Beginner Camera settings

Mad-Photographer

Mad-Photographer

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This has probably been mentioned before. People post some great shots on here but as a beginner I would like to know what settings people use to get a said image.

Is this something that's possible on the beginner section? Or not :(

Thanks - still trying to get to grips with all the settings. :clap:
 
Mad-Photographer said:
I would like to know what settings people use to get a said image.
Click to expand...

Now there is a question with numerous answers.:wideyed: It all depends on your subject and what you want the viewers attention to be focused upon. In a portrait image the depth of field is usually narrow, to blur the background so a low F number of around 4 to 5.6 is used. In an image of a landscape you want to convey the foreground and background as sharp, so you would use an F number of around F11 to 16.

To begin with I would leave the camera on Auto until you have practised composing the shot with the frame. Many instruction videos are available on Youtube showing composition and the, "Rule of Thirds" all great guidelines and very helpful for beginners and advanced togs alike.
 
With regards to specific shots - if you see a shot you'd like to try or similar to one you've taken, but want to maybe improve, ask the OP what settings they used - you can then try them / compare to yours...
 
a lot of photos are posted as links to flickr or similar if you follow the links you can view the exif info which will tell you a lot of the settings and gear used. If they don't have that or you want more info as Andy says just ask in the thread and most people will be happy to help you.
 
Most images displayed with threads on the forums are linked back to Flickr, there you can look at the Exif info and copy the exact settings into your camera to achieve the same results.(y)
 
I would recommend that to start with you steer clear of trying to figure out how a shot was taken by the tech specs as more often than not it will not help, the photographer will have made those technical decisions based on that time of the photo - the there and then if you like , therefore the chance of you ever reproducing it with the same light from the same angle with the same kit are pretty slim so your settings would be different. Concentrate more on understanding fully what all the settings do and experiment - you will then eventually come to the same conclusion as I am writing here ! and when that time comes you will know you have moved on :)

Give yourself a challenge maybe a week working on each setting ?

Week one - Shutter speeds , try adjusting them and shooting waterfalls cars light-trails sports birds flying
Week two - aperture try back to front sharp landscapes and portraits of one / two and groups
Week three - understanding iso , try star shots at night / dark rooms with no flash and try low iso landscapes for big prints where quality counts

It would take forever to go into this in detail but honestly practice will do you much more good than studying others exifs which will mostly confuse you !
 
Thanks to all your replies. Some very useful tips. In reply to andyred, as there seems to be a good moon out out tonite, just been trying to get a shot of it but I'm not impressed. For some reason I thought I would get a big round moon with some detail, but what I got was a small moon with little detail ( one thing I did get was a dark sky) which for me is a miracle!

Going to have a bite to eat then I'm off outside to try again.
 
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