Rebel EX Exploring the M side of the dial
lisarhinehart
Registered Users Posts: 279 Major grins
Hello smuggers,
I am a newbie trying to take things to the next level and venturing past that happy green square and onto the other side of the dial. Thus far the tech-y end of things has been overwhelming and frustrating, but I'm sure if I press on through this stuff, it will get better.
Today I changed from jpeg to RAW and was playing with TV and AV. The problem arose when I opened up Elements-- it doesn't recognise any of my raw files, only jpegs. I will be calling their tech support on Tuesday, but thoght I'd throw this one out in cyberspace, just incase anyone else has had this problem. I am so anxious to see what I shot today-- ugh!
AV seems very similar to a pupil and smaller numbers giving clear details throughout the entire image, like seeing every detail in a well lit room with my pupil dialated, and higher numbers blurring background like a dimily lit room when my pupil would be small and I can only see one object well and the others are blurry.
TV seems to be similar to blinking in that it will catch movement from one set point to the next and can create neat blurring effects as well. It seems to be abel to make "good light" stretch a little longer, but also can blur the subject if no tripod is used.
M seems to let me do both AV and TV-- which is way too advanced for me. P seems to do both on it's own.
I'm thinking I'll have it at P if I don't have prefrences and then switch to AV or TV depending on what I'm going for.
--Lisa
PS: You might be suprised by what I've done w/ point and shoot-- check out my site
I am a newbie trying to take things to the next level and venturing past that happy green square and onto the other side of the dial. Thus far the tech-y end of things has been overwhelming and frustrating, but I'm sure if I press on through this stuff, it will get better.
Today I changed from jpeg to RAW and was playing with TV and AV. The problem arose when I opened up Elements-- it doesn't recognise any of my raw files, only jpegs. I will be calling their tech support on Tuesday, but thoght I'd throw this one out in cyberspace, just incase anyone else has had this problem. I am so anxious to see what I shot today-- ugh!
AV seems very similar to a pupil and smaller numbers giving clear details throughout the entire image, like seeing every detail in a well lit room with my pupil dialated, and higher numbers blurring background like a dimily lit room when my pupil would be small and I can only see one object well and the others are blurry.
TV seems to be similar to blinking in that it will catch movement from one set point to the next and can create neat blurring effects as well. It seems to be abel to make "good light" stretch a little longer, but also can blur the subject if no tripod is used.
M seems to let me do both AV and TV-- which is way too advanced for me. P seems to do both on it's own.
I'm thinking I'll have it at P if I don't have prefrences and then switch to AV or TV depending on what I'm going for.
--Lisa
PS: You might be suprised by what I've done w/ point and shoot-- check out my site
Lisa
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It's good that you are trying to make sense of the manual controls of your dSLR, but I fear your analogy may complicate your understanding of what the camera is doing in manual mode, Av mode and Tv mode.
A digital camera has specific sensitivities, and a proper exposure depends upon the balance of eposure duration and lens opening, with respect to the sensitivity settings of the camera.
For instance, at ISO 100, the base sensitivity of many dSLR cameras, and with a given lighting situation, there will be a corresponding match of shutter speed and aperture to produce a proper exposure. How you adjust that combination of sensitivity (ISO), shutter speed and aperture depends partly on your goals for the image.
In an active sports situation you might think of the shutter speed as the dominant factor in getting a crisp shot, as too slow a shutter speed might blur the action. You would set your shutter speed accordingly and then find that combination of aperture and ISO which provides the depth-of-field (DOF) and noise properties you desire.
In manual mode you would have to adjust the variables, in this case the aperture and ISO, manually in potentially changing lighting situations.
In Tv mode, you set the shutter speed and ISO and the camera tries to adjust the aperture to match the required exposure.
In an event situation, a wedding perhaps, the DOF might be the dominant requirement and therefore the aperture is the priority setting. The Av mode allows you to set the aperture and ISO and then the camera adjusts the shutter speed in order to satisfy the exposure.
