Antique Secretary Desk, C&C please

[pauliec]

This was my first experiment on shutter priority mode. I slowed it all the way down to 8 seconds, and the result was f/25 and an ISO speed of 800. It looked a little "overcooked", so I adjusted the levels slightly on my computer.

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Tell me what you think, and please don't hold back.

 

[Big Mike]

I'm wondering why you would choose an 8 second exposure for these types of shots :scratch:

Since your subject is not moving (and I'm guessing the camera was on a tripod), any shutter speed will do, as long as the other settings are adjusted for the exposure.
For something like this, my first concern would be Depth of Field, which is controlled mostly by aperture. So I would choose an aperture that gives me the DOF that I want. I would then use the lowest ISO and let the shutter speed fall where it may. (aperture priority mode).

 

[chrisburke]

cant say i really like these shots... they are all framed very oddly.. and like mike said, why an 8 second exposure, doesnt make much sense

 

[pauliec]

I'm wondering why you would choose an 8 second exposure for these types of shots :scratch:

Since your subject is not moving (and I'm guessing the camera was on a tripod), any shutter speed will do, as long as the other settings are adjusted for the exposure.
For something like this, my first concern would be Depth of Field, which is controlled mostly by aperture. So I would choose an aperture that gives me the DOF that I want. I would then use the lowest ISO and let the shutter speed fall where it may. (aperture priority mode).

Thanks for the feedback. Why use the lowest ISO? The room was very dimly lit.

The 8 second exposure was really just an experiment to see how it would turn out, and how the aperture would be decided.

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks for the feedback. Why use the lowest ISO? The room was very dimly lit.

My (and most people's) rule of thumb for ISO is to always use the lowest possible ISO unless you need to increase it for a reason. One good reason would be to get a faster shutter speed in order to freeze camera or subject movement. In your case, neither the camera nor the subject are moving....so increasing the ISO doesn't do anything for you....it actually gives you more digital noise (which we usually want to avoid).

The reason people use a higher ISO in dimly lit rooms...is so that they can get faster shutter speeds, which they need because they are shooting hand held, and want to avoid blur from camera shake. If you are on a tripod, camera shake is not an issue so don't need to raise the ISO.

Also, most lenses perform best at around F8...and usually have some problems when used wide open or at very small apertures. Shooting at F25 probably hurts your image quality and you don't really need that small of an aperture for these shots, as everything would probably still be in focus at F11 or F16.

 

[pauliec]

My (and most people's) rule of thumb for ISO is to always use the lowest possible ISO unless you need to increase it for a reason. One good reason would be to get a faster shutter speed in order to freeze camera or subject movement. In your case, neither the camera nor the subject are moving....so increasing the ISO doesn't do anything for you....it actually gives you more digital noise (which we usually want to avoid).

The reason people use a higher ISO in dimly lit rooms...is so that they can get faster shutter speeds, which they need because they are shooting hand held, and want to avoid blur from camera shake. If you are on a tripod, camera shake is not an issue so don't need to raise the ISO.

Also, most lenses perform best at around F8...and usually have some problems when used wide open or at very small apertures. Shooting at F25 probably hurts your image quality and you don't really need that small of an aperture for these shots, as everything would probably still be in focus at F11 or F16.

hmm... good info, thanks. I have a long way to go, obviously

 

[Big Mike]

It's still good to experiment, so we can't fault you for that.

 

[bigtwinky]

When I got my camera last August, I did many many similar experiments trying to learn and see different things on my own.

No fault at all in trying things out, its was learning is about

 

[mrodgers]

It's still good to experiment, so we can't fault you for that.

Indeed. I think the experiment worked perfectly. The OP posted photos of the experiment and received excellent info in return to help in the learning process