AF shots

[carolskie007]

Hi! I'm a newbie in photography who firstly fond of mountain trekking. Climbing is another opprotunity for me to shoot landscapes and macro, but I tend to use programs such as Varied Program, Aperture Priority, Landscape or Macro in AF Mode since I never had the luxury of time to play with the f-stops and shutter speed in Manual Mode. Any technique on shooting in Manual Mode? maybe the basic f-stop/shutter speed for landscape/macro? I cant afford to risk a bad shot (using Manual)as I dont usually climb the same mountain over again (especially if it would be a strenous one)

looking forward to your feedback....thanks and God bless!

carol

[Keitht]

I don't have much experience of macro work so will leave others to answer that bit. For landscape work you generally want as much depth of field as possible. That in turn means using the smallest aperture (big f number). The problem that creates is slow shutter speeds. The Landscape setting on the camera will work towards that aim but will not allow the shutter speed to drop so far that camera shake becomes a problem. As you are not likely to get back to take shots a second time I would be inclined to stick with the Landscape auto setting and experiment nearer to home in locations you can return to.

[kikvel]

As a starting point I recommend you to shoot in auto mode but checking the settings the camera chooses for each particular situation...check the aperture, f-stop and ISO...normally this can be seen at the display when shooting or at the PC at the file info...

And try to correlate the settings and the situation and after a while you will be able to "guess" what the settings should be in any case...

when you know these settings by heart, you can start playing with different settings and see the differences you achieve in your results...

it will take time for you to learn, but it is not difficult at all

keep always the camera manual with you, and read it very well, surely will help

saludos

K.

[MKING]

I don't think learning how to manually expose for just one scenario is all that useful or possible. I think a solid, working knowledge of exposure theory and how it all works would serve you better in the long run-- help one to adapt when situations go beyond what's prescribed in text books.

Two things I suggest: extensive, easy to follow tutorial + camera in hand. Needn't be on top of a mountain to practice, the garden is a great place.

Here is the tutorial I reccomend: EXPOSURE THEORY It is very 101ish but it explains everything in a clear manner.

You can leave your camera in auto and watch the settings it selects for various scenarios, but have the tutorial at the side since you'll start to understand things not in terms of 'action' or 'portrait' or landscape but in terms of the very settings you seek-- f-stop/shutter speed. (As a hint, portrait mode and action mode ought to deliver very similar settings for different reasons-- action wants a fast shutter speed which may require a fast aperture whereas portraiture wants a fast aperture which may require a high shutter speed).

Once you have mastered all the theory, you'll come to appreciate the convenience of program exposure modes (though I don't miss them on my SLR which is devoid of them).

Best of luck, this is one easily climbed mountain if you set your mind to it.

MK

[Oldtree]

Hi Carol,

I would say if you are lucky with the performance in the program - modes then use it. But if you want to try a bit then I can suggest the following.

Choose your program mode you desire (for example landscape). Look at the values the camera will use for the current situation (aperture, shutter speed, iso). Then go to manual mode, take 3 shots: one slightly underexposed, one with the correct settings and one slightly overexposed. This is called exposure braketing. You surely can do this also with other settings for example the aperture (bear in mind though, that when you chose a higher aperture the exposure time must be longer).

Lets say the landscape modus of your camera would choose:

AV: 5.6
TV: 320
ISO: 100

Then I would take 3 shots with the following settings
AV: 5.6, TV: 200, ISO: 100 (two steps underexposed)
AV: 5.6, TV: 320, ISO: 100
AV: 5.6, TV: 500, ISO: 100 (two steps overexposed)

That gives me a higher probability to get a good shot (technically).

Cheers Thomas

[Darren]

I think Keith is giving good advice, but there is something I would like to add here. Using the smallest aperture (highest f number) is usually when a lens or camera produces its least sharp photos. With narrow apertures, you get what is called diffraction, which will seriously soften photos. With 35mm, most lenses are at their sharpest at about f/11. If you go down to f/22 or smaller, things will get soft because of the diffraction. With medium format I believe you can safely go smaller than f/22 and with large format smaller again (I believe Ansel Adams typically used f/64 with his sheet film. If you are using a DSLR, diffraction will come earlier (maybe at f/16) and with a smaller senor again, it can happen quite badly at f/8. Having a basic understanding of where diffraction starts causing serious problems can certainly help you to get the most out of your landscape photos.

Another thing you should get used to using and knowing when it comes to landscape photography (or many types of photography when using wide angle lenses actually) is hyperdistance focusing. If you google, you can easily find hyperdistance focusing charts on the net. It is worth printing one out and keeping it with you. I will explain it poorly (not being a landscape or even particularly a wide angle guy), I don't really use it often, but it is good to tuck away for reference. Basically, a hyperfocal chart will show apertures, focal lengths and different focus distances. If the chart gives you a hyperfocal distance of say 20 meters at f/11, this means that everything between 10 meters (half the hyperfocal distance) and infinity will basically fall into the DOF. By having a knowledge of how to use this rule, you can use the charts to decide a possible best aperture to use in a given situation. For example, if nothing in the photo is closer than 10 meters from your camera, there would be no need to go any smaller than the f/11 I mentioned. If things are even further away, you can get by with using an even wider aperture.

Someone else has mentioned bracketing, that is always a good failsafe as well. Carrying an extra roll of film or memory card is little effort compared to hiking back to a distant location. Another thing to remember about getting good landscape shots is that accessories (and the knowledge of how to use them) can make big differences. Sturdy tripods, (sometimes many)filters and cable releases are things no serious landscape photographer heads out without.

Hope I have been a little clear and somehow helpful.

[carolskie007]

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge/techniques in landscape photography.....

Keitht, your practical advise won't be missed.

Darren, thanks for introducing diffraction, its another interesting technicality worth noting as well as the hyperdistance matrix.

Kikvel, i used to jot down the aperture/shutter speed readings in Program AF Mode, and tried to apply them a couple of times in Manual Mode, no significant difference though, only have to be comfortable in Manual....hmmmm....this requires a lot of practice huh!

MK, thanks for the link on Exposure Theory, it seems a very good reference, studying it is another reason to stay home this coming weekend....he..he..he...

Thomas, thanks for your advise on bracketing, should I encounter difficult lighting situations in my future shoots, rest assured your advise will be remembered.

You can expect more questions from me on technical photography as I'm still digging up those concerns I burried in my thought some time ago. Hope you'd be patient in bearing with my "beginner's" stance.

cheers!

carol