So the manual (M) mode gives you total control over the exposure, but with total "responsibility" as well, while the Av and Tv modes give you some exposure automation with preference to aperture or shutter speed respectively. These three modes, M, Av and Tv, are the primary modes of operation for most dSLRs and, along with the EV adjustments, form a good foundation for most shooting situations.
I prefer to stay away from either the "Program" or "Auto" modes as the camera tries to do too much of the thinking (or guessing) for me. Learn the three modes above and you should be able to find real "control" over most situations you will encounter.
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Understanding basic photographic theory about exposure will be far more helpful, and dramatically shorten your learning curve, than trying to figure out on your own what the camera is doing in its various modalities.
Stick with Ziggy's suggestions, and shoot Av or TV to start, and Manual when you begin to get a feel for what exposure requires.
I have answered this question earlier today here as repeated below
*************************************************************************************
Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" is a great book to explain the basics of correct exposure for film or digital photography. Amazon has it, used, for $14 - too cheap not to own one.
I do! Published by Amphoto it is large and in glorious color, and will help make everyone who reads it a better photographer.
I would also suggest a link I wrote a while ago about learning to estimate exposures out of doors without a light meter - this knowledge will help you evaluate whether what your meter is suggesting, is really the exposure that you want for the image you have in mind. Your meter does not really know if your subject is facing the sun or backlit, you do, and this is very pertinent information. Useful for exposure too!
I would also suggest you wander through the links in Andys sticky thread at the top of the Technique forum here as well
There is a lot of wisdom tucked away in there, and it is free too!!
Good digital imagery really begins at the moment of exposure. So many questions all over the web are how do I edit this image in Photoshop to fix what went wrong when the shutter was pushed. Start with an accurate exposure, and very good things happen. Saves a great deal of post exposure anguish and editing time also!
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I guess I should have said P side of the dial b/c you are right I'm far from M. I did stick to AV and TV and things have been starting to make more sense. But really my analogies weren't that aweful for someone with no background knowlege puttzing around for a few hours, right?
I have put a request on Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" from my local library and should be getting it very soon. I think that will help a lot and I love the idea of having a pictoral refrence.
It sounds like the more P side of the dial the more control I'll have and the better pictures I get once i know better than the camera what I need to control and how to control it. It sounds like ranging from the camera controling the settings to the photographer having control would be: P, ISO, AV/TV, M. Right now the closer I am to M the worse my pictures look, but once I know what I'm doing the more control I have the better they will look.
Ok ignore the above it's its confusing or off-- once the book comes in it will be more clear.
Thanks!
--Lisa
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Lots of us shoot ( carefully ) handheld at anywhere from 1/13th of second to 1/30th without great concern - at least for shorter lenses. I would not like the camera telling me I cannot shoot at 1/15th sec if I decide I need to.
I really rec you start with Av mode. Choose the aperture you want for the Depth of field you want, and keep an eye on the shutter speed the camera chooses. The ISO will not change in Av mode, so I think this will be a better spot to begin to understand what is happening with exposure. JMO
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Of course, all this is predicated on which version of Elements you are using.
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Thanks for the advice. I'll check it out. --Lisa PS: Hello Friends (I think yoiu all commented on my last post as well). I know Scott and Ziggy did
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Like you, when I started with my DSLR, the techy stuff put me at a loss also. After some serious reading, and enrolling in a correspondance course, I finally started to "get it", and now I shoot almost primarily in Manual Mode. When you "get it", and you will, you'll never want to use the Auto Mode again. An added benefit to finally understanding it all, is that you'll use the PSE less for corrections and more for creativity.
Good luck
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They also provided a 30 day free subscription to Lynda.com online training library that has a ton of good general digital photography and Adobe specifc training videos. I hae found them be very helpful.
After seeing all the advise from experienced photographers and getting a better understanding via the training videos, I now shoot only RAW and work in the Prophoto color space for post processing.
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Great to know about Picasa and adobe student discounts. My husband is a grad student-- he could order it if I choose to go that route.
