How do you remember the relationship with aperture, iso, and shutter speed

[Vic Vinegar]

I'm going to bookmark this thread for future reference. Thanks everyone!

 

[unpopular]

do not fear iso.

My point is more whatever your ISO is, just set and forget it - until you can't forget it, then set it.

 

[Dave442]

Like music, but instead of singing doe ray mi, try:
f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 and then back down with 500th, 250th, 125th, 60th and a final chorus with 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400. Might try using Program mode just to see what happens to the aperture or the shutter speed when the other is changed (or download a simple light-meter app). Then I might try freezing motion on day and then showing motion the next and then move on to lots of depth of field and then shallow depth of field and then knowing when ISO is your friend.

 

[KmH]

Nine combinations of shutter speed and ISO settings can all deliver the same exposure, but only 1 of those combinations will be the right 'artistic' settings as far as motion stopping and depth-of-field are concerned.

So we think of exposure settings in terms of 'stops'.

A stop is a fundamental photography concept.

A 'stop' is a doubling (2x) or a halving (0.5x) of the amount of light that reaches the recording media be it film or an electronic sensor.
A stop change in exposure can apply to shutter speed, lens aperture, and/or ISO.

Since exposure is a triad of adjustments (shutter speed, ISO, lens aperture) you can change 1, 2 or all 3 of the triad settings.

If you want 1 more stop of exposure (brighter) you can adjust just one of the 3 by 1 more stop.
Or, you can change 2 of the 3 by 1/2 more stop each for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.
Or, you can adjust all 3 by 1/3 more stop for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.

You can also change the triad of settings and have no change in the exposure.
If you change 1 of the 3 settings by 1 stop more exposure and change a 2nd setting by 1 stop less exposure the net change is zero.

Suppose you subtracted a stop of shutter speed to help stop subject motion, you could add a stop of lens aperture to keep the exposure the same. However, adding a stop of aperture will also affect the total DoF by a small amount. So, if you don't want the DoF to change you would add a stop of ISO instead, however, adding a stop of ISO will increase by some amount the image noise in the photo.

Note: DSLR cameras are set by default to adjust the exposure settings in 1/3 stop increments.
Most DSLR cameras let you change that to 1/2 stop or 1 stop increments.
However, the advantage of 1/3 stop step increments is more precise control of exposure.

 

[soufiej]

How to display your image with shooting data is covered in chapter 7 (pg 116) of your camera's owner's manual. Page 117 provides a breakdown of each piece of information shown on your camera's display. Page 118 goes over the information provided by the histogram.

How comfortable are you with your camera's operation at this point? Do you have a plan or a lesson plan you have applied to your learning process?

 

[wfooshee]

Don't fear ISO, but don't make it a basic adjustment. Adjust exposure with shutter speed and aperture, and adjust ISO if you can't get the shutter-speed/aperture settings in the range you need.

Look at the shot and decide what's more important. Is a certain depth of field your desired result, like blurred background/sharp subject? Or the opposite: everything sharp all the way out, like a landscape. Or are you shooting action and trying to stop motion? Or maybe you want to show motion in your image with a little blurred movement?

Making those decisions tells you if aperture or shutter speed is more important. Blurred background/sharp subject means large aperture (small f-number.) Landscape means mid-to-small aperture (large f-number.) Freezing motion means fast shutter speed, and incorporating motion means slow shutter speed.

Shooting 20 pictures in AV at different ISOs is........ silly. Changing the ISO simply changes the shutter speed picked by the camera according to the aperture you used.

Unless I read your question wrong. I read it as shotgunning the settings and hoping something came out right. You might have meant testing the settings and comparing the results. In that case, not so silly.

But my first sentence still applies. Decide on an ISO based on what you expect for a light level. Full daylight outdoors you don't need more than ISO 100 unless you have to have hyper-fast shutter speeds and smallish apertures. Late afternoon, or cloudy skies, you should think about 400 or 800 for ISO. But once you have an ISO, leave it. Use shutter and aperture to get what you want.

Now think about me learning photography some number of moons ago with my dad's manual Voigtlander, a handheld light meter, and Kodachrome 25 film..... No screen to look at, and no data recorded. Yeah, it's rough these days!!!!

 

[Braineack]

learn the triangle.

learn the stops of light.

learn the jazz flute.

rats, I thought it was Jazz Saxophone.
I knew something didn't work right.

you were close.