Shutter speed & aperture...

[masterbert]

Hi,

Good day! I'm a newbie to DSLR and I need your help. On our Nikon D40 (my friend's DSLR) & D3000 (my DSLR), I tried to use the 'M' mode and set the shutter manually to 1/1250 and the apperture to 5.6. When I press the shutter release button, the result was so dark. I also set the ISO to 1600. But still, the result is the same. The output is still dark.

Where did I go wrong? What is the correct setting? Please enlighten me in using the shutter speed and aperture.

Thank you so much!

[SusanH1970]

1/1250 is a really fast shutter speed for an aperture as small as f/5.6, especially if it wasn't really bright light. When using manual mode, watch the in-camera meter as you set your shutter speed. Not everyone does it this way, but what I usually do is choose my aperture first, then set this ISO I believe is needed, then adjust shutter speed and watch my meter as I do so - when the meter shows the exposure I want (usually 1/3 - 2/3 stop over 0 for portraits, right at 0 for anything else for the most part), I focus and take the photo. Sometimes I need to adjust ISO up or down; usually up if my shutter speed is too slow. Hope this helps.

Read up on the exposure triangle, that should help clarify things a bit more for you:

Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle

[Vagebond]

Once you've read the theory you might like to play with sk66's "interactive exposure triangle" to see the effects of changing ISO/aperture/speed.

http://digital-photography-school.co...-triangle.html

There's a link in the first post if the meter in that post doesn't show up in your browser.

[masterbert]

Hi Susan...thank you so much for helping and for the link also. appreciate so much your help. I'll try to do what you advised. Hope I can be better in digital photography. Thank a lot.

[jamesev]

Don't forget to take the lenscap off

Try putting it in S mode at 1/1250 and see what the camera suggests the A should be
or
in A mode at 5.6 see what the camera says the ideal S would be and you might be able to stop it down 1 maybe 2

[masterbert]

hi. thank you for the help. i appreciate it. i'm learning from all of you guys. hope to hear from you again...thanks again.