Tutorial Photography - Lesson One

Super job CT now that you have got a Cult Following, you can't say No. (well you can, but we hope you don't)
 
Hi,

new here and new to photography.. When you speak about light readings, how with a modern DSLR would I get them unlike old camera's when you actually carried a light meter ? sorry if I have not grasped this but I am learning still.

I just remember an old camera of my dad's having a light meter on top.
Is it just a case of trial and error now and experience?
 
stealth said:
Hi,

new here and new to photography.. When you speak about light readings, how with a modern DSLR would I get them unlike old camera's when you actually carried a light meter ? sorry if I have not grasped this but I am learning still.

I just remember an old camera of my dad's having a light meter on top.
Is it just a case of trial and error now and experience?
Click to expand...

Well all modern DSLRs have a meter in them Ian - in fact they're far more advanced than the meter on that old camera of your dads, in fact using the camera in any of the auto modes, as well as taking an exposure reading they make all the settings for you. The exposure metering is visible in the viewfinder.

There are occasions when you might want to override the camera metering using your own judgement and there's always provision to do this, but it does involve a bit of knowledge about metering techniques.

It's a big subject to tackle in depth, but have a look in the Tutorials section here for some advice on basic metering.
 
CT said:
Well all modern DSLRs have a meter in them Ian - in fact they're far more advanced than the meter on that old camera of your dads, in fact using the camera in any of the auto modes, as well as taking an exposure reading they make all the settings for you. The exposure metering is visible in the viewfinder.

There are occasions when you might want to override the camera metering using your own judgement and there's always provision to do this, but it does involve a bit of knowledge about metering techniques.

It's a big subject to tackle in depth, but have a look in the Tutorials section here for some advice on basic metering.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much, I will check out the tutorials
 
I've got one of those lenses, Carl Zeiss 80mm CB Planar ;)

Oh, good explanation too!
 
Nice one CT, like the others very appreciated.

Can i suggest for lesson 2 you do a separate thread, that way it will be easier for those of us to see when it is posted and it won't get lost in the current thread.

Does your apprentice also have to make the brews? :clap:
 
Hi I found this very helpful I have to keep reading over it as i forget. I am very new to photography.
now my question is about dark images I was sitting in the garden just before and focused on a cup and took shots at each aperture to see the difference in DOF now do I have to adjust the shutter speed for each time I make the aperture smaller. as when I looked at my shots I could not see any difference in DOF but each pic got darker and darker ??
even on the large aperture the background was not blurred?? yet I look at other peoples pics of say peoples faces the background is very blurred?
I was using a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm lens.
Thank you
 
Exposure is a three way triangle with ISO, Aperture and Shutterspeed all having a bearing on the end result. Once you have decided on an Exposure value, If you then change any one of the three, you have to change one or both of the others to compensate.
 
Quickshooter said:
now my question is about dark images I was sitting in the garden just before and focused on a cup and took shots at each aperture to see the difference in DOF now do I have to adjust the shutter speed for each time I make the aperture smaller. as when I looked at my shots I could not see any difference in DOF but each pic got darker and darker ??
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Of course. Each time you close down the aperture one stop smaller you have to double the time of your shutter speed (make it longer) or the shot will get darker each time.
even on the large aperture the background was not blurred?? yet I look at other peoples pics of say peoples faces the background is very blurred?
I was using a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm lens.
Thank you
Click to expand...

A number of factors affect your ability to get a nicely blurred background, including the maximum aperture of your lens, how close you are to your subject, and how far away the background is behind your subject

To get the best blurred backgrounds you need to be quite close to your subject and the greater the distance between your subject and the background, the more pronounced the out-of-focus background effect will be. Also using a large aperture (smallest f number) will increase the effect.
 
EdBray and CT thank you so much for your reply's i understand now simple really lol. very helpful advice :) i will keep practising.

Thanks alot guys
 
I agree, very helpful. A couple of simple diagrams make it much more simpler to understand. Not sure its safe to say this on a photography forum, but a picture paints a thousand words ;)
 
Awesome guide thanks for putting this up CT and thank you everyone else who posted helpful comments and advice, its a big help to us newbies.

I have a question in relation to the minimum shutter speed for hand shooting. CT explained that the shutter speed should always be faster than the focal length of the lens. I can see how this would work with a prime lens, but with a zoom you wont always know what your current focal length is, how do you handle this.

