If you shoot in auto all the time or most of the time or more than you want these challenges are for you. We will break it down simple covering it piece by piece.
The official camera setting Challenges will begin this Saturday, January 17th. Each week there will be a new challenge that lasts for 7 days. We have designed these to cover a wide range of topics while learning from other experienced photographers. These challenges will not be a competition but learning tools to help you become comfortable with the various settings on the camera.
Many people have already told us they want to be included so we are going to do our best to tag you when the official challenges start. Anyone/everyone is encouraged to participate whether as a student to learn or a mentor to help share what you know. If you would like to be tagged in the challenges please let us know in this discussion.
Below is some information that you may find interesting or helpful either now or as a reference in the future. Keep in mind this is a lot of information to digest so if it’s a bit overwhelming don’t worry most of it will become clearer to you as move forward in these challenges.
A team of us here on 365 have put these together, and each one will host a different week. You'll meet us all eventually. We do undertake to respond to any questions you might have, and to comment and suggest if you care to post any images in these threads.
Good luck with your shooting, and all the best in 2015, especially learning a little more about your camera and what it can do.
*Exposure Settings Overview.*
The digital camera exposure works much like a 3 legged chair whose three legs are *Aperture,* how wide is the lens opening, *Shutter Speed,* how long the sensor records the incoming light, and *ISO,* how strong the electrical signal is amplified. Here is how it works...
The *Shutter Speed* is measured in seconds or fractions of seconds. Doubling the speed, make it twice as fast, halves the amount of light will enter the camera, the other two being the same. Remember for fractions, the bottom number is bigger for faster speeds.
The *Aperture* is measured by something called an f-stop, and is designated like f/16 or f/5.6. The lower the number the wider is the aperture, and typical aperture light doublings are not linear, but go something like f/16, f/11, f/8, f/5.6, f/4, f/2.8.
The *ISO* is measured simply by a number and doubling the ISO doubles the amplification of the signal. ISO 100 is considered a base, and doubling will look like 100, 200, 400, 800.
For now, if you are just starting with your camera, why don't you just turn the camera to AUTO, shoot a few photographs and note the metering that the camera has chosen. In the next few weeks, we'll get down to the more of the details as to why you might choose one exposure setting over another, those A (Av), S (Tv), M and P modes where you will be making many decisions, so please stick with us.
"From Snapshots to Great Shots" is a series of books each specific to a particular camera model, designed for people just coming into the world of DSLRs and advanced Mirrorless System Cameras. Search by the title and your camera at amazon.com. I recommend them, many beautiful examples, challenges and a web site to share your results.
Please include me in your list of people to tag. I'd like to go back to basics and do away with the bad habits i've been accustomed to.
@olivetreeann - ann, here's your chance to learn the big rebel. the old camera settings challenge's first few 'lessons' gave me motivation (that is until i fell by the wayside) to learn how to use the dslr.
thank you, frank, and all you nice peeps for helping us.
Please add me to your great work. There's always something to learn from great mentors. Thank you for doing this, it will help a lot of people including myself.
I'd like to participate. I've been shooting in manual for a couple of months and my understanding of light has skyrocketed. The great thing about digital is it costs nothing to experiment.
I'm in! Just a note for true beginners: there are several ways for you to "note the metering that the camera has chosen". There's usually some sort of "Info" button on your camera when you're viewing a photo you've taken, and the program that you use to look at the photo on your computer will have an option for this as well. And if you've uploaded the photo to this site, you can click on "EXIF", under photo details.
Include me...I have just started a photo basic course (live for 5 weeks) and we are on M...aaaahhhh...I want to learn to put it all together and not just let the camera decide on Aperture mode (which is where I usually put it).
I would like to be tagged, of course! I'll be working with a new camera, so finding the settings in different places will be a good way to work my way back up to what I already know. And for your reference, when AI Servo or High ISO come up as topics potentially, I have some visual references for these topics, and would be glad to assist any time with advice (you know that already). And @squamloon Jim, good point about where to find this info!
Good info. Reinforces what I just read in the Boy Scout's Photograph Merit Badge book (which I am teaching this weekend). Can never hear this stuff too much.
I'd like to get on board for this challenge. I generally try and shoot on Manual where possible, but even then, I find myself relying on similar settings. I think some back to basics would help me get a bit more creative.
Thanks Frank, and others, for organising this. Threads and challenges like this are what set this site apart for so many other photo sharing websites.
This sounds like a good challenge, and I hope to take part at least sometimes. I'm not sure if a bridge will cope with all the challenges, but the biggest difference between the bridge I went for and most DSLRs seems to be the fixed lens, so I may be able to pick up a few techniques at least...
Great idea Frank. You can count me in. I have been a little lazy lately and have been leaving the camera in Aperture priority. These challenges are just what I need :)
@karlow75 Well, me too. A. Yes, we need to know how to go about M, noting the camera's metering but setting our own Aperture and Speed, observing any variation from what the camera thinks is proper. But truly, for the way I shoot, the camera (my Nikon D7100 and D750) does a heck of a better job of accurately metering, especially if we understand Metering Modes, Matrix (Evaluative) and Spot, Center and Highlight Weighted, and use them conscientiously. All sorts of smarts in the camera to work out what sort of scene you are looking at using all the resolution and smarts of its RGB sensor and then to consult its scene database. If I want to make "adjustments," I personally go for Exposure Compensation in "A" mode, the relative measure of EVs I relate better to than absolute numbers. But each to his own. A number of my cohorts organizing these challenges wouldn't be caught dead allowing the camera to make any exposure decisions, and that's fine for them. But I have more than enough to think about, and when the technology can do it better and faster than me, then...
