Changing manual settings

[PhotographyIsConfusing]

When I change the manual setting on my new SLR I can't see the difference things like Iris, shutter, an exposure make. The only thing I notice in the viewfinder is if I change the focus.

 

[Big Mike]

You won't notice anything in the viewfinder. Firstly, the lens aperture stays at the maximum until just after you press the button to take the photo. You won't notice the shutter speed because that also doesn't happen until you press the button.

When you press the shutter release button, the mirror in the camera flips up (which makes the viewfinder go dark) then the lens iris stops down to the set aperture, then the shutter curtains open for the set length of time (the shutter speed).

This setting will have an effect on your image. Firstly the two setting plus the ISO, will determine the exposure. The aperture will determine the Depth of Field that the image has, and the shutter speed will determine how motion is captured.

 

[PhotographyIsConfusing]

I forgot Iris, Shutter, and ISO make exposure. Just a question, how do you know what set to manual setting to with out knowing how it will turn out?

 

[Josh66]

If you press the DOF preview button (if you camera has one), it will stop the lens down temporarily and you will be able to see the effect aperture has on the photo through your view finder. The viewfinder will get a lot darker though (due to the lens being stopped down - less light), so it might be hard to make some things out.

 

[Josh66]

Just a question, how do you know what set to manual setting to with out knowing how it will turn out?

First you will have to know what you want to photo to look like - do you need to freeze motion, do you want motion blur, how much DOF (depth of field) you want, etc. When you know that, you just adjust the settings to make that happen. Knowing what to adjust them to will take practice, and maybe a book or two on photography.

Plus, search around on here. There's a lot of good info here.

 

[PhotographyIsConfusing]

First you will have to know what you want to photo to look like - do you need to freeze motion, do you want motion blur, how much DOF (depth of field) you want, etc. When you know that, you just adjust the settings to make that happen. Knowing what to adjust them to will take practice, and maybe a book or two on photography.

Plus, search around on here. There's a lot of good info here.

Thanks

 

[mrodgers]

I forgot Iris, Shutter, and ISO make exposure. Just a question, how do you know what set to manual setting to with out knowing how it will turn out?

You do know how it will turn out, or at least have a good idea. You know from the lightmeter.

On the camera, the lightmeter display looks something like this: |----0----|

You will see another tick mark that moves around as you change your settings. For the "correct" exposure, change the settings to center the tick mark. "Correct" is in quotes because it is only what the camera thinks is correct. It may not be exactly how you want the shot to look. That comes from experience knowing your camera.

Here's a couple of links I found when I first bought my camera. I learned quite a lot from them, then everything else was filled in for me from reading the forum here. Check them out, there's a lot of setting explainations.....

Digital Camera Help - Digital camera help for beginners and beyond.

ShortCourses-The On-line Library of Digital Photography - The online library of Digital Photography

Hope this helps.