Rexene Loc: Michigan

I am trying to move from auto to manual photography. I can't seem to keep things straight in my head as to what to change when; i.e., f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. No matter how many classes I take, it just doesn't seem to sink in! Attached are a few shots I took today in a park in a small town along Lake Michigan. I have a Nikon D7000 and used a Nikon 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G DX lens. What should I have changed in these photos?

ISO 800 F5.6 1/80 55mm


ISO 800 F22 1/320 55mm


ISO 200 F6.3 1/2500 44mm

JosephB Loc: South Jersey

You need to learn the exposure triad:
ISO - F/Stop or Aperture - Shutter Speed.
Each controls two things and all three together give you your correct exposure.
ISO is the sensitivity to light and noise (at high ISO)
Aperture amount of light and depth of field
Shutter Speed - how long the light allowed to expose the sensor and stop action.

Rexene Loc: Michigan

Joseph, I know what each factor means. It's the putting them together and knowing when and which ones to change to get the photo I'm looking for. In these instances I wanted a blurry background and I was focusing just on one flower, so I wanted the other ones blurry or have the bokeh look. Plus I couldn't get the light the way I wanted it.

JosephB Loc: South Jersey

OK blurring the background is your aperture or F-Stop.
The lower the F-Number the less will be in focus.
For example:
10' 9' 8' 7' 6' 5' 4' 3' 2' 1'

at 1.8 only 5' would be in focus
at 2.8 everything from 5.5' - 4.5' would be in focus
at. 4 everything from 6' - 4' would be in focus
at 5.6 everything from 7' to 3' would be in focus
at 8 everything from 8' to 2' would be in focus

(these are just examples by the way not the exact distances).

On the older lenses they used to tell you the distance you were focused in at, and they had a fstop scale to show you what would be in focus at each fstop.

Shame they don't do that any more. It would make life easier until you started to get it in your head and didn't need it any more.