Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

You have probably reached a point where your understanding is only going to improve with practice. My suggestion would be to use manual with auto ISO, set what you think are appropriate f stop and shutter speed.
Experiment, take several pictures of each scene with different settings, then you can compare them and determine what the best settings were. Experience is the best teacher, with experience "you" will determine what your highest ISO should be, what shutter speeds you need to stop blur from camera shake and what f stop to use. We can tell you what you should do, but you will not know until you do it, make your own decisions, have your own successes and failures. Take pictures have fun, all you lack is experience and confidence.







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Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

To me the first thing is to stop motion blur unless you are shooting specifically to show some sort of motion, such as panning a race car. Shutter speed set at 1/ lens focal length is usually a good minimum. 1/ 2 times focal length is even better, especially with longer focal length lenses. This is easily accomplished using shutter priority or Tv on your Canon. Aperture priority, Av on your Canon, selects a specific aperture opening in the lens and changes the shutter speed to get a proper exposure. Aperture controls the DOF of your shot when combined with the focal length of the lens and the distance to your subject. Longer focal lengths, shorter distances to the subject and wider open apertures yield smaller DOF. I suggest you get a DOF calculator app for your phone and play with the settings to get an idea of how different settings of aperture, focal length and distance to subject impact the resulting DOF. With the resolving power of your higher end camera using very good lenses is going to be important. I also recommend you shoot in RAW plus JPEG. You may want the RAW files later on to edit when you develop more Post Processing skills. I prefer to set my ISO and not let it float or be selected by the camera. Ballpark outdoor ISO is 100 to 400, 400 to 1600 indoors and 1600 to 12,800 at very dark venues. Of course these can vary depending on specific conditions as can aperture and shutter speed. You may also,want to look into Live View shooting as you can see the exposure on the rear screen as you shoot and change settings. If you have questions you can private message me. I don't have the 5d4 but shoot a 1Dx MkII which is similar in capabilities.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Or IM me as I have the 5dIII

anotherview Loc: California

You write: "I just want you to understand that I know something (not a total newbie) but can’t seem to put it all in practice."

You find yourself in the natural position of facing variables that each alone you may understand but together when shooting they produce uncertainty or confusion if not frustration.

My suggestion: Just stick with it. Understanding may come slowly but it will arrive.

Know also that some instructors in photography include the history of photography, the philosophy of photography, their opinion of photography, their personal experience at some length, and so forth, instead of going right to the need of the moment. These time-wasters I encourage you to avoid.

Look for videos and tutorials that go to the point with no fluff.

You can always pick up non-essential information later.

As for video settings, I watched a video tutorial of one quick-and-dirty approach:

Put the camera in P mode.

Set the camera to record video.

Push the record button to start.

Push the record button to stop.

Done.

The camera will do all the hard work of identifying conditions and adjusting the video recording to suit same.

Of course if you wish to do more, then you could spend time learning the manual mode for doing video. It doesn't seem that hard, really. Becoming a videographer does present its own learning curve, though.

Good luck.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I learned that when hand holding the camera never shoot under 1/60 of a second. That was told to me by my SGT and he was never wrong. Now some can hand hold at 1/30 of a second but you have to practice breath control to do that. As for ISO, today one can shoot up to about 6400 and not worry too much about noise.

The answer to your quest is to try things out. Shoot and learn.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

If something requires understanding and learning in photography it has to be the exposure of the subject. Today it is easier than in the past when we were practically guessing. Today the histogram is your best friend.

To use the camera in the Manual Mode you need to understand the camera and at least have some good knowledge about exposure and how shutter speeds and apertures work. Understanding how each type of exposure meter works is a plus and I can tell you right now that with multipattern, evaluative or matrix metering (as manufacturers call them) you will be in the ballpark many times but in challenging like and for some subjects those meters will fail miserably since they work by algorithms built in the camera by which they tend to compensate the exposure. In other words, the operator depends on the meter for the exposure and that to me is not being in control.

