Help with shutter speed, aperture and ISO?

Question

Can someone help me understand shutter speed, aperture and ISO better?

its all so confusing to me.

i think i get the right setting down, and my pictures dont turn out right at all,its mostly underexposed and blurry!!

and i hate blurry!

can someone please help me

i want to take photos of my friends band, and it will be inside and i know im bound to take blurry photos!

( i have a nikon d40)

Answer 1

All three are interelated in how the picture turns out

The following things will make more light come into the camera or be reistered on the photos:  higher ISO , larger aperature or longer shutter speed.

These decrease the light: Lower ISO, smaller aperature, or shorter shutter speeds

ISO is how sensitive the sensor or film is to light, the higher the number the more sensitive ( higher iso = more grain/noise )

large aperatures are those with smaller numbers so an f4 lets in twice as much light as an f8 ( large aperature also gives shallow depth of field )

the longer the shutter is open the more light that reaches the film or sensor 1/30th second lets light in for twice as long as 1/60 so that is twice as much light ( movement blurrs on the image at slow shutter speeds faster shutter speeds freeze motion )

If I were getting a proper exposure at f4 and 1/125 second I could also get a good exposure at f8 and 1/60th of a second. I doubled the light by increasing the shutter speed but cut it in half by making the aperature smaller so in truth the same amount of light came in.

ISO can be set on auto or you can choose it. Generally the lowest that works is best but at times you need to bump it up to shoot in lower light.

You can set the camera in program where it will choose the shutter speed and aperature. Flexible programs let you adjust it

You can set it for aperature priority where you pick the aperature and based on the meter readings the camera sets the shutter speed. This can easily cause your blurring if the camera keeps the shutter open longer to compensate for the aperature.

you can set it on shutter priority where you pick the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperature within the range of the lens.

you can set manual where you pick both

The D40 also has several automatic modes like portrait, night etc.

One thing to think of that may be part of your problem the flash built in on the D40 is only good to about 12 feet. If you are letting the camera choose the flash settings and the subject if further from you than that you will not get good pictures

I hope this helpsorry for the typos ~lol~  

Answer 2

ISO is the "film" speed; in other words how sensitive the sensor/film is, the lower the number the more light it will need, but will give you better quality pictures, if you have a higher ISo speed like 1600 the sensor will be very sensitive but will leave lots of tiny dots called noise

aperture is how wide the lens is (inside the lens there are little blades that will move in/out the way to let less/more light in. if the blades are drawn in the centre leaving a small gap for the light, you will have a big depth of field but less light will enter the sensor, if the blades are moved out the way more light is let in so the camera doesnt need as much time to take the photo, but it will give you a small depth of field, (blurry backgrounds)

shutter speed is the amount of time the sensor is revealed/exposed to the light, so for instance on a sunny day a shorter/ quicker shutter speed is needed, and if it was cloudy there would be less light around so the shutter would remain open for longer to "catch" the light, or if you wanted to catch something moving like a runner you would make the shutter speed quicker so the subject wont move while the camera is collecting the picture

Answer 3

ISO is the sensitivity of the film or sensor.  The higher the number the more sensitive it is to light.

Aperture is the hole that lets the light into the camera while the shutter is open.  The higher the f/number, the smaller the hole is that the light goes through ... the smaller the number the larger the hole is.

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open ...1/8000th of a second is a very short time.  30 seconds is a long time as you can guess.

Now based upon the what ISO your film is or the sensor is set to, there are a number of choices of shutter speeds and f/stops that will all give you a proper exposure.

Since your images are blurry, that means your shutter speed is too slow for your handheld shooting skills.

When your images are under exposed, it means that you are not using the light meter correctly.

To help solve these problems, set your camera to aperture priority and open you lens so the aperture is wide open.

Then do some tests and see if you still have blurry images ... if you do, then increase the ISO from 100 to 400 ISO (two stops) and test again.   Look at the image and see if the blurring is gone.  If not set the ISO to 1600 and try again.

If you still have blurring that means you are trying to take photos in light that is too low and you will have to add light, either by using some 500 watt lamps or flash.

The higher the ISO, the more noise you can expect in the image files.

You need to do tests to see which combination of ISO, shutter speed and aperture fit your shooting style the best.