I just purchased the book on Amazon-- whoever has the book checked out from the library doesn't seem to be returning on time, or ever-- should have ordered it from the begining like was suggested by ya'll.
I am becoming increasingly frustrated by my lack of tech knowlege and my need for it with this new equipment. Tonight I took photos that were beyond aweful. Seriously terrible.
I really hope this book helps. --Lisa
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While learning to shoot manual is of course a valuable and important skill that you WILL want and need, don't feel that you "shouldn't" use Av and Tv until you've "learned it all", or that they are somehow inferior - they are very useful modes which give you a LOT of control.... but save you having to memorise settings or do the math
Here's what I do:
- if I want to control dof/background blur OR know that I'm going to need maximum light (ie maximum aperture), I will shoot Av so I can choose the aperture and let the camera figure out the shutter speed. If the shutter speed isn't high enough, I raise the ISO until I can get the speeds I need. I shoot this way probably 90% of the time.
- if I know I want to freeze motion or for any other reason ensure that the shutter speed is a certain number, then I use Tv and let the camera figure out the aperture. If I can't get the shutter speed high enough, I raise the ISO setting.
- If I know I need a clean, clean, as-noiseless-as-possible shot, I put my ISO as low as I can realistically go, pick my preferred aperture, and use a tripod if the shutter speed can't be high enough to handhold (although 90% of my shooting is handheld, so this is my least-used approach)
- If the camera's choices aren't quite what I need, I use the settings it has given me as a starting point and then adjust either shutter or aperture in manual to get the effect I need, in my case usually adjusting aperture for DOF.
- if I don't feel I have time to use manual to adjust that starting point, I use the exposure compensation feature on my camera (which essentially does the same thing by another means) and adjust from there. I have over the years learned which lighting situations mean I will probably want to slightly under- or slightly over-expose to compensate for the camera's choices and this can be a quick way of getting that without having to change modes and reset from scratch. Works for me!!
I'd love to get to a point where I can figure out my manual settings in my head just by looking at something, but I'm not quite there yet. I do use manual in the studio w/the lightmeter, but when using my camera's meter, I find the flexibility of Av doesn't hold me back until I can think on my feet in manual a little faster.
Have fun with it!
That is a very clear and concise description of how to use the various modes. I particularly like the fact that you point out that there is nothing wrong with using either Av or Tv mode. I thought I was going to have to address the fact that you can make adjustments to the exposure in the modes using exposure compensation, but you nailed that as well. Well done, indeed!
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I also suggest "THE MOMENT IT CLICKS"...by Joe McNally......low price on Amazon is $29.15
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Again, thanks all for your advice-- I really appreciate everyone's encouragement.
dm- thanks for taking the time to simplify something complex. You have given me a starting point as well as a skill to master which I greatly appreciate. I have so much to learn.
Have fun? This part feels like anything but fun at this point, I guess once I have a little sucess it will be better. My macro shots come out so much easier than my 17-55, as bokeh is so much easier to get and somehow the lighting just usually works-- maybe the way the lens is designed, but the 17-55 I really need to know how to make quick adjustments.
As far as images being in focus, if I get the ap and shut right, I'm thinking the focus shoudn't be as much of an issue. It is hard for me to see through my little viewfinder to see if it is crisp enough to blow up to 8x10 etc., so I rely on the camera's auto focus-- moving the focus point is slow now, but I guess I'll get faster.
--Lisa
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Scottt, thanks for the kind comments - I just know that's how I demystified it for myself, so posted in the hope that it may help somebody else!
Lisa, what exactly is it you're trying to do and not achieving? You say "bokeh was easier to get in macro" - do you mean you're not getting the blurred backgrounds you want and that's why you're frustrated? Macro shooting is such that you will ALWAYS have more surrounding blur around the point of focus - in a more normal lens at greater distances, there will absolutely be less bg blur, even with a fairly wide open aperture. That's not something you're "doing wrong" but the nature of the optical physics (as I understand it). You may find the discussion here helpful, especially since it's the 17-55is which is being used.
