When is the best time to use aperture priority? Modes "P", "Tv", "Av" and "M": practice of use. Who can use

Which is considered one of the most violent street gangs of our time.

This gang has been operating on the streets of several cities in the US for almost 30 years, starting in Los Angeles, California. We have collected the history of this criminal association.

In the 1980s, when a brutal civil war unfolded in Ecuador, 300,000 refugees poured into the United States, in particular to Los Angeles in search of safe life. Like the world's most famous gangs, the Triade and Cosa Nostra, MS-13 emerged as a defensive response by Ecuadorians to harassment by locals and other immigrants. Ecuadorians were often attacked by gangs of African Americans and Hispanics. With one of them, the 18th Street Gang, MS-13 is still waging a bloody war.

The name MS-13 stands for Mara Salvatrucha and means "Salvadoran wandering ants". As for the meaning of the number 13, there are 2 options: either it is 13th Street in Los Angeles, which became the cradle of the gang, or the position of the letter M in the Latin alphabet, showing their connection with the Mexican drug cartels, because the main ally of MS-13 is the Sinaloa cartel - the oldest and largest drug cartel in the world.

To date, there are more than 10 thousand fighters of this gang in the United States, and worldwide their number is estimated from 100 to 300 thousand members, turning it into one of the most influential groups on the planet.

Recruitment and training

MS-13 usually recruits children aged 8–10. By the age of 18, they are already hardened criminals with rich criminal experience. Recruitment takes place right on the sports fields and in schools, and for refusing to join the ranks of the gang they can be killed, writes Look 3.

There are 2 main rituals when joining a gang. The first is called "jump inside" - several members of the group brutally beat the recruit for 13 seconds. After the “jump”, the future gangster is taught the basic rules: recruit and kill.

A year or two later, the time for the second ritual comes. The boy is taken to the territory of a strange gang and given a gun in his hands. There he must make his first kill by shooting another bandit. After this, the guy is taken into action, and he becomes a full member of the gang.

The group's influence extends beyond the streets. According to the FBI, several thousand gang members serve in armed forces USA, where they receive military education and recruit new soldiers. Prisons are a separate item. For a member of MS-13, prison is a mandatory stage in their “career” where they learn “concepts”. There are 24,500 prisoners in El Salvador, and about half of them are members of MS-13. There are prisons where 100% of the prisoners are in a gang.
It is impossible to get out of MS-13. Everyone who joins it as a child remains a member of the gang until death.

“In a gang, all roads lead to 3 places: to a prison, a hospital, or a cemetery,” its members say.

Structure

MS-13 has a very interesting structure. In fact, the entire army of many thousands is divided into separate autonomous detachments - cliques that control their own territory without going beyond it. The cabal has its own arsenal, including M-16s, AKs, grenades, and machine guns. Each clique has a leader - a representative, he travels to meetings with other representatives and resolves strategic issues. Representatives of the Los Angeles cliques are the most authoritative, as the founding fathers of the gang. The power vertical of an organization with one boss was not found, if there is one, then the structure perfectly hides any information about him.

The activity of "wandering ants" extends to 6 countries, in the USA they operate in 33 out of 50 states. The gang seizes territories in order to force businessmen in their territories to pay "tribute". The “protection tax” is usually 50% of daily income. In order to maintain order and pacify those who refuse to pay, members of the group arrange demonstrative executions: they cut off the heads, hands, cut off the genitals of those who try to argue with them.

The gang's annual income is about $30 million, according to El Salvador police estimates.
The brutality of MS-13 was added by the activities of American law enforcement officers. As soon as the gang began to grow, the US authorities decided to fight them with a cardinal method - mass deportation to their homeland, to El Salvador. Thus, the Americans, without suspecting it, helped the "ants" to cross the border and establish business in their homeland. In El Salvador, they began to recruit people with military experience who know how to handle heavy weapons. After that, the level of violence in MS-13 increased significantly, and then the cutting off of body parts began. Today, MS-13 controls all illegal routes across the border of El Salvador, drug trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, arms trafficking.

Decals

Some of the hallmarks of MS-13 are graffiti and tattoos. They mark their streets, put gang or cabal tags to make it clear to competitors that they should not meddle in this territory. Often, graffiti is dedicated to recently killed gang members. MS-13 graffiti can be found from Spain to Alaska.

Tattoos sometimes cover the entire body of a bandit, unlike the Yakuza, who hit the tattoos exactly along the line of clothing, MS-13 often hit them even on the face to show everyone around who they are. The most common tattoo on the face is a tear under the eye, which means that the person has committed murder.

