I'm a beginner going hiking today with my 40d, need some help!

[FieldsForests]

I realize I am just slowly learning what aperture, iso speed and white balance are.. and am only practicing with my 40d but.. today is really a perfect time, the sky's light is making all of the forests a brilliant orange color and their is mist everywhere, I thought I might as well use the day to my advantage.

So, I was wondering if someone could address a few things for me.

My plan is to take the best nature photos I can with only my limited experience.

1) Aperture. I'm having a difficulty learning the uses of this.

A website told me this:
"At wide apertures, lens abberation will soften photos, and at narrow apertures light diffraction will soften photos. Try to achieve the maximum balance between the two where both are minimized. This tends to occur near F8. If you use F22 you will actually obtain more depth of field, but hurt your results due to diffraction softening details."

So. Let me get this straight. The higher the aperture which means F22, the softer my photos will be? The lower the aperture my photos will be extremely detailed and sharp?

2. Shutterspeed. With my limited time, I've been practicing with shutterspeed. So I get it, the faster the shutterspeed the less blurry your photos will be and they will be darker since the camera has less time to draw light into the camera, right? So, is there some kind of shutterspeed that is recommended or will it not effect the quality of my photos, it just determines the darkness and lightness?

3. White Balance. I'm still really trying to figure out what this is. Does anyone want to start me off?

4. Iso Speed. All that I've been able to figure out is that it determines how bright your photos will be. If I have an Iso Speed that is 1500, my photos will be extremely bright. But what about image quality, does Iso Speed have something to do with this?

5. If someone could also just give me some tips on how to take great nature photos, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY appreciate it

Thankyou for reading. Hopefully someone can answer my questions!

 

[inTempus]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239566394&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition): Bryan Peterson: Books[/ame]

 

[CyclonePWR]

I realize I am just slowly learning what aperture, iso speed and white balance are.. and am only practicing with my 40d but.. today is really a perfect time, the sky's light is making all of the forests a brilliant orange color and their is mist everywhere, I thought I might as well use the day to my advantage.

So, I was wondering if someone could address a few things for me.

My plan is to take the best nature photos I can with only my limited experience.

1) Aperture. I'm having a difficulty learning the uses of this.

A website told me this:
"At wide apertures, lens abberation will soften photos, and at narrow apertures light diffraction will soften photos. Try to achieve the maximum balance between the two where both are minimized. This tends to occur near F8. If you use F22 you will actually obtain more depth of field, but hurt your results due to diffraction softening details."

So. Let me get this straight. The higher the aperture which means F22, the softer my photos will be? The lower the aperture my photos will be extremely detailed and sharp?

2. Shutterspeed. With my limited time, I've been practicing with shutterspeed. So I get it, the faster the shutterspeed the less blurry your photos will be and they will be darker since the camera has less time to draw light into the camera, right? So, is there some kind of shutterspeed that is recommended or will it not effect the quality of my photos, it just determines the darkness and lightness?

3. White Balance. I'm still really trying to figure out what this is. Does anyone want to start me off?

4. Iso Speed. All that I've been able to figure out is that it determines how bright your photos will be. If I have an Iso Speed that is 1500, my photos will be extremely bright. But what about image quality, does Iso Speed have something to do with this?

5. If someone could also just give me some tips on how to take great nature photos, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY appreciate it

Thankyou for reading. Hopefully someone can answer my questions!

1. At a smaller fstop # like F2.8 you get a larger lens opening and a small dept of field. (DOF) So your subject that you focus on will be sharp and everything before and after it will be blurry. If you increase your f stop # you increase DOF around your subject. If you go too high past say F11 (depends on the lens) you will gain DOP but over all detail could suffer.

2. You are right. If you use a faster shutter speed you let in less light and freeze a moving subject. If you use your camera hand held you probably dont want to go lower than 1/50 or you could get blurry pictures. You might be able to go lower if your lens has IS.

If you dont have enough light with a fastest shutter speed you have to use a smaller fstop # since the opening is larger and lets in more light or higher ISO which make the sensor react to light faster. And it works opposite if you use a slower shutter speed.

3. Read up on that one on a website, to long to type out. You can set it to auto, shoot in Raw and adjust it later in a photo editing program. WB has to do with temp of the light, which is different for sunrise, day light, sun set, flash and light bulbs.

4. I all ready told you what ISO does but the higher it is the more noise you add to a photo, especially in poor light conditions. You can remove some noise in a photo editing program later.

Read a book to learn more how to use SS, Fstop and ISO together to capture the image you want with the exposure you want.

Good luck

 

[c0ps]

Instead of me linking you to amazon (wich seems to be most peoples answers now a days) Heres a little link to get an idea how some settings effect an image http://reynwrap.com/Exposure.pdf

 

[LarryD]

Nature photography can be very rewarding.....

........But I think that you are trying to bite off way too much and may get too frustrated with your pictures if you don't start off slowly..

First, let me say that ISO does not determine how bright your photos are, but how sensitive your sensor (film) is to a given amount of light........and too high a number will degrade your final result... So, pick either 100, 200, or 400...set it, and leave it alone until you understand when you need it.

Next, set your camera mode dial on top to Av, and using the wheel next to the shutter, dial in f 8..

Now, take some pictures while watching the display in the viewfinder, letting the camera adjust your shutter speed for you. You should get some great photos..

Next thing you can do is introduce yourself to the different metering modes available...read the manual a couple of times because there are other options too.....but first you want pictures that give you confidence and make it all worth while...

 

[fast1]

Instead of me linking you to amazon (wich seems to be most peoples answers now a days) Heres a little link to get an idea how some settings effect an image http://reynwrap.com/Exposure.pdf

yup you got a good point about the amazon part