Aperture and Shutter speed

[estronutz]

I understand that they go hand in hand ... but to optimise performance ...
Just a question for our more experienced friends ... Any idea under what circumstances should we adjust what ?

Circumstances such as lighting ... distance ... environment ?

Thanks !

 

[zhang3feng]

I understand that they go hand in hand ... but to optimise performance ...
Just a question for our more experienced friends ... Any idea under what circumstances should we adjust what ?

Circumstances such as lighting ... distance ... environment ?

Thanks !

low lighting u set ISO to higher, Aperture open bigger & shutter longer (1/30 and below be prepare to use tripod if ur hands not steady)
distance farther u set Aperture higher & shutter longer (depends on lighting too)
fast action u set shutter faster to capture motion

hope these help

 

[espn]

Get this book - "Understanding Exposure - Bryan Peterson"

 

[simon80]

if u shooting digital ..
why don u shoot the same place with 2 of the setting 'fixed' and varies the other

this is how i learn .. i hate to read books
muahha

 

[N-user]

Get this book - "Understanding Exposure - Bryan Peterson"

yap agree.... a good book to read... bought this years back... need to go back and read again.... old liao forget many things..... :cry:

 

[digi~ET]

not pro but what I normally do is use smaller aperture (e.g f8) for scenary and bigger aperture for macro then adjust shutter accordingly.

But if sometimes have to take note of shutter time when taking moving object....might have to use higher iso, bigger aperture to allow faster shutter so that I can capture the still motion of the moving object.

best of all is try out all the settings and see for urself. diff cam diff settings i guess

PS: i dun really like reading bks...but have read 2 photography book....national geopgraphic - secrets of making great pictures and the other is on landscape photography

 

[fWord]

Try this link:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/16486089/

It's a night photography tutorial that should cover your questions about shutter speed, aperture and even ISO, and when to use what settings.

 

[estronutz]

Thanks ... it was great help !

Any "politically correct" situation to use Aperture priority / Shutter priority ? Or manual still the best if you know how to play with it ?

1 more thing, what's normally the shutter speed / aperture range most of you will use ?

1. Bright daylight, no clouds, outdoor shoot.
2. Cloudy, outdoor.
3. Indoor, halogen tubes
4. Night shots, outdoor, street lamps

thanks !

 

[fWord]

Manual is the most 'customizable' mode of them all, but I think it's also the slowest when shooting. Typically, I've stuck to Aperture Priority mode for a wide variety of shooting. For general landscape shots, architecture, street etc I stick to f/8. This is also because my kit lens is very soft wide open and produces good results only at around f/5.6-8.

For telephoto work I will still use Aperture Priority mode and work with the largest aperture possible for shallow depth of field and to ensure that I can get a fast enough shutter speed to avoid camera shake (I always shoot handheld, except for night shots). But gradually I am resorting to using the Program mode for tele work. In bright conditions the camera will automatically stop down, increasing DOF and reducing the chances of error with focusing.

I have almost never used shutter priority mode.

ISO may be anywhere between 100 to 1600 depending on shooting conditions. Indoors it'll be 800-1600 if handheld. Outdoors, I stick to ISO 100 if possible. But for telephoto shots I will boost the ISO to at least 400.

It's hard to put numbers on the four scenarios you cited, but if you stick to aperture priority mode, it should handle all of them well. Manage the aperture size according to how much DOF you want, or how fast you want the shutter speed to be, whether you wish to freeze motion, emphasize it, reduce camera shake etc.

For night shots or low-light where you wish to emphasize motion of water, or capture car light trails, the exposure can be anywhere between 1 second to 30 seconds, and even longer if you see fit. For specialized shooting such as star trails, I've seen exposures as long as 4 hours and as short as 20 minutes. Not that I've tried it myself, but this is from the books.

 

[eng_keow]

Hi,

Hope that this link may be useful to you:

www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understandexposure.shtml

cheers

 

[estronutz]

It's hard to put numbers on the four scenarios you cited, but if you stick to aperture priority mode, it should handle all of them well. Manage the aperture size according to how much DOF you want, or how fast you want the shutter speed to be, whether you wish to freeze motion, emphasize it, reduce camera shake etc

Does it means to say, smaller aperture f8.0 for a slower shutter speed and larger ones for a faster shutter speed ?

I think I understand, but the thing that I don't understand is the DOF, freezing motion... Mind giving me some examples ?

Btw, really grateful for your tips

 

[digi~ET]

fWord uses f8 for is not for a slower shutter but for a greater DOF (depth of field). normally for landscape / buildings we want the whole pic to be in focus so we need a greater depth of field.
but not everytime u can set at such a small aperture, cos maybe u need a faster shutter speed...then u have to adjust accordingly.
the slower shutter speed is because smaller aperture take in less light so you need a slower shutter (longer exposure time) to take in enough light for the picture.

for DOF, i guess the best example is compare a macro and a landscape photograph.
bigger aperture (e.g 2.8) have a shallow dof, so the surrounding is not in focus, only the object is in focus. (normally used for macro photography)

freezing motion... example u are taking photos of a basketball game, u wanna take the shooting moment (just like pressing pause button to stop all pple^^|), then u need a fast shutter so u might have to adjust ur aperture accordingly.

some confusing things is:
bigger aperture (f2)
smaller aperture (f8) .... the the number increased instead...dun get confused by it^^

no though i said bigger aperture for macro, smaller for landscape...but it still depend on case on case basis, the environment, the amount of light available...object u wanna capture and feeling u wanna give to viewer.... so no fixed setting^^ shoot more, try all settings to see which one u like most^^

mm....my theory is not good...hope i nv get anything wrong

 

[fWord]

It's hard to put numbers on the four scenarios you cited, but if you stick to aperture priority mode, it should handle all of them well. Manage the aperture size according to how much DOF you want, or how fast you want the shutter speed to be, whether you wish to freeze motion, emphasize it, reduce camera shake etc

Does it means to say, smaller aperture f8.0 for a slower shutter speed and larger ones for a faster shutter speed ?

I think I understand, but the thing that I don't understand is the DOF, freezing motion... Mind giving me some examples ?

Btw, really grateful for your tips

Here is the link again:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/16486089/

It will explain to you the effects of fast and slow shutter speed, small and large aperture, small or large depth of field. There are pictures there to show you the effects of each. Please let me know if you cannot access the tutorial.

 

[estronutz]

hmm very detailed info ... thanks people !

 

[mazeppa26]

to me very simple...
haha...

control if to freeze of blur picture use S setting for shutter speed

control DOF use A setting

 

[Pablo]

Read, practise, and learn from both ... then play around with what you have understood.

Then play around outside the rules.

Find different expressions created by under or over exposure.

To help in the remembering, use a good exif viewing program.
Make note of what settings you used to produce each effect.

Opanda Iexif 2.25 is a good (free download) program.

Cheers