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Thanks so much for this tut. I havent ventured into manual settings yet, but will now. Great use of photos as examples, just how I like to learn - thanks again!!!!

cool

wow. this was so much more simple than reading the camera manual. I just invested in a DSLR, so this is a gold mine. Thanks so much

As a photo newbie Fuji Finepix S9500, I was struggling the manual, excellent though it is. This tut is just what I needed. Thankyou Carlos 24

Nice introduction but not always quite to the point.

First of all the ISO setting has nothing to do with the brightness of darkness of the image as a matter of fact nor has shutter speed or aperture UNLESS you use FULL manual mode and don't look at any metering.

Higher ISO settings do increase noise which is somehow similar to grain and they do allow you to make pictures at faster shutter speeds or higher aperture values given the same light. Unless you intend to add noise, you should use the lowest ISO value.

Wider aperture (lower F values like f/4 or f/2.8) again low you to make pictures at faster shutter speeds but at an expense: the Depth Of Field (DOF) becomes smaller. Controlling DOF is actually quite importanat as it can make a background look very blurred and thus make the main object standing out from the background. Do try to understand DOF if you dive into photography!

Now about different conditions:
1/ if there is a lot of light don't compensate for that with aperture as you will impact the DOF. Determine whether you want a dof that stretches from your feet to the horizon (small aperture, high f-value like 16 or 22) or a smal DOF to isolate your model from the background. Just let the shutter speed do the rest. Oh yes and do use ISO 100 or less.

2/ If the light is low, you ought to try a tripod first and increase shutter speed :) Then incease ISO at the expense of ugly noise effects and/or open the aperture (low values like f/4 or f/2.5).

Remember:
- controlling shutter speed is mainly important if you want to control motion. Including shaking hands!
- controlling aperture is about DOF and isolating objects from their background.
- controlling ISO is about ... wel introducing noise which is not quite the same as grain. Grain can be added much better with Photoshop or so. Most of the time you should only increase noise beyond say ISO 200 if you have no other option.

Have fun!

I found the article really useful and I thought it was actually quite to the point. A bit confused about herdesign comments but nevermind Thanks Carlos24.

I would have loved to see the images in this since that is what is missing in most "manuals", or they're in black and white which is not the way I "see" so mean little to me. Is there any way to get the images posted back up? I'm bookmarking this to check at a later date, I'll reserve rating until I can follow along properly.

Actually herdesign is correct but these details could be overwhelming to most novices. It took me quite a while to grasp the concepts, and that was not long ago.

For the whole ISO thing, what about boosting exposure instead of increasing ISO for low-light pictures? How does that whole -2.0 - +2.0 eV thing work?

WoW it hepls a lot. Thanks.

Many thanks to you for taking the time to do this, and for making easy to understand.

Wow...
Its very Helpful. ThanQ

This has been VERY helpful, both your own tutorial AND herdesign's comments about DOF. I just happened to stumble upon this article by accident, but I'd actually been wondering about this for quite some time now.

Thanks a lot!!

Thanks a lot! I didn't know about all this for a long time and was too lazy to study about it!

its really help me alot..
thanks

HERDESIGN, I guess you wanted to say: "Unless you intend to add noise, you should use the HIGHEST ISO value."

I think that confuse people a little bit.

HIGHER ISO: more noise
LOWER ISO: less noise

Thank you, I'm much less ignorant now :] I can try improve myself now adjusting properly and that all thanks to you !!

Thanks Thanks Thanks I love you

thats nice to know

This is the best description of ISO, WB, and App that I have found. You are a genius!! THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!

thanks :-D

THKS...

whats a good setting for taking pictures of water were you get that nice effect ,don't know how to say it maybe blured effect on the wave that look great with waterfalls.i have a powershot a630.

try a slower shutter speed