wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Since I seem to step on someone's toes every time exposure methods are brought up I decided to write some of my thoughts then folks can step on my toes. (I have steel toed shoes

Anyone who wants to improve there photography should learn how to use the exposure triangle (1 sensitivity of medium being used ISO in Digital and ASA in film. 2 Aperture 3 shutter speed) to be able to get the look they want out of their photography. The way to do this is to learn how to use your camera in manual or one of the priority (aperture or shutter speed) settings.

The first thing you need to know is how to get a good exposure. Some advocate using the Sunny 16 rule. You set your camera at F/16 under a sunny sky and your shutter speed at whatever ISO/ASA you are using. If it were 200 you would set your shutter speed at 1/200th of a sec. Look down at the 1962 picture taken with the sunny 16 rule. With the blown out highlights and dark shadows not good. So you need to know how to set your camera in different lighting conditions. Kodak made a exposure dial that was available on a card or in their Kodak Pocket Photoguide which is pictured below. You can line up the lighting condition with the film speed and then read the different aperture/shutter speed combinations you can use to get a good exposure. Then you can pick the shutter speed or aperture you need to accomplish the type of picture you are taking and use the other setting to complete the triangle. The settings on the chart that would correspond with sunny 16 are - very bright sun (snow or light sand) f/22 sun f/16 hazy sun f/8 heavy overcast f/5.6 open shade f/4. If you are interested in manual with no meter most of the time you can find the Kodak book on eBay.

My #3 son has perfect pitch and since he was 9 and started tuning his own violin he could tune the A string (the string that you start tuning with) to the perfect pitch. We checked him several times with a tuning fork and he was always right on. I do believe that there are some folks that can "read" light and be right on all the time. I am not one of them so I use and other none gifted souls to forget about reading the light and use an exposure meter. I have pictured one below and you can see that after you set the film speed (ISO) to what you are using and match the needles and it give you the shutter speed/aperture settings you can use. Other meters read different but give the same info. Read your instruction book. You may want to use the meter in your camera by setting shutter speed or aperture and then moving the other tell whatever your camera has as an indicator lines up.

Now that you know how to get a good exposure you need to know what to set to get the look you want.

Remember you are limited by the light you have. For example you cannot use very slow shutter speeds if you have bright light or very fast if you light is dim.

In the exposure triangle you can pick two of the settings and the 3rd setting is "set in stone" for the right exposure. You may want to over or under expose to get what you want so to get that look but only one setting will get it. A few of my thoughts on why I pick what - ISO as you know the higher you go the less light you need the one problem as you go higher the more noise you get so many go as low as they can. This may be a thing of the past with the newer cameras being able to use high ISO without noise. You may also want to use a low ISO if you want slow shutter speeds tor artistic blur like waterfalls. Aperture - This is the one I use the most. I like to control Depth of Field so I use and have the ISO set so I don't get noise and let the shutter speed fall where it may as long as it's not to slow and since I shoot In aperture priority I can make a setting that ups the ISO if shutter speeds go too low. Just a thought on f/stops. I had my 35mm lens on my camera and noticed it had no f/stops marked on it. I have just always used the ones on my camera since that is where they are set. Then I noticed that with the stops in 1/3 that if I did not know I would have no idea what stops were the traditional stops and which were in 1/3 stops between. Here they are starting from the largest aperture (remember that F/stops are fractions so the smallest numbers are the largest opening) f/1.4 - f/2 - f/2.8 - f/ 4 - f/5.6 - f/8 - f/11 - f/16 - f22 - f/32 - f/45 - f/65. Shutter speed can be used if you want to either stop motion by setting fast or slow if you want to use some technics.

Going manual on a digital camera is more than the exposure triangle You need to look at white balance and camera settings for picture controls to match what you are shooting or you may want to just shoot RAW and do those things in PP

Just for the record I have forgot more things about photography than most hoggers will ever know. The trouble is I have forgot them so If you see something I left out or got wrong feel free to jump in and share your knowledge too. - Dave

xxredbeardxx Loc: San Clemente CA.

Thanks very much. I'm a beginner.
I am learning a lot from all those posting here.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

I concur with your treatise, wilsondl2. Very well worded. The only correction I'll offer is it's ISO whether you shooting digital or film. ASA hasn't been used since the mid-70's when the American Standards Association was dropped in favor of the International Standards Organization. I haven't seen a Kodak Exposure Guide in over 50 years.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thanks and thanks for your comment. I knew I would learn something old that was new to me. Do you remeber DIN not sure how it fit in. - Dave

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thanks - If you have in questions on Maunal exposuure ask on this thread. If I can't answear I'm sure someone else can. - Dave

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

I enjoyed your post. I agree with the use of manual mode and the triangle along with white balance. Fun read.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thanks Dave - I consider the priority (aperture and shutter speed) the same as manual since you pick the ISO and which ever and the camera's meter picks the other. It is the same as if you used the camera's meter as your meter. In my Not So Humble Opinion for most things the Matrix metering in today's cameras beats other systems hand down. It is like having the zone system calculated for you. - Dave

dlew9 Loc: Lancaster County, PA

WOW ... I had to go digging in some of my old stuff from film and B/W days. I found the little Kodak "MASTER PHOTOGUIDE" that was first printed in 1957. Now I'm going to keep it on a shelf with some of my other old stuff! :thumbup:

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

On some of the newer models we have auto ISO and it does this quite well. There are specific situations such as quickly changing changing lighting(sun in and out of clouds) and shooting movement where it is very handy. I can set shutter AND aperture and let the ISO swing. Having said that, for more serious photos, I set the ISO and tend to use a tripod rather than kick the ISO.

Peter Boyd Loc: Blyth nr. Newcastle U.K.

This doesn't really matter since the numerical values of ISO and ASA are identical.
Pete.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Twomaytow, toomattoe!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

I have one from '54. Not sure when the first one came out. It also has a workable depth of field calculator that I find useful - Dave

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

I love having the auto ISO adjust when needed but if you forget to turn it off when you want everything manual because your incamera meter is being fooled it will drive you crazy adjusting the ISO to what the camera thinks it should be. - Dave

xxredbeardxx Loc: San Clemente CA.

Thanks very much. I use aperature priority most
of the time. That seems to get some great shots.
I just moved from a Nikon D3100 to a 7100 so I am
in the middle of a learning curve. It has so many more
bells and whistles.

I know its not the arrow, it's the indian that matters,
but I wanted more mega pixels for cropping.
I shoot surfers a lot and that makes a difference
in the final out come.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

The arrow does count. Try shooting a crooked one. I shot side by side with my D50 and new D7100 and there is a big differance. With your D7100 there are all kinds of auto focus lenses that will work on your new camera and they are cheap. So if you just want to get new to you lenses look on eBay. - Dave