[johnytrout]

After taking up Photography as a hobby a few months ago, I find I am still not familiar with the Shutter speed / Aperture / ISO concept.
Is there a formula or rule of thumb on how to remember them?
or how each works with each other etc?
I know if I increase the shutter speed, it will freeze the image, but let less light in.
And decreasing the shutter speed will give running water a softer look, but lets more light in.
How do I get it correct ?

[Browser Mike]

Hi JOHNYTROUT,
You may find the following of interest: Main Photography Forum--- Aperture+ShutterSpeed Chart---- Post #2 from Wall-E with a link to Exposureguide.com.
As a novice I found this most beneficial with good graphics. I even put Wall-E onto my Christmas Card List !

[danielbennett2020]

After taking up Photography as a hobby a few months ago, I find I am still not familiar with the Shutter speed / Aperture / ISO concept.
Is there a formula or rule of thumb on how to remember them?
or how each works with each other etc?
I know if I increase the shutter speed, it will freeze the image, but let less light in.
And decreasing the shutter speed will give running water a softer look, but lets more light in.
How do I get it correct ?

[johnytrout]

I am finding this increasingly frustrating.
It's all very well learning what each things do, but how do they all come together?
If for instance, I switch to manual. I see a bird and think "Ok, 1/25 of a second
I thumble around with the aperture numbers, the ISO ......
AND THEN THE BIRD IS GONE!
Ahhh, well, back to Auto

[Dean]

I would suggest that 1/25 sec would be too slow for a picture of a bird, unless it was hanging up in a butcher’s shop. There are some good videos on the net about photographing wildlife. Good place to start.
My rules of thumb would be -If you are using a telephoto then shutter speed shouldn’t be lower than 1/focal length of the lens. 1/100 for a 100mm lens. Aperture sufficient to get all of the bird in focus but no more than has to be, unless you want the background in focus as well, ISO anything up to 400, or more if you really want the shot. I wouldn’t use manual but set shutter speed, and increase ISO if the resultant aperture is too small to get the background out of focus. I would set to auto focus so that if the bird moves a bit the camera will follow the focus. That’s my penny worth but expect to be shot down in flames.

[EdMak]

http://www.veprit.com/photography-guide/...-speed-iso

http://petapixel.com/2012/10/03/a-great-...peed-work/

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid...SO+concept


Ed.

[johnytrout]

Most of my bird shots are with a 100-400 telephoto, usually at the 400 end.
So my shutter speed should be 400+ then?
And generally they have a fair bit surrounding them which I crop out.

[EdMak]

Good rule of thumb, intended really for hand held shots, If on tripod could be less, subject permitting. Ed.

[Dean]

If they have “a fair bit surrounding them” you might not need to zoom in so much and if you have an image stabilised lens you can reduce the shutter speed by the equivalent of a couple of stops.

[danielbennett2020]

ISO refers to the film sensitivity to light. In bright sunlight, ISO of 100 is sufficient. At twilight, ISO of 1600 or 3200. The quality of the image is higher with a lower ISO so you always want the lowest ISO you can get.
Aperture is the size of the hole that light comes through. The lower the number, the larger the hole and thus more light comes through. So you can take a picture in low light with a large aperture and in bright light, you need a small aperture. A large aperture gives you a shallow depth of field (thus a blurred background) and a small aperture gives you a greater depth of field. The larger the number, the smaller the aperture, eg. f2.8 is a large aperture and f22 is very small. If you are taking a landscape and you want everything in focus, use anything over f11.
What you have in your camera is a relationship between these three variables.
This is what I suggest: Leave your ISO on auto. Work from aperture priority because your creative issues are usually how much do I want in focus. Often you only want your subject in focus so generally keep a wide aperture. Keep your eye on the shutter speed. If it isn't as fast as you need say for your 400mm shot, then adjust your aperture. As you open up or close the aperture, the camera will adjust your shutter speed accordingly. If your shot is coming in too dark or light, use the exposure compensation button to adjust. Check your manual for that.
If you get frustrated, go to P for a while. The camera will give you 80 % of what you are looking for in that mode.
God bless and good luck. These high tech things take time to master.

[johnytrout]

Thank you for all the information.
I get the main idea of which each process does.
It's how to compensate each one against the other.
I suppose it will take time, but it will come eventually.

[Fritzm]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure." He does a superb job of explaining how it all works. I suggest reading the book, twice (it's short), then go out and practice practice practice. It will soon become second nature.