Center weighted and spot metering in my humble opinion are more accurate in the hands of those who know how they work. Spot metering is the most precise but requires a good understanding on how it works and how to use it. It requires experience.

If you keep on watching videos in the Internet you are going to get more confused since what you have there are personal opinions and many times from people who have no experience. Learn how to expose from a good book on exposure but be warned that not all teachers are good when it comes to learning. The books written by John Shaw they all have a chapter on exposure very well explained. Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson seems to be a very popular book (https://www.scribd.com/document/255429044/Understanding-Exposure-pdf) and there are many others.

I like and review from time to time a book on exposure that was written by the late Bahman Farzad, former professor of photography at the University of Tennessee called "The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System." It is a long title for a book which is easy to read and understand. To me this has been the BEST book on exposure that I have ever read.

When working in low light you need to know that there is always the possibility that you will need a high ISO setting. In my case I never try to go beyond 1600 and if I can use a tripod I go with the base ISO for that particular camera, usually ISO 200. Because of the low light, not using a tripod, you will have to go to a large lens opening, like f4 or 5.6 to admit more light and those are only examples.
When it is sunny you do not need an exposure meter. Just follow "sunny 16" but remember that apertures and shutter speeds are reciprocal meaning that if one is changed the other will need change to keep the exposure. You will learn that when you study exposure for the subject.

Yes, opening the lens to larger apertures reduces your depth of field. Small apertures will require longer shutter speeds so be careful if not using a tripod. Working in low light requires experience so practice is the best way to learn.

Working with the camera in the Manual Mode the photographer is in total control assuming the photographer knows what he or she is doing. When you let the camera take decisions for you more times than not you are not going to be happy with the results, especially in difficult lighting conditions. A good rule to combat blur is to use a shutter speed at or beyond the reciprocal focal length of your lens. If you shoot with a 50mm lens you will need a minimum shutter speed of 1/50sec. but if you make it 1/100sec. it is even better. Apply that to other focal lengths.

I hope this helps.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I strongly disagree that studying the history of photography is a waste of time. Artists in all fields have always built on the work their predecessors have done in the past. It's how human culture has been built. If not actually taking a course on the history of photography (which I did and inspired my work ever since) going to the internet or a library and discovering master photographers of the past will be a great help to an aspiring photographer.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

I'd like to add that videos in general are priceless. That said, they often come with price and I don't mean money. Rather than camera basics think about say learning an edit tool like Lightroom. Who knows, something like this may be next on your bucket list. For LR there are dozens of videos. I guarantee, just like you experienced with camera basics, each author has their opinions and workflow. When you interleave two or more authors, there are similarities yet differences - ay the rub! My best suggestion is to find videos by the same author and learn their way. Once understand one author, you can learn to watch others and see if their method sounds better.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Amen, especially B&W. let's not exclude painters - incredible things to learn about composition and colors.

NickelCigar Loc: Lenexa, Kansas

Now this is a guy that really wants to help someone. I see negative stuff on alot of newbie questions. Thank you sir for giving this guy some really great advice.

BebuLamar

I think the OP understands exposure very well. What the OP question is what one would do if the lighting condition is difficult. Back in the film days for me it was if I can use the tripod then it's the tripod. If tripod isn't the answer than it's NO PICTURE is the answer.
Today for me it's mostly high ISO. I won't hesitate to use ISO 12,800. I however would prefer not to use aperture larger than f/5.6. Most of my pictures need DOF.

d3200prime

You should only adjust your ISO when SS and aperture cannot be sufficiently adjusted for proper exposure. Shoot at the lowest ISO possible. Here is a great FREE video of shooting in manual. https://www.udemy.com/ditch-auto-start-shooting-in-manual/learn/v4/overview. Enjoy your trip!

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Buy Brian Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure".... read it, study it, learn it. Might be the best $15 you ever spend on your photography.

