I just started photography and have a problem

[passerby]

I just tested right now in the computer room relying on bright light bulb. I point the camera to light bulb with ISO 200 and the meter registered SS 1/500 at f5.6. When shoot the light bulb the result is not bright enough as I see it with my eyes. I dropped down the SS click by click until the reasonable result was at 1/50 of a second.Than with the same setting I shoot the white colour fan, it was nothing in the frame. Than I dropped the SS to 1/10 of a second, the fan clearly visible but not as I see it with my eyes.Still with 1/10 of a second f5.6 I raised the ISO to 1600, and now the object was very clear in the frame, not over exposed, but more than what my eyes see it.

 

[CanAm]

Just keep messing around with it. You'll learn how to mix and match your ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed to get the perfect shot just as you see it.

I recommend going outside and taking pictures of stuff in the sunlight to get the hang of it.

 

[JIP]

I have a very simple solution to your problem why don't you just do what you camera's meter says. When in Manual mode you can physically set the aperture and shutter to whatever settings you want but you need to pay atention to the meter or you will get nothing but black. You are able to vary one way or another from what your meter says to emphasize certain areas in your image or just to get a certain effect but again whatever mode you are in you need to use the meter as a guideline. I am not sure what it looks like in the D40 but basically when you look in the viewfinder you will see somthing like this

-l.....1....0....1....l+​

You will see a line wavering between the numbers what you want to do is get that line as close to the zero as you possibly can the zero is the proper exposure for whatever the camera is mtering off. Now there is a good bit of reasons why you can waver from the center but you need to find that out for yourself lesson 1 is over.

 

[Socrates]

I have a very simple solution to your problem why don't you just do what you camera's meter says. When in Manual mode you can physically set the aperture and shutter to whatever settings you want but you need to pay atention to the meter or you will get nothing but black. You are able to vary one way or another from what your meter says to emphasize certain areas in your image or just to get a certain effect but again whatever mode you are in you need to use the meter as a guideline. I am not sure what it looks like in the D40 but basically when you look in the viewfinder you will see somthing like this

-l.....1....0....1....l+​

You will see a line wavering between the numbers what you want to do is get that line as close to the zero as you possibly can the zero is the proper exposure for whatever the camera is mtering off. Now there is a good bit of reasons why you can waver from the center but you need to find that out for yourself lesson 1 is over.

Yep. Learn the rules and learn them well before you break them!

 

[dragnknite]

I could have made my problem much more clear if I would have known how to describe that meter, but now that you have done it, I can describe my problem more accuratley: On that meter, indoors i have to go all the way down tom 1/5s and 200 iso to get it to zero, outside the highest I can go without it going past zero is 400. I have the apertaure at its Lowest # setting, or as wide as it can be opened.

If it has a shutter speed of 1/4000s at top notch, why is it only able to go to 1/400?

I think LaFoto is right aout something being wrong, but if any of you know if I'm doing something wrong, itd be great!

All comments still GREATLY appreciated

 

[Tasmaster]

If it has a shutter speed of 1/4000s at top notch, why is it only able to go to 1/400?

Because there isn't enough light. You gan tell it to go past 1/400, but the pictures will begin to be dark. You can set you camera to 1/4000, iso 100 and f/36, but this won't let the sensor record any light at all unless you point it at the sun.

You really need to sit down and read a few things about exposure and how your camera works. It will really really help you figure out what is going on.

 

[dragnknite]

I have read,googled,wikid, etc everything i could find on exposure and shutter speed before i came here,I knew the answer to that one, it was more of a rhetorical question like "If we all die, why do we bother living"

Also, as I said earlier, inside i have to take the SS down to 1/5s if i dont want to use flash, and outside i can only max out at 400 or the photo will begin to darken.

Like I said earlier, I want to capture Humming bird shots, which requires somewhere around 1/2000s from what I have heard! Outside, pointing into the sky at 8:30 am at 1/2000s I get a VERY dark photo, Pointing somewhere else other then the sky I get a black photo.

I cannot see ANY amount of light being sufficient if at half of its power, pointing to the sky, it still is a dark photo.

