Get me going..

[GarthTruscott]

Aup everyone, I'm a complete beginner to photography, I know the typical advice is, get out there and just practice practice practice, but can someone tell me the basics (settings) I need to start off with, I have a vague understanding of aperture, iso, and shutter speed, but nothing advanced. I.e. I know for a landscape shot you want a high aperture f/22 etc but I have no idea what a typical shutter speed is etc etc ... you get my point.
Any tips and settings help would be greatly appreciated,

Gracias,

Garth

[tingeliM]

Hello and welcome to DPS! =)
Check out DPS's tips for beginners. I think you'll find a lot of helpful stuff there.

[Jonbar18]

browse around, you'll find everything you need.
As for shutter speed, the general rule is a minimum of 1focal length. So if shooting with a 50mm lens, you would use a minimum of 1/50. But you have to remember crop factor (x1.5 or 1.6), and some people even suggest a minimum of 1/2focallentgh

[RichardTaylor]

Have a look through this series, on this site.
It's an intro to exposure.

Exposure (1) A balancing act

[GarthTruscott]

Originally Posted by Jonbar18

browse around, you'll find everything you need.
As for shutter speed, the general rule is a minimum of 1focal length. So if shooting with a 50mm lens, you would use a minimum of 1/50. But you have to remember crop factor (x1.5 or 1.6), and some people even suggest a minimum of 1/2focallentgh

Cheers Jon, so on my camera's HUD would that be "50" when I select shutter speed, because I get the options of 1 - 4000 when selecting it, I'll browse the forums, I do need to be spoon fed the basics, until I can afford lessons!

[Jonbar18]

Originally Posted by Garth Truscott

Cheers Jon, so on my camera's HUD would that be "50" when I select shutter speed, because I get the options of 1 - 4000 when selecting it, I'll browse the forums, I do need to be spoon fed the basics, until I can afford lessons!

Not quite. I assume you don't have a full frame camera, so you have to consider the crop factor. So with at 50mm, you would use 1/75 (50x1.5) or 80 (50x1.6)
Obviously that's just a guideline though.

[RecurrentNerve]

I know for a landscape shot you want a high aperture f/22

That's actually a bit high... try f/16-18

[Athas_orm]

Originally Posted by Garth Truscott

Cheers Jon, so on my camera's HUD would that be "50" when I select shutter speed, because I get the options of 1 - 4000 when selecting it, I'll browse the forums, I do need to be spoon fed the basics, until I can afford lessons!

What I do is well I cheat. Say you select F22 because that's appropiate to keep everything sharp and in focus. I then try to set the ISO to 100 to keep least noise. And shoot in Aparture priority mode. (i.e. let the camera worry about time).

If the time is too long to hold steady and you'll know this very soon. Either use a tripod or increase the apparturne. You need to make your own decisions if depth of focus or noise are most important to you.

There are other considerations which I don't understand such as hyperfocal lengths and such.

If its too dark or too light try adujusting the exposure by a stop.

Keep playing and you'll learn.

[Krusty79]

This is a good beginner thread:

Landscapes - the Best ways to Shoot them. What to do and What not to do

[GarthTruscott]

Thanks for this guys, much appreciated, the camera I'm using is a Olympus E 520, not sure about all the camera terminology, but I'll get on it!