According to one of the FBI employees who investigated the activities of the group, the motto of MS-13 is: "Kill, rape, control."

MS-13 developed their own sign language. For example, stroking the belly indicates that pistols will be used, while shaking from the shoulder means knives.
The main sign of the gang is a "goat" made of fingers, resembling the letter "M". This sign was chosen by the founders of MS-13 in the 80s, who at that time were big fans of heavy metal, modern gang members prefer Spanish-language rap.

Terrorism

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the gang "may qualify" as a terrorist group. In El Salvador, MS-13 is already considered a terrorist organization.

A variety of modes of operation of modern cameras can sometimes discourage amateur photographers. When setting up their camera, many DSLR owners typically select either Aperture or Aperture Priority or Shutter Speed ​​or Shutter Priority. Both of these modes are good, but only in one or another specific situation. Let's see when exactly these modes should be used.

First, what is aperture or aperture and shutter speed or shutter speed? In short, aperture is the size of the lens aperture opening. Changing the size of this hole adjusts the amount of light that hits the camera's photocells. This can be compared to the human eye, which also has a built-in aperture known as the "pupil". When the outside environment is too bright, our pupil constricts, letting much less light through to the retina. Since the surrounding space is lit brightly enough, our eye sort of filters the excess light, allowing us to see the world clearly. On the other hand, when there is little light, the pupil expands, letting in as much light as possible. Our eye does this automatically, the camera can't (until you switch to auto, which is boring).

In a camera, the purpose of the aperture is much wider than simply controlling the amount of light reaching the photosensors. Aperture also controls the depth of field, or how the photo image is in focus. The wider (more open) the aperture, the shallower the depth of field will be. A shallow depth of field will leave fewer objects in focus, but sometimes this is the desired special effect.

Shutter speed is the amount of time it actually takes to take a photo. This is another way to control the amount of light that hits the camera's sensors. A fast shutter speed will let in less light, a slow one more. A very fast shutter speed is used to "snip" objects at a certain point in time. A very slow shutter speed allows the subject to be dragged across the image. Due to the long exposure (very very slow shutter speed) you can create truly fantastic effects.

Aperture, together with shutter speed, will determine the total amount of light that hits the camera's sensors, and must be adjusted to match the lighting so as to produce a correct photo exposure. An overexposed image will have blown white areas where nothing can be seen. On the contrary, the "underexposed" image will have dark, almost black areas, in which nothing will also be visible.

At the same time, controlling the shutter speed and aperture in manual mode (not taking into account ISO and other modes) can be very problematic for a beginner amateur photographer. Even experienced photographers can miss an interesting moment by groping for the right settings in manual mode. And it's very easy to overexpose or underexpose an image without having necessary knowledge or enough time in preparing the photo shoot.

Aperture (aperture) priority mode can be found by setting the mode switch to "A" or "Av". Aperture is measured in so-called "F-numbers". Most cameras measure F-numbers as fractions: 1/3 or 1/2. The smaller the F-number, the more the aperture is opened. Aperture priority mode allows you to control the aperture so that the shutter speed is set automatically according to the amount of light entering the camera's sensors. In this mode, you can still change other settings (such as ISO), but not shutter speed.

The shutter speed priority mode can be found by setting the mode switch to "S" or "Tv". Shutter speed is measured in seconds. In most cases, these values ​​are within the range of up to one second. Thus, they will be indicated in fractions (for example, 1/25, 1/4000). Here, the smaller the number (or the larger the divisor of the fraction), the faster the shutter speed. As with aperture priority, shutter speed priority lets you control one of your camera's two light filters, leaving the auto to choose the other's settings based on the amount of light it receives.

Now that we know what aperture, shutter speed, aperture priority, and shutter speed priority are, the only question left to answer is when to use which settings?

The answer to this question is quite simple. It all depends on personal preference. So some amateur photographers take most of their photos in aperture priority mode. Why? This is because the subjects they photograph are mostly still, and as long as the camera is stable enough (such as using a tripod in low-light situations), they don't have to worry about blurry outlines. In addition, aperture priority mode allows you to control the depth of field. So, when photographing landscapes, it is important that the entire landscape is in focus, not just the foreground or background. If a certain object or person is being photographed in good light, setting a low F-number can blur the background and achieve volumetric highlighting of the central character of the photo.