Outdoors, the starting setting should be 1/ISO @ f/16 in bright sun.

Answer 4

Check out the tutorials below for info on shutter speeds, aperture, and ISO settings. Best advice ever is to practice, practice, practice! :) Cheers.

Oh, blurry photos? Make sure you're holding the camera steady when you snap your photo. If you're shooting at a slow shutter speed, use a tripod.

Answer 5

The ISO is the speed of the film.

Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens when the shot is taken.

Shutter speed is the time the lens is open during the shot.

Together these three components determine how much light gets to the "film" to imprint the picture.  

The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the film is to light, so the less exposure you need to get a clear picture.

The combination of aperture size and shutter speed determine the amount of light exposure you get.  In the same lighting conditions, you can choose several combination of shutter speed and aperture settings and still get a good picture.

You should never shoot a picture at a shutter speed slower than 1/60th of a second because you hands will probably shake enough to cause blurring.  

Shooting picture inside should require a flash, and most flashes synch with the shutter at 1/60th of a second or faster.

If your camera has an "Auto" setting, you might use it as a backup to pictures you take making the settings yourself.

You might find the following site helpful also:

http://www.photonhead.com/exposure/

Dave

Answer 6

Here, read this: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classr...

It's basically a "Shutter speed and aperture for Dummies" online lesson. It's very helpful!

Answer 7

ISO, also known as ASA, refers to the speed of the film. The higher the number, the more light-gathering capability the film has. Film gathers light in silver crystals embedded in the film. The higher the ISO/ASA, the larger the crystals. as the crystals grow in size, the image loses detauil, meaning you won't be able to enlarge the image as much as you would an image taken withj a smaller ASA/ISO.

Shutter speed refers to the amount of time that the film is exposed to light. Most people can hold a camera steady enough to shoot at 1/125 of a second. By bracing yourself or using a tripod, you may be able to stay steady for as long as 1/30 second, provided that whatever action you are trying to capture doesn't move too fast.

Aperture refers to the amount of light exposing the film, as opposed to shutter speed, which describes the duration light is hitting the film.

When setting apertures, the smaller the number, the wider the aperture. On a telephoto lens, f.2.8 would be wide open, while f22 would be a mere pinhole. Smaller apertures provide greater depth of field (range of area in focus), while larger apertures can restrict the area in focus to asd little as a few inches between in focus and out of focus.

If your negatives are thin and blurry, the culprit is slow shutter speed caused by a meter reading that is off. In the future:

Make sure you shoot with the sun at your back. This will help prevent underexposure from shooting into the sun.

Do not rely on anything white to set your exposure. Point the camera at something that is in the mid-tones; grass or a brick wall or clothing. If you must, go to manual exposure to keep the caqmera at the proper setting.

Andmake sure the ISO setting is correct!



If, for some reason, you must shoot into a light source, open up the apertureat least two stops to compensate.

Good luck!

Answer 8

All of the answers so far give you the technical information you need to understand these three things - It sounds like you are looking for a simpler answer, I too was very confused when I first started learning photography,  So here are a few simple tips -

Aperture is your f-stop and helps control the light going into the camera and effects your depth of field - to make the subject in your image clear and the background blurry use an f stop with a low number (f4 - f5 etc..) this willmake the subject clear and the background blurry the higher the f number the more in focus the background will become.   If you are taking photo's in low light without flash the f stop will need to be a low number.

Your shutter speed also effects the light going into the camera so you will have to keep it in mind when determining your f stop

if you are taking a photo indoors in low light (say at night with lamplight)  you will need to adjust the shutter speed to a low number so that it will stay open longer and let more light in but you will find if you do this with an aperature of f 16 the picture may still be dark so you will also have to adjust the aperature (probably to f 3 or 4)

the shutter speed adjustments will cause your pictures to be blurry if you select anything below 60 seconds without using a tripod.

Adjusting the ISO is another way to compensate for low light - the higher the ISO the more light but as you raise the ISO you also raise the level of "noise" in the digital image so try not to go to high unless your camera can handle it.

Remember that both the f-stop (aperature) and the shutter speed work together and if you think the settings are right and your pictures are still blurry try using a tripod and the timer on your camera and take the picture again and see if it makes a difference (I am sure it will)