Lets Get Started

Okay so now that you have read your manual and practiced a bit, we are going to get down to the basics.


Shot at camera meter settings.

Photography... what does the word mean? Well simply put it means "to paint with light". And that is exactly what we do as photographers. We need to know how to use the light to capture the image that we want. Now how do we do that? We use a combination of shutter speed and aperture. I am sure that shutter speed is pretty self explanatory, it is how long the cameras shutter is open. Aperture is how much light that is allowed in while the shutter is open. It is also known a your f/stop. The smaller the number the more light that is allowed in, such as f/4 lets in more light than f/10. Now how do we get our settings, well there are a couple of ways. The one that many use, and have been since the beginning of time (okay maybe not that long) is to use a light meter. Now back in the day, when I first started this was pretty much your only option. You would take your light meter, hold it at your focal point on the subject, take a reading, and set your camera accordingly. Today's DSLRs have built in light meters. They may not be as good or accurate as a standard light meter, but they can do the job. Using your built in light meter is called "Chimping", and is looked down upon by many photographers. They can call me a monkey all they want, chimping saves me time and money, and I still get excellent results. There is a trick to it however. Like I said, the built in meters are not as accurate. Most of the time a simple step up or down will fix the problem.

Image shot at one step down. Model: Tiffany Rhodes

 

When shooting outside you need to control the light as best as you can, especially when shooting people. I try to make it a rule to never have my subject staring into the sun. If you are shooting under clear skies and the sun is high, try to find an area with shade. Make sure your subject is just past the shade line, but is completely covered. Now you can test your light. Set yourself for the shot, and put your camera on auto. Focus on the subjects eyes, lightly press your shutter release button until your camera settings show in the viewfinder. Now read the auto settings inside your viewfinder. Now you have your light reading. Typically I have my ISO set at 200 when shooting outside, and I normally use aperture priority mode, the A or AV mode on most DSLRs. If the top end of my Len's aperture is lets say f/2.8, I would set it a stop down like f/3 or whatever it may be. Now test the light again. On a bright day the camera is going to pick up all of that light in the background, not the light on your subject, so whatever the camera is telling you the proper shutter speed is, step it down one. Put your camera in to Manual Mode, "M" on most. So if the camera read 1/200, drop it back to 1/125 for an example. The background will blow out bright, but your subject should be lit just right. If your subject is still a bit dark, then drop it one more. Keep trying this out and soon you will be doing it without even thinking. You don't have to start out in auto mode, just use A Mode, just remember to watch your ISO. Keep it low in bright light, or sunlight. I would recommend never going over ISO 400 unless you are shooting in very low light.