Basically, there are no hard and fast rules. I would immediately skip any video or forum response telling me to only use this ISO or that ISO, only shoot wide open or only stopped down or that certain shutter speeds are required. IMO, YouTube is a terrible place to try to learn photography. There's good info there... but there's also a lot of bad. Short videos simply can't give you the overall picture you need, but can be useful to learn specific tricks or techniques. Forums are a bit better, since there can be feedback and discussion.... but it's still pretty limited and hard to discuss a huge subject like "exposure" in forum posts. And you'll get a lot of other peoples' opinions, which may or may not apply to your and what you're trying to achieve.

Actually, there's a RANGE of available ISO, shutter speeds and aperture to serve a lot of different photographic purposes. There are even techniques to extend the ranges that are typically available in cameras and lenses, to be able to do even more extreme things with your photos.

It comes down to what COMBINATION of the three factors will give you a "correct" exposure with qualities you want to see in your image.

ISO is the sensitivity of your image sensor. Use low ISO settings when they suffice, to minimize noise in images. But use higher ones when necessary to be able to use smaller apertures and/or faster shutter speeds.

A faster shutter speed is used to freeze movement, while a slower one can be used to deliberately capture some motion blur effects in an image. (Shutter speeds are generally stated in fractions of a second such as 1/500 or 1/1000.... but also in full seconds or even minutes in the most extreme. Typical camera today covers a range from 30 seconds to 1/4000 or 1/8000, on it's own.)

Aperture size determines depth of field... a large one (low number such as f/1.4 or f/2) renders shallow DoF with stronger background (and foreground) blur, while a smaller aperture (larger number such as f/11, f/16) can be used to render extensive DoF with sharp focus from near to far. (Note: "f-stops" are actually a fraction... "focal length divided by number".... which is why smaller numbers = a larger diameter opening and larger numbers = a smaller one.)

All three.... ISO, shutter speed and aperture.... can be adjusted in "full stops" to double or halve. For example, ISO 200 is twice as sensitive as ISO 100. Or, ISO 800 is half as sensitive as ISO 1600. A shutter speed of 1/500 is half as long as 1/250, allowing twice as much light to pass. Aperture f-stops tend to be the most confusing.... but suffice to say with each full stop there is half as much light being admitted through the lens. Full aperture stops are f/1.0 (100% of light passes), f/1.4 (50%), f/2.0 (25%), f/2.8 (12.5%), f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, etc.

When you want to use a lower ISO for some reason, to still have a correct exposure you either have to slow the shutter or increase the size of the aperture... or a little of both. Same with aperture... if you want to use a larger one to render shallower depth of field, you'll need to increase shutter speed or decrease ISO, or a little of both. Or if you want to use a faster shutter speed to better freeze the movement of an active subject, you'll need to use a larger aperture and/or higher ISO to compensate.

Fortunately or unfortunately, many cameras allow even finer control over all of these factors... Sometimes optionally, sometimes not... many or most offer half or even 1/3 stop increments in-between the full stops mentioned above.

None of these settings is "right" all the time. You... the photographer... get to choose among them, deciding how you want the camera and lens to render the image.

You do need to select a combination of ISO, shutter speed and aperture that will make for a "correct" exposure. But what's "correct" is also a variable... "high key" photos are deliberately somewhat overexposed..... while "low key", silhouette and some other techniques may be deliberately underexposed to some extent.

Experiment and give yourself some time to learn the different ways an image can look and the controls provided for you to be able to achieve the different renditions. Peterson's book has a lot more detail and info than is possible here on a forum. So get it, read it, study it, learn it! Then get out and shoot, review your images and think about what you like and what you don't, as well as how you might achieve whatever changes you'd like to see. Don't get too hung up on what other people say is "right" or "wrong". Develop your own ideas about that... your own photographic style. A lot will depend upon what subjects you like to shoot... And then upon how you want to see them rendered in your images. That will determine the correct settings for YOU to use.

