Noob with a mission and many questions!

[Daygoboiz]

Hi all,
Im a 2 days old owner to a nikon d5600 with 18-140mm lens. I have tested out many auto images and wanting to get into the Manual. Sometime I can get a decent image and mostly not. I have a 4 and a 2yrs old I would love to take pic for.
My questions are... are there basic guidelines or sticky of exposures as of aperture, iso and shutter speed to get the right pictures. And which setup is normally use for take picture of kids (freezing mode)? Any suggestions would be awesome. And ive been reading and watch videos forbweeks now thanks all.

 

[Designer]

Greetings, and welcome!

Is there any particular reason you feel the need to use manual mode?

In manual mode, you decide on what is the more critical setting, the shutter speed (to freeze movement) or aperture (to manipulate the depth of field). After you decide that, and make that setting, use the meter that lives inside the viewfinder to adjust the other variable. When the meter says you have a good exposure, release the shutter.

Additionally, a flash will also freeze motion, so you can start reading about using electronic flash.

 

[Tomasko]

Don't dive right into manual, start with aperture priority mode (if you need to control depth of field) or shutter priority mode (if freezing/blurring movement is what you're after). You probably wouldn't benefit much from manual at this stage. By fiddling with settings you could easily miss the shot.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Don't dive right into manual, start with aperture priority mode (if you need to control depth of field) or shutter priority mode (if freezing/blurring movement is what you're after). You probably wouldn't benefit much from manual at this stage. By fiddling with settings you could easily miss the shot.

Nothing wrong with going straight to manual. I didn't even use my auto mode once after buying my camera. I think actually learning the other modes to be better after learning manual, so you understand the concepts better.

As far as doing it, have you read your camera manual? That will answer a lot of your questions. Designer summed it up pretty well. Lower f stop = wider aperture = shallower depth of field (blurry background). Higher shutter speed freezes movement. It's just a matter of what your priority is and then balancing out the exposure triangle, including ISO.

Make sure your camera focus mode is in single-point focus, if it isn't already.

 

[vintagesnaps]

2 days??? Give yourself time to learn and practice. Young children on the move could be more of a challenge to photograph so learn how to use the camera first.

To freeze action you'd need a fast enough shutter speed to avoid blur, then adjust other settings from there. Probably if the kids are on the move you'd need a midrange or smaller aperture to get them in focus (unless you're doing a more close up shot where you could use a larger aperture to have the background less in focus).

 

[Thwarp]

Even though I'm a bit more than a noob but barely out of my noob diapers, my advice is take Tomasko's advice. No need to jump right in to M and miss great opportunities while you are tinkering. Develop yer eye first. Frame yer subject type of thing. The P mode will give you some outstanding quality pictures by just setting the quality to vivid. You won't miss many Kodak moments that way.

Then when you have time, you can tinker with the sweet bells and whistles of learning by taking the same picture in the yard over and over. Try first by staying in P and adjusting the auto exposer in the available increments to see how that effects photos. At zero my camera over exposes (in sunlight) so it's always set around -.7
Then play with the priority modes. Such as aperture and get the feel for depth of field. I still haven't gotten the instinct for this. It seems to come from the experience of dinking around at home, out and about, and experience.

It's been my experience so far that yer not going to master the hobby anytime soon. So relax, develop a good good eye for composing yer shots in P mode. you won't be disappointed with P mode and that lense (I have several and the same lense is my everyday lens). When you want to take time to learn, play in the yard by taking pictures of boring stuff you know that you won't keep just to familiarize yourself with the basic functions of the camera. There's a lot more there than P, S, A & M modes. The learning curve is somewhat steep. Take it slow.

Again, I'm just barely out of noob diapers, so take my advice accordingly.

 

[dennybeall]

I'm putting on my body armor ------- Ok, I'm properly garbed now.
I'd suggest you put the camera in AUTO to start. Take lots of photos of the kids and then start looking at the choices the camera makes. Then try putting the camera in P or Aperture Mode and try other modes and then try Manual once you see what happens with different settings. Do some things to learn more about how to use the equipment.

 

[SquarePeg]

My best advice is to read your users manual and pick up a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.


Another great resource is a companion guide for your specific camera model. For my Nikon 5100 I liked the From Snapshots to Great Shots book and for my 7100 I found Mastering the Nikon 7100 to be helpful. See what’s available for your model. Avoid the For Dummies books.

 

[benhasajeep]

Slow shutter shows movement in pictures.
Fast shutter stops motion.
Wide aperture (small numbers) has shallow depth of field (small area of sharp focus).
Closed aperture (large numbers) has larger depth of field (more in sharp focus).
Low ISO (used for well lit scenes)
High ISO (used for dimly lit scenes, when no flash is used / wanted).

Shutter, Aperture, and ISO form the exposure triangle. All 3 set properly combine to make a well exposed image. You adjust one, one or both the others have to change to compensate.

 

[dennybeall]

A possible scenario - Camera in Auto - take some photos - most are good then you get one you want to take but Auto won't work - You read about shutter speed priority so you change to that - OK, got that photo.
As you shoot you come up against shots you want to take but there is a problem so you learn. You learn and you progress as a photographer, not a camera operator.

 

[mcap1972]

I would try using A mode or P mode and experiment.

 

[Daygoboiz]

thanks for all the input im just gonna go around and do all kinds of shooting trials

 

[smoke665]

Lot of good advice given already on using your camera, not sure of your experience level in photography general, but I'll give you the same advice that was given to me some time back (and I go back a ways with photography). Get your hands on a copy of John Hedgecoe's books "How To Take A Great Photograph", and "The Art Of Digital Photography". These will really help get you started down the right path.