Quote:
Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast
I use a Nikon D40. So with the skies you are saying focus where you want it to focus then move the camera to frame it properly?
With that photo did you have to use a tripod? So basically say you're at 50 mm on your less. 50+ for shutter will make it freeze. 49 and under will make it appear as moving, like blur? Correct? How do you exactly figure out Focal length I don't get it? What is exposure bias? In the photo you posted is the exposure the shutter? For a photo like that does the aperture really matter too much? I know big aperture is best for night, where as during day it doesn't matter.
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Not quite for the skies. I find spot metering problematic for focusing, so take a gander at the readings coming out of the camera when you push the shutter halfway down on certain points (dark area if you want that to come out, or a brighter area you don't want overexposed and check what the camera is saying for aperture and shutter speed.) When you focus normally for the framed photo just use the exposure bias/compensation/fooling thingy and use the exposure compensation (exposure bias is the same thing) to bump it up or down according to what you were reading off the important areas (to you) in the photograph. And try a few bumps above and below the baseline (exposure bracketing) and compare the results. You'll start to get a feel for when you need to go which way.
Aperture always matters. It controls how much is going to be really crisply focused in your photo (depending on your distance away from all the objects in the photo.) If everything is generally the same distance from you then it matters less. It also controls how fast the shutter will go. Try and think of it as there is one F-stop which has things exposed the way you want it to. Given that when you set the aperture, you are forcing what the shutter speed will be for a proper (what you want) exposure.
For that photo, I'm pretty sure I had no tripod, but I was holding the camera base against a rock to keep it steady. I use objects around me a lot because I'm lazy when it comes to carrying equipment.
Focal length is the length of the lens and determines how wide a field of view you are getting (or how close you are getting when you zoom.) Our eyes see things at about 35mm. 28mm is wide-angleish. Things past 35mm are zooming in a bit.
There's no definitive line for when you'll get a blur out of an object, it depends on how fast the object is moving. To freeze the rims on a car going 50km/h, you'll need to be shooting somewhere around 1/1000. Here the wind was blowing pretty good and the grass was moving pretty good. Generally shutter speeds greater than 1/60 is the speed at which you'll start to get unintentional blur because you yourself can't hold the camera steady enough (tripod, or some other immobilization would be needed.)
Exposure bias is the same as compensation. Generally my images tend to be -2/3 EV (or 2/3 of a stop underexposed in comparison to what the camera was thinking.)
Yes, the shutter speed was 1/50 of a second. The camera magically records the focal length (17mm) for you in the EXIF information. If you're checking out photos on flickr, there's a link (if the user isn't hiding it) to see more photo properties and you can get all of that stuff plus more.
Having said all that, there is no right answer. It's about finding something that works for you. Listen to everyone here and you'll hear some things the same and some things different, but I know I take everything I hear and try it out. See what happens. Adjust. And add it to my bag of knowledge.