There are times when using the shutter speed priority mode is simply necessary. And the first thing that comes to mind is photographing moving objects! Sports events, a lion chasing an antelope in the African savannah. Anything that moves fast. In these cases, you usually want to capture the subject in time and avoid blurring (a blurry background with a fast-moving subject can be achieved with special tricks). To achieve the desired result in this case, you can set a very fast shutter speed. Also, the shutter speed priority mode helps when photographing people in low light (but still a good flash is better).

Why not use fully automatic mode?
Well, then you won't have full creative control over the process of photographing. Aperture and shutter speed will be set to the safest and most boring values, and images will come out flat and average. If you do decide to use full auto, make sure your flash is working.

Why not switch to manual mode and control absolutely everything?
Well, the manual mode is really a great thing, and sometimes it's worth using it. But usually manual mode is applicable in situations where you can slowly set the exposure value and take one or two test shots. But even when shooting landscapes, this approach can be problematic, especially when you're trying to get clean shots during golden hours. In manual mode, you run the risk of getting too little or too much light. And although you constantly check the exposure on the built-in display with test shots, there is nothing worse than missing great moments due to overexposure / underexposure, or because you hesitated to control the camera.

So, it is now clear that aperture priority and shutter speed priority modes have their pros and cons and should be used depending on the situation. Landscape HDR photography, and photographing static scenes in general, is the situation for aperture priority mode (when photographing HDR images, it is very important that the depth of field remains the same everywhere). For photographs of moving subjects, scenes in motion, and sometimes some people, the shutter speed priority mode is better suited. You should try both of these modes in various life situations, already relying on new knowledge.

In our country, it is somehow not customary to read instructions, although sometimes this is a very useful pastime. The same thing happens with cameras. This technique is very difficult, but even here the user manual often gathers dust on the shelf. Therefore, I want to talk about creative shooting modes, namely shutter priority mode (TV) and aperture priority (Av) . In a nutshell, it is these settings that essentially allow you to beautifully blur the background or get a clear picture with a dynamic plot and not too good lighting. In most cases, it is enough to use only these two creative modes, moreover, aperture priority is more often required to get the really desired result, and not the automatic one that develops in the “brains” of the camera.

Let's start with aperture priority (Av for Canon cameras). Settings are set on the shooting mode dial. In this mode, you choose the aperture value and the camera automatically selects the shutter speed. In this way, you can control the depth of field of the frame. A more closed aperture means a greater depth of field and a larger F value (in the picture, the Canon 60D screen, aperture 5.6), and vice versa, a smaller value means a more open aperture and a more blurry background. You can read more about this in the article about. Let me just say that shooting with aperture priority is suitable for any scene, and portrait and macro photography is almost unthinkable without it.

Let's move on to shutter priority (Tv for Canon cameras). As in the previous version of the settings, here we can choose one parameter from the exposure pair - shutter speed, and the camera will select the aperture itself. This shooting mode is needed much less often, but sometimes it is simply irreplaceable. Firstly, this is shooting dynamic events when you need to stop or vice versa convey movement in a static frame, for example sports dancing, moving water. Secondly, shutter priority helps when we want to “trick” the camera and make the shutter speed longer, for example at . In this mode, you can use interesting techniques shooting: "light brush", shooting with panning, shooting with zoom.

If everything is more or less clear with aperture, then with shutter speed the question arises - what value to set? As a rule of thumb, to get a clear picture, you need to set the shutter speed equal to one divided by the value of the focal length. For example, for a lens set to a focal length of 105mm, the shutter speed should be 1/100 or less. Accordingly, at such or less exposure, the movement will freeze, but if, as planned, the picture should turn out to be blurry, you need to increase this value.

I want to say that the description of specific shooting techniques is not included in the objectives of this article. I wanted to tell you that the capabilities of the camera are not limited to automatic mode or scene programs. Much more interesting results can be achieved using creative modes.

In this article I will talk about what shutter priority is and how to use it.

And I'll start with the fact that the shutter speed priority on the camera is indicated TV or S(depending on camera brand). This is a mode in which you set the shutter speed (the duration of the shutter opening), and the camera selects the desired value.

The faster the shutter speed you set in the camera settings, the wider the aperture will open. Why is this happening? Let's look at a specific example:

Let's say we set the shutter speed to 1/640 sec. The camera in this situation (at ISO 400) set the aperture to f2.8. That is, open it completely ...

Now we will make the shutter speed longer (1/20 sec.). The camera shutter will be open much longer, which means that more light will also fall on the matrix. In order for the image not to be overexposed, the camera will cover the aperture so that during this time the amount of light on the matrix gets less ... (in our example, the aperture was closed to f16)

This is how the camera adjusts the settings. I hope you understand...

