Lets talk apature and shutter speed!

[mattydipps]

Okay guys I'm pretty new at this.... Very new at this, I've had my d60 for a month now I have a 18-55 lens that came with the camera and a 55mm 1.8 lens... I've been playing around with shutter speed and apature on the tripod fixed at one point (obviously. When do I need a longer shutter speed and why? And same with apature....

 

[Trever1t]

books are written. Your question is vague.

Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO . ......... .... .... .....these 3 things = Exposure Triangle



It's all about the light.

 

[tirediron]

When it's necessary.

There are very few definites in photography, and exposure isn't one of them. Your shutter speed affects the amount of light that gets to the sensor by limiting the time the sensor is exposed to light. High shutter speeds are used either in very bright conditions, or to freeze movement. Lower speeds are used to either allow more light in, or to show movement (usually as blur). Aperture controls the amount of light getting to the sensor by changing the size of the hole, or aperture in the lens. A large aperture (small f#) allows a lot of light in, but produces very shallow depth of field, desirable in portrait work. A small aperture (large f#) allows much less light in and produces a much greater DoF - desirable for landscapes.

Those are VERY general examples only.

 

[pgriz]

Start here: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum/123160-tutorial-thread.html

Your question is in the third article in the first section...

 

[mattydipps]

books are written. Your question is vague.

Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO . ......... .... .... .....these 3 things = Exposure Triangle

It's all about the light.

I have a couple books I'm in the process of reading but I can't ask the book questions haha

Ive been experimenting shooting a couple people sitting near a wall unit in my living room and I'm getting fairly similar results with a number of different iso, aperture, and shutter speed numbers

 

[SCraig]

Ive been experimenting shooting a couple people sitting near a wall unit in my living room and I'm getting fairly similar results with a number of different iso, aperture, and shutter speed numbers

Funny how that ALWAYS works. There are many, many combinations of aperture, shutter speed and ISO that will give the same exact EXPOSURE however everyone of them have varying side effects that you have to understand. Aperture controls depth of field to a great extent. Shutter speed controls motion blur. ISO controls noise. You have to decide which you are willing to sacrifice for a given situation to obtain the exposure you need.

 

[Tuffythepug]

OK, I'll give it the ol college try. Proper exposure is the result of the correct combination of shutter speed and aperture for any given situation.
It might be helpful for you to know that for every incremental change in shutter speed, i.e. 1/60 sec, 1/125 sec, 1/250 sec, 1/500, 1/1000th sec and for every incremental change in aperture, i.e. F/1.8, F/2.8, F/4, F/5.6, F/8, F/11, F/16 etc. you are either halving or doubling the light falling on your sensor (or your film if you are not digital)
So.... F/16 at 1/125 sec allows the same amount of light as F/11 at 1/250. If you increase one you have to decrease the other to maintain the proper exposure. ISO speed of course does enter the picture but it does not effect the basics of this math; it only raises or lowers the settings needed for the light conditions.
Use faster shutter speeds when you have to capture motion which is moving across the path of the sensor / film plane. Or when you need shallow depth of field. The resulting larger aperture will decrease your depth of field. Use smaller apertures (larger numbers) when you want a large depth of field such as an object in the foreground and a distant mountain both in sharp focus. Automatic cameras simply choose for you a combination of aperture and shutter speed that will give you a proper exposure without regard to how depth of field is affected unless you've chosen an automatic setting that is meant for either portrait (shallow depth of field) or landscape (large depth of field) or sports (fast shutter speed ant depth of field not a consideration)

Well, I tried to be concise but it looks like a went a little long, It's hard to be brief and still be comprehensive

Hope some of this helps

 

[Rick58]

Sounds good to me Tuffy. There really isn't a shorter answer.

 

[table1349]

Here is how it works in layman's terms.