For maximum blur, separate your subject and the background, and shoot as wide open as you can (the larger the aperture, the less DOF you have, therefore the less in front of and behind your main subject focus point will be sharp). Of course, the flip side of this is that the wider the aperture/shallower the depth of field, the more accurately you must place your focus point - there's really no problem doing it with AF, you just have to be very aware of where that focus point is. I find center focus (which is more sensitive than its surrounding friends) and recompose works well a lot of the time, but I will move to a different focus point if I feel that's what's going to be better for the composition and accuracy (I do that a lot when shooting portraits - I'll switch to the focus point that's going to nail the leading eye)
HTH!
You bring up an interesting point-- I was thinking that less bokeh was bad, and that I was doing something wrong, but I guess it is more of a personal style prefrence.
I like photojournalism, close crops, storytelling, saturated colors, lots of bokeh unless the background is exceptionally beautiful, well lit or important to the story. I try to make the camera capture what I saw as beautiful, intimate, personal, unique. Sometimes I blur the unsightly bits that can't be cropped but do my best to compose them well (enter bokeh). I'm starting to wonder if i shoudn't have bought a f1.4 50mm. But for weddings and portraits people will want those posed shots and be able to have the kind of detail that can be offered by 17-55, and then I can try my best to capture those special story moments in between.
I also like really saturated colors, and tend to shoot early or late to get the colors I want. I'm thinking once I understand exposure more, I will have more flexibility with those "times of day" rules, but I really don't know. Will I be more able to make certain lighting situations look better than they really are? For example, I would not shoot a portrait in mid-day, especially not in direct or dappled sun, but what if that is when a wedding is that I would be shooting? I'd have to make it work, and I'm thinking, maybe this exposure thing would help.
I'll post more in a bit.
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- exposure will influence how light or dark the photo is. Depth of field and distance will influence what's sharply in focus and what isn't. The lens itself will influence the quality of the dof blurring and how the specular highlights are rendered (some lenses give you very smooth blur, or bokeh, others will show the specular highlights as circles, hexagons or other shapes).
- I think of using depth of field to blur unsightly backgrounds as a technique rather than something to qualitatively judged as "good" or "bad". Sometimes you want that blur in the background; sometimes you don't. I don't know that's so much a "style" preference, as something which adapts according to *need*, ie consider a landscape scene (where sharp, infinite dof is beneficial) vs a portrait in front of an ugly background (where the blur can be helpful to minimse the distraction).
- sometimes you're stuck with the light that there is, and you just have to make it work. That's where knowing how to use positioning, your flash, reflectors, and other light modifiers (and light modifying tricks) come in. The quality of an image often goes far beyond the gear used to capture it.
- what do you mean by "detail"? Sharpness? Greater depth of field? I'm unclear what you mean when you say that you think a 50mm lens wouldn't be able to provide the same detail as the 17-55.
I think the hardest thing for me to learn as I've been grappling with the technical side of things is that, despite the numerical/scientific principles, there are no absolutes and EVERY situation is taken on a case-by-case basis, on the fly... often at high speed! This is challenging sometimes but is also what makes it fun, at least for me - I'd get really bored if everything were clinically by the numbers every time!!!
Clearly my lack of technical vocabulary and knowlege is making communicating on this site difficult and clumsy. I will learn, eventually, and thank you for your patience-- I'm hoping this book will help with that.
With detail I was refering to sharpness throughout the picture-- absence of blur-- this is what I would think of as a greater depth of field (my macro has great detail and bokeh, but not much depth).
I was under the impression that aperature and shutter speed work together to create exposure. Lower number (wider open) app is more background blur and higher number is less blur and more sharpness throughout the picture making many things visable. To freeze motion you need to adjust the shutter speed to fire more quickly at fractions of a second.
I have adjusted these, and had some pretty poor results. By poor I mean the exposure is off by quite a bit-- bright faces or blurred dark faces. Most are probably from not adjusting my ISO, which I believe you suggested earlier in this thread. There is so much to adjust!
