Making a decision on Shutter Speed/Aperture

boccers_2000

boccers_2000

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Andrew
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Hi Guys.

I'm new to photography and given this is the thread where you can ask just about anything (even really silly) here goes....

When you are setting up for a shot how do you normally go about choosing the right Aperture and Shutter Speed (ie once you decide what you want to shoot)?

My main interest is cities at night and landscapes during the day.

I know the main thing is getting the exposure right and the shutter speed can be adjusted if you want to freeze motion or have some blur say from traffic) and the aperture will need to be adjusted to maintain the exposure etc (or the ISO).

What i'm not sure about is what the initial setting should be (ie in this instance lets say shutter speed). I'd like to know what kind of speed you would suggest for the situations I have described.

I know i've rambled a little here and I know auto modes can choose these things for you but as guys/girls with experience, i'm just interetsed as to what shutter speeds/apertures you would use when shooting these kinds of things.

Any advice really apprciated.

p.s. apologies for the dense question.
 
With the situation you have suggested, you would base the shutter speed on what you are shooting and (assuming no tripod is used) what you can handle in terms of not having camera shake. Some people can't shoot under 1/60, some can't go below 1/30, totally depends what you are like holding the camera and if you have very steady hands.

With regards to aperture, it comes down to how much sharpness and focus you want in the image, if you are focussed on something specific, a lampost for example, the lower the F number the more blurred the background will be, equally the higher the number the more total focus you will have across the whole shot, not just the subject.

Hope that explains it to some degree?
 
There is no initial setting as such. Every scene is different, and every scene needs its own dedicated settings.

For a landscape during the day, you could say that you want a lot in focus, so you know you will want a pretty small aperture of f/11 or more. You'll want the best quality possible, so you'll start our ISO at 100 or 200 whatever the base level of the camera is.

For a night shot, the same applies, but you know to get a good exposure, youll need a longer shutter speed, but you also know that the camera will need to be rock solid. If it cant be, you'll have to raise your ISO until the shutter speed becomes fast enough to eliminate blur.
 
Thanks Guys, that's all really helpful.

I have a tripod and its really steady so shake really isnt an issue.

So, if you were getting a decent shot at say 1 second shutter speed and on the basis the camera was steady, why wouldnt you just go for a full 30 second speed? Presumably because you may overexpose?
 
The longer the shutter is open the more light falls on to the sensor, so yes you will over expose. Longer exposures can also introduce more noise.
 
boccers_2000 said:
Thanks Guys, that's all really helpful.

I have a tripod and its really steady so shake really isnt an issue.

So, if you were getting a decent shot at say 1 second shutter speed and on the basis the camera was steady, why wouldnt you just go for a full 30 second speed? Presumably because you may overexpose?
Click to expand...

Exactly, 30 seconds in sunlight will create a totally white image (over exposed) there are ways around this (ND filters) but you do not need to worry about these when getting to grips with the basics.
 
Generally speaking I aim for good exposure first, however, it depends on the style of photograph I'm aiming for.

I take a lot of shots in sub optimal conditions, lots of night shots, inside, bad light, bright lights etc. If depth of focus was an important aspect of the photo I wanted to take then I would set that first, then adjust shutter speed/iso and aperture as required to gain appropriate exposure as close to what I wanted as possible. Likewise if shutter speed was a key concern then that would be my priority and the other variables could be worked around that.

The easiest way would be to set your camera to Shutter priority or Aperture priority as required, but I prefer manual as it has given me a greater understanding as to what does what and how it affects the end picture.
 
boccers_2000 said:
Hi Guys.

I'm new to photography and given this is the thread where you can ask just about anything (even really silly) here goes....

When you are setting up for a shot how do you normally go about choosing the right Aperture and Shutter Speed (ie once you decide what you want to shoot)?

My main interest is cities at night and landscapes during the day.

I know the main thing is getting the exposure right and the shutter speed can be adjusted if you want to freeze motion or have some blur say from traffic) and the aperture will need to be adjusted to maintain the exposure etc (or the ISO).

What i'm not sure about is what the initial setting should be (ie in this instance lets say shutter speed). I'd like to know what kind of speed you would suggest for the situations I have described.

I know i've rambled a little here and I know auto modes can choose these things for you but as guys/girls with experience, i'm just interetsed as to what shutter speeds/apertures you would use when shooting these kinds of things.

Any advice really apprciated.

p.s. apologies for the dense question.
Click to expand...

Depends on the camera also, as the more modern ones are really capable of quite high ISO without introducing much camera noise, i.e. 1600 ISO is fairly printable with modern cameras, such as the excellent nikon d7000 can even get away with ISO 3200 and pretty sharp too, landscapes mostly neeed to be tack sharp across the board, f/8 or f/11 is a real good start to have both foreground and background in pure focus which is the idea and a wide angle lens is a must too for landscapes, and city photography a wide angle would also suit..shutter speed generally you double depending on what length of lens you're shooting at the time. i.e. a typical wide angle is say 12-24mm, so if you're shooting at 24mm then you would need at least need a shutter speed of 1/50 sec, which for hand held shooting is as low as you should probably go, hope this helps, i'm no pro but have a little knowledge...:)
 
Thanks chaps, all duly noted.

I suppose the morale of the story is know the basics and just get out there an experiment. There is simply no substitute for taking pictures, lots of them and sitting down to do some post production and working through them until the perfect shot appears!
 
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