[Wall-E]

After taking up Photography as a hobby a few months ago, I find I am still not familiar with the Shutter speed / Aperture / ISO concept.
Is there a formula or rule of thumb on how to remember them?
or how each works with each other etc?
I know if I increase the shutter speed, it will freeze the image, but let less light in.
And decreasing the shutter speed will give running water a softer look, but lets more light in.
How do I get it correct ?

Lets start with, it's faster and slower shutter speeds.
Increasing and decreasing is confusing.

It sounds like you're trying to do manual exposure WAY before you're ready.

Let your camera help you.

Set your camera to Aperture priority if you know what you want for a depth of field, or Shutter priority if you need to either stop the action or make water smooth.

One of the tricks is to set your camera for Program/Auto, and half press the shutter button to get the camera to determine an exposure. Make note of those settings, and transfer those to Manual as a starting point.

[MrB]

Thank you for all the information.
I get the main idea of which each process does.
It's how to compensate each one against the other.
I suppose it will take time, but it will come eventually.

Johny, I will attempt to help with your third point.

You might know this already but, if not, it is useful to know that the three series of numbers usually quoted for cameras and lenses, change the effect of the light by a factor of two times for any side by side pair:

The light effect increases this way ------>
Typical shutter speed series: 1/1000 . 1/500 . 1/250 . 1/125 . 1/60 . 1/30
Typical aperture series: f/22 . f/16 . f/11 . f/8 . f/5.6 . f/4 . f/2.8 . f/2
Typical ISO series: 100 . 200 . 400 . 800 . 1600 . 3200 . 6400

e.g.1. Shutter speed of 1/30 allows in twice the light of 1/60, and 1/250 allows in half the light of 1/125.
e.g.2. Aperture of f/2.8 allows in twice the light of f/4, and f/11 allows in half the light of f/8.
e.g.3. The effect of light on the camera's sensor at ISO 200 is twice that at ISO 100, and its effect at ISO 1600 is half that at ISO 3200.

It should now be possible to see how you can adjust each one to, as you put it, "compensate" for another:
E.g. Suppose that the camera suggests that the correct exposure for a scene you are photographing, is at ISO 200, a shutter speed of 1/250, and an aperture of f/8.
Suppose that you want to change aperture to f/11 to get more depth of field.
But that would only allow half of the light into your camera that it actually wants.
So you need to double it to get back to the correct exposure again; EITHER you could -
Change the shutter speed to 1/125 to let in twice the light, OR you could -
Change the ISO to 400 to make the camera twice as sensitive to the light.

Philip

[johnytrout]

Thank you Mr.B
The fog is starting to clear

[danielbennett2020]

Thank you for all the information.
I get the main idea of which each process does.
It's how to compensate each one against the other.
I suppose it will take time, but it will come eventually.

Johny, I will attempt to help with your third point.

You might know this already but, if not, it is useful to know that the three series of numbers usually quoted for cameras and lenses, change the effect of the light by a factor of two times for any side by side pair:

The light effect increases this way ------>
Typical shutter speed series: 1/1000 . 1/500 . 1/250 . 1/125 . 1/60 . 1/30
Typical aperture series: f/22 . f/16 . f/11 . f/8 . f/5.6 . f/4 . f/2.8 . f/2
Typical ISO series: 100 . 200 . 400 . 800 . 1600 . 3200 . 6400

e.g.1. Shutter speed of 1/30 allows in twice the light of 1/60, and 1/250 allows in half the light of 1/125.
e.g.2. Aperture of f/2.8 allows in twice the light of f/4, and f/11 allows in half the light of f/8.
e.g.3. The effect of light on the camera's sensor at ISO 200 is twice that at ISO 100, and its effect at ISO 1600 is half that at ISO 3200.

It should now be possible to see how you can adjust each one to, as you put it, "compensate" for another:
E.g. Suppose that the camera suggests that the correct exposure for a scene you are photographing, is at ISO 200, a shutter speed of 1/250, and an aperture of f/8.
Suppose that you want to change aperture to f/11 to get more depth of field.
But that would only allow half of the light into your camera that it actually wants.
So you need to double it to get back to the correct exposure again; EITHER you could -
Change the shutter speed to 1/125 to let in twice the light, OR you could -
Change the ISO to 400 to make the camera twice as sensitive to the light.

Philip

Love the clarity!