New at Phtography

[96whiteknight]

And Auto mode is there for when the wife wants to use the camera that she let "us" buy to get great photos when I am not around...

My wife doesn't touch my camera that she "let" me buy.

[Michael.]

May camera doesn't even have an auto mode! It has Program which is basically the same thing.

If anything man, start using Aperture Priority (the other "A"), and you can start out by being able to adjust your aperture (which controls how much light gets in), and then you'll start to see the correlation between f/stop and shutter speed.

Simply put: the smaller the aperture (bigger number), the slower the shutter speed, the bigger the aperture (smaller number), the faster the shutter speed.

This is a quick example of how different settings can technically produce the same/similar shot/exposure:



And another showing what the aperture essentially looks like along with a shutter speed:



And for all intents and purposes, Google or Wiki it!
F-number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AHHthatsJDMyo]

Never used auto. Used aperture mode for a few weeks and the went to manual.

On a side note, my girlfriend knows that when using the camera she shoots in A or M mode.

[The Chimichunga]

This is a quick example of how different settings can technically produce the same/similar shot/exposure:

This is super helpful, but it's important to note that the EV (Exposure Values) that fill up the center of this chart essentially indicate the amount of light in the area, 0 being damn near pitch black and 25 being shooting into the sun.

The idea is to take the shutter speed and aperture size and find out exactly how much light you need to be properly exposed.

Also remember that these numbers are called Stops or Full Stops. Most modern cameras will let you adjust in increments of Half Stops or Third Stops (which would mean there's either one or two more numbers respectively between all of them listed here, depending on your camera settings).

[DarkBuddha]

I'm not trying to be overly negative, but I fear there is more to critique in those pics than to praise. Probably the best things I could say is that they aren't outright horrible and the subjects of the pics aren't offensive. The pics just have that "I'm still learning" quality, which in my opinion is the best part of your post... you know you're still learning and you want to know how to do better. That's a good attitude to have. Here's about all I can offer...

I'm going back a ways (to my college photography school days), but I always try to remember that photography is essentially the capture of light. And there are really only three concerns you have when shooting: what you're focusing on, how much light there is, and how to frame the shot. Get the camera settings right for those three things and your pics will probably end up being pretty good. I know this seems really fundamental, and perhaps a bit insulting, but I think it's a good thing to keep in mind when you're shooting. In all honesty, I never got them all right every time, but I made sure I took multiple exposures, composed the shot several different ways, and tried to find an interesting subject. And I got really good at fixing any shortcomings in the darkroom... or now, in photoshop.

Now, folks are definitely right about using the built-in flash and practicing with f-stops and shutter speed. Does your camera have a built-in light meter? Do any of them these days? Very useful when shooting film... back in the day... sigh.

Also, you'll find that the aperature setting in combination with your point of focus will help you define and govern your depth of field. This can be very useful in composing your images and in dealing with back- and foreground noise. This is something to be careful with though, as it seems to have become very trendy and cliche to use a particularly shallow depth of field.

Other than that, shoot lots of pics, do lots of experimentation (on the same shot), be very self critical, and shoot some more.

Hope this helps...

[Mr.Cruz]

thanks alot for all the comments.! Helped alot!
ill have more of my practicing pics up soon

Oh and let me know your favorite and why! (if the thread stays alive long enugh)