But for those few times you need "M," when the camera's metering is really fooled, or you want a special effect, you sure need to know how to do it. All the best.
I've been shooting exclusively in Manual Mode for two weeks, but it's all self taught and I have so much to learn! Thanks for the opportunity.
Please tag me in the postings.
Thank you so much for starting this wonderful series. I hope you will please include me, as I'd love to follow along and try to learn a little bit. I'm glad there will be an educational focus in the challenges, as I definitely have a steep learning curve ahead of me. So, I'm not sure how much I can accomplish, but I'd love to try. Thank you in advance to all of the generous educators and mentors willing to share your knowledge and experience. It's my understanding that Krista's New Technique of the Month Club is merging with this? Was looking forward to the educational, theme-based approach she was planning. Hope to learn if this will be somewhat similar? Grateful for the references provided, and the opportunity to learn. Plus, I hope it's fun, because I'm not going to stress about it.
Please include me also. I've just begun to experiment with getting off of auto mode but really have no idea what is causing what in my photos. Thanks for starting this. The book you suggest also looks good.
Frank, this sounds just ace and I think nearly all of 365 will be participating - by the numbers of folk who have already posted! Please include me in the tag!
You may already have me on the list but cant wait to get started. thankyou so much Frank and those others involved. Much appreciate your time and generosity.
@gratefulness I believe it is staying separate. Techniques actually are more *applications* of the camera settings. Our workshops will certainly suggest areas of technique, composition and editing to work on in addition to how to set up the camera, but we won't be going into details. For me, I'll try to point out some of the less-used, but useful, settings and why I feel you should at least consider them, but the main emphasis here is on shooting, exposure and focus, manual and auto, to start.
@frankhymus Oh, thank you for clarifying. How neat that the two groups will stay separate, and there will be even more opportunity to learn. I'm sorry for any confusion my question may have caused. I would like to do both, if possible, as I could really benefit from learning my new camera settings. But no more, or my head might explode! :o The three legs of the exposure stool were some of the first terms to be mentioned as I was reading my camera manual, so it captured my attention right away...Thanks for your response! :)
Please include me in your list of people to tag. I just got my first "real" camera for Christmas ...not sure how fast I can learn, but I would enjoy beginning to try!
Thank you Vikki and Frank for tagging me on this. I am probably not going to conquer the first "lesson" only because I'll be on the road- but that doesn't mean I won't read and try it out when I get home. I'm excited to have several "teachers" available to me right now- and for me, that's helpful because the more I put it into practice the more quickly it will stick with me.
Thanks for all the organizing and thought you've put into this Frank (and your team of experts too). This is just another example of how 365 sets itself apart from other on-line communities. People here really enjoy investing in others and sharing what they know!
@karlow75@frankhymus I've gotten to the point where I operate mostly in "M"anual. I rarely let the camera make much of the decisions. And I learned all I really wanted to know from this challenge starting in 2013! It's awesome!
Oh boy! What an amazing response and show of interest from all of you. It makes us all shake in our shoes that we won't be able to live up to your expectations. I hope I have tagged you all on the list above, and we'll let you all know when we start a new week. We should be starting this Saturday as advertised.
So many of you! Thank you again for your interest. I hope you enjoy the next weeks, and learn a new thing or two as well.
Frank how do I follow the courses..I saw the first blog you wrote about basics , how do I get to the next session..is it under the themes and competitions that I find it does it have a specific title reference
thank you
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@olivetreeann - ann, here's your chance to learn the big rebel. the old camera settings challenge's first few 'lessons' gave me motivation (that is until i fell by the wayside) to learn how to use the dslr.
thank you, frank, and all you nice peeps for helping us.
Thanks Frank, and others, for organising this. Threads and challenges like this are what set this site apart for so many other photo sharing websites.
But for those few times you need "M," when the camera's metering is really fooled, or you want a special effect, you sure need to know how to do it. All the best.
Wonderful idea, please tag me too!
Please tag me in the postings.
Thanks so much for putting this all together. I look forward to it.
Thank you Vikki and Frank for tagging me on this. I am probably not going to conquer the first "lesson" only because I'll be on the road- but that doesn't mean I won't read and try it out when I get home. I'm excited to have several "teachers" available to me right now- and for me, that's helpful because the more I put it into practice the more quickly it will stick with me.
Thanks for all the organizing and thought you've put into this Frank (and your team of experts too). This is just another example of how 365 sets itself apart from other on-line communities. People here really enjoy investing in others and sharing what they know!
Oh boy! What an amazing response and show of interest from all of you. It makes us all shake in our shoes that we won't be able to live up to your expectations. I hope I have tagged you all on the list above, and we'll let you all know when we start a new week. We should be starting this Saturday as advertised.
So many of you! Thank you again for your interest. I hope you enjoy the next weeks, and learn a new thing or two as well.
Thank you so much of organising.
Frank how do I follow the courses..I saw the first blog you wrote about basics , how do I get to the next session..is it under the themes and competitions that I find it does it have a specific title reference
thank you