looking for a recommendation for shooting mode today.

[naptime]

so, the offspring and i have not been able to find ANY fireworks anywhere for this evening. and we've been pumped about this for a few weeks.

so, we're going to head downtown this afternoon. supposed to be partly sunny between 2 and 5.

we're going to shoot in black and white. and hit downtown, the bridges, maybe the train station, the warehouse district, she wants to get some old buildings. the museum has a current traveling display called small worlds... think dollhouses and miniature displays. so we may go hit that as well. might be kind of cool.


when we went to the zoo our first day with cameras, we shot in full auto.

when we went downtown that evening we shot the riverfront in shutter priority, and in bulb. dont know what the camera did with other settings.


today we are shooting in black and white. i dont want to shoot in auto.

there will be overcast skies. and there is no snow at the moment. in the air or on the ground.

would we be better to shoot in aperture priority, shutter priority, or program ae mode. i don't want to do full auto, and i think full manual is a big step out of the gate.


oh, and for those not aware, we are shooting film. not digital. so we dont have the liberty of just shooting over and over and seeing how it looks.

 

[naptime]

oh, also, we will be outside, but with overcast skies. should we use our hotshoe flashes (vivitar 550fd)

if so, should we set it on ttl ?


at the museum i planned to use the flashes, and bounce off the ceiling.

 

[RebeccaAPhotography]

What about av or tv?

 

[z1rick]

Sounds like a great time. I shoot digital, and am a beginner, but, the theory is similar for film. I almost always shoot in aperture priority, and set my white balance to cloudy when out side, indoors you may want the white balance on auto, I'm sure others will chime in

 

[SCraig]

Sunny 16 rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Look at the very first table on this page.

 

[naptime]

What about av or tv?

that's what i was asking silly.

on our camera:
av is aperture priority
tv is shutter priority


not sure which we should use. or is each going to have it's time and place ?

wait.. i think im getting it....

if we are shooting still buildings, no need for shutter speed control because its daytime and the building isnt moving. but we could use av mode and control the depth of field. right?

alternatively if we are shooting something with movement or action, we would shoot in tv to be able to control if we want to see movement or stop it. right?

omg, this reading might be sinking in...

unless everything i just said is wrong.

 

[naptime]

z1rick. i don't even know where to begin to set white balance settings

scraig. thanks for the link. it just made my eyes bleed, and i think a little of my brain melted and dripped out of my ear. but i'm going to read it a few more times and see if i can make sense of it.

everything i thought i knew about aperture and shutter speed just went right out the window.

 

[Rephargotohp]

You can't control WB with film unless you use Screw on filters to change what is coming in. The film itself has it WB set. Most film is daylight Balanced.

Go with you gut and what you know about it so far and use Aperture and Shutter Priorities depending on what you are shooting.

Shoot the Buildings in AV and try different Apertures to see the effect that aperture has on the look (DOF) of you image ( just watch that your shutter speed does not drop too low to hand hold. But you may not see as much difference in DOFshooting buildings. So shoot a smaller object in front of the Buildings to better see the effect of DOF

The go shoot some moving objects in Shutter priority and shoot at different Shutter speeds to see it's effect.

Unfortunately since you are shooting film, you will need to take notes so you can go back later and know I shot this image at this setting and how it loooks with those settings

 

[SCraig]

scraig. thanks for the link. it just made my eyes bleed, and i think a little of my brain melted and dripped out of my ear. but i'm going to read it a few more times and see if i can make sense of it.

The Sunny 16 rule has been around since the beginning of time and it still works as well today as it did when I got my first camera. The basis of the rule is very simple: In bright open sunlight use f/16 and the reciprocal of the ISO for the shutter speed. In other words, ISO = 100 then shutter speed = 1/100 second; ISO = 400 then shutter speed = 1/400 second, etc. As the scene darkens (clouds, shade, etc.) increase the exposure 1 full f/stop for each change in zone. IF there are a lot of highlights (sand, snow, etc.) decrease exposure by about 1 f/stop.

The good thing about that table is that it defines what shadows should look like. Sharp, distinct shadows are one exposure, soft or diffused shadows means there is less light, etc.

I have a little Kodak pocket exposure book for film that I bought about 25 years ago. It has tables and charts galore in it, flash conversion charts, lots of film information. Just a handy little book to stick in a pocket. I don't use it any more and you are welcome to it if you want it.

 

[naptime]

You can't control WB with film unless you use Screw on filters to change what is coming in. The film itself has it WB set. Most film is daylight Balanced.

Go with you gut and what you know about it so far and use Aperture and Shutter Priorities depending on what you are shooting.