Also in my case the camera I have SX40 HS comes with two types of image stabilisation built in (not sure what) how does that effect it. I would say in the past most of shots have been out of focus, so now with this camera how do i know what to keep my min shutterspeed to for hand held shots, with all this image stabilisation and big zoom to take into consideration.

:) it will all sink in one day, but until then you can beat it into me with a big stick :)
 
lemonsprig said:
Awesome guide thanks for putting this up CT and thank you everyone else who posted helpful comments and advice, its a big help to us newbies.

I have a question in relation to the minimum shutter speed for hand shooting. CT explained that the shutter speed should always be faster than the focal length of the lens. I can see how this would work with a prime lens, but with a zoom you wont always know what your current focal length is, how do you handle this.
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I think you're probably envisaging problems which won't really be there in real world situations Ian. All zoom lenses have a focal length indicator on the outside lens barrel so it only needs a quick glance to see what focal length you have currently set.

Obviously as you zoom in and out exposure can change as the overall scene becomes either darker or lighter. If you're shooting in aperture priority mode though, if the overall scene becomes brighter then you just get a faster shutter speed anyway. If it becomes darker then obviously your shutter speed will be slower, but don't underestimate the value of IS - it's a massive help in this situation and typically adds about two stops longer shutter speed to your usual 'safe rule of thumb', so as long as you're hand holding is built on good technique there shouldn't really be a big problem at all with this.

Also in my case the camera I have SX40 HS comes with two types of image stabilisation built in (not sure what) how does that effect it. I would say in the past most of shots have been out of focus, so now with this camera how do i know what to keep my min shutterspeed to for hand held shots, with all this image stabilisation and big zoom to take into consideration.

:) it will all sink in one day, but until then you can beat it into me with a big stick :)
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When you're assessing your shots you need to be able to differentiate between bad focusing and camera shake.

A badly focused image will usually appear unsharp at your intended point of sharp focus while other parts of the image may well appear sharp.

Camera shake will always produce a blurry image which is just unsharp everywhere.

Hope that helps - too tired for the big stick today. ;)
 
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Thanks CT, hopefully when i get out and start using the camera I will have a better understanding, but your guide and comments certainly help. You make a good point about poorly focused and camera shake, and I would probably say its about 50/50.

Thanks once again.
 
Thanks, very well written and easy to understand, just taking a bit of practice to fully understand the relationship and get the right balance for whatever I am shooting.

Done a lot of messing around in darker conditions so this really helped me with getting a decent result.
 
Something that even I can understand. Brilliant CT. When is the next instalment???
tel
 
Great lesson, Im just starting to grasp the whole exposure triangle.
 
wow, thank you for explaining this in Layman's terms, exactly how I need it.
This has helped me a lot,
cheers.
 
Thanks for the lesson. I'm fairly new to photography and this may help me get some better results 
 
This tutorial is really great. It gave me basic knowledge on how to understand my camera settings. A lot of info yet very understandable, specially coming from a newbie like me. Thanks a lot. Looking forward to more tutorials.
 
Must agree with the last few comments, easy to follow and explained in layman's terms. Now to move to Lesson 1 part 2 i thinks.

Thanks
 
Undoubtedly some stupid questions, but I'd appreciate if someone could help;

1. I realise that F-numbers are 'normalised' as opposed to lens specific. I.e. an F/2.8 on a 50mm lens allows the same amount of light onto the sensor as F/2.8 on a 200mm lens. You line up the F-number and the shutter speed for the perfect exposure, but I don't understand how changing light will have an effect.

From reading this I ascertain that in a certain lighting condition - if you had 10 different lenses you would line them all up the same way - in your example it's 1/125 and F/8.

What I don't understand is how you know what the setting was in different conditions. I.e. if lighting conditions were to change might you then line up 1/60 and F/8 instead?

Essentially what I'm asking is why 1/125 and F/8 have been lined up. Why not another combination. Does the camera tell you this with the light reading? How does it present the reading and how do you interpret it?

I realise ISO is another piece to the puzzle but as a complete beginner I want to get this down.

Many thanks in anticipation.
 
Thanks, I've read various explanations but this is without a doubt the clearest.
Going for 2 now
 
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