I'm also under the impression that a lens with a range of numbers 17-55 is going to give you more depth and less bokeh where one with a single number will offer more bokeh and less depth. My knowlege of this is equally lacking, though.
Well, time for me to either read about shutter speed or watch the celebrity apprentice. :P
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You're so hard on yourself! I think you know a lot more than you realise
A perfect definition
Yep!
Again, dead on (see? You're understanding this perfectly!
Are you shooting all-manual, or using ap priority or shutter priority? If all-manual, you may simply not have it dead on "by guess" yet - this is where aperture and shutter priority are wonderfully helpful, since they usually will give you a decent exposure overall. Remember that it's a ratio: (variable)aperture:(variable)shutter speed = (constant)correct exposure. If ap or shutter is adjusted, the other variable must be adjusted to to keep the constant of "correct exposure". Which is where av and tv priority are so useful, since they keep the constant for you
Really, for most things an ISO of 200 or 400 will do just fine (100 or 200 in bright light). Remember that the ISO setting adjusts how sensitive the "film" is to light, which is why it's a useful adjustment to make if you need to get faster shutter speeds at a given aperture setting. It won't in and of itself change an exposure, but simply allow you to make a greater range of adjustments to your ap/shutt settings in any given light.
Now, here I'd welcome the more scientific and expert explanations of our learned colleagues, but this is not my understanding.
I believe that the actual focal length of the lens will adjust the dof and amount of blurring one gets, thus a 200mm @2.8 will give you a more blurred background than a 35mm@2.8 - but I don't believe that whether it is a zoom or a prime at a given focal length will drastically change the quality - it's the focal length itself which does it. The main difference between (most) zooms and primes is that a prime usually offers a "faster" (=wider) aperture, and that in general primes have better optical quality (sharpness and contrast) than most zooms. Which is not to say some of the zooms aren't fantastic - your 17-55 for instance is about as highly rated as any lens I've ever seen discussed - but that primes are in general sharper and faster.
Please don't get discouraged! You'll get it. And like most things, I bet once you have your "lightbulb" moment you'll be thinking, "wow - it's so simple now I understand it!" We've all been there. In fact, it's only in the last 8 months that I've come to grips with all this after years of thinking I couldn't grasp it. I just made up my mind that I Was Finally Going To Learn This For Once and For All and became a dgrin addict until it made sense
Fixed focal length lenses, commonly called "prime" lenses, often have larger apertures, which allow more control over DOF and which may allow more bokeh with the larger aperture.
Different focal lengths, whether they are from individual prime lenses or selections of focal lengths from a zoom lens, should have similar bokeh at a similar focal length and aperture setting. It is only the "opportunity" to use larger apertures which generally allows prime lenses to be capable of more bokeh.
(This is what Divamum already said but I am putting it a little differently to reiterate.)
Longer focal lengths mostly alter our position and our perspective, relative to the subject. This gives longer focal length lenses the perception of "more" bokeh in some circumstances.
By all means experiment and explore to learn the capabilities of your own equipment.
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Thanks for your encouragement! I'm so glad you went point by point to tell me what was on and off, that's helpful. I doubt you'd think I was being hard on myself if you'd see the aweful pics I'm getting now lol. Maybe I shoudl post some(?) I still have so much to learn, and am eagerly annticipating the light bulb moment. I've only really been trying since I started this post, so I guess I'm not doing too badly. I just really want to get it together in time for my SIL's wedding (August) and engagemnt pic (which should have been taken yesterday, probably-- she's so laid back it's ridiculous). She isn't picky or paying me, but I'm using this opp as motivation to learn this stuff-- I am very intimidated by tech.
So back to the primary discussion-- prime lenses, like my macro, could get better dof if I adjust the ap to be smaller (higher number)-- but when I do this, everything is out of focus and I'd need a tripod. Maybe remembering to adjust the ISO would help here(?) Similarly, a zoom lens should be able to get good bokeh if the subject is far enough away from the background and if my ap is set low enough (open)?
