a poet crafting a haiku.

Focus control, shutter speed, and ISO are key settings to start with

Focus control, shutter speed, and ISO are key settings to begin with when using the Pixel 8 Pro's Pro Controls. These settings will allow you to fine-tune your photos and adjust the image to your liking.

Focus control allows you to adjust what is in focus and where. You can focus on parts of an image that are not in the centre of the frame. Shutter speed determines how long the camera sensor captures light. A faster shutter speed will freeze motion, while a slower shutter speed will blur motion. ISO is the setting that determines how sensitive a camera's sensor is to light. A higher ISO means the sensor is more sensitive to light, resulting in a brighter image but with more noise or grain. A lower ISO means the sensor is less sensitive to light, reducing noise and working well in bright light or with a longer shutter speed.

These three settings are essential to understand as they form the "exposure triangle" of photography, determining how light or dark an image will appear. By mastering their use, you can develop an intuition for photography and create images that are properly exposed, capturing the perfect amount of light.

RAW format offers more flexibility for photo editing

RAW image files are uncompressed, meaning they capture all the data from your camera sensor. This gives you much greater flexibility in editing. For example, you can adjust the white balance, dynamic range, or noise reduction to a much larger degree than with a JPEG.

JPEG images, on the other hand, are compressed versions of RAW files. They are smaller in size and more convenient to store, but they don't offer the same level of flexibility in editing. With JPEGs, the camera also does a lot of processing work for you, so your photos look more finished straight out of the camera.

When it comes to editing, RAW files give you a wider dynamic range, allowing you to adjust exposure, brightness, colour, and sharpness more freely. This is especially useful if you need to correct underexposed or overexposed areas in your photos.

For these reasons, most professional photographers shoot in RAW format to have more information to work with in the post-processing phase. While RAW files require more storage space, the cost of storage devices such as memory cards and hard drives has become relatively inexpensive in recent years.

In summary, shooting in RAW format gives you significantly more flexibility in photo editing compared to JPEG. It captures more data, allowing for more detailed editing adjustments and providing a wider dynamic range to work with.

Full resolution captures details for cropping, zooming, and printing

The Pixel 8 Pro offers a full resolution of 50 megapixels, which allows you to capture images with a high level of detail. This feature is particularly useful if you plan to crop, zoom, or print your photos.

Full resolution ensures that your images remain sharp and clear even when you crop or zoom in on specific areas. This level of detail is also essential if you want to create large-format prints without compromising image quality. With 50 megapixels, you can capture intricate details and produce high-resolution images that retain their clarity when enlarged.

The high resolution of the Pixel 8 Pro gives you the flexibility to focus on specific elements within your frame. You can capture a wide scene and then crop it to highlight a particular subject or compose a photo with the intention of zooming in to draw attention to a specific detail. The full resolution ensures that you don't sacrifice image quality in the process.

Additionally, if you're interested in printing your photos, the high resolution of 50 megapixels is ideal for creating large, detailed prints. Whether you're making wall art, photo books, or simply want the option to print your images in various sizes, the full resolution of the Pixel 8 Pro ensures that your photos will look crisp and clear.

With the Pixel 8 Pro's full resolution, you can explore the creative possibilities of cropping, zooming, and printing while maintaining the sharpness and detail in your images. It gives you the freedom to experiment with different compositions and presentation styles, knowing that your photos will retain their high quality.

Use manual mode to manipulate settings and produce the image you want

Using your Pixel camera with the Haiku app, you can take advantage of manual mode to manipulate settings and produce the image you want. While the auto mode in smartphone cameras is convenient and often produces good results, shooting in manual mode gives you more creative control over the final image.

To effectively use manual mode, it's important to understand the fundamentals of exposing an image. This involves learning about ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and white balance. By adjusting these settings, you can create images that match your specific vision. For example, you can increase the ISO to capture more light, but this will also introduce more digital noise or grain to the image. On the other hand, a lower ISO will result in a cleaner image, but you may need to compensate by adjusting the aperture or shutter speed.

Shutter speed controls the length of time the shutter stays open, affecting the amount of light that reaches the sensor. A faster shutter speed will result in less exposure but sharper images, while a slower shutter speed can create motion blur but provide more exposure. Aperture, which is not adjustable on most smartphones, controls the width of the opening through which light passes. A wider aperture lets in more light and reduces the depth of field, creating a blurrier background, while a narrower aperture keeps more of the image in focus.

White balance is another important setting that adjusts the colour temperature of your image, allowing you to create warmer or cooler shots and compensate for any discolouration from light sources.

When shooting in manual mode, you can also decide which aspects of the image you're willing to sacrifice. For instance, if you want to increase the brightness of an image, you can either increase the ISO or slow down the shutter speed. Slowing down the shutter speed can introduce motion blur, but this won't be an issue if both the camera and the subject are stationary.

While the Pixel 8 is known for its impressive camera capabilities, it does not offer a built-in manual mode. However, you can download third-party camera apps that provide manual mode functionality, allowing you to explore the creative possibilities of manipulating camera settings to achieve your desired photographic outcome.

Aperture, ISO, and shutter speed are the fundamentals of exposing an image

Photography can be a tricky business, especially when you're just starting out. One of the most important technical pieces to master is exposure, which refers to how light or dark your image is. This is determined by just three camera settings: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. These three elements are often referred to as the "Three Kings of Photography" or the "Exposure Triangle".

Aperture

The aperture is a hole within the lens of your camera, through which light travels into the body of the camera and hits the camera sensor. The size of the aperture, or how wide this hole is, determines how much light is let into the camera. The larger the hole, the more light enters the camera. Aperture settings are specified in terms of an f-stop value, which refers to a fraction of the focal length of your lens. For example, an aperture of f/2 on a 50mm lens means the aperture opening is 25mm (half the size of the focal length).

Aperture also controls the depth of field, which is the portion of a scene that appears sharp. A smaller aperture results in a larger depth of field, while a larger aperture creates a shallower depth of field.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed refers to the length of time the camera shutter is open, exposing light into the camera sensor. Shutter speeds are typically measured in fractions of a second. Slow shutter speeds allow more light into the camera sensor and are used for low-light and night photography, while fast shutter speeds help to freeze motion and are ideal for sports photography.

ISO

ISO controls how sensitive your camera is to incoming light. It is typically measured in numbers, with lower numbers representing a darker image and higher numbers a brighter image. Raising the ISO can help brighten your photos when you can't use a longer shutter speed or a wider aperture. However, increasing the ISO also increases the visibility of graininess or noise in your images.

Putting It All Together

While many cameras have “Auto” modes that automatically adjust these settings, understanding how aperture, ISO, and shutter speed work together allows photographers to take full control of their camera and push it to its limits to capture great photographs.

Frequently asked questions