Looking for specific tutorials

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by flickerchic

I think I've gotten a pretty good grasp of exposure: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. I understand how they all work together. But the issue I'm having is knowing where to start with the settings on my camera, i.e. if I'm shooting a photo of a field of flowers on a sunny day, how do I know what f-stop and shutter speed to start at. I think I can figure the ISO out once I learn to do the other two.

I've been shooting on Auto for quite some time now and I'm sooooo ready to move beyond that.

Thanks for you advice.

Look on Amazon for a book on your camera - if available it will offer a far better understanding of your camera, the settings, and how and when to use them than your manual - then get "Understanding Exposure" because your comment above tells me you don't have a pretty good grasp at all on those settings or your camera. We've all been there and we have to crawl before we walk. Some of us end up crawling again.

And to iterate, there's a wealth of information right here on DPS, both on the forums and website. It is after all, the Digital Photography School.

[RichardTaylor]

Where to start?

See this for an idea..

Exposure 5: Putting it all together

And this for more info on ISO selection.

How to Choose the Right ISO for your Digital Photography

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Keep in mind that your camera metering system is still a great tool even when shooting in manual exposure mode. The histogram is an excellent tool for checking to see if the exposure is technically correct.

For the sunny day in a field of flowers scenario; (and this is the basics)

(1) "Sunny day" - what ISO does that suggest you use?

What do you want to show?
The whole field super sharp?
(2) If so what aperture would you select?
or
A nice dreamy look with only a few flowers in focus?
(3) If so what aperture would you use?

Are you shooting hand held?
(4) if so what sort of shutter speed should you be using so camera motion is not a problem?

(5) If it is windy and you want to capture the flowers in motion what sort of shutter speed would you use?
(6) in (5) what other piece(s) of equipment would you possibly need and why.

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Even though I have never used full auto it is only in tricky lighting conditions that I use manual exposure., when shooting in available light.

[JFSanders]

I understand how they all work together. But the issue I'm having is knowing where to start with the settings on my camera

It comes down to what you want to be the dominant element in the scene recorded by the camera. By altering the three controls of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture you can make different parts of the scene dominant and thus tell a different story to the viewer.

So to know where to begin is to know what it is that you want to convey to the viewer. Once you know what it is, then you would choose the best blend of the controls to obtain that scene in camera.

The base is your ISO. This will be determined by the amount of light needed to illuminate the subject so that it will convey what you are trying to say. Very bright scenes allow for a very low ISO. The less light available (either natural or artificial) then your ISO must rise as you reach the limits of your other controls.

For example, Lets say you are doing a night scene and you have very little light available and just a little flash. You leave your ISO as low as it will go so that your image is not grainy with noise. This causes you to open your aperture to let in the most possible light and you start to lower your shutter speed to gain a good exposure that will show details in the shadows so as to convey your message. You keep going lower on the shutter speed until you have to use a tripod in order to get the image sharp and in focus but eventually you hit a wall as the subject is moving and you get a blurred image.

So you raise your ISO until you get back to the shutter speed that allows for a sharp and detailed exposure but then the very large aperture is making your DOF (the parts of the image that are in focus) very thin. This is moving what you want to be dominant out of focus, so you "stop down" your aperture to F/5.6 and everything is back in focus. BUT now your shutter speed is too slow again so you raise your ISO to compensate and finally you have the image you saw in your mind expressed in pixels!

You are now happy! So you post this amazing image on DPS to get feedback and if you post it in SYS then no one comments and if you post it in Critique everyone hurts your feelings because what you thought was a veritable masterwork is not to their liking. So you sulk off and sell your camera and take up crochet...

Hope this helps.

Jim

[flickerchic]

Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate all of your suggestions.

Jim - Your example helps a lot! I will let you know when I post that pic on DPS!

[faeriegodess612]

Originally Posted by flickerchic

I think I've gotten a pretty good grasp of exposure: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. I understand how they all work together. But the issue I'm having is knowing where to start with the settings on my camera, i.e. if I'm shooting a photo of a field of flowers on a sunny day, how do I know what f-stop and shutter speed to start at. I think I can figure the ISO out once I learn to do the other two.

I've been shooting on Auto for quite some time now and I'm sooooo ready to move beyond that.

Thanks for you advice.

You know something that helped me learn "starting points". When I first started venturing into Manual territory, I'd switch my camera to Program, point my camera at what I wanted to take a photo of, and see what settings the camera chose. By doing that, I learned that taking shots outside on a cloudy day, generally speaking, f/5.6 and 1/250 with an ISO of 100 was a good starting point. Of course, depending on what it is that your taking a shot of. Also, you can use your histogram to gauge whether your properly or near properly exposed. It can read high on one side or the other depending on what your shooting at, but if it looks like a mountain range, your usually good.

If I have any of that wrong, someone please correct me. Or an easier way. I learn things the hard way first, then someone shows me the easy way, and I'm like "Why didnt I think of that?"..lol.