Photo settings

[Drngst]

Am new to photography and need help with some photo settings. I am attending an outdoor family reunion this weekend and I'm gonna be the photographer.

What is the best slr setting for a big family picture outdoors?

Also what are the best settings for candid shots in the outdoors on a nice day?

I have played a bit with shutter speeds but it seems my pictures are always too dark whenever I manually pick the shutter speed. Very would that be,?

 

[KmH]

The settings that would be appropriate to use is dependent on how much light there is, and the goals you have, both technical and artistic, for each image.

If you are not familiar with the exposure triad of shutter speed, lens aperture, ISO, and how they relate to each other, depth-of-field, motion stopping ability, and image noise - just put the camera in the green auto setting and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, the camera is just a stupid machine so it doesn't always get it right.

Any scene can be properly exposed using as many as 8 different combination of the exposure triad settings. Usually only one of the 8 settings combinations will deliver in the technical and artistic elements you desire for each shot.

 

[Drngst]

I am a bit familiar with shutter speeds, iso and what not. I won't shoot using the green main function anymore cuz I want to branch out a bit more. Sometimes I just still find it confusing on which speed to use and all that still, I'm learning though.

 

[LizardKing]

I am a bit familiar with shutter speeds, iso and what not. I won't shoot using the green main function anymore cuz I want to branch out a bit more. Sometimes I just still find it confusing on which speed to use and all that still, I'm learning though.

If you're not going to shoot using the auto mode, you'll need to learn basic exposure stuff... Take a quick reading online or get a basic book on the subject... But nobody's going to be able to help you get the right way to shoot anything if you don't understand this and well. Then comes practice, but you have to do some basic reading first.

edit: if you're playing with shutterspeeds and all pictures look dark, it's probably because you are not adjusting the aperture accordingly. As you use faster shutterspeeds, you need to use wider apertures to let more light in.