How to use shutter priority

Now let's talk about the situations and conditions in which it is convenient to use the shutter priority mode.

Like , shutter priority makes life much easier for photographers in places where the lighting changes frequently. For example, on the street, in changeable weather. Let's say we picked up the sensitivity and set the shutter speed to 1/640. The sun hid behind a cloud, it became a little darker - the diaphragm opened. The sun came out again, became lighter - the camera will immediately cover the aperture hole.

If we need a blurry object (for example, we are photographing a waterfall from a tripod), we set a slow shutter speed, and the camera selects the desired aperture value. If we photograph dynamic objects, for example, a child swinging on a swing. Then we set a short shutter speed so that there is no “blurring” of the image, and the camera will also select the correct aperture.

Some people are technically minded and easily pick up terms and mathematical formulas. Some, including myself, are not fixated on the technical side of shooting. When I build a shot, I think first of all about the idea or mood that I want to create, and then about the technique of how to reproduce it. However, when deciding how to create this or that effect, I always pay attention to the technical side of the issue.

Try to put yourself in the place of the camera. There are a few things we need to think about in order to get good picture. This is the amount of ambient light, and the sensitivity of the camera sensor, and the aperture, as well as the shutter speed or shutter speed. In order to master the basic technique of creating images, you must start with these four things.

Why is endurance so important?

The main properties of light are the quality and quantity of light that is reflected from the subject. Sensor sensitivity is referred to as ISO. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the camera sensor. This means that the camera will be able to shoot in lower light. The amount of light passing through the lens to the sensor is controlled by the aperture, its size. Finally, another parameter related to these three is the shutter speed, or shutter opening time of the camera, the time it takes for light to reach the sensor.

From the above, some relationships can be deduced:

• If the amount of light decreases, the shutter speed will increase as it takes longer to reach the same exposure.
• If we increase the ISO sensitivity, then the shutter speed will become shorter, and vice versa, if we lower the ISO, the shutter speed will become longer.
• If we open the aperture wider, we let in more light, so we need to use a faster shutter speed to keep the same exposure. If we close the aperture, the shutter speed will become longer.

By understanding these basic principles, you will be able to control the shutter speed, thus creating different effects in your photos. On the camera, the priority mode is called S (Nikon) or Tv (Canon).

What is shutter priority mode used for?

In shutter priority mode, you can change only this parameter (shutter speed), and the camera will select the aperture for optimal exposure. Rule of thumb: If you are shooting a fast moving subject, you can use a fast shutter speed to freeze its movement in the frame. For example, this boy in Nepal was running down the alley. There was enough light around and I used a fast shutter speed. The aperture also turned out to be sufficient for both the boy and the girl to fall into the sharpness zone against the background of blue walls.

Motion blur using shutter priority.

Sometimes it's quite funny to get long exposure shots where motion is blurred.

The man in the photo below was shot in a Vietnamese market with a telephoto lens. In a split second, I decided to shoot this man at a slower shutter speed than was required to get a completely sharp picture. I should have set my shutter speed to no slower than 1/90s for the 90mm focal length, but I deliberately used 1/70s. The result was some blurring of the moving parts. which emphasizes dynamics.

Using Shutter-Priority Mode for Panning Shooting

Another interesting way to use shutter priority mode is the panning or panning method. Panning is performed by tracking the camera behind a moving object. For a successful panning shot, you must increase your shutter speed to a value greater than the reciprocal of focal length. If you want to take the same shot as here, then shutter speed is an important element here, so it's best to use shutter priority as it will be the easiest solution and will free you from having to think of something else.

So to get good shot with the effect of movement, you need to increase the shutter speed. Also set the ISO to the minimum value. I use ISO 100 - 200 on Nikon and ISO 100 on Canon.

Panning is best practiced at times of the day when there is less light, such as early in the morning or late in the evening. If you use this method in bright daylight, you will get overexposed images, that is, marriage.

The shutter speed should also be fast enough to make the main subject in focus. For example, in this motorcycle shot, the shutter speed was 1/30s.

In other cases, a shutter speed of, say, 1/25 s may be required.

You can use panning to capture people, cars, anything that moves. To find out what shutter speed to set, you will have to practice and experiment for a while until you learn how to do it correctly.

Shutter priority mode is something every photographer should know and be able to use. Things to keep in mind at all times will help you decide what shutter speed to use for a particular scene, how light affects shutter speed, how to increase or decrease the amount of light entering the camera, and how to create frozen or blurry motion that can change the impression. from the image.