Working at trying new settings…
October 20, 2010
Okay, I usually only use the lower half of my camera settings (the automatic ones), but David was showing me some things the other day so I was playing with some of my settings today. This was taken using the “M” mode on my dial and then I was changing the numbers (which may have been my ISO??) to get different amounts of light on my exposure.
This is a photo of my mums in the backyard and this one flower had that teeny tiny oak leaf hanging off of it. The leaf is only about an inch long.
- Aperture: ƒ/5.6
- Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
- Focal length: 55mm
- Shutter speed: 1/400s
“M” mode! Run away! Run away!!
I’m late for church, so here’s just a quick comment. “M” is manual, and in that mode you change both your aperture and shutter speed. The dial was probably working your shutter speed. Stick with the “Av” mode or the “Tv” mode.
Av mode = you change your aperture and camera chooses shutter speed
Tv mode = you change shutter speed and camera chooses the aperture
M mode = you change BOTH aperture and shutter speed
I would recommend sticking with “Av” mode and choosing the lowest number you can. That will give you the out of focus background.
Oh, and I love the shot. Gotta go…
This shot is just great.
I just switched to M mode about a year ago. I still treated it kind of like AV, though, at the beginning. I set the lowest (meaning widest) f-stop and just change the shutter speed. Now it’s second nature to check the light meter, and decide if I need to perfectly expose or slightly under or over expose and which settings to change to make that happen. The quality of my work has improved dramatically. Don’t let Dave scare you. He’s a giant wimp. 😉
Alright, Ms. Smarty Pants. My self esteem has never been so low – between your husband saying I was whining yesterday and you calling me a wimp today.
(sniff)
For the record, I love manual mode! I still miss the old days of setting the f-stop on the lens (thanks to the camera you gave me). That’s why I want this camera ssooooooooo bad. It comes out early next year, but, it’s a $1000 for a fixed lens camera. And I don’t have $1000. But I love the idea of this camera, the styling of this camera, the aperture ring on the lens, etc.
Christi, you can use “M.” I just recommended “Av” since it’s a little easier to learn. I first learned with an all manual camera (that Kara gave me), and I have never had more fun taking pictures than I did with that camera. Manual is a lot of fun, especially with those older manual cameras without all those new fangled features like lcd screens and shooting digital pictures. 🙂 But, film is expensive to shoot. Oh well.
(I like your mums & the oak leaf!) (I’m whispering, so I don’t interrupt the conversation about camera settings, which I know nothing about.)
Oh yeah…I used AV for years. Still do when I need to get fast shots.
And Jacque, your whispering made me giggle. 😀
If I have to pick up Kara’s camera and it is on M…you hear this reverberate through the house…”Kara – FIX THIS!” That’s my experience with M.
Dave – Whining? When did I say that?
Oh and GREAT PIC! Forgot to say that.
Dan, okay, I got my word wrong. Here’s your quote:
🙂
LOL…who knew all this was going on in here? WordPress/Yahoo sends all these emails to my junk mail and since I rarely get on the actual computer in the evenings, I don’t see all of this through my phone.
Actually, I was doing okay in Manual (I think)…. too dumb to know that I should be scared of it. I quickly figured out when I was going to be over-exposing something, but that is fun in certain settings/lighting situations. Next I will have to figure out how to use a light meter. When I am doing a lot of this photography, it’s macro so the whole f-stop doesn’t do a lot for me because there is very little further back. Looks like I need to play on TV mode more esp. since shutter speed is something that I really have issues with (going way too slow) in the auto modes.
Love this shot. That’s the only semi-intelligent response I have.
No offense, but when I hear a lot of photography talk from others, it’s impressive-sounding, but what I hear is, “Blah blah blah shutter speed yada yada yada manual mode jibber jabber click.”
I’ll stick with my point and shoot and just enjoy y’all’s work. =)