lots of questions

[lilley91]

ok, i have a nice camera, with a lovely lens, and i may possibly think of taking photography into a carreer in the future, who knows.

i am using a canon 350D if this helps.

well, i thought that if i learned the technical part it would help me a lot, these are just some starters though.

well, for starters there is a little circular nob on the top by which i can change the mode the camera is in.
however i do not know what the uses of each mode is, and the differences are.

on the nob the symbols are

A-DEP
M
Av
Tv
P
(a little green square)
(a picture of a person's head)
(mountain with a cloud)
(flower)
(guy running)
(white box with the head and shoulders of a person and a black star)
(an electric bolt)

---

ISO???

---

Shutter speed, what are the effect and how do i change it?

---

and are there any other aspects i can have a look at?

thanks for any help!
james

[Craig.]

My advice, start by going to your local library and borrowing a book on photography. Also look into a photography course at the local college. Most run night classes that are apparently quite good.

A-DEP: Cant remember this and cant find my manual
M: Manual mode, you set the camera up
Av: Apeture is controlled by you camera handles the rest
Tv: Shutter is controlled by you IIRC (been a while since I last used it)
P
(a little green square)?
(a picture of a person's head): Portrait setup
(mountain with a cloud): Scenic photography
(flower): Close up photos
(guy running): Sports photography
(white box with the head and shoulders of a person and a black star) Portrait with flash I think
(an electric bolt): not sure

I'm sure Doug and Ken can help a little more as I am trying to go by memory as I try to only use AV and Manual usually.

Your ISO is used with the light conditions, ISO 100 is for the brightest day, ISO 1600 for heavy clouds. Most of the time, 200 is best for a sunny clear day, and 800 for a cloudy day.

Shutter speed. Best example is to look at some duxford pics by Bones and Doug, look at the props, where they are blurred is a slower shutter speed  and where they appear still is a fast speed. Again I will leave it for those more knowledgeable than I to explain fully.

[BAW0343]

(white box with the head and shoulders of a person and a black star) Night pertrait

(an electric bolt): Flash

[Hagar]

I'm sure Doug and Ken can help a little more as I am trying to go by memory as I try to only use AV and Manual usually.

My advice would be to study the manual to start with. All these basic features are explained in there. Then go out & experiment. Practice, practice & practice some more. I'm still a raw beginner & learning more every time I go out with the camera.

There should be plenty of tips & tricks on the Web if you have a search around. http://www.richard-seaman.com/Photography/Airshows/index.html

[lilley91]

ok

next questions

Aperture???

and what differences does the shutter speed make?

and i cant find the manual for it anywhere!!!

thanks
james

[Hagar]

ok


next questions

Aperture???

and what differences does the shutter speed make?

and i cant find the manual for it anywhere!!!

thanks
james

All you need to know about aperture. http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/fototech/apershutter/aperture.htm

I would forget that to start with. Set the dial on Tv & experiment with the shutter settings. Leave the camera to do the rest.

and i cant find the manual for it anywhere!!!

Read it online here. http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/pdf/EOSDRXT350DIM-EN.pdf

PS. Take Craig's advice & visit your local library.

[lilley91]

thanks

i will keep practising!!!

thanks again!

james

[Rifleman]

Craig has given first rate advice here.........being online, you already have a good library to visit........

Using your fav search engine, seek out "Basic Photography"........... there are many to choose from......

HERE is a site I found which explains a good bit of what you need as a raw beginner.....  I assure you, that you will learn something if you start at the beginning.......as you read this, you will enter the first phase of becoming more of a photographer than just an ordinary "picture taker" !

I could ramble on for pages on the subject, but you'll soon forget more than you remember.......take the learning slow and concentrate on basics first.......one thing at a time.....

[Boss_BlueAngels]

I can't do anything but echo what everyone else has said...

Four moths ago I was in the exact same boat as you.  All you need is a basic understanding "exposure" and the things in the camera that control it.  

You basically have 3 ways to directly control how much light hits the sensor... ISO setting, shutter speed, and aperture setting.  The lower ISO settings are for really bright conditions... and higher ISO is better for dark situations, but it comes at a cost in the form of image noise.

Aperture is kind of a tricky thing to understand until you shoot a bunch of pictures at different settings.  The higher the Av (aperture) number, the LESS light the camer lets in...  

Shutter speed is pretty easy, just how fast the shutter is!  the higher the number, the faster it is as the camera indicates it in fractions of a second.  (ie. 300=1/300 second, and "15=15 seconds)


My recomendation is to set the camera to M and find some easy subject to photo graph and change your shutter speed one stop at a time (one, "click" at a time) both up and down.  Then look at the images... you'll see that the faster the shutter speed, given constant aperture, the DARKER the image will be.  And vise verse.  

Then do the same with the Aperture settings.  The lower the number the darker the pictures will be provided you keep the same shutter speed.  


One thing I really love about the Av/Tv modes is the ability to use "exposure compensation" as a sort of "trick" to change the exposure of the image even more.  


And last piece of advice:  Be VERY thankful that you don't have to pay for the pictures!!! haha