photo taking logic tree?

[gconnoyer]

As a newb finally making the jump from a point-and-shoot, I often find the myriad choices of settings confusing. I have read many discussions about individual settings, and reviewed a number of "cheat sheets" to help with the settings, but have seen nothing as yet that takes you through the decision process start to finish. What (assuming you have a subject in mind) choice should be first? What should be the last?

Your end result is what should change the order of your settings.

Say that I'm shooting a still photo of a car.
I'll set my aperture to make sure my DOF is as shallow or deep as it needs to be so that X amount of the car is in focus.
After that I set my ISO as low as possible to get the best quality
Then adjust my shutter speed around that.

Different situation..
I shoot alot of racing. Some is drag racing, some is drifting.
For racing I adjust around my shutter speed.
I set my shutter speed to whatever setting I want. This will be anywhere from 1/30-40 (to make nice motion blur for panning shots) or somewhere around 1/200-250 to capture motion of a car but still get a little motion blur and blur on the tires.
After that I'll adjust my ISO as low as possible
And then my aperture.

It just depends what you're shooting.

 

[hirejn]

Some of my blog posts shed light on how I approach scenes. You don't want a set of instructions. Learn to chisel away at the scene until you find the true subject, what brought you there and what you want to communicate to others. Understand how that subject will be best lit and exposed. Think about composition and execution. Work the scene. Experiment with exposures and settings, and lenses and perspectives. Pros do not simply point and shoot masterpieces. Photography is a craft that blooms into art with a combination of vision, skill and execution. Great images happen on purpose.