Apeture/Shutter speed settings

[Pistols and Pearls]

When do I use a high aperture (EX: f/1.4) and how do I know what to set me Shutter Speed to? Thanks for all the help! And I hate to sound stupid, but can you dumb it down for me. I am trying to learn and all this can get overwhelming

 

[Dominantly]

Read this

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...9084-exposure-your-photographic-triangle.html

 

[CapM]

When do I use a high aperture (EX: f/1.4) and how do I know what to set me Shutter Speed to? Thanks for all the help! And I hate to sound stupid, but can you dumb it down for me. I am trying to learn and all this can get overwhelming

Get Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure a.s.a.p. Great read for a newbie, lots of examples. All will be revealed!

 

[Boomn4x4]

Apreture controls the depth of field, or how much of the picture is in focus. A low number, wide aperture, will cause less of the image to be in focus. This is used to seperate your subject from the background or foreground.

Shutter speed freezes motion. The faster the shutter speed, the more motion is frozen.

Both shutter speed and aperture work together to acheive a proper exposure. Any picture needs just the right amount of light to expose an image, so there needs to be a balance between the two. If you open your aperture to let in more light, you must also speed up your shutter speed to compensate or else the photo will be over exposed.... the inverse is also true. How much light is needed is based on the ISO setting. The lower the number ISO, the more light that is needed. The high the ISO, the more grain, or noise, is incorporated into the image.

How to set the two depend on your equipment. Most all modern cameras have a built in light meter that knows what settings to use. When in full auto mode, the camera picks everything for you. In aperture priority mode, you set the aperture, and the camera automatically picks the shutter... and vice versa in shutter priority. In full manual mode, you pick both and the camera's built in light meter will tell you if the image is under or over exposed, and you can change your settings. If the image is over exposed, you can either close your aperture or increase your shutter speed. If the image is under exposed, you can do the opposite.

How your camera's light meter works depends on what model camera you have... as not all display the same.

This is the dumbed down version, as a photographer, it is critical to learn this as it is the very foundation of all photography. For more info, I suggest you pick up copies of the reading material already listed.

 

[KmH]

I have a 3 part series about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO on my blog: How Do I Use My Digital SLR?

 

[Rosshole]

Boomn,

Although aperture does control depth of field (dof), dof is a side effect of what your aperture is actually doing. Your aperture setting determines how much light is let in when you press the shutter, as opposed to how long light is coming in when you press the shutter (shutter speed).

I realize that you kind of covered this, but hopefully you understand my post.