Your camera might have some built-in assistance as you learn to use these. I don't know about other brands, but many Canon have a "CA" or "creative auto" setting that provides "wizards" with advice on the rear LCD screen to help you choose settings that will render the image as you'd like to see it. This is a bit slower in use, of course, as you consult the info provided and make decisions effecting your images. But it can be helpful while you learn to utilize the three different exposure ranges to make the camera and lens do what you want it to do.

EDIT: And, yes, there are various auto exposure modes... each serving its own purpose. These can help you as you learn, too. Some will continue to be helpful or even necessary in the future when you have a better understanding and control. "P" or "program" mode lets you choose the ISO but leaves it to the camera to decide both aperture and shutter speed that it "thinks" will render a correct exposure. "A" or "Av" is "aperture priority" where you decide the aperture and ISO, and the camera adjusts the shutter speed to achieve a correct exposure. "S" or "Tv" ("time value") is "shutter priority", where you select the ISO and shutter speed, but leave it to the camera to decide an appropriate aperture.

More recent digital cameras also have Auto ISO which is best used with M (manual), to provide yet another form of auto exposure where you decide the shutter speed AND the aperture size, but leave it to the camera to set the ISO. I would NOT recommend EVER using Auto ISO along with P, Av or Tv AE modes.... because that becomes a somewhat unpredictable "auto-auto" mode that serves no real purpose.

If you just don't care or don't know what to do, simply use the "point n shoot, super auto" mode that most cameras offer ("A+, green box" on Canon, "Auto, red box" on Nikon, etc.) That's like using a camera phone (so why bother buying a DSLR at all?).

The problem with any and all super auto modes (besides "A+" and "Auto", many cameras also have "scene modes" such as "sports", "scenic", "portrait", etc.) is that they automate and dictate what you can use in many other ways, besides just auto exposure. They will limit how you autofocus, image characteristics such as contrast and color saturation, frame rates, metering methods, whether or not the flash will fire.... Even the type of file you're able to save. Many of those are things you should be deciding for yourself. But these super auto modes (especially the most basic) might serve occasionally while you learn to use the others, when you just aren't sure what to do.

But the more control you take over it, the better your results will be in the future. Personally I avoid the "scene modes" and "point n shoot" mode.... But I do use the auto exposure modes: Av, Tv.... and occasionally P or M+Auto ISO. I prefer to use fully manual exposure.... "M" without Auto ISO... to "lock in" my exposures whenever I can. But that's simply not always possible. When you're shooting in variable lighting conditions.... or a subject that's moving in and out of different lighting conditions... it can be essential to use one of the AE modes. M just won't do (despite some people who will tell you that's the ONLY mode to use). IMO, it's important to learn to use M, Av and Tv in particular.... P and M+Auto ISO also can be helpful at times, too. But, as far as I'm concerned the other more highly automated settings many cameras have just make for unnecessary, added confusion and/or overly subvert the photographer's control over their images.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

You might want to consider Program mode as being the next step up from full Auto to give you more control over the settings. You choose the ISO, the camera sets the aperture and shutter compliments, and then with the turn of a dial or two you can change the aperture and the camera will change the shutter, or visa versa. As you've noted, there is no one setting for every scene. Program mode gives you some flexibility over Auto to experiment with. For indoors without flash, I always use Auto ISO and Program mode. You can set a high limit through the menu but if it's too dark inside you'll be underexposed in some cases. High ISO makes for more "noise" but it's either that or not get the shot. The effect of noise can be reduced in post processing. Shooting in RAW instead of JPEG for those indoor shots would be adviseable. You have greater latitude in dealing with exposure, light balance, and noise issues. Hope this helps.

hookedupin2005 Loc: Northwestern New Mexico

@aceman215... London IS a great place to use your camera...... But, so is right out the door of your home!