Not trying to sound stupid but...

[sambad]

Im pretty new to photography in general, and am enjoying experimenting with different types of shots, when playing around with the aperature can you also change the shutter speed independently? I don't know if its something i have to figure out myself or not, but if someone could push me in the right direction? i dont know if it changes on which camera you use, i just got a Nikon d3000. any help would be MUCH appreciated!

thanks

[RLucas]

Hi sambad, and welcome to DPS! Yes, the D3000 will allow you to control aperture, shutter speed, and iso independantly. Just turn the mode dial to the "M" setting, and have at it! Might I suggest you read Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle to better understand how they relate to each other?
Have fun, and can't wait to see what you come up with.

[jpitz31]

sambad,

Proper exposure is a result of a combination of shutter speed and aperture. Once you take a meter reading and get a proper exposure you can creatively change the aperture and shutter speed as long as you maintain the proper exposure. For example if you want to shoot at a faster shutter speed than what you metered at, Then for every 1/3 of a stop you increase your shutter speed you must open the aperture the same number of stops.

Like wise if you want a slower shutter speed, you would close the aperture the same number of stops.

When taking images you also want to take into consideration the total brightness range of the scene you are shooting. On a bright sunny day the brightness range of total shadow to total highlights will be beyond the sensor of your camera. So you as part of the creative process must shift the portion of the exposure to capture which part of the image brightness you want to capture and which part of the brightness range you want to loose.

Search on the web about using your camera's histogram.

A histogram is a graph that shows the shadows, mid-tones and high lights of an image.
The left most part of the graph show the shadows, the center of the graph shows the mid-tones and the right side shows the high lights. A technical correct photograph will have the image with the shadows, mid-tones and high lights within the boundaries of the graph. If the image falls off either end of the graph you loose detail in the shadows or high lights. If you have some editing software, like photoshop or photoshop elements you can view a histogram of your images and make minor adjustments to the levels of the image.

Then it is up to you as a photographer to decide which end of the histogram you want to loose as part of the creative process.

Thanks

Joe

[sambad]

Excellent,

thanks for the tips guys, I will play around and see what i come up with! hopefully you'll soon see my creations!

[blsweeney]

I also have a Nikon D3000, that I love, so all this info is extremely important to me. Thanks sambad for the post and all who replied.