A Beginner's Guide to Simple Photography Concepts: ISO, Aperture, and Shutt

07/12/2006 08:40:29 PM · #1

Post your comments, questions, and reviews for...

'A Beginner's Guide to Simple Photography Concepts: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed'
by redsunphotography

View this tutorial here.

klstover

Panasonic DMC-FZ8

07/12/2006 08:45:50 PM · #2

Awesome. I wish I had read something like this when I first came to DPC! I have since learned a lot of the basics but it is so helpful having it all in one place. Thanks!

07/13/2006 02:34:05 PM · #3

I plan on doing a few more tutorials geared towards the begginer. I've met a few people here who don't have formal training, but a great deal of creative talent and an "eye" for photography, so to speak. I'm hoping I can impart as much knowledge as possible to help those people out :-)

-Hideo

ralph

Nikon Z9

07/13/2006 02:51:24 PM · #4

Votes Cast: 543
Avg Vote Cast: 3.6041

you seem to have a low opinion of the images on this site even
with a 'crafted scoring system'

Votes Received: 255
Avg Vote Received: 4.9765

are you heeding your own advice ?

07/13/2006 03:02:37 PM · #5

I realized I was voting low, and I still stand by my votes. I'm a hard voter. However, I didn't start with a voting system, I just voted willy nilly on the first 300 or so photos I have done. I realized how low I was voting with no specific system, so I ammended that and started using one.

I expect that people will vote harshly on my photos, as I am used to it with stock agencies. When I first started here, that's the mindset I had. "Would a stock agency accept this?".

My votes with my rating system are much higher. You can expect my average vote cast to go up.

dleach

Canon EOS-20D

07/13/2006 03:28:24 PM · #6

We should probable keep this thread focused on the tutorial instead of the voting system.... start another thread on his voting method.

Good tutorial!

posthumous

Canon EF 28-90mm f/4-5.6 II USM (Black)

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

07/13/2006 03:51:21 PM · #7

nicely done, but I have 2 minor suggestions:

1. you say that 1/60th sec is about the slowest shutter speed in which you can handhold your camera, but actually this depends on the lens. I find that 1/lens-size is close enough. Therefore, if you are using a 300mm zoom lens, don't go slower than 1/300th sec without a tripod.

2. you might want to mention that in an SLR without DOF preview, you are looking at the minimum DOF, so your actual picture might show more things in focus, but not less.

Gaby_G

Canon EOS-5D

07/13/2006 04:04:21 PM · #8

Great tutorial! thanks... I am one of those people who are blocked to understand this kind of things and now I have a more clear idea about all this stuff...

Write more tutorials! jaja

07/13/2006 04:19:49 PM · #9

Originally posted by posthumous:

I plan on revisiting the handheld speed, but I find it's a little too much to worry about for a begginer at first. Perhaps I should have been more clear on the 1/60 being a very loose rule of thumb.

I should have mentioned DOF preview, you're right. Maybe I will re-write it a bit and explain a bit more on DOF with and without preview. I think I may have focused too much on simplifying things for a begginer and not giving enough information.

posthumous

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

07/13/2006 04:29:29 PM · #10

Originally posted by redsunphotography:

Originally posted by posthumous:
nicely done, but I have 2 minor suggestions:

1. you say that 1/60th sec is about the slowest shutter speed in which you can handhold your camera, but actually this depends on the lens. I find that 1/lens-size is close enough. Therefore, if you are using a 300mm zoom lens, don't go slower than 1/300th sec without a tripod.

2. you might want to mention that in an SLR without DOF preview, you are looking at the minimum DOF, so your actual picture might show more things in focus, but not less.

I plan on revisiting the handheld speed, but I find it's a little too much to worry about for a begginer at first. Perhaps I should have been more clear on the 1/60 being a very loose rule of thumb.

I should have mentioned DOF preview, you're right. Maybe I will re-write it a bit and explain a bit more on DOF with and without preview. I think I may have focused too much on simplifying things for a begginer and not giving enough information.