 

[JIP]

But you are still not getting the point. Just arbitrarily pointing your camera at the sky and setting a shutter speed ISO combo without reading the meter does nothing. A shutter speed of 1/2000 is quite fast and you will need alot of light through a VERY wide aperture and/or a fast lens to do this. No matter how many times you try to do this your way there are rules and if the rules are not followed you will not be successfull. Why don't you try setting the camera on P and shooting the hummers first and then venture into S wich means shutter priority meaning you set the shutter speed and the camera sets the appropriate aperture but again you NEED to read the meter if your lens is not fast enough to do this you just ain't gonna do it no matter how hard you try. I am starting to get the feeling that you might be a little bit of troll and trying to get a rise out of people because otherwise why would you get all this good advice and keep asking the same question over and over again. As much as you might want it to be not all of photography is super-simple especially if you ignore what the camera is trying to tell you to do.

 

[Tasmaster]

I take it you have read this then: http://www.dyesscreek.com/miscellaneous_pages/hummingbird_photography.html

half of its power

I don't think you understand exposure and cameras at all. This is not a bad thing, we all started like that and there is lot to learn. You just need to work out the technical aspects and get more experience in order to get the results that you want. In other words, read on it, take lots of pictures, experiment.

 

[JerryPH]

I sincerely think it is nothing more than inexperience.

If your meter is telling you that the exposure is right, what are you using to judge? I hope its not the LCD on the back of the camera, becuase its not there to be a source of such info. Use the histogram or your computer monitor (which will still be off, until it is calibrated, but at least its more reliable than the camera LCD).

You may think that your camera can "see" the same as your eyes, and thats just not true.

If you are not using the meter, no amount of playing will get you even close to a good picture.

 

[dragnknite]

JIP-I dont think you understrand either, I AM reading the meter, did you read my post? This is what it said: "On that meter, indoors i have to go all the way down tom 1/5s and 200 iso to get it to zero, outside the highest I can go without it going past zero is 400. I have the apertaure at its Lowest # setting, or as wide as it can be opened." The Lowest aperture I can get it to is 5.6. Also, I am not arrogant, I don't sit here and think "I'm going to ignore the equation of aperture, Shutter speed, etc just becaue I want to" I would appreciate it if you didnt treat me that way. Also, I have tried different modes (IE: S and A) You mentioned something about my lense not being fast enough, could you please explain this in more detail?

On the troll comment, I am taking this advice, coming back after testing it, and reporting what has happened after still being left with the problem, I havent went out and bought a book if thats what you mean, but every piece of advice that can be done from home I have taken and used. This is my first delve into photography, Ive always liked it, but never gotten into it, so forgive my lack of experience but I am not trying to get a rise out of anyone, I am polite to everyone who is the same to me, I thanked you for describing that meter, I couldnt put it into words, and the thought of drawing it with the keyboard never crossed my mind and now you are being aggressive, for lack of a better word, towards me. (At least that is what I read from your second post)

And again, I am not arrogant, and I dont appreciate you treating me that way nor am I ignoing what the camera is telling me, I am here asking how to manipulate that meter, not here asking how to bypass it.


Tasmaster- I see what you are saying, and I am new to this, so I am trying to tinker around to get it right...it just doesnt seem to be working...Also thank you for that wonderful link, I am going to read that now

Jerry-My meter is NOT telling me that the exposure is right, I have to take the SS down to very low levels (1/5s) for it to tell me the exposure is right, thats why I am wondering if the camera iis broken. So I AM using the meter.

 

[JerryPH]

"On that meter, indoors i have to go all the way down tom 1/5s and 200 iso to get it to zero, outside the highest I can go without it going past zero is 400. I have the apertaure at its Lowest # setting, or as wide as it can be opened." The Lowest aperture I can get it to is 5.6.

Seriously... that all sounds realtively normal.

Why don't you try an experiment? Put the camera into P mode (auto), LOOK at the settings it uses to take various pictures and make sure that they look good... then simulate them in manual mode. The results should be near identical. If not, your camera has issues, if the results are the same, the problem is about 12 inches behind the lens... lol

 

[Mav]

1/80s at f/5 and iso100 comes out to about EV11. That's equivalent to a medium bright overcast day, only you were shooting that indoors and at night. Even directly at a lightbulb is not going to get you up to EV11 for the proper exposure, and you're probably on matrix metering which is trying to balance the whole scene. So now you say that you need to drop it all the way down to 1/5s to get a good indoor exposure? 1/5s and f/5 and iso200 comes out to about EV6, which is a fairly well lit indoor area at night! My household indoor lighting is about EV5, and if I leave my camera parked at iso200 and f/5, then a shutter speed of about 1/5s is about what I'm going to get. So it sounds like your camera is working fine to me. Of course you're gonna have a SLOW shutter speed. The light is dim, the default lens is slow, and you have your camera's sensitivity turned all the way down. Normally in EV5/6 light I'm using a fast f/2 or better lens, iso800 or 1600, and a shutter speed of between 1/60s to 1/125s which is quick enough to freeze the motion of my 11 month old daughter. Or I can use a FLASH and the camera will work with just about any setting I put in with the limitation being having enough flash power. Why did your photos miraculously look OK when using a flash? Because the exposure system then had an element of control that you weren't messing up and was able to work around your bad settings with the flash power, which wasn't under your control.

