I have a Canon EOS 1100D and i'd love to know what your go to settings are for different subjects like, landscapes, portraits, all in focus, indoor, outdoor etc.
What's your fail safe setting & for what subject.
I'm still learning & trying to remember it all but when I switch subjects I forget what is best so if you have any handy tips please share!
heyy there : ) you may already know all of this, sorry it if seems patronising to repeat! but 3 basic things to bear in mind (3 ways of light getting in your camera and how to change them)
1)
A = f = aperture size. Aperture size refers to the size of the hole in your lens, which you can adjust on most cameras. A bigger hole means more light hitting your receptor (a brighter image), a smaller hole means less light hitting your receptor (a darker image). The larger the hole, the smaller the number (so, a very large aperture might be f 1.7: a small aperture might be f 12)
Aperture is interesting not just because it changes how much light gets on to your camera sensor, but because this influences how narrow your 'depth of field' ('dof') is. For most shots (portraits, flowers, still lifes, close ups) you will want to use a big aperture (say, f 5 or less) Your depth of field falls rapidly as your aperture gets bigger.
You can see examples of photos taken with a large aperture and a narrow depth of field on this page http://365project.org/tags/dof Only a small amount of each photo is in focus and this directs your eye towards it and looks v professional and appealing, the photographer is pointing out the exact point of beauty that they want you to look at and holding it in isolation. The blurry background is known as 'bokeh'
2)
S = shutter speed. Shutter speed refers to the amount of time for which the shutter on your camera is open and allowing in light. The is a fraction of a second, so the bigger the number the faster the shutter speed - e.g. shutter speed 100 is a shorter time than shutter speed 50. (until you get over 1 and it starts being measured in seconds, sometimes indicated with " speech mark). Use a faster shutter speed to prevent blurriness, a slower one if you want to make something look deliberately blurry or do a 'long exposure' For example, long exposure shots might be of something static in very low light: buildings at night, stars, or for when you want a deliberately blurry effect (light writing for example: http://365project.org/tags/light%20writing
For examples of photos taken with a very high shutter speed, look at this thread: the photographers have captured very fast movement by pinpointing a tiny tiny moment in time by manipulating how long their shutters were open for (a vv short time) http://365project.org/discuss/general/21107/show-me-your-best-sporting-action-shots
3)
iso = receptivity of the camera sensor. the higher your ISO, the more light will be let in, but if you're working in low light and trying to use a high ISO for compensate, it might come out grainy or 'noisy'
so working from that, the setting i tend to not change at all is my aperture - i keep it as open as possible at all times, and adjust shutter speed and ISO around that as needed. i'm rarely taking photos in situations where it's bright enough for a large aperture to over expose what i'm photographing - but if you take a lot of outdoor photos or live in a sunny place then that might not be the case for you. as far as i know (someone plz correct me if i'm wrong - landscapes aren't my forte at all!!) it doesn't really matter if you use a small aperture for landscapes, because your focus is very far away anyway (so you don't get a visual benefit from a narrow depth of field, because there's nothing in the foreground that you want to stand out)
for action or movement, going with a faster shutter speed is preferable (if you don't want it to blur). This makes sense because if something moves in front of your camera while the shutter is open, the camera will record that moving object as being in multiple places. If you want a deliberate blur, for example experimenting with writing with light, or you want someone to appear as a ghostly figure see-through and in movement, then go for a longer exposure.
I don't use an EOS, though - I found this blog post for EOS cameras and it looks quite good! It explains the 3 exposure factors in a really good way i think? hope this helps xx
Izzy's description is very detailed and helpful. I'm afraid mine is probably the exact opposite, but for me it depends pretty much every time. I like shallow DOF and crisp images, so will keep the aperture open a lot of the time (great for picking out what's important to *you* in a shot), but for long exposures sometimes I will close it up a lot (smaller aperture, or greater f-stop, means less light getting in anyway, so longer exposures are often needed). Generally changing the ISO is my last resort unless I want to create a "grainy" effect.
When shooting on the fly in my newspaper days I generally shot in Aperture Priority mode, setting somewhere around f/4 - f/4.5 as my default have the camera ready to handle the situation. For sports I either shoot shutter priority (Tv to you Canon folk) or Manual.
Now for landscape shots I shoot Aperture priority in the f/11-16 range and portraits on location f/2.8-4.
I know some people like to brag about shooting manual only, but for me, I spent a lot of money on my cameras and Nikon spent a lot of time and research developing the exposure systems, so I figure, why not use them?
@izzyromilly You asked about landscapes -- the best landscape image (in my opinion) do require a large depth of field because they include a close foreground element to try to bring a person into the scene and make them feel they are there and have a sense of scale, and then the distant objects also in focus. What does not matter for most landscapes is a fast shutter speed. Lock it down on a tripod with a small aperture opening and that mountain is not moving anywhere, so let the shutter speed go to 1/4 second.
