Shutter Speed and Aperture Settings

adamcole83 · Jun 2, 2008

Alright, I'm sure it's somewhere in this forum on how to do it but I just don't understand most of this talk. I'm trying to do light graffiti with slow shutter speeds and wide aperture. I don't understand that. I have a Canon Rebel Gii 35mm SLR camera and I can't figure out how to set a shutter speed from 5-30 seconds. I think I know how to change the aperture to the widest settings, 32 is as far as it will go up I think. So with that said, how do I set the shutter speed from 5-30 seconds? In fact, I don't have a 5 second, it goes 12346810 and so on. This is confusing to me but I really wanna take some awesome light graffiti pictures.

Alfred D. · Jun 2, 2008

OK, Adam, for just this once you have my personal permission to set the shutter speed from 6-30 seconds. I'll talk to the management. Now, go out and try it.

adamcole83 · Jun 2, 2008

Okay, how do I set the 30 seconds? You didn't help much.

Alfred D. · Jun 2, 2008

I'm sure your manual will tell you that, adam.
And you're welcome of course.

Have fun!

christopher walrath · Jun 2, 2008

Alfred's right. Your Owner's manual is tt source for your personal camera's settings. As to setting 5 seconds when only 4 and 6 are your options, pick one, or better yet, try both and see how it turns out. Make a mental note for next time.

Senor Hound · Jun 2, 2008

adamcole83 said:
I think I know how to change the aperture to the widest settings, 32 is as far as it will go up I think.

Remember the numbers on f-stops (aperture) are backwards. The lower the number, the wider the opening and the more light it will let in. I could be wrong, but when I read this, I got the impression you were doing the opposite.

Alfred D. · Jun 2, 2008

adamcole83 said:
I think I know how to change the aperture to the widest settings, 32 is as far as it will go up I think.

You're right, Senor, he's got it backwards: F/32 is the smallest aperture his lens is capable of, instead of the widest.

thinkricky · Jun 3, 2008

Don't know if this helps. Still have yet to read everything they replied with.

http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124872

TamiyaGuy · Jun 3, 2008

If you want to do light painting with long exposure times, then set the camera to TV (shutter-priority) mode, and set the time between 5" and 30". This means 5-30 seconds, rather than 1/5-1/30 of a second (which is simply 5-30). Of course, your camera might not support such long times, in which case you'll need to use the Bulb mode on your camera, and choose when to open and when to close the shutter.