A few days ago, I got myself a Canon EOS 700D DSLR camera along with a Canon EFS 18-55mm lens for about $160. Until now, I’ve only ever used point-and-shoots, like my smartphone or my “Kodak” Pixpro AZ401.
So, it’s basically the first time I get to properly play around with the exposure triangle and all that good, manual stuff. I already love this camera, because despite the low cost, you can get great shots in auto mode out of the box, but it’s also very versatile in professional photography. All that, and I still haven’t even gotten into editing raw photos; this is just the JPG!
This particular photo of a garden shed was shot with:
ISO: 6400
Exposure: 1/395s
Aperture: f/14
Focal length: 46mm
Resolution: 5184x3456
From what I’ve heard, those settings aren’t ideal, especially the high ISO for that much light. Does anybody have some general tips for me or resources to check out?
By the way, I also just installed Magic Lantern. That’s some great stuff. Oh, and also - if anyone has a good way to connect it as a webcam on Linux, that’s also very welcome since EOS Utility doesn’t work and Gphoto2 is very low-res. The first thing I didn’t get properly running on Linux!
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Yes, as someone that got into photography many years ago:
- Rule of Thirds—Honestly, this is the easiest thing to learn. It won’t make your photos amazing or anything, but it is a consistent way to view any scene, which is very useful.
- Then watch some random video on photographic composition. There are many different ways to view a scene.
- Learn the Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO/Exposure Triangle. Absolutely crucial for learning to shoot manual.
- Learn to shoot manual. Try taking good pics of fireworks on July 4th. It’s tougher than it looks.
- You don’t need to get into editing raw photos, but it’s fun af. I switched from Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop to ON1. I’d also recommend Affinity Photo. Unlike ON1, Affinity does not have a subscription and their software is comparable to Photoshop.
As for your photo, at a glance, I can’t really tell it’s shot as such as high ISO. But once you zoom in, you can see the fuzziness. Still though, I think it’s kinda clear why you took the picture. It looks you’re focusing on several interacting subjects (the bunny, the butterfly, the turquoise fence with the bunny outline) that all framed really well by the wooden house and the negative space at the top and right edges of the frame. I, for one, like it a lot!
Anyway, have fun! Photography is one of the hobbies I’m happiest to have. I hope it ends up being as fulfilling for you!
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This is really good for a person starting out with a DSLR. You have a great composition here. I recommend learning by experimentation and inquiring with others. A lot of photography concepts are covered well on YouTube. I learned a lot from Ken Rockwell though I know a lot of people don’t care for him. One thing to invest in is a good tripod. Take the same photo with multiple settings until you find what you want. Though knowing techniques is good and desirable, a lot of decisions are subjective to you as the photographer.
That’s a really interesting photo. I like the way you captured some dramatic light and played with focus planes. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the years. This is an interest that will actually take you places and make you try things you never thought you’d do before. Have a great time finding beauty in the world and sharing it with people.
First, nice photo! Even “old” gear can take great photos. Throw motion and/or low light (with a fast lens) into the mix and you’ll beat a modern smartphone.
The quick lead into the exposure triangle is:
- ISO is basically “gain” applied to the photons that hit the sensor. Some gain = fine. More gain = you start to run into signal to noise ratio challenges
- shutter speed helps you freeze the action, or can also let the action blur on purpose. Examples of intentional blur include panning photos (think auto racing) and long exposures (at night or during the day with the aid of a ND filter)
- aperture. This is the ratio of focal length to lens aperture. Keep in mind it’s 1/x, so as x grows the actual aperture is getting “stopped down” (aka closed/smaller). Wider aperture (aka small denominator) = less depth of field and more light will hit the sensor. Stopping down = more depth of field and generally more sharpness/less vignetting, but if you take this too far you’ll hit diffraction and lose sharpness
You wind up trading values against each other in various scenarios, which is why it’s called the exposure triangle. It’s very much a “you pick two and deal with the third” situation. Which two you prioritize really comes down to what you’re trying to accomplish.
For your barn photo’s exposures, let’s talk tradeoffs. It sounds like you know that your ISO value was too high, especially for a static subject and good light. So how to get it to go down? You could do a mix of:
- using a slower shutter speed. Unless you have a tremor, the rule of thumb is minimum shutter speed should be more than 1/focal length. You could have easily shot this at 1/100, if not lower. That would cut ISO down to around 1600
- open your aperture. f/14 is very closed and likely isn’t needed unless you really want to see something deep in the background/foreground. You’re also likely losing some sharpness due to diffraction
Happy shooting! Feel free to ask follow ups.
Yeah, I definitely noticed the “you pick two and deal with the third” thing.
I think the trick in most cases is to
- Set the ISO as low as possible, depending on the lighting of the scene
- Set the shutter speed, depending on if it’s a moving target, such as animals
- Set the aperture to even out the brightness
- Play around with the ratios, as needed
That worked pretty well for my latest tries.
When I made the barn photo, I did have that composition in mind since I played around with compositions in the past, but literally had no idea what’s important for the exposure triangle. I pretty much just pressed buttons until it was bright enough and was lucky it looked good, besides the grain
It says failed to load media unfortunately. I’m glad you’re enjoying the hobby. Darktable is a great editing software fyi
![[OC] Just getting into photography](https://i.imgur.com/XzG7mfc.jpeg){kind=link}