Virgil Loc: The Hoosier State

Here is a site that may help some get the concept of f-stops.
www.photoimagenews.com/plumbing.htm

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I've heard of this and have been using a variation of it to teach the photography merit badge to scouts. It seems to sink in pretty easliy.
http://www.photoimagenews.com/plumbing.htm

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Here is how I taught my Grandson about the 3 variables in determining exposure using a plumbing idiom. The camera's sensor is like a bucket. The size of the bucket corresponds to the ISO. A larger bucket is a lower ISO number and it takes more water (light) to fill it. A high ISO is like having a small bucket. It takes less water (light) to fill it. If you want to fill a bucket, you can turn the tap on just a little and wait a long time OR you can open the tap wide and fill it more quickly. You can have an infinite number of choices of how long you leave the tap open and how wide you open it as long as you fill the bucket. I have an old Nikon Photomic FTN and several manual lenses. I showed him the lens diaphram and how it openned and closed with the f/stop dial and I showed him the shutter on the camera body and let him see the different shutter speeds. Once you understand the fundamentals of how these three things relate to each other, it is much easier to pick up on proper exposure etc.

randymoe

GoofyNewfie

Good for you for working with the Scouts. There is so much bad press about Scouting these days. I have fond memories of Scouting and always liked the Motto, 'Be Prepared'.

The attacks on the Girl Scouts are depressing.

Thanks for helping young people, they will remember you and your lessons!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Birdpix- the bucket system is the version I use. I have problems with pints, quarts & gallons and was hoping we'd have been metric a long time ago. I use different diameter hoses to illustrate apertures (figuratively, not literally). Maybe I learned it from MY Nikon FTN manual!

Randy- Thanks, I enjoy it a lot. I'm vicariously going through scouts with my son.
He Eagled a few days after his 15th birthday. No interest in photography, (un)fortunately- so he's probabably going to make more money than I am.

Virgil Loc: The Hoosier State

Thanks Goofie for adding the http. As soon as I submitted it I knew my mistake and resubmitted. Virgil