NO NO! you're right not to overwhelm with too much info! don't put too much weight on my quibbles.

dleach

Canon EOS-20D

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

07/13/2006 04:39:03 PM · #11

handhold is a good rule of thumb but I can get slower with my 70-200l lens.

kyebosh

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 80-200 f/2.8L

07/13/2006 05:14:00 PM · #12

For a crop sensor it's always:
1/(length of lens)*(the crop)

length of lens in mm and the crop as in 1.25x 1.5x or 1.6x

Now keep in mind that this is only to get a decent 8x10 print which the rule was originally intended for.

YMMV.

sridpc

Sony DSC-W5

11/09/2006 05:00:37 AM · #13

I wish i had gone through it before my first challenge submission.
Thanks for the tutorial.

ninzilla

Fujifilm FinePix S5600Z

11/14/2006 10:40:22 PM · #14

I am a rookie. Thanks very much for your tutorial. I will look forward to reading yours more.

John Pahl

Nikon Coolpix AW 100

11/25/2006 02:02:02 PM · #15

Nice job,
:)

Cam

Sony DSC-F717

11/25/2006 02:40:30 PM · #16

Originally posted by redsunphotography:

My votes with my rating system are much higher. You can expect my average vote cast to go up.

And it certainly did.

Great work, keep it up.

kotzie

02/13/2007 07:35:44 PM · #17

Very helpful tutorial. I've been wondering about these settings on my new camera for two days. Thanks for the help!

timzim58

Nikon D5000

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED VR

05/19/2007 12:29:24 AM · #18

i am a rookie to all this and this tutorials was great i have no training in photo takeing started with a point and shoot and now have gotten a kodak 710z and want to learn more of its use's, and how to use the PASM on it you can contact me timzim58@yahoo.com

SJCarter

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

05/19/2007 01:13:53 AM · #19

This is a good basic tutorial - and one that I would have benefitted from early on when I first joined. Even today (still the novice in my book), I find that the clarity with which you explain the different settings and results a refreshing one. Nice work.

jandp

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

10/18/2007 11:08:13 AM · #20

Still a good tutorial to visit from time to time.

lunensa

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

06/07/2008 11:54:22 PM · #21

Ok, so here's my problem. I have been a portrait photographer for 10 years. BUT I have worked for a corporate company where most likely a "trained monkey" could learn how to use the camera! I've been ok with my ignorance for a long time up until about 6 months ago when my thirst for knowledge got the better of me and I started saving my pennies for a nice digital camera. So, after 10 years I am COMPLETELY new to this!! And I hate being unsure of anything. I want to know ALL details. What does ISO mean? What really is an aperture (not just what it does). Other than reading the very confusing booklets my camera came with, is there an easier way to learn about each term and what it means?

This tutorial was really nice, don't get me wrong. And it really did help me figure some things out. I just want more on each item rather than jumping right into two things at once.

Bear_Music

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/08/2008 12:18:43 AM · #22

Originally posted by lunensa:

So, after 10 years I am COMPLETELY new to this!! And I hate being unsure of anything. I want to know ALL details. What does ISO mean? What really is an aperture (not just what it does).

ISO = International Standards Organization. The "ISO Number" is a measure of how sensitive your film or sensor are to light, and it is an industry-agreed-upon standard, more or less. A higher number is a "faster" film/sensor, it is more sensitive to light so shutter speeds can be faster or apertures smaller. There is a tradeoff, though; generally, the faster the film/sensor the more grain/noise there is in the image.

The "aperture" is an iris mechanism in the lens that can be made larger or smaller with the camera controls, and which controls how much light passes through the lens. Because the amount of light falls off as the distance it is transmitted increases, you need a bigger physical aperture to deliver x amount of light on a telephoto lens than you do on a wide angle lens. Therefore, to eliminate the need for calculations by the photographer, aperture size is expressed as an "f-stop" like "f/2.0" or "f/16", whatever.

F-stop is defined as the ratio between the physical diameter of the aperture and the focal length of the lens. Thus, a 25mm aperture on a 50mm lens is f/2.0, whilst the same 25mm aperture on a 400mm lens is f/16. Think of f-stops as a fraction missing the denominator of 1 (1/2, 1/16, etc) and you can keep it straight that the "larger" numbers are in reality smaller fractions, and represent smaller apertures.

R.

Message edited by author 2008-06-08 00:19:02.

lunensa