Another noob with a DSLR..looking to learn auto photography

ianbword · Dec 26, 2014

Been taking pics my whole life with phones and cheap point and shoots. Finally treated myself and picked up a Canon T5. It came with two lenses 18-55mm and 75-300. I know I should have spent more and gotten the T5I but money was tight. Been watching lots of tutorials to learn all the manual settings. Still have to pick up a tripod tomorrow and lens hood. My main area of interest has always been auto photography. I would to love to learn how to take night shots of vehicles properly with the blurs of the cars lights.

I just upgraded my Google storage to 100 gbs for now, i'll most likely bite the bullet and do 1 TB eventually. Also have a Flickr account but I would prefer something that can store RAWs. Not to mention its much easier and convenient to drag and drop out of a folder. I am eyeballing Lightroom at the moment and might get it over the weekend. However I currently don't have any good powerful computers of my own. I do possess a work laptop that has a I7 and 4 gbs so I might use that for the time being if its strong enough. Hopefully the license is transferable for Lightroom once I get a laptop of my own.

Anyways if its nice out over the weekend ill be grabbing shots. I look forward to talking to you guys and learning.

-Any recommendations on what setting to start with would be great. Manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, Program, ect?
-Anything else I might need that's cheap asides from a tripod, hood, lens cleaner?

Thanks!
Ian

pgriz · Dec 26, 2014

Asking what settings to use, is like asking what temperature you should set your oven to, and for how long. The answer in both cases (camera or oven) is the same - it depends.

In photography, the four variables are focal length, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Non-camera characteristics are focusing distance, amount and type of light available, your motion, and your subject's motion.

ISO dictates the degree the camera is sensitive to light, but at higher ISO values, you have an increase in noise (this is very camera-dependent).
Depth-of-field is determined by focal length, aperture, and focusing distance.
Field of view is set by focal length (and the sensor size, but let's keep it simple by thinking only of your camera)..
Sharpness is affected by shutter speed, your motion, the subject motion, the aperture you've chosen, and the focal length.
White balance depends on the colour of light, and whether the light sources are mixed, or reflected off coloured surfaces.

The modes give you various levels of control over the characteristics above. Auto gives the camera most of the control. Program gives you a bit more control. Aperture priority allows you to control the aperture (and consequent depth-of-field). Shutter priority gives you control over a specific shutter speed, which affects the degree of blur or freezing effect you get. Manual gives you all the control.

The setting you want are intimately tied to the amount (and type) of light you have to work with, the speed and distance of your subject, and the intended placement of the zone of focus and areas of blur. For your stated chosen subject (autos at nigh, with blurs of headlights), the first choice will be the focal length, depending on how close or far you are from the car and whether it is moving or not. Then you have to decide how much depth of field you want (which is determined by aperture), which in turn constrains the shutter speeds you can use. If the shutter speed is too low (for hand-held shooting), then you need to increase the ISO. If the resulting picture is too "noisy", then you need to increase the amount of light (using speedlights or strobes), or stabilize your camera on a tripod, while reducing the ISO to a better value.

All this to say, the tool's settings are dependent on what you're trying to do under the conditions. Which is not particularly helpful. What will be useful is if you have a specific set of conditions, tell us what result you're envisaging, post an image you've taken, and then we can help you figure out what you've done right or wrong, and how to improve.

Woodsman · Dec 26, 2014

Welcome and enjoy the new equipment. Take the time to explore and learn each of the primary settings already mentioned. . At the end of the day its not the camera that makes the difference between a quick snapshot and a photograph that will give you years of memories. You do that through your vision of the subject and your composition. Use the camera as a tool to capture how you want that vision captured. The settings just help you capture that vision in different ways depending on what you want from the shot. Most of all have fun and take photos to please yourself first.

Designer · Dec 26, 2014

ianbword said:
-Any recommendations on what setting to start with would be great. Manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, Program, ect?
-Anything else I might need that's cheap asides from a tripod, hood, lens cleaner?

Welcome, Ian!

For starting to learn your camera, go ahead and use "auto". Be sure to read your manual. When you see what the camera can do on "auto", try using shutter priority and aperture priority. These modes are still using the camera's built-in firmware to make adjustments to the other controls.

Eventually you will want to try manual wherein you set all variables.

In addition to the things you mentioned, you should get a speedlight. There are some third-party speedlights that cost less than a Canon.

Look at (really study) photographs of cars and pay particular attention to how they are composed and lighted. Try to copy the good ones.