Big hole in lens (little f number) = faster shutter speed.
Small hole in lens (big f number) = slower shutter speed

 

[TCampbell]

Watch Matthew Gore's video on this: Video: The Three Basics of Photography » Light And Matter

 

[KmH]

1/1000, f/16, ISO 100
1/500, f/11. ISO 100
1/250, f/8, ISO 100
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 200
1/500, f/4, ISO 200
1/250, f/2.8, ISO 200

All deliver exactly the same exposure, and that is only a partial list of exposure triad settings that will deliver exactly the same exposure.

FWIW, it's aperture.

The shutter speed chosen determines if motion in the scene will be sharp or blurred. The lens aperture chosen determines how deep into a scene the field of acceptable focus is (Depth-Of-Field). The ISO setting determines how much light is needed and how much image noise there is in the photo.

Digital Photography Tutorials

 

[3bayjunkie]

1/1000, f/16, ISO 100
1/500, f/11. ISO 100
1/250, f/8, ISO 100
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 200
1/500, f/4, ISO 200
1/250, f/2.8, ISO 200

All deliver exactly the same exposure, and that is only a partial list of exposure triad settings that will deliver exactly the same exposure.

FWIW, it's aperture.

The shutter speed chosen determines if motion in the scene will be sharp or blurred. The lens aperture chosen determines how deep into a scene the field of acceptable focus is (Depth-Of-Field).
Digital Photography Tutorials

1/8000, f/1.4, iso 200
1/4000, f/2, iso 200
1/2000, f/2.8 iso 200
1/1000, f/4, iso 200
1/500, f/5.6, iso 200
1/250, f/8, iso 200
1/125, f/11, iso 200
1/60, f/16, iso 200
1/30, f/22, iso 200
1/15, f/32, iso 200

That would be for a sunny day.


1/250, f/1.4, iso 800
1/125, f/2, iso 800
1/60, f/2.8, iso 800
1/30, f/4, iso 800
1/15, f/5.6, iso 800
1/8, f/8, iso 800
1/4, f/11, iso 800
1/2, f/16, iso 800
1", f/22, iso 800
2", f/32, iso 800

This would be more of a dimly lit room


I shoot my film rated one stop slower so i can over expose. So my iso 200 is actually with 400 speed film but would be the same as if i was using 200 speed film not over rated. Same with the indoor film. The highest rates color film i use indoors is iso 1600 rated at 800.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

Your question is vague.

I'm not certain there was a question...

 

[tedyun]

I think a lot of this depends on what you're trying to photograph. There is a pretty good analogy I read (Cambridge in colour maybe) where the author made a comparison to water flowing through a tube. You vary the time you open the tube (shutter speed), the size of the opening (aperture) and the amount of water you intend to collect (ISO).

It all depends on what you're trying to photograph. If you have your tripod set up, and you are trying to photograph a stationary object like a flower on a sunny afternoon, then shutter speed isn't as important. However, if you are trying to photograph a hummingbird sipping from that flower, then you will try to stop action with a fast shutter speed. If you are using a fast shutter (ie., opening tube very quickly) you want to get a large aperture (ie., open the tube wide) in order to collect the same amount of light. Depending on the available light, you may have to increase the ISO (ie., collect less water) to match those shutter speeds.

It takes a lot of experimentation. I typically try to take candid pictures of my family, so in these situations where they are moving, I try to use a fast shutter speed, large aperture and higher ISO. In dimly lit situations, the higher ISOs can result in more noise, so it can become tricky to find the right balance.

Okay guys I'm pretty new at this.... Very new at this, I've had my d60 for a month now I have a 18-55 lens that came with the camera and a 55mm 1.8 lens... I've been playing around with shutter speed and apature on the tripod fixed at one point (obviously. When do I need a longer shutter speed and why? And same with apature....

 

[HughTFall]

I could not agree more on you @tedyun! Not all the time that shutter speed is needed in photography. One must understand the situation first or analyze the set-up and the ideal object to capture before deciding if it does need to have a shutter speed. Constant experimentation is a good idea to perfect the technique in using shutter speed.