Your approach to leaving aperture and shutter locked in place and letting your ISO go all over for exposure is opposite from what a lot of us old-time film shooters do - we got used to being stuck with one ISO for en antire roll of film and then when digital first came out ISO above 800 was pretty much useless, so even though it is now a good practice with modern cameras, some of us old timers still don't change them out of habits. But again, that is the old way - now you kids get off my lawn!
@jeffjones I think that's one reason why I don't play with ISO that much if I can help it - too used to it being set for a roll of film! Having said that, I am forcing myself to think about those options a bit more now.
@jeffjones Interesting you say that Jeff re ISO. I had the same discussion during a mentoring session with a photographer (my age) that learnt and sometimes still shoots film. I come at it from a very different perspective which is birth photography spurring me into the next level and professional aspirations. However this means often working in VERY low light, so to keep the ISO as low as possible I pretty much have to set the max aperture I'm willing to use (often wide open), as well as the slowest shutter speed I'm willing to use, and let the ISO move around - very often between 1600-12800. I think you would agree it would be foolish to set it at 12800 for an entire shoot if it's not always necessary! But then this way of thinking has spilt over into ALL my photography, so it might be beneficial to rethink it in other settings.
Thanks all this is great - I do try different setting, aperture etc but sometimes
like the baby portrait I just did I had to be quick, so I didn't have time to play with different settings and it made me think it would be great to have some good go-to settings to try and get that nice sharp image :)
@tnaki I started to reply to this thread last night and couldn't quite work out how best to answer (there were no other replies yet) - I would ask a similar question to @jaypoc and also wonder what you tend to shoot and and what kind of light and what particularly (if anything) you are struggling with. I'm also curious about you only following 18 other people here because there is LOADS to be learnt (I have found anyway) from looking at other people's images and their EXIF data.
That said, I switched about 18 months ago from being pretty much full-time M to AV, because I found the constantly fiddling with ALL the settings too cumbersome. But in AV I also set a minimum shutter speed (although I'm not sure if you can do this on a 1100D) - I find I start to get too many blurry shots if I go too far below 1/125s hand held. But that also changes depending on the lens I'm using and/or how much light I have to work with. So again, more questions for you :)
@izzyromilly Yes great info here. I would have to agree with @jeffjones though about the landscapes - particularly with many great landscapes indeed having a point of interest in the foreground. I also learnt the hard way when I first bought my 24-70 f/2.8. I'd been in a dark rainforest using it at f/2.8 and the walk opened out to a lookout at the top of a cliff and I used the same logic as you ... and got home to find very disappointingly soft and darkish images. The reason being (after some reading) that many lenses are simply not at their sharpest wide open, which is not going to be too noticeable when your subject is a few metres away, but when it is several kilometres away ... different story!! And also there tends to be fairly heavy vignetting at wide apertures, which again is usually not going to be a problem (and in fact often favourable) for a portrait or similar, but for a landscape ... pretty yuck. Trying to lift the exposure around the edges and any kind of sharpening didn't help at all, was a big muddy mess. Moral of the story = lenses are usually sharpest around f/8-f/11, and will also have vignetting taken care of by then.
Manual settings take a fair amount of practice and a good understanding of Izzy's answer. Once you "get it" you will find you have a lot more control over your results. I think it is worth the practice to work this out. While your results may be hit or miss at first, after awhile, figuring out the setting becomes much easier and a lot more predicatable.
My recommendation is since you are doing a 365 which requires daily practice, you consider shooting manual until it becomes second nature.
@Tineke, If you're looking to pick up the camera and shoot and not have to think about it, Auto is the way to go. There's full automatic which will treat your camera like a point and shoot and it will try to pick the best settings for the situation. You can also use Program AE, which will let you select the ISO, but it will pick the best Shutter and Aperture for you.
I do recommend going beyond that. Learn how ISO, Aperture (f Stops) and Shutter affect your images and you'll be better at picking the right settings.
...and, you probably got the blurry photos because you picked too slow of a shutter speed.
..when you understand Aperture and Shutter speeds, play around with Av (Aperture Value) and Tv (Time Value, or Shutter Value) modes, which will lock one of them in, but automatically select the other for you.
You have lots of info above, and if you are planning a shot and have the time all that is fine. But I think you are asking about something general purpose and "ready to go" in an instant, and yet gives you the things we look for in a DSLR, a little more than AUTO?
Translating to Canon-speak, my set is
Av (with an aperture set "not too wide and not to narrow" - in the f/5.6 range. If you have a zoom mounted that doesn't have "constant widest f/stop" pick the widest value (smallest number) for the longest focal length so it remains "constant" as you zoom in and out.
