Simple(ish) photography question?

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by specialone

A good way to start which I read in a mag was, take a shot on auto and note what settings the camera thought it needed then you can use these as a base to transfer to manual then just play adjusting them either side of those.

This.

After a while you get the feel for light and aperture which saves you time. I was quite good at this with my 35mm SLR before some git stole it and all my lenses, tripod, flashes, bags in a burglary...

+ another 1 for the filters on the lens. Very cheap to replace if you scratch them.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by specialone

They are very good lenses for the money but you can tell the difference between a good lense and a cheaper one.
The weight, feel, and quality of photograph taken is noticeable.


Tom, I'm fairly new to DSLR's, had my D90 nearly two years now, but I would recommend ditching auto setting and just try taking the same shot 10-20 times on manual settings and seeing what you like the look of.

A good way to start which I read in a mag was, take a shot on auto and note what settings the camera thought it needed then you can use these as a base to transfer to manual then just play adjusting them either side of those.

I shoot most of my pics on a wide aperture as I like the depth of field that gives, so I tend to adjust all my other settings to achieve / allow this.

Also, sign up to a good photography forum, a great one is: www.photography-on-the.net

Another good bit of advice is to get an EXIF viewer. Google chrome do a great adding to their browser. The EXIF viewer will give you all of the info from the picture - setting used, shutter speed - aperture etc etc etc


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[MisterTommyH]

Cheers guys,

you're right - the biggest 'worry' is not knowing the settings to use - so taking an auto photo then looking at the settings to use as a guide is a brilliant idea. Anyone tell me how you can view these for a photo on the camera when you're out and about rather than having to transfer it to a PC and use an EXIF viewer?

I know that in some modes it shows the data through the viewfinder, but I am apparently using the wrong eye through the camera so it's not the easiest to see.

Currently using picasa which shows all of the exif data.

Tommy, doesn't your camera give you the details on the display when you have the photo up?

I assumed all DSLR's did tbh.

On my nikon, I just press up on the cursor pad and it gives me a graph showing the exposure and then the settings I used.

I wish it was simple to describe all the uses in photography, but behind the curtains there is so much to take into account and quite frankly after 5 years of education in photography i would say don't over complicate it for your self, if you find program mode and auto mode works for you then do it. I wish i could go back 3 years ago when I would take a pretty photo and let it be just that...now it's 75% friggin theory and I have slightly lost my passion .

I'm hoping motorsport photography will help regain my passion .

one rule i go by is try not to use the cameras flash, it produces crap results. x

Yea, flash is no good. It's better just to learn about your white balance and aperture to get the right kind of lighting.

You can view the data on the LCD although the process I couldn't tell you as I dont have my camera with me..

I love long exposures by the way...! Bulb mode is like a drug haha


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[dyzio]

Originally Posted by Stuuk1

Another good bit of advice is to get an EXIF viewer. Google chrome do a great adding to their browser. The EXIF viewer will give you all of the info from the picture - setting used, shutter speed - aperture etc etc etc

Good stuff, but it doesn't work on all pics :/

Originally Posted by dyzio

Good stuff, but it doesn't work on all pics :/

That's an annoying bit... If the user has edited the photo then it won't show any exif data.

But it does on most and the data you can see you can learn an awful lot from! Just keep on looking/practising


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