Newbie

[Matt24138]

I got my first slr. It's a canon rebel xt. I found it in the pawnshop for 200.00 couldn't pass it up. It came with the battery charger and the 18-55 lens. I bought a 55-250 yesterday. I have only used auto settings. I am reading about iso aperture etc. It doesn't seem to stick in my brain. Is there an easy way to memorize this stuff? Any tips? Tricks?

 

[willis_927]

Aperture is like your pupil in your eye. Large aperture (small F #) is like your pupil being very large, it lets in alot of light. Shutter speed is kinda obvious i think, fast shutter speed, light hits the sensor for a small amount of time... long shutter speed, light hits the sensor for a long amount of time. The correct choices of shutter speed, aperture, and iso will help to get the desired exposure.

There is alot more too it than what I just said, but that might be a good starting point. Google it, you will find pages and pages of stuff on it.

 

[Matt24138]

I keep reading stuff over and over. I don't know why it's taking me so long to memorize.

 

[willis_927]

don't try and memorize it, try and understand it.

 

[Compaq]

^^^ what he said. Double shutter speed: half the aperture. Aperture steps:

1.4 - 2 - 2.8 - 4 - 5.6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22 - 32 etc

Each of these steps is a halving of the amount of light that hits the sensor.

 

[Matt24138]

Thanks for the help guys. I know I want a low number aperture and high iso for night time and reverse for day or indoor with lots of light if it's cloudy or medium light I would go in the middle. Is that right?

 

[Compaq]

It all depends. Large aperture means shallow depth of field. Read this article: http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/aperture-shutterspeed-iso/

Also, you can get "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson for very little money if you buy used from the interweb I've just bought a copy, I've heard only great stuff about it.

High ISO will grain your image, make it look "noisy". Aperture affects your depth of field (how much is in acceptable focus) and shutter speed can add motion / freeze motion. Your artistic exposure is one of a kind, but you can get the same amount of light on the sensor in many ways. Mind you, high ISOs don't bring more light onto the sensor, but increase the sensor's sensitivity to the light that hits it.