How do you know?

Sask2005

How do you know what to set the camera on before taking a picture - e.g. aperture and shutter speed? Is it experience or a preset setting on the camera.

How local pro shop where I bought my camera suggested I just stick to the presets but that's not as much fun.

In some threads people have kindly suggested a better setting for a photo which is good and I learn from that but it seems to be as a beginner there are so many situations for photos - light, dark, colour etc - how do you work them out at the time?

Opinions please?

Bruce

gus

What sort of camera bruce ?

DavidTO

Check out this great post by Shay Stephens.

Sask2005

olymupus e300

Humungus wrote:

What sort of camera bruce ?

Sask2005

thanks

DavidTO wrote:

Check out this great post by Shay Stephens.

SnapHappy

Bruce as a complete novice myself I can sympathise with the frustrations of learning this confusing art.
What I have found is there is so much to take in that you just have to slow down and try to apply a little method to your learning and take your time.
(However I often forget my own advice here!)

But sometimes I will use the auto function to take a picture, then have a go at manual with a few different settings, for example trying at f/2.8 then f/5 and so on in aperture priority.
I'm trying different things, like today I went out and took 2 to 3 shots of a lot of the same things but altered the white balance between sunny, shade & cloudy to see what gave me the best effect in the light I was in.
This was brought on by nearly half of a recent shoot all turning out with a blue tone when it was daylight, I had the W/B on tungsten ( I think!), so I thought to myself a self taught experimental lesson is needed on white balance.
I had previously read about it on many occasions along with exposure, exposure compensation, apertures, compositions, iso levels and a whole host of other topics but as a learner you forget a lot when your out there with your camera. So I think keeping it basic and in steps helps overall.

When you get home and have the time you can assess the differences. But try and stick to one learning task at a time.

Now this doesn't always work as when I go out and shoot 200 shots I don't have the time to assess them all. But by selecting your favourites and then keeping a few you wish were better, put them aside and spend a little time with the info button on your software and see what you did right. But also just as importantly try to see what you did wrong before you trash any. ("That's why its so blurred the shutter was too slow for hand held" was a recent D'oh! moment for myself )

Not sure if others will agree with the above but I thought I would share my outlook on it as a learner myself.


(That post by Shay is spot on and will be a help for myself, thanks David for highlighting it.)

BrettG

SnapHappy wrote:

What I have found is there is so much to take in that you just have to slow down and try to apply a little method to your learning and take your time.
(However I often forget my own advice here!)

I bolded a bit in the previous post that I think is important. I'm my own worst enemy in that regard - Oh look a bird! clickclickclickclick! click.

clickclick.



What I try to do is pick one thing I want to work on and stick with that for a days outing or such. ie: play with just aperture for a session, or just shutter speed variations, etc.

click

Sask2005

Thanks Darren


I will try that starting today. Great advice and nice that someone else is a beginner too.

bruce

SnapHappy wrote:

Bruce as a complete novice myself I can sympathise with the frustrations of learning this confusing art.
What I have found is there is so much to take in that you just have to slow down and try to apply a little method to your learning and take your time.
(However I often forget my own advice here!)

But sometimes I will use the auto function to take a picture, then have a go at manual with a few different settings, for example trying at f/2.8 then f/5 and so on in aperture priority.
I'm trying different things, like today I went out and took 2 to 3 shots of a lot of the same things but altered the white balance between sunny, shade & cloudy to see what gave me the best effect in the light I was in.
This was brought on by nearly half of a recent shoot all turning out with a blue tone when it was daylight, I had the W/B on tungsten ( I think!), so I thought to myself a self taught experimental lesson is needed on white balance.
I had previously read about it on many occasions along with exposure, exposure compensation, apertures, compositions, iso levels and a whole host of other topics but as a learner you forget a lot when your out there with your camera. So I think keeping it basic and in steps helps overall.

When you get home and have the time you can assess the differences. But try and stick to one learning task at a time.

Now this doesn't always work as when I go out and shoot 200 shots I don't have the time to assess them all. But by selecting your favourites and then keeping a few you wish were better, put them aside and spend a little time with the info button on your software and see what you did right. But also just as importantly try to see what you did wrong before you trash any. ("That's why its so blurred the shutter was too slow for hand held" was a recent D'oh! moment for myself )

Not sure if others will agree with the above but I thought I would share my outlook on it as a learner myself.


(That post by Shay is spot on and will be a help for myself, thanks David for highlighting it.)