New to photography

garethf

garethf

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gareth fox
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Hi guys,
After the weekend of playing with my new nikon d3000 ive had some nice shots and some not so nice ones.

My question is, that is there anywhere online i can go to get some basic setup info for differnet shoots, like pet portraits, close ups and landscape shots.
With info i mean what are the settings that work best for the different pictures that i want to take. Settings like which aperture,shutter speeds and iso settings that work best for a portrait of a pet for example.

What i want to do is while im still learning the different settings i want to have a peice of card laminated in my kit bag with all the different starting point settings for different shots as a quick guide until i have them stuck in my head so i can do it there and then without having to think some much about the setting and maybe loose that one chance of a good picture.

Thanks guys i hope ive explained enough in what i want to do

Thanks
Gareth
 
There are many online guides (and several on this forum, check the Tutorials section) that explain ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.

A very basic, and very simplistic way to start would be to put ISO on Auto (one less thing to worry about for now, but you should take control of this soon) and then..
  • If it moves, use shutter speed priority (Tv mode on a Canon, Nikon may use a different abbreviation);
  • If it doesn't, use aperture priority (Av mode on a Canon, Nikon may use a different abbreviation).
But then you need to have an idea how aperture and shutter speed affect the image (hence reading the tutorials online).

For portraits, a large aperture (remember that aperture is a fraction, so f/5.6 is larger than f/11) gets the out-of-focus background. With a kit lens f/5.6 is as good a place to start as any.

For landscapes, using a smaller aperture gets more of the image into focus. About f/16 should be enough for a landscape using a wide-angle lens. You might need to go to f/22 if your lens isn't all that wide and you want to get everything in focus, but try and keep to f/16 or larger when possible. Focus about a third of the way into the scene (read the tutorials to understand why).

With anything moving, keep the shutter speed faster than the reciprocal of the focal length. So if your lens is at 85mm you want to be 1/100 or faster, if it was at 200mm you'd want to be at 1/250 or faster. I'm missing out a chunk of explanation here that you can find in the tutorials.

Fast shutter speeds will freeze the action, which can make some subjects (particularly sports cars) look like they're not moving at all. Using a slower shutter speed and panning (following the subject) takes a lot of practice (you will not get it reliably right for the first few hundred) attempts) gives a better indication if movement.


It is impossible to give a list of complete settings as a takeaway menu to choose from, as light levels vary from locatioon to location and with time. There's no substitute for taking the time to learn how exposures works.. unless you're happy to just drop the camera into the preprogrammed scene modes.
 
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RE: the laminate thing. You dont need it, your camera has it already in form.

The program modes are a very rough starting point for particular subjects.

Say you want to shoot a portrait, in theory, the portrait mode should use a fairly wide aperture, a low ISO and a shutter speed to suit. Then if you shoot a landscape, it should close the aperture down to f/11-f/16 and give a shutter speed to suit.

Have a look when shooting different things and see what the camera gives you. After a while, you'll notice a pattern and things will start to click.

As Alastair said, no-one can tell you "for landscape it must be f/16, ISO 200 at 1/30" Because its dependant on so many factors, The time of day, the light, the weather, the scene, the picture you are trying to create (freeze movement, allow movement etc).

Learn the basics of Aperture, exposure and ISO, and you'll soon know what ballpark to be in.
 
TCR4x4 said:
RE: the laminate thing. You dont need it, your camera has it already in form.

The program modes are a very rough starting point for particular subjects.

Say you want to shoot a portrait, in theory, the portrait mode should use a fairly wide aperture, a low ISO and a shutter speed to suit. Then if you shoot a landscape, it should close the aperture down to f/11-f/16 and give a shutter speed to suit.

Have a look when shooting different things and see what the camera gives you. After a while, you'll notice a pattern and things will start to click.

As Alastair said, no-one can tell you "for landscape it must be f/16, ISO 200 at 1/30" Because its dependant on so many factors, The time of day, the light, the weather, the scene, the picture you are trying to create (freeze movement, allow movement etc).

Learn the basics of Aperture, exposure and ISO, and you'll soon know what ballpark to be in.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate,
That idea sounds like a plan to me, thanks for the tip i wasnt expecting a list of any kind just an idea to start me of at as i understand it wouldnt be the case of id must use the same settings every time i do the shots it was just so i had an idea on what would be good settings to start at.

Thanks again
Gareth
 
Just stick around here, and use the search function for anything that occurs to you, it's all here somewhere.

Also, for a complete noob (like me), there's a book called the D3000 Digital Field Guide that I've found really helpful. It starts off like an in-depth manual, progresses through composition and specific techniques, lighting etc, then has example shots with expanations of how they were taken, settings used etc... all specific to your camera. It's not dear, it's on Amazon, and It's small enough to take out with you. I've found it an excellent reference myself.
 
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