Camera Help Needed

[mish13]

Hi Mish13

Great advice already here.

I have no idea why your camera chose what it chose for your shots above. Generally auto works pretty well, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to flash photography so no help there I'm afraid. I can say that the shallow depth of field (limited area of focus) in the shots is due to the very wide apeture. Like others have said, the slower shutter speeds would create handshake as well.

You're not alone with the exposure triangle - it makes my head spin too. I have come up with a way for me to understand things. Although I'm certainly not an expert photographer, I'm pretty happy with a good number of my shots.

My favourite thing to photograph is landscapes so I primarily shoot in apeture mode (A).

My rule of thumb #1: If it's fairly still (ie not tearing around the place like a soccer game or racing cars), I shoot in apeture mode. If it's moving a lot I shoot in shutter speed mode.

My rule of thumb #2: If I want everything in focus I use an apeture of f11 or less (or more - don't know the right terminology but f11, f16, f22, etc). My camera takes pretty crap shots over f16 though. If I want a nice blurry background, I use f4 or more.

Note that when using the big apetures (f4, etc) your focus point needs to be pretty spot on as there is a very limited amount of the shot (foreground & background) that will be in focus.

There's a generally accepted photography rule of thumb (not one of mine ;) ) that says your shutter speed shouldn't be less than 1/focal length, eg if your focal length is 30mm your shutter speed shouldn't be less than 1/30sec. This ensures handshake doesn't cause blur.

My rule of thumb #3: I can't take a clear handheld shot at a slower shutter speed than 1/60. Any less & I need to use a tripod.

My rule of thumb #4: Forget about ISO 90% of the time. If I change it for a special situation, I will without fail, take my next set of shots at that different ISO and cock them all up.

If I do venture onto M mode, I choose what's most important to me for that shot out of area of focus (A) or clarity for movement (S) and set that. Then I use the little meter in the bottom of the view finder to tell me when I've adjusted the other one to the correct exposure.

Keep at it, maybe just choosing one thing (like apeture or shutter speed or area of focus) to work on at a time. You'll see the shots improving

ETA: typos

Thanks for all the tips I will print them out and give it a go, some of it is still a bit confusing but every bit helps

[huga]

Honestly, you really just need to get outside when there is enough light and switch it to manual. Trial and error :) Start with an ISO of 200-400, shutter speed of 1/500th and aperture of say f4. Experiment.

[pesh]

With all the great info you've already received I'll just my little bit.

As a beginner myself I would suggest a tripod or a monpod, it just helps with movement that being shown in some of your shots.

Definately shutter speed is too slow, it's a personal choice but I like 125+.

I too have taken a photographic course and yes it can be too much to take in, in such a short period.

I found going out trying all different settings and writting it all down was one of the most helpful things. So when you download them you can refer back and see what happened with the different settings.

Plus if you weren't sure put the camera on auto and have a look at its' setting and fiddle around those numbers.

And as I say, if in doubt use Auto. Auto being my favourite setting also.

Then when you have your shots, then comes editing for all your wonderful memories............ :laugh:

Good luck........... :)

[tlc]

I have just been having a bit of a read up on your camera and it has a very cool feature in the P mode, p stands for programmable, most DSLRs have P mode and it is kind of an auto setting, with the sony however

while in Program AE mode, you can rotate either the front or rear control dials to select different combinations of aperture and shutter speed settings than those normally chosen by the autoexposure system. (That is, if the automatic program would have chosen 1/125 second and f/5.6, you could instead direct the camera to use 1/60 at f/8 or 1/30 at f/11, to get greater depth of field.) This is a very handy option for those times when you need some measure of increased control, but still want the camera to do most of the work for you. We personally use this capability more than Aperture- or Shutter-priority metering in our own shooting. An added wrinkle in the Sony A850 is that turning the front control dial sets the mode indicator to PS (program shift/shutter priority), while turning the rear control dial sets the indicator to PA (program shift/aperture priority), so you can take control of either shutter speed or aperture, letting the camera make the appropriate choice for the other variable.

Basically this means if you are shooting something and you check the picture and want a bit more light you can decide if you want to open the aperture (lower number) or slow the shutter speed down. both will give you more light but you need to decide which was to go, if you slow the shutter there is more chance of movement and if you widen the aperture there is a more shallow depth of field.

