Without light, you have no photo. Start off with shorter focal lengths and depth of field is not as big of a deal. If you have a rapid fire mode, or sports mode try that if you have a high enough shutter speed you will up your chances of getting something in focus.

Sorry I forget to tell you that I have a Nikon. I will try your suggestions with the different priority settings. It is one of my goals to learn more about my camera and all that it can do and not depend on Auto! Your pictures are so good and I really enjoy looking at them. Thanks again for all of your help! And, Gretl is so adorable! Max and his sister Harper are about the same age and they are crazy too!!

Vickie, Lily, Nemo, Nora, JR, Harper, Max and Angel Spike!

That's why telling you my settings won't necessarily help you. The fact the 5D goes allll the way up to 6400 is insane. 1600 is like buttah on it...

When you say M/A and M on the lens, are you talking about the little slide-y switch on the side of the lens? If so, that's the manual focus versus auto focus.

If you're talking about the dial on the top of the camera, then M would be full on manual where you have to pick the aperture and the shutter speed. (I'm not sure if you're shooting Nikon or Canon... so bare with me.)

I would recommend learning from the semi-manual modes. Aperture priority (Av on Canon, A on Nikon) is where you set the aperture (let's say f/1.8 if you have a 50mm 1.8) and the camera will choose the shutter speed for you. It's not foolproof though. But take pics with it, look at what it picks for you, and then switch over to manual and adjust it faster or slower, just to see what results you get.

Shutter priority (Tv on Canon, S on Nikon) is great when you know you need a certain speed because your subject is moving. Set it to 1/250 or something, and the camera will pick the aperture.

If your camera has a "P" mode (for "program") that's even easier at first, because that will pick the aperture AND shutter speed, but allow you to select your ISO, white balance, metering mode... It's like the green auto box, but with a little more control. Again, take a pic and look at what the camera thought was good.

There's so much to be learned from DSLRs that you couldn't from film... the immediacy makes it SUCH a great learning tool!


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and thank you for the photo tips! My ISO only goes to 1600 and then Hi 1. Ok, this is probably a dumb question but, if I am shooting in manual, what difference would it make if the lens is set to M/A of M. I don't see as good as I use to with my contacts in, and some times I have trouble making sure the picture is in focus.

Vickie, Lily, Nemo, Nora, JR, Harper, Max and Angel Spike!

It's not going to help you out a ton to know my exact settings... I can tell you I have a Canon 5D MKII and I was shooting with my lenses WIIIIDE open (lowest number possible) to let in as much light as possible. My ISO was 6400. The lighting was REALLY difficult, and I didn't want to use my flash since I was with Gretl and just snapping for fun.

You always want as fast a shutter speed as you can get indoors to keep everything from being blurry, and use as high an ISO as you can stand. (The higher the ISO, the more grain/noise you'll get.) A good rule of thumb is to at LEAST have your shutter speed at 1/your focal length. So if you have a 50mm lens on, to hand hold and attempt to get a clean shot, you want to at least use a shutter speed of 1/50sec.

Understanding Exposure will really help. And get used to using your meter when you're looking thru the viewfinder. It will help you learn the relationship between aperture and shutter speed.

I only brought my 28-75 and 50 with me. I think the big goofy guy was with my 50.

Julia


Website ::: Blog ::: It's Not Over 'Til It's Grover
All photos and designs above copyright Salty Grapes Photography.