Guessing shutter speed settings

moshepupkin · Mar 30, 2013

Hi all,

I recently started shooting in manual mode and while I usually get ISO and aperture settings right, I haven't figured out how to set the shutter speed correctly so my pictures often end up overexposed. The thing is that I don't really know how to choose the exact shutter speed settings and taking a test shoot and correcting it is also impossible, because it is hard to tell whether the setting is right by looking at the picture in the camera screen.

Any tips?

timor · Mar 30, 2013

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Regarding exposition; isn't your light meter showing you correct settings ? For aperture and the exposition time for given ISO ? What camera do you have ?

ann · Mar 30, 2013

When using manual mode you have to pick a value, either the fstop or the shutter speed and then dial in the opposite value ; usually to the normal "tick" in the middle of the grid.

For example , I tend to assign the shutter speed first as I want things to be very sharp and the faster the shutter speed the sharper the image. Others tend to start with the fstop , depending on what dof they wish. Either way is fine, it is a personal preference and/or driven by the result one wishes.

Based on your description i am going to quess that your setting the fstop but not dialing in the shutter speed to balance out the meter reading.

peter27 · Mar 30, 2013

Assuming a starting point of a sunny day, set the camera for iso 100, f16 and a shutter speed of 1/125. Let this be your standard and adjust as necessary.

So now, if it's a cloudy day without much sun but still quite good light, you could change the f16 to f11 or f8, or change the iso from 100 to 200, or change the shutter from 1/125 to 1/60 whilst keeping the other settings the same - to adjust your standard and compensate for the poorer light.

Of course you might want a faster shutter speed on a sunny day and still have your standard exposure. OK, you could change the shutter from 1/125 to 1/250 and the f16 to f11 or f8 and this will give you your standard exposure but with a faster shutter speed. However, you also now have a different DoF, which may or may not be very noticeable. If it is and this is a problem, you could keep f16 and change the iso from 100 to 200 instead: perhaps with more grain, though (there's always a price to pay!)

I hope you see where this is going and that it helps.

SCraig · Mar 30, 2013

moshepupkin said:
Hi all,

I recently started shooting in manual mode and while I usually get ISO and aperture settings right, I haven't figured out how to set the shutter speed correctly so my pictures often end up overexposed. The thing is that I don't really know how to choose the exact shutter speed settings and taking a test shoot and correcting it is also impossible, because it is hard to tell whether the setting is right by looking at the picture in the camera screen.

Any tips?

If this is the case then you don't really understand how exposure works. Using manual mode at this stage frequently results in fewer usable photographs and more discouragement for the photographer.

Assuming that for any given situation there is only one "Exposure Value" that will provide a properly exposed photographer, there are many combinations of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed that will provide that EV. All three have to be balanced though or you will not get a proper exposure. This is the situation you are running into.

My recommendation is that you do one of three things:
1. Stop trying to use manual until you understand exposure and why you aren't getting what you expect.

2. Use the meter in your camera. That's what it is there for.

3. If you insist on shooting in manual also take a shot using aperture priority. When you get home compare the two images and try to understand why the camera picked a different shutter speed than you did. At some point you will start to see a pattern in the exposure differences between what the camera picked and what you picked.

Shooting manual seems to be some right of passage these days. New photographers appear to feel that they must shoot manual mode to be a real photographer or something. I personally don't understand it. I grew up shooting manual because that's all we had at the time. I would have given anything for a camera with a built-in light meter or a camera smart enough to determine the proper exposure and set itself. Now that I have one I really have no urge to defeat those capabilities. I shoot manual maybe 20% of the time, and when I do I use the meter to determine the proper exposure, but the rest of the time I use aperture priority or shutter priority.

CaptainNapalm · Mar 30, 2013

Read your camera light meter and set your shutter speed accordingly. There shouldn't be too much guess work involved in getting the right exposure if you understand how your light meter works.

timputtick · Mar 30, 2013

Get an idea from the meter, then pick up a film camera. Shooting film is an excellent way to learn the exposure triangle in my opinion.

2WheelPhoto · Mar 30, 2013

Sekonic 358 light meter. It will even predict and change ambient to strobe ratios as you click the dial. How much easier does it get? Once you shoot a bit you'll know within a few pops anyway

KmH · Mar 30, 2013

moshepupkin said:
Any tips?

Yes. Read the Exposure section of you K-X user's manual. Pay attention to what it says about metering modes and exposure compensation.

Read these digital photograhy tutorials - Learn Photography Concepts

Patrice · Mar 30, 2013

SCraig said:
I grew up shooting manual because that's all we had at the time. I would have given anything for a camera with a built-in light meter or a camera smart enough to determine the proper exposure and set itself.

I was in the same situation, all manual because that's all there was. Then I got an F4s shortly after they came out. Finally, a solid camera with reliable matrix/weighted/spot metering and autofocus too!

OP,

Knowing how to get a consistently good exposure in manual mode is a good skill so don't give up on it. However it is not the only way or necessarily the best way to use your camera. If you are using manual mode only to then centre the camera meter you might as well use one of the auto modes and save yourself some grief. Manual, or auto with EC, is to allow you to vary the exposure settings as given by the camera because you don't agree with it.

I agree with you that trying to evaluate an exposure by viewing the image on the back screen is difficult. You'll get more information on your exposure by looking at the histograms. Read up on histograms in your manual. There are also many on line sources for additional information on the subject.

Good luck and keep on learning!

TCampbell · Mar 30, 2013

It would not be accurate to say you've learned to set ISO and aperture "correctly" but because you didn't set the shutter speed correctly your images are coming out over-exposed.

Exposure is a concept of "balance". The light meter you see when you look through your camera's viewfinder has a middle point -- usually there is a "0" in that position. It has a scale going off to either side of the center point and usually a "1" and "2" printed to the high side and a "-1" and "-2" off to the negative side.

Your goal is to learn to get the meter to point to the middle point.

For now... just work on that one goal. It turns out there are situations where you don't want it to point to the middle, but that's a conversation for another day.

You can change either the ISO sensitivity -OR- the aperture -OR- the shutter speed... each one will move the arrow. That means you can even change two things at the same time. As long as you get the light meter to point at the mid-point then you've adjusted settings to what the light meter believes will give you a correct exposure.

Matthew Gore did a great video which, I think, does a great job of making the concept of exposure simple. That just covers the basics.

There are books that will get you started. Brian Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" is one of the most heavily recommended books is the Scott Kelby Digital Photography "Boxed Set" (4 volumes).

moshepupkin · Mar 30, 2013

So basically the majority here seems to suggest to use one of the Av, Tv and Sv modes instead of manual... maybe it does make sense.

Thanks for the tip about the light meter. I probably should have RTFMed more thoroughly...

table1349 · Mar 30, 2013

No, i think that the majority here are saying that you need to learn the concepts of photography beginning with exposure and the exposure triangle if you are going to venture past letting the camera take the photos for you. Even when using AV mode, I understand the exposure triangle and can make the tweeks I want to get the look I want. If you don't want to learn exposure then I would suggest that you start with the P setting instead.

There have been some good resources already posted. Here is one more: Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera (9780817439392): Bryan Peterson: Books Comes in book form and electronic form.

moshepupkin · Mar 30, 2013

But still...

Let me rephrase the question.
Sometimes pictures taken with one of the semi-automatic modes seem underexposed to me. I guess I can use exposure compensation, or shoot in manual mode... but than I come back to my original question - how to adjust it if I cannot really tell from the image on the camera screen is the exposure is right or not?

Somebody mentioned the histogram... is there a tutorial I can read which explains how to read it ?