I have a good, general purpose zoom always mounted, so I can quickly adjust framing and don't (necessarily) have to "frame with my feet." I'll miss the shot if I have to dive into a bag to change lenses. I am lucky that Nikon have a great general purpose zoom, the FX 28-300, I can't speak for Canon though.
Auto ISO. Some cameras have lots of options linking f/stop, slowest-allowed shutter and focal length, accounting for "safe" shutter speeds for hand holding with "correct" exposure values. But even if yours doesn't, and I don't think it does, I think it's best to set for "general purpose" (set the minimum and maximum ISO at least) so you are ready in an instant no matter the light. Many folks turn up their nose at this feature. Please don't and look into it for your camera. I find it one of the most useful features in my camera's repertoire.
If you find your camera over or under meters (to your taste that is) you might want to dial in some fixed "exposure compensation", that +/- control. I typically have -.3EV always dialed in to give me 1/3 of a stop less exposure than my camera judges. It also helps to get colors slightly more saturated out-of-the-camera. But don't sweat this too much...
Auto White Balance (not a biggie since I shoot raw and can correct in an editor). But if you are shooting jpegs out-of-the camera, it would seem essential for that "quick" shot to come out with "correct" color. Some cameras have several options for this, I don't think yours does but don't worry over that.
Single Point Auto Focus. Center point on the subject, half-shutter press to lock and then reframe and shoot. This to me is the most important setting and activity. Get the focus right. You, not the camera. The camera can do almost all of the rest automatically, but it is never smart enough to know exactly where you want to focus. If you have only a second or two to get the shot, use it right here. Some folks like to frame and then choose the focus point, but I find that awkward and time consuming, and impossible if there is no focus point exactly where I want it. There are other focus modes, tracking for motion for instance, but even there I tend to use panning techniques with single point unless motion is directly towards me.
Not to say I don't shoot differently when necessary, flash or in a studio situation, but truly not very often for "walk-around" and everyday. As I already said, but will bore you one more time, let the camera and lens do what they do well well, keep a "just right" f/stop set, and concentrate your efforts on focus (and of course framing).
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
Indoors portrait shoots. With an external speed light Manual 1/80 at 5.6 and adjust flash power
Outdoors. Depends on what it is. Tend to stick to aperture priority and anywhere for F1.8-F8 depended on the effect I want to gain.
If I want to show movement I go to shutter speed control and choose my shutter speed.
I however never use AUTOISO. I can pretty much guess the iso I need for a certain shutter speed so I prefer to have control over that.
Oh and always select you're focus point.
Hope that helps.
1)
A = f = aperture size. Aperture size refers to the size of the hole in your lens, which you can adjust on most cameras. A bigger hole means more light hitting your receptor (a brighter image), a smaller hole means less light hitting your receptor (a darker image). The larger the hole, the smaller the number (so, a very large aperture might be f 1.7: a small aperture might be f 12)
Aperture is interesting not just because it changes how much light gets on to your camera sensor, but because this influences how narrow your 'depth of field' ('dof') is. For most shots (portraits, flowers, still lifes, close ups) you will want to use a big aperture (say, f 5 or less) Your depth of field falls rapidly as your aperture gets bigger.
You can see examples of photos taken with a large aperture and a narrow depth of field on this page http://365project.org/tags/dof Only a small amount of each photo is in focus and this directs your eye towards it and looks v professional and appealing, the photographer is pointing out the exact point of beauty that they want you to look at and holding it in isolation. The blurry background is known as 'bokeh'
2)
S = shutter speed. Shutter speed refers to the amount of time for which the shutter on your camera is open and allowing in light. The is a fraction of a second, so the bigger the number the faster the shutter speed - e.g. shutter speed 100 is a shorter time than shutter speed 50. (until you get over 1 and it starts being measured in seconds, sometimes indicated with " speech mark). Use a faster shutter speed to prevent blurriness, a slower one if you want to make something look deliberately blurry or do a 'long exposure' For example, long exposure shots might be of something static in very low light: buildings at night, stars, or for when you want a deliberately blurry effect (light writing for example: http://365project.org/tags/light%20writing
For examples of photos taken with a very high shutter speed, look at this thread: the photographers have captured very fast movement by pinpointing a tiny tiny moment in time by manipulating how long their shutters were open for (a vv short time) http://365project.org/discuss/general/21107/show-me-your-best-sporting-action-shots
3)
iso = receptivity of the camera sensor. the higher your ISO, the more light will be let in, but if you're working in low light and trying to use a high ISO for compensate, it might come out grainy or 'noisy'
so working from that, the setting i tend to not change at all is my aperture - i keep it as open as possible at all times, and adjust shutter speed and ISO around that as needed. i'm rarely taking photos in situations where it's bright enough for a large aperture to over expose what i'm photographing - but if you take a lot of outdoor photos or live in a sunny place then that might not be the case for you. as far as i know (someone plz correct me if i'm wrong - landscapes aren't my forte at all!!) it doesn't really matter if you use a small aperture for landscapes, because your focus is very far away anyway (so you don't get a visual benefit from a narrow depth of field, because there's nothing in the foreground that you want to stand out)
for action or movement, going with a faster shutter speed is preferable (if you don't want it to blur). This makes sense because if something moves in front of your camera while the shutter is open, the camera will record that moving object as being in multiple places. If you want a deliberate blur, for example experimenting with writing with light, or you want someone to appear as a ghostly figure see-through and in movement, then go for a longer exposure.