It just seems like in their natural modes the zoom's stregth is dof and the primes stregth is bokeh. For example when I take a portrait with my macro (prime), I HAVE to get the focal point right (typically eyes) b/c everything else will be out of focus or at least have less detail. If I try to take a portrait with my zoom, all the ugly backgrounds are still there unless I do some real adjusting with the app, and even then it won't be near the same as the macro, but then i have the detail throughout the portrait and not just the eyes. (Bear in mind most of my current subjects are under the age of 4, and running around my backyard that I haven't taken time to maintain since joining smugmug
Something in this book "Understanding Exposure" that I'm not understanding is him using a tool that sounds VERY helpful. He keeps refering to what I believe as a in-camera meter reading (the term proably isn't right, but he says, "Since my reading was set for the much stronger lights of the fountain, the peopel gathered in front of it were rendered devere, underexposed siloettes" "I aimed my camera at the blue sky and adjusted the aperature until the camera meter indicated that f/8 was correct" for a picture of a little girl in a pool. I remember my wed photog having a meter and checking it on white periodically and whever we changed locations. This is important, no? I will check my manual to see if I have one fo these in my rebel, I'm thinking no?
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These are three of my better shots I've taken while exploring this exposure thing.
1.
2.
both looked a lot better through my lens than they do now. It was very overcast and had just rained. They had this vibrant kelly green with bright white in the drops and high contrast-- they were black and white not gray. I think the lack of contrast bothers me most, but the saturation especially in the lower picture makes it blah, it is a boring subject maybe, too. I was also having trouble with the dof, as I wanted to control what was in and out of focus. I would have liked more depth in the lower pic so more of the beads would be in focus and maybe the front of the pic in the first one. They are Ok, but not the way I saw them. I hope that understanding exposure will help me to better capture what I see.
3.
Now in this one the colors came out as I saw them and the water drops looked like mercury and were captured in that same way. I don't really know what I did differently if anything-- maybe the lighting was just better and the subject more interesting. Certainly the red foliage adds something. I like this one much more. i don't think it has the same dof issues.
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Yes, "stopping down" (making the aperture smaller) will mean that less light is reaching the sensor ("film") so the shutter speed will have to be slowed down to keep the correct exposure (the constant. Remember aperture:shutter=exposure, so if one adjusts to allow more/less light, the other will move in the opposite sense to keep the amount of light reaching the sensor the amount needed for a good exposure). If the shutter speed is too slow, you will suffer blur from "camera shake", which is simply because the shutter is open long enough for the motion your hands make taking the picture to show up IN the picture.
Sometimes. Just remember that the higher the ISO, the more likely the image will suffer from "noise" (the digital equivalent of "grain", which plagued high-iso films). It's manageable, but you will see some degradation once you go above ISO 400. That said, the XT is pretty good with noise at 800 and with some post-processing work using Noiseware or another noise-reduction software you can still get great images. But just know that higher ISO=higher noise. Sometimes it's totally worth it to live with some noise to et the shot in poor light; other times, it's better just to use a tripod. Again, the situation will determine what is the "better" choice.
Yup. Just remember that a macro lens at close distance will ALWAYS blur things more than a lens shooting from several feet away.
A zoom's strength is meaning you don't have to move to adjust how far away - or close - the subject appears to be.
I am not familiar with macro lenses used for subjects further away so can't comment on this - perhaps one of the others can clarify this. But again, the macro at focal length y and aperture X and any other lens at focal length y and aperture X (both of them the same distance away from the subject) should, I believe, give you the same results.
Yes, your XT has an in-camera meter. ALL modern cameras have an in-camera meter... which is how they know how to expose. IT's hard to see in the Rebel series, but there's a green circle which moves around to show you when the camera thinks the exposure is correct when you're in manual mode. It will flash for under or over exposure. I tend not to use that because I find it hard to see, but it's definitely there, so do check your manual (I used to have an XT).
