Postby RBphoto » November 10th, 2011, 2:34 pm
Ok... lemme explain..
1) Posting an appature is pointless unless you want to show how you separated a backgrond from a subject, such as using f/1.4- f/2.8 for portraits, or how you got great depth of field for a landscape using something like f/16- f-32. Really, if you don't know how to focus/ manual focus and your camera does not have DOF preview, or live view, you won't see the effect until after you take the picture. Even with DOF preview, you won't see any effect for lenses faster than f/2.8 on crop sensor bodies because of the way the focusing screens are made. Try it and see. I am shooting in the dark when I am using f/1.4 on my D90 (Unless I use live view). When I use f/1.8 on my film camera, I can see a difference at f/2.8 when I press the DOF preview. Appature is chosen based on the subject, and is not an arbitrary choice, and what is good for one scene, is not nesescarily good for another.
2) Shutter speed is a slave to appature, not the other way around. After you you set appature, you need to set the shutter speed to get propper exposure. Using shutter priority mode on most cameras can produce great results, such as motion blurr or automatically freezing action. However, you just gave up creative control, and depending on how your camera is set up, after it bangs the largest appature to try to meet the shutter speed you are calling for, it will start boosting ISO. People use manual mostly when they want to nail a shutter speed instead of shutter priority for this reason. Shutter priority is mostly for action where you are tracking things that are moving from bright areas to dark areas.. usually with a long tele.
3) ISO- I use whatever ISO I need to get the appature I want with a reasonable shutter speed to prevent hand shake. If I am on a tripod, I use the lowest ISO I can to get at least 1/10s shutter speed... I just ask my subjects to hold still. I have to do this when I am shooting film as there is no way to change it, except change the roll.
That said, if I posted a picture of an arbitrary flower, at f/2.8, 10 second shutter speed, ISO 200, or a beach secene at f/22, 1/100 exposure ISO 50, would you have learned anything? Would you know if I spot metered off of the sky, the petals, the beach for each shot? Did I use matrix or spot metering?
None of those settings would matter because they would not have helped me compose my shot and decide in my mind how I want my shot to look like, and nobody would be there the exact same time to have exactly the same light meter readings as me. If the light was a little darker, guess what, I would use a slower shutter speed and get almost the exact same picture. Stop worrying about what settings other people use and use the settings to make the picture look how you want it to look. I am not saying that I am not willing to learn or share, I am saying that there is nothing to learn or share from seeing someone else camera settings. I can make almost the same picture with a disposable camera as I can with my DSLR or film SLR or my TLR, or my P&S digital (except in extreme conditions, that digital can't handle very well.) Anyahoo, take care and god bless.... and keep taking photos!!!
no scene. but oh gorm, next time quote, or mention who you really directing to nah. 