I don't use an EOS, though - I found this blog post for EOS cameras and it looks quite good! It explains the 3 exposure factors in a really good way i think? hope this helps xx
http://theowl84.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/how-to-use-manual-exposure-on-canon-eos.html
Now for landscape shots I shoot Aperture priority in the f/11-16 range and portraits on location f/2.8-4.
I know some people like to brag about shooting manual only, but for me, I spent a lot of money on my cameras and Nikon spent a lot of time and research developing the exposure systems, so I figure, why not use them?
Your approach to leaving aperture and shutter locked in place and letting your ISO go all over for exposure is opposite from what a lot of us old-time film shooters do - we got used to being stuck with one ISO for en antire roll of film and then when digital first came out ISO above 800 was pretty much useless, so even though it is now a good practice with modern cameras, some of us old timers still don't change them out of habits. But again, that is the old way - now you kids get off my lawn!
like the baby portrait I just did I had to be quick, so I didn't have time to play with different settings and it made me think it would be great to have some good go-to settings to try and get that nice sharp image :)
That said, I switched about 18 months ago from being pretty much full-time M to AV, because I found the constantly fiddling with ALL the settings too cumbersome. But in AV I also set a minimum shutter speed (although I'm not sure if you can do this on a 1100D) - I find I start to get too many blurry shots if I go too far below 1/125s hand held. But that also changes depending on the lens I'm using and/or how much light I have to work with. So again, more questions for you :)
My recommendation is since you are doing a 365 which requires daily practice, you consider shooting manual until it becomes second nature.
I do recommend going beyond that. Learn how ISO, Aperture (f Stops) and Shutter affect your images and you'll be better at picking the right settings.
...and, you probably got the blurry photos because you picked too slow of a shutter speed.
Translating to Canon-speak, my set is
Av (with an aperture set "not too wide and not to narrow" - in the f/5.6 range. If you have a zoom mounted that doesn't have "constant widest f/stop" pick the widest value (smallest number) for the longest focal length so it remains "constant" as you zoom in and out.
I have a good, general purpose zoom always mounted, so I can quickly adjust framing and don't (necessarily) have to "frame with my feet." I'll miss the shot if I have to dive into a bag to change lenses. I am lucky that Nikon have a great general purpose zoom, the FX 28-300, I can't speak for Canon though.
Auto ISO. Some cameras have lots of options linking f/stop, slowest-allowed shutter and focal length, accounting for "safe" shutter speeds for hand holding with "correct" exposure values. But even if yours doesn't, and I don't think it does, I think it's best to set for "general purpose" (set the minimum and maximum ISO at least) so you are ready in an instant no matter the light. Many folks turn up their nose at this feature. Please don't and look into it for your camera. I find it one of the most useful features in my camera's repertoire.
If you find your camera over or under meters (to your taste that is) you might want to dial in some fixed "exposure compensation", that +/- control. I typically have -.3EV always dialed in to give me 1/3 of a stop less exposure than my camera judges. It also helps to get colors slightly more saturated out-of-the-camera. But don't sweat this too much...
Auto White Balance (not a biggie since I shoot raw and can correct in an editor). But if you are shooting jpegs out-of-the camera, it would seem essential for that "quick" shot to come out with "correct" color. Some cameras have several options for this, I don't think yours does but don't worry over that.
Single Point Auto Focus. Center point on the subject, half-shutter press to lock and then reframe and shoot. This to me is the most important setting and activity. Get the focus right. You, not the camera. The camera can do almost all of the rest automatically, but it is never smart enough to know exactly where you want to focus. If you have only a second or two to get the shot, use it right here. Some folks like to frame and then choose the focus point, but I find that awkward and time consuming, and impossible if there is no focus point exactly where I want it. There are other focus modes, tracking for motion for instance, but even there I tend to use panning techniques with single point unless motion is directly towards me.
Not to say I don't shoot differently when necessary, flash or in a studio situation, but truly not very often for "walk-around" and everyday. As I already said, but will bore you one more time, let the camera and lens do what they do well well, keep a "just right" f/stop set, and concentrate your efforts on focus (and of course framing).
Cheers.