Shoot the Buildings in AV and try different Apertures to see the effect that aperture has on the look (DOF) of you image ( just watch that your shutter speed does not drop too low to hand hold. But you may not see as much difference in DOFshooting buildings. So shoot a smaller object in front of the Buildings to better see the effect of DOF

The go shoot some moving objects in Shutter priority and shoot at different Shutter speeds to see it's effect.

Unfortunately since you are shooting film, you will need to take notes so you can go back later and know I shot this image at this setting and how it loooks with those settings

thanks.

yep, we have notebooks and pens in our camera cases. and we'll have our tripods with us as well in case the need arises.

 

[cgipson1]

What about av or tv?

that's what i was asking silly.

on our camera:
av is aperture priority
tv is shutter priority


not sure which we should use. or is each going to have it's time and place ?

wait.. i think im getting it....

if we are shooting still buildings, no need for shutter speed control because its daytime and the building isnt moving. but we could use av mode and control the depth of field. right?

alternatively if we are shooting something with movement or action, we would shoot in tv to be able to control if we want to see movement or stop it. right?

omg, this reading might be sinking in...

unless everything i just said is wrong.

No.. you have the right idea! I shoot in av almost exclusively (except for macro.. that is manual!).. except for when I NEED to stop action.. and then I will go tv. (I shoot Nikon.. and hate the way Canon labels those functions! lol!)

 

[naptime]

scraig. thanks for the link. it just made my eyes bleed, and i think a little of my brain melted and dripped out of my ear. but i'm going to read it a few more times and see if i can make sense of it.

The Sunny 16 rule has been around since the beginning of time and it still works as well today as it did when I got my first camera. The basis of the rule is very simple: In bright open sunlight use f/16 and the reciprocal of the ISO for the shutter speed. In other words, ISO = 100 then shutter speed = 1/100 second; ISO = 400 then shutter speed = 1/400 second, etc. As the scene darkens (clouds, shade, etc.) increase the exposure 1 full f/stop for each change in zone. IF there are a lot of highlights (sand, snow, etc.) decrease exposure by about 1 f/stop.

The good thing about that table is that it defines what shadows should look like. Sharp, distinct shadows are one exposure, soft or diffused shadows means there is less light, etc.

I have a little Kodak pocket exposure book for film that I bought about 25 years ago. It has tables and charts galore in it, flash conversion charts, lots of film information. Just a handy little book to stick in a pocket. I don't use it any more and you are welcome to it if you want it.

that explanation REALLY just pulled it together for me thanks !!

we will be shooting with iso 200 b&w film

so, we could shoot in full manual, set the shutter speed to 180 or 250 and then f16 as a starting point. and since we will have at least some clouds, we would drop to f11 or f8 if there are more clouds.

thanks for the tips!

 

[Rephargotohp]

I'm a fan of Sunny 16 and use it all the time to double check my meter.

Only problem with it is that people that use it doen't fully understand what it is and how to use it and all they do it walk outside on a Sunny day and Always shoot f/16 1/100 ISO 100 . And of course that does not give them any creative control that the Exposure triangle gives us. If they want to learn Sunny 16, they most also know that that just gives us a basis of what the Light value is for a given situation ( a sunny Day) and from there we can interpolate the many combinations of Apertures , shutter speeds and ISO's that can give us that same exposure value

So they Know that f/8 1/400 ISO 100 is the same exposure as f/16 1/100 ISO 100

 

[rexbobcat]

I don't like using TV, mostly because the aperture (at least to me) affects the photo more than the shutter speed to an extent. As in, you can't really tell a difference in most situation between shutter speed 1000 and shutter speed 2000.

 

[Rephargotohp]

I don't like using TV, mostly because the aperture (at least to me) affects the photo more than the shutter speed to an extent. As in, you can't really tell a difference in most situation between shutter speed 1000 and shutter speed 2000.

This is why you make that judgement based on what you are shooting.

Think to yourself, What is the most important thing I need to use (of the exposure triangle) to get what I want that my mind sees. If I am shooting a portrait. DOF is the most important so I need to focus on using the correct aperture . Select the aperture that I want and then just make sure that I balance My shutter speed and ISO for that aperture

But now you are shooting a Race car going 185MPH....what do I want to do? Stop the Motion or Show the motion and Pan? From there I know that shutter speed is my most important part of the Triangle so I shoot at a High Shutter speed to stop the motion of the car. Then I again use the other two sides of the triangle to support that chosen shutter speed. Or I may want to show the motion of the car, so I will choose a slow `1/100 shutter speed and then pan with the vehicle

These are the choices we use what we know to determine

(The above recognizes that you are locked to a ISO with Film, so then you have to balance the only two sides you can with that given roll of film)