Kim K Loc: Spanaway, Washington

It is raining and gloomy here today in Washington. I was wandering what settings are best for taking outdoor pictures today.

MadMike Loc: SALT LAKE

Interesting question? Your white balance should be on CLOUDY or SHADE, but ISO depends on lots of factors such as subject, motion, tripod or not, and of course CAMERA and LENS you are using. I have a Nikon D5100 so shooting handheld I can usually go to ISO 800 for flowers and still life. 1600 for action shots and still not loose clarity. More people can help, but give use more information of equipment and subject.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Your settings always depend on what you want to accomplish no matter what the weather....cloudy..sunny...etc.


There ARE some limits such as a lack of light or way too bright but that's basically the case.

During times when there is light enough, daylight cloudy, afternoon...try to keep the ISO at about 400 or below...that's not anyone's rule or anything....but it makes sense.

Also, how you set your shutter speed and aperture will be according to what you are photographing and what effect you want to get.

there is no real formula for "what time of day" you need what settings.


If you haven't gotten it already, get Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure" and it will help a lot.

ace-mt Loc: Montana

There is no best rainy day setting. You need to decide what you want your photos to look like. Today is a perfect day to play with different settings, to see what they do, and which you like. If you want to freeze the falling rain, jack up your iso to 1600 and use a shutter speed of 1000. Take the same shot at iso 100 and a shutter speed of 50. just have some fun.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Also,
here is a good mental rule of thumb to get you into the ballpark.

It's called the Sunny 16 rule. That makes it easy to remember because the f/stop you begin with is f/16.
The shutter speed is 1/ISO number (example ISO 100 means that your shutter speed will be 1/100. If your ISO is 200, your shutter speed will be 1/200)

So when you are in bright sun...in the day time and no clouds, set your camera to:

ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100 (or 1/125 no biggie)
f/16.

But this is JUST a starting point.

Because the settings are related; when one changes, the others do too, you don't have to stick to f/16.

Example:

You want to use f/5.6.

This is how you figure it.

Click your aperture down in number (the opening will get larger) from f/16 to f/5.6

That's: f/16, f/11, f/8, f/5.6 or 3 full stops down.

Now...click your shutter speed UP (the shutter will get faster) by the same number of full stops:

f/125, 1/250, f/500, f/1/1000

Now your new settings are:

ISO 100
shutter speed 1/1000
f/5.6


The EXACT SAME amount of light is coming into the camera as before because you opened up the aperture to let 8 times the amount of light in but you also raised your shutter speed so 8 times LESS light came in during the time the shutter was open...it was much faster now.


Make sense?

MadMike Loc: SALT LAKE

Just remember that at F 5.6 your depth of field will be shallow. Great for portraits flowers and animals. Not so good for landscapes.

Kim K Loc: Spanaway, Washington

Wow how do you guys remember all this lol

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Lol..this may sound funny but this works.


While you watch tv tonight....have your camera in hand.

When the first commercial comes on....set it to sunny 16.

ISO 100
f/16
ss 1/125.


During the next commercial break...change it two stops to f/8.

Remember...you have to change your shutter speed now also...you don't have to be smart....just watch the dial....while you click and say them out loud....f/11, that's one stop....f/8 that's two stops.

Then the shutter....

I'm at 1/125....now i have to go two stops faster....1/250....and 1/500...that's two stops faster...

Now wait until the next commercial break....when it comes...go down two more stops.


And keep doing that every night and SAY IT OUT LOUD....

I a week you'll have it down cold....repetition is the key to learning this stuff...saying it out loud is important.

tk Loc: Iowa

Love this trick!

ace-mt Loc: Montana

Very nice explaination, Rpavich :thumbup:

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

Always use the lowest ISO that is native to your camera if it allows a shutter speed speed and aperture you want. You can easily determine this without memorizing any rules. If the shutter speed cannot be increased to the point where the image has no blur, then you need to increase ISO. If the desired aperture cannot be increased to allow for the depth of field wanted, increase the ISO. With higher ISO comes increased noise. Flowers, as an example, generally don't move, and I will shoot them from a tripod at very slow shutter speed just so that I can keep the ISO down around 200 (native on my Nikon).

MtnMan Loc: ID

Get Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure" and make it your best friend.

We won't hear from you again for years....

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Lol....this could very well be true... :)

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Thanks...that's how I learned to read music, and how to play/memorize different guitar scales, etc...all kinds of things.

It works!

Leonardo Loc: The Garden of England

On this rainy day, it is an ideal opportunity to pop your camera into manual mode and find out what all those settings do...

There are no right or wrong settings; it depends on what effect you want to achieve.

Perhaps you could borrow an exposure meter to see what it suggests you should do?