I wasn't trying to be harsh before, but it was pretty clear that you didn't understand why using a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture were making your photos go dark all while leaving iso parked at the base 100 indoors at night, which tells me you don't understand the basics of exposure, and that you didn't know how to read your camera's meter, and yet you're in FULL MANUAL mode. You may have read some stuff online and you may have read your camera's manual, but that's no substitute for real experience. You MUST know what you're doing to be using full manual mode, and most people who are brand new to photography don't. I bet if you put the camera on full Green icon automatic mode it'll work fine, and I doubt the camera is defective. This is why I said to read your camera's manual, and consider picking up that book.

I'm sorry for not sugar-coating my original post, but stop blaming the camera. It seems to be working fine based on what you're saying. You're just not understanding why it's doing what it's doing, and for that you need to do some more reading (like that book) and get a little more experience before you jack your DSLR into full manual mode. And the reason people all recommend that book is because it goes into great detail, is easily understood, very cheap, and so there's really no point in anybody here trying to reinvent the wheel.

If you don't want to buy a book, I find this thread to be excellent: Canon DSLRs and Lenses 101

 

[Stranger]

I think when you read up on all this stuff you took it in about as well as i did the info for my test today.

When your camera gives you 1/4000 of a second, it doesn't necessitate that you will need to use it. Just like buying a car that can go 220mph. It's a good max, but no "ordinary" person will ever use it.

When making the correct exposure, its not about fastest shutter speed or biggest aperture, it's about getting it right. If the point of the shot is to get a shallow DOF, you open up the aperture (f/2.8 or however low you can go) and this will force you to speed up the shutter speed. Why? because when the lens is open so wide (the aperture) it allows maximum light to reach your sensor. Now if the lens is wide open allowing a lot of light, and you let your shutter stay open for 1/10 (which allows your sensor to receive light for this long) of a second, you will have WAY too much light and produce an overexposed photo. Same goes with the opposite. If you close the lens (shoot at say f/22) which will not allow much light in, and then shoot at a shutter speed at say 1/1000 (which is also allowing minimal light in), you get what is happening in your house, an underexposed photo. These are both extremes but you should get the idea.

So really, your job is to find the balance. Be it f/2.8 at 1/600 or f/22 at 1/50 or even f/11 at 1/320. It will all depend on how much light you have to work with.

This is why we all recommend Understanding Exposure because it goes into great detail about this stuff and gives a lot of examples of tricks on getting this right.

oh, and really the only part you should have taken with a grain of salt was the insults thrown in at the end. The rest was legit information

 

[LaFoto]

Now that there is daylight even over in the States, I still suggest you take row shots of one and the same thing now, outdoors, with different settings. First, go from total overexposure via normal exposure to underexposure, always just changing the SS, not the aperture. Then decide on the best SS you could get, and stay with the motif, but now go change the apertures. The smaller it is, the darker your photo will be, which you will expect. Of course. You know all these matters. Leave the ISO at its lowest.

Then, in a last step (still with the very same motif), set for one ideal SS and a middle aperture, and start changing through the ISO settings. The photos should eventually get overexposed.

Another thing you could do is go on Automatic, point the camera here there everywhere, and see what the camera WOULD give you automatically. Since it is all digital, you might even want to do the "click" and compare the data later in your computer.

Come to think of it, a SS of 1/5 sec. in a normally lit room (at night) with lamp light and ISO 200 sounds quite normal to me. I would not expect anything faster, with an aperture of ... what is your maximum aperture again with the lens you use? It's written inside the ring, and usually starts with 1: and two numbers (in the case of zoom lenses), the lower number for when it is in its extreme settings (widest angle, longest lens), the other for the middle settings. But I am sure this is not news to you, either. And still: with my kit lens, in a normally lit room (lamp light), at - let's say f4 and ISO 200, I would have to expose for at least 1/5 second, I should think.

But let me take a look at some data of (not show-worthy!!) photos of Christmas lights I took to see what settings I chose in the end by macro-zooming right into one of those little lights. Hang on.