man this is hard...

[upper]

i just got my camera and man is it harder than a p&s camera...

here's like couple of shot that i took so far.

this is the first time i've ever held a dslr.... any advice will be very useful... and i read that if you use less ISO they'll be less noise, but when i did that the picture is dark, then i tried doing lower shutter speed and this makes it darker too!!! so the only picture that looks good that i take is the one i take outdoor in the sun. and i also dont know what the F5.0 or those things are... can you explain to me please.


i got a Rebel XSI with kit lens(18-55mm IS)

 

[deudeu]

Where to start?

the f. numbers on your camera refer to how open your lens is to light. The smaller the number, the bigger the opening. So when you takes pictures in low light, you want your f number to be as small as possible.
Also, be aware that the aperture affects the depth of field. A large aperture (small number) will have a shallower depth of field than a small aperture (large number).

A good way to learn would be to set your camera in Aperture priority and see what happens when you change it.

 

[upper]

oh... so that's why.. thanks.

 

[Computer_Generated]

Hey Upper, congrats on your new camera!!! It's exciting to get such a powerful toy to play with To be honest I would be doing a lot of reading - the manuals are usually REALLY great to start out with. The F5.0 things is the shutter opening. It lets you choose how much light comes into the camera.

I personally start with some of the auto settings first and move up slowly with the TV and AV settings. Itll let you try your hand at shutter and apature configurations.

 

[upper]

if i want to take a picture of somebody indoor. how do i make it so that they're the only focus and the background is blurred.

 

[Computer_Generated]

Guess the short answer is a small Fstop... having them step futher from the background will help and a long lens might do a bit for ya too

 

[icassell]

Here's a great place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215387579&sr=8-1


I love insect-eating plants and enjoyed your images.

What lens are you using? Remember that 'available light' photography is just that -- and you need enough available light. That gets hard with macro images if you want to preserve depth of field.

If you look at EV (exposure value http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value), to get the same effect you can use many combinations of f-stop and shutter speed. As you increase your f-stop (decreasing the amount of light that enters the camera and increasing your depth of field), you need to slow your shutter down to allow more light in. As your shutter slows down, you will get more blur from motion of the camera or of a moving subject (remember that even a little breeze can move your subject and your hand shaking can move the camera).

To compensate for low light if your lens does not have a very large aperture (smallest f-stop number), you can increase your ISO. The effect of this is to increase noise in your image (like increasing ASA in the old film days).

You don't get something for nothing -- everything is a trade-off. Having a lens that is very fast (small f-stop number --- large aperture) makes the lens bigger and heavier (and expensive).

Have fun playing -- you'll get it!

 

[RyanLilly]

Do a quick google search for aperture and "Depth of Field." you should find a bunch of good articles on the subject.

 

[upper]

i got the kit lens 15-55 IS

 

[icassell]

That's nice macro work from the kit lens.

 

[Village Idiot]

With your camera you should be able to get photos at ISO 800 with not a lot of noise, as long as they're exposed properly.

Best thing to do though is read up about how everything works together. I've never read it, but I hear understanding exposure is a good read for beginners. I may pick it up myself one day to see what's in it.

 

[hsmom]

I just bought the same camera. Get the book Understanding Exposure, read it & do the exercises. You will learn a lot as you go.

Congratulations!!

 

[Dao]

Take a look at this

http://images.photoworkshop.com/rebelxtlessons/interface.html


Chapter 5 talks about Aperture and F-stop. If you do not know much. I will say read them all. Even if this is for Rebel XT, but it should works for yours.

 

[icassell]

With your camera you should be able to get photos at ISO 800 with not a lot of noise, as long as they're exposed properly.

Even if they're exposed properly, you will get more noise at ISO 800 than you do at 400 and more at 400 than at 100. This becomes a matter of what amount of noise is acceptable to you.

 

[rufus5150]

And if it's anything like the XTi, you'll get more noise at 800 than at 1600.

I have found I can shots at 400 and 1600 with the XSi's predecessor with less noise to deal with if I use the 'expose right' technique and actually overexpose just a bit (and correct it in post). 800 is so bad I won't shoot in it, ever.