An external meter can be a very useful tool - I use one when I"m shooting manual and using studio lights - but I don't actually own one (I use the studio at the college where I teach, and they have a lightmeter there). But the one in your camera can do very well in many situations. Not ALL situations - the camera's meter is more easily fooled by high-contrast, complex-light situations - but a lot of the time.
Re: the photos you posted. They may not be "what you saw", but they're gorgeous!
Are you shooting in raw? If so, you will have to "process" them to get the colours and contrast "as you saw them" - that's normal, and part of the benefit of shooting in raw. Think of a raw file as a negative, which is all the information BEFORE procsesing and printing - you have to work it a little bit to bring out the depth and colours. Even in jpg you can adjust curves and contrast to bring them to what you want, I think.
HTH!
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Regarding the in camera light meter. I had thet "aha" moment when I "discovered" mine. Yes your camera definitely has it. Look through your viewfinder and look at teh bottom. You will see some numebr sacross the bottom correct?
from left to right you will see shutter speed, aperture, then you will some vertical hash marks with -2, -1, x, +1,+2. the you will see underneath the hash mark a another hash, we will call the "inidicator" for this discusion. THIS IS YOUR LIGHT METER.
When as you adjust your iso, aperture, and/or shutter speed you will see the "indicator" move about. This is your exposure reading. The more positive it gets the more over exposed you are..and of course the more negative the more under exposed. The middle inidcates "correct" exposure as the camera sees it.
The numbers from -2 ro 2 represent 1 stop each. Check it out. Meter something...then doubel your iso and watch the meter go up one stop..halve your shutter speed..watch the meter go down one stop. etc.
Note your meter is only really valid with out a flash. flash changes everything. Note alos that meter readings are only baseline. A "correct" reading is may not be "correct" if the subject is wearing really bright white shirt for example.
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Aperture controls exposure and DOF. Shutter controls exposure and motion (both in the scene and camera shake). For my flavor of photography I'm usually concerned first with DOF so I usually shoot in M or Av. Then I consider the effects of subject motion and potential for camera shake. In general my subject matter from portraits to landscapes to weddings usually isn't moving too fast, so I just want a shutter speed that insures no camera shake. Sometimes I can't get both set the way I'd prefer and still get a good exposure. Then I have to make a compromise.
With film I was usually locked into a particular ISO until the end of the roll. There was also a more significant difference in grain between low and high ISO. In my experience digital is very clean and noisefree compared to film at higher ISOs, and with the ability to adjust from shot to shot ISO becomes a third exposure control that can sometimes help with the compromise. The way they all interact (raise one you have to lower another) is called reciprocity.
In my opinion whether a photog is shooting in manual or auto depends on what's going on in their head, not what the dial is turned to. The meter tries to make the world middle gray, and it's up to the photographer to interpret the scene and the meter, and decide if middle gray is right for the scene. If the camera is set to M and the photog is just zeroing out the meter shot after shot then that's the same as running on auto. The manual control comes in interpreting the meter. My cameras all display aperture and shutter even in the full auto modes. I can see what the camera is setting, and adjust it if neccessary either with exposure comp or exposure lock. Whether the dial says P, A, S/T, M, or even any of the icon modes just determines whether the settings are made with fingers or electronic switches.
The icon modes evolved from the older P, A, S/T, M modes. Portrait is Av with larger aperture. Landscape is Av with small aperture. Sports/Action is Tv with faster shutter speed. Panning is Tv with slow shutter speed. And so on... Some of them do change other aspects, but at a basic level they are just variations of the same old thing.
thanks
I get how to use the little icon and can manipulate them pretty well, like I know it isn't a portait, but want to get a blurred background so use it. I'm learn that is ap. I'm sure this will help out quite a bit once i understand it.
Exposure requires such balance. For example, if I want it to be fast to stop movement, but blurred in the background (fast shutter speed and wide open app, it generally doens't work, but I may be choosing numbers that are too extreme). I need some general guidelines, and maybe those will be further in understanding exposure-- I think I'm around p 150 now.
I'm wondering if there are general setting for general shots-- ie for this type this ap and shutter speed generally work-- give or take a few stops in these situations.
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