HELP With Photography...

[alstarr1]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased a Nikon D5000 and I am completely lost on the whole Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO settings. I have been reading tons of post, but I can't seem to find anything that clearly explains it...for example, a website that has a photo and the settings on which it was taken and what would happen if you tweaked one and not the other. I understand that they all have to be adjusted together...I just don't get which one does what.

Is there anyone out there that wants to guide a complete beginner into better photography?

[BuddhaPi]

here ya go, we have everything right here on DPS

[alstarr1]

THANK YOU! You really are a god-send!

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by alstarr1

THANK YOU! You really are a god-send!

Thanx for putting that in writing!

[dalmorloson]

I am a beginner also but will try to explain in "layman's" terms. The ISO is the sensetivity of the film (or sensor in a digital). The higher the ISO number, the less light it takes to produce an image on the film. So the brighter your subject is, the lower ISO you need to shoot it. Lower ISOs make for a better pic because there isn't as much "noise" or graininess as the higher ISO settings.

So you need light to hit your sensor to produce the image. Light comes in through your camera's lens thru the aperature. You adjust the amount of light a couple of ways. The f number tells how big the aperature opens. The smaller the number, the bigger the "hole", and vice versa. So a low f number puts more light onto your sensor than a higher number.
This also affects the depth of field. Depth of field is the area of your subject that is in focus. A lower f number has a shallow depth of field, meaning that if you focus on a part of the subject, anything closer or farther away than that may be out of focus. A higher f number opens your shutter smaller and gives you a deeper depth of field.

Another way to determine how much light hits the sensor is the shutter speed. This is how long the aperature stays open. The shutter speed is displayed in seconds (long) or parts of a second. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light hits the sensor.

So there are different ways to get a "correct" exposure. You could open the shutter small with a longer shutter speed, or open it bigger with a faster shutter speed and get the same results (except for depth of field).

There is more to it than this, but in a nutshell, that's what it is all about.

[sk66]

HERE'S a little interactive thing I made that might help...

I keep thinking I need to add "example pics" that change as each setting is changed but that would take something like 200 images....

[alstarr1]

Thank you for taking your time to break that down for me. I'm one fo those kinds of people that wants to know what's the point of any and everything. This has really helped me! Now I'm going to pick up my camera and feel a little bit better about getting this whole process of learning started!

[inkista]

... and one more interactive tool.

The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator - Photonhead.com

[thecorrigan44]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

here ya go, we have everything right here on DPS

Exactly what I needed too!!

[alstarr1]

You guys are AWESOME!!! Thank you! This has helped me so incredibly much!!