My source was here

Huga has hit the nail on the head, just put it on any of the manual modes and have a play, its the easiest way to learn, when you look at the photos back take particular note of the exif data when you see a shot you like, this will be a starting ground for next time. A lot of it depends on the available light, the native iso for your particular camera is 200 so try not to go below if you can help it, you will get optimum performance on iso 200, but of course if you need higher inside or low light this camera should be well and truly capable.

[tdierikx]

Funnily enough (my own perception here), I find that if I do a course in something that needs a creative edge, my creativity actually suffers for all the trying to apply the physics of the thing.

I wouldn't know jack about aperture, ISO, f-stops, etc - but I'm still managing more decent pics of my subject choice than not... and therein lies the rub... do you want to be technically brilliant, or just to be able to take nice pics resonably consistently?

When all is done and dusted, what really counts is learning your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to framing the shot, getting it in some sort of focus, and producing a pleasing result that you are happy to share with others. I certainly wouldn't call ANY of my photos technically brilliant, but I DO know that I'm getting enough that are very pleasing to the eye - even someone else's eye... *grin*

If you are becoming overwhelmed with the technical stuff, just ignore it all for now and just play around with what the camera will already give you with it's preset modes. Pick a subject matter that you like, and it will be easier too. The best equipment in the world will still give you crap results if you don't practice a bit with it and find out what works best for the type of photo you want to take.

The only people that really *need* to take so much technical stuff so seriously are those that need to make a living from it - yes, it's nice to have the technical ability and to understand all of those manual settings - but for the average Joe like me, it's more about what pleasure *I* get from the end result, rather than pleasing someone else because they are paying me to. There is the bonus when others like your stuff too, but my primary concern with my photography is actually in pleasing myself...

T.

[RallyValley]

Buy Understanding Exposure and read it cover to cover (twice!) And join a camera club if you have a good one near you.

[tlc]

I think the thing with your particular camera it is geared towards the Pro photographer and it is a professional grade camera, therefore it doesn't have any scene modes like sports or action or night mode etc, you options are auto or manual.

I can understand perfectly what T is saying, I was exactly the same about 12 months ago and I was happy about that. BUT once I discovered what my camera could do if I made it work for me it was amazing! Manual and semi manual modes A and S are like a whole new world, you have control of the camera and it works for you. In saying that the scene modes mentioned about are very good on the DSLRs there days and they are geared to each scene for example the sports mode will generally have a fast shutter speed. Scene modes are not auto and this is where i think the issue with your camera lies.

I really do know how hard it is to get your head around learning the Exposure triangle and making it work for you, I basically was shooting in auto and P mode for years before actually learning this stuff, I couldn't get my head around it. then one day it just seemed to fall into place.

Editing can play a big part too, you can make ok images look fantastic with a bit of editing. DO you have the camera on jpeg mode or raw. I would use jpeg till you get some decent shots you like then you can go to raw and learn how to edit, thats another whole ball game. And yes I was originally one of these ones that didn't do any editing but once I found out there is a whole new world out there with raw files and editing I just loved it, I enjoy editing the raw files as much as I enjoy shooting the pictures. Think with raw files the same as a negative, it has all the info there it is up to you how you want to manipulate the image and how you want it to look.

Another good tip to use in ambiguous lighting if your not sure about the iso is if the camera has an auto iso mode put it on that and it will default to the lowest in the best light and compensate for lower light situations. Then you only have to worry about the aperture and shutter speed. Think fast moving fast shutter like Huga said 1/500th even higher if the light is great and between f/4 and f/8. Just experiment and see how you go.

[tdierikx]

Snook's notes are brilliant! I urge you to take up the offer...

T.

[mish13]

Message has been sent to snook

Can people please tell me what method you use to add photos on this site? I always used photo bucket but they have changed a lot and when I added photos at the start of this thread only a link downloaded. I did it like I used to but it didn't turn out the same.

I took a few photos yesterday morning I would like to put up

tlc, you are right the camera really is beyond me but I have it now so will just keep plugging at it, thanks for your help

[tdierikx]

I changed the link settings on Photobucket to only post the IMG - no linkbacks...

Went to Update Link Options (on the right), then unselected everything except the "IMG code" one.

T.

[tlc]

tlc, you are right the camera really is beyond me but I have it now so will just keep plugging at it, thanks for your help

I hope that didn't come across as me being awful, it certainly wan not intended that way. I still think you can master it, its just learning the Exposure triangle. It all became clearer to me once I could read the light meter, its a great guide to getting the exposure correct for the lighting situation your in at the time.

[mish13]

I changed the link settings on Photobucket to only post the IMG - no linkbacks...

