stupid question
- Thread starter jc450d
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- David
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I answer your question with a stupider one, are we talking the auto ones (sport portrait ect) or the manual ones (Tv, Av ect)
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- Andrew
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why not put it in auto take some snaps and see what settings the camera used to expose the picture, or post examples of the pictures and the settings used
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The simple answer is don't use the creative modes, stick the camera in TV (or Sat or Vid or whatever other silly names Canon use for A,S and M
) and play around with the settings, making a note of the differing results.OK - firstly there's a section at the beginning of the user-manual that came with your camera entitled 'how to take a photo'.
Even my Professional-spec Nikon D3x manual has this section. There, it describes simply and in meticulous detail how to make images in each of the modes your camera can be set to record in. There's no assumption of prior knowledge at all...
In the camera's viewfinder there will be some form of indicator telling you when the scene in front of you is exposed correctly - deviating too far beyond that 'optimum' exposure will result in images that are too light or too dark. Though what the camera's meter 'thinks' is correct, may not be to your taste or style and only experimentation will tell you what your ideals are.
Shutter speeds that are too slow result in blurred images, so look at what settings you're using - a basic rule of thumb is to set shutter speeds that are the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens you're using - so for a 50mm lens, use 60th sec; for a 100mm lens use 125th sec and so on.
With practice you can disregard that to a certain extent, but to start with, it's a good rule to self impose.
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- Richard
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It sounds like you are trying to shoot in a) low light, and b) artificial light. If you post a picture with all the technical details on the Exif data (shutter speed, f/number, ISO will do) everything will be obvious.
All the camera can do is suggest settings that it thinks will give correct exposure. It will further moderate them in some modes for what it thinks might suit the subject, or to avoid obvious pitfalls, but it is far from infalible. That's where you come in.
In particular, in low light you are very likely to run into longer shutter speeds. Anything longer than the focal length reciprocal that Arkady mentioned above, say longer than 1/30sec perhaps in a typical situation, will result in blur due to movement of the camera (camera shake). You must use flash or a tripod.
Artifical light often results in some relatively light and dark areas in the same picture, not to mention unusual colour casts, unlike daylight which tends to spread more evenly across the scene. Cameras have trouble with that, which is why you have +/- exposure compensation controls. Sometimes the range of tones in a picture is too extreme for the sensor to handle, in which case you can never get everything perfect and you have to choose which areas are important.
The other thing is focus and again typical situations indoors in low light tend to me more problematic for AF systems.
It's not so much a question of trial and error. More a bit of learning and practise, then a bit more learning and some more practise. The basics are pretty easy TBH
All the camera can do is suggest settings that it thinks will give correct exposure. It will further moderate them in some modes for what it thinks might suit the subject, or to avoid obvious pitfalls, but it is far from infalible. That's where you come in.
In particular, in low light you are very likely to run into longer shutter speeds. Anything longer than the focal length reciprocal that Arkady mentioned above, say longer than 1/30sec perhaps in a typical situation, will result in blur due to movement of the camera (camera shake). You must use flash or a tripod.
Artifical light often results in some relatively light and dark areas in the same picture, not to mention unusual colour casts, unlike daylight which tends to spread more evenly across the scene. Cameras have trouble with that, which is why you have +/- exposure compensation controls. Sometimes the range of tones in a picture is too extreme for the sensor to handle, in which case you can never get everything perfect and you have to choose which areas are important.
The other thing is focus and again typical situations indoors in low light tend to me more problematic for AF systems.
It's not so much a question of trial and error. More a bit of learning and practise, then a bit more learning and some more practise. The basics are pretty easy TBH
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- Mark
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When i first started out i shot in "P" program mode...
This is automatic for aperture/shutter but lets you alter white balance, ISO etc...
As said before take note of shutter/aperture speeds in different situations...
I studied this for the basics...
Foundation in digital photography
This is automatic for aperture/shutter but lets you alter white balance, ISO etc...
As said before take note of shutter/aperture speeds in different situations...
I studied this for the basics...
Foundation in digital photography
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- Simon
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Although some people may prefer to take note of shutter/aperture speeds etc. Most SLRs add some extra information to the image called Exif. Just right click one of your images taken with your 450D, properties, summary, advanced.