Went to Update Link Options (on the right), then unselected everything except the "IMG code" one.

T.

thanks just did that so hope these photos come through ok.

tlc, you are right the camera really is beyond me but I have it now so will just keep plugging at it, thanks for your help

I hope that didn't come across as me being awful, it certainly wan not intended that way. I still think you can master it, its just learning the Exposure triangle. It all became clearer to me once I could read the light meter, its a great guide to getting the exposure correct for the lighting situation your in at the time.

No No No offence taken I was agreeing with you, my camera is capable of way more then I know how to get it to do.

I understand that say an aperture of 2.5 there is only going to be a small area in focus ( like squinting) and an Aperture of 22 I am going to get everything in focus say like a fence line. And to shoot in shutter priority anything under 1/60 I will need a tripod. What I seem to have trouble with say if my dogs are running around and I choose a shutter speed of say 1/500 I still don't get a photo without blur. A lot of my photos are taken inside and I think lighting is a huge part of my problems I hope I am making sense.

I took these yesterday

This one is not good but he is cute so had to share

[huga]

But are you letting the camera choose the settings (indoors, I mean)? For eg indoors, if there isn't enough light, the camera will drop the shutter speed right down. And also, 1/500th isn't fast enough for my dogs sometimes either :) Or, it could be completely missed focus - focusing on something that moves as erratically as a dog is really quite tough!

My house is pretty dark. Yesterday I was at f2.8 ISO1600 and 1/100th for this (obviously I can only get away with pushing it that far because we are on the same focal plane and standing still):

Edited August 1, 2013 by huga

[mish13]

But are you letting the camera choose the settings (indoors, I mean)? For eg indoors, if there isn't enough light, the camera will drop the shutter speed right down. And also, 1/500th isn't fast enough for my dogs sometimes either :) Or, it could be completely missed focus - focusing on something that moves as erratically as a dog is really quite tough!

My house is pretty dark. Yesterday I was at f2.8 ISO1600 and 1/100th for this (obviously I can only get away with pushing it that far because we are on the same focal plane and standing still):

Yes I do shoot in auto inside and the photos are usually crap to put it politely. I took heaps of photos of my dogs inside yesterday but when I look at the exif data it doesn't tell me which photos were shot in auto.( hope thats not a dumb statement)

Love your photo very jealous, I also don't have a creative bone in my body

[huga]

Yeah, so auto inside isn't great. Try the manual settings for indoors :) Sometimes auto just doesn't get it right.

(And I don't believe you).

[CrazyCresties]

I agree with huga too - pop it into manual and experiment :) They joy of digital is seeing instant results and being able to change settings as necessary. I used aperture or shutter priority for the first 18 months, but was photographing a yellow and choc lab and a black mini schnauzer for a friend one day and it was an exposure nightmare on auto :laugh: So I thought 'sod this I want to tell the camera what to do, not the other way around', chucked it into manual and had a much better control over the situation :)

Give yourself some time, and maybe take a note book with you and start with the settings huga mentioned earlier. Choose something static and shoot away - if you don't like the results, change one setting shoot again and make a note of what difference it made to the photo. e.g. if it is too dark decrease the shutter speed - if that makes it too blurred then pop the shutter speed back up and open up the aperture a bit - if the depth of field is too shallow now (not enough in focus) the close down the aperture again and put the iso up higher. etc, etc.

Don't forget some situations are impossible, just too dark and or subject moving to fast and this is where external flashes and other lighting comes into play :)

Hope that makes sense, just rambling a bit :laugh:

Edited August 1, 2013 by CrazyCresties

[tdierikx]

Gorgeous pics from yesterday... and you've proven that you can get lovely results from the camera... *grin*

Snook's notes really do explain a lot of things about how to get your camera to work for you - and she's written them in a way that most laymen can understand. You should be producing awesome indoor shots in no time...

T.

[RallyValley]

Frank moment here - when you first start shooting manual your photos will get a bit worse, but then once you have practice and start to think things like "This scene would really look good with only the main subject in focus, I'll put my aperture wide open (e.g f2) OR the most important thing to me right now is that everything is sharp and there are dogs running around, I will make sure my shutter speed is nice and high (e.g 1/1000th)" your photography will improve exponentially and you will be so much less frustrated as you can make the camera do what you want, not click and pray!

[mish13]

Thank you everyone for your help, I have so much to go away and practice with and lots of reading thanks to Kerri. You all rock :thumbsup: