A few days ago, I got myself a Canon EOS 700D DSLR camera along with a Canon EFS 18-55mm lens for about $160. Until now, Iâve only ever used point-and-shoots, like my smartphone or my âKodakâ Pixpro AZ401.
So, itâs basically the first time I get to properly play around with the exposure triangle and all that good, manual stuff. I already love this camera, because despite the low cost, you can get great shots in auto mode out of the box, but itâs also very versatile in professional photography. All that, and I still havenât even gotten into editing raw photos; this is just the JPG!
This particular photo of a garden shed was shot with:
ISO: 6400
Exposure: 1/395s
Aperture: f/14
Focal length: 46mm
Resolution: 5184x3456
From what Iâve heard, those settings arenât ideal, especially the high ISO for that much light. Does anybody have some general tips for me or resources to check out?
By the way, I also just installed Magic Lantern. Thatâs some great stuff. Oh, and also - if anyone has a good way to connect it as a webcam on Linux, thatâs also very welcome since EOS Utility doesnât work and Gphoto2 is very low-res. The first thing I didnât get properly running on Linux!
Yes, as someone that got into photography many years ago:
- Rule of ThirdsâHonestly, this is the easiest thing to learn. It wonât make your photos amazing or anything, but it is a consistent way to view any scene, which is very useful.
- Then watch some random video on photographic composition. There are many different ways to view a scene.
- Learn the Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO/Exposure Triangle. Absolutely crucial for learning to shoot manual.
- Learn to shoot manual. Try taking good pics of fireworks on July 4th. Itâs tougher than it looks.
- You donât need to get into editing raw photos, but itâs fun af. I switched from Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop to ON1. Iâd also recommend Affinity Photo. Unlike ON1, Affinity does not have a subscription and their software is comparable to Photoshop.
As for your photo, at a glance, I canât really tell itâs shot as such as high ISO. But once you zoom in, you can see the fuzziness. Still though, I think itâs kinda clear why you took the picture. It looks youâre focusing on several interacting subjects (the bunny, the butterfly, the turquoise fence with the bunny outline) that all framed really well by the wooden house and the negative space at the top and right edges of the frame. I, for one, like it a lot!
Anyway, have fun! Photography is one of the hobbies Iâm happiest to have. I hope it ends up being as fulfilling for you!
A friendly warning, please be careful when suggesting the rule of 3rds, especially to the less experienced. Itâs greatly misunderstood and as a result it generally causes confusion and boring photos.
Please see the article in this Lemmy post, about this and composition generally.
Thanks.
Love the light on that shot! I hope youâll keep going with the hobby!
Here are a few things:
- âKit lensâ such as this 18-55 of yours are typically not that great. It really depends what you plan to shoot, but going with a prime lens (50mm f/1.8), if you can afford it, or something vintage (Helios) can be a great experience; also for âforcingâ you to shoot manual, as other advised.
- Great to see you are on Linux! I have no idea about the webcam stuff. I also didnât had luck trying to use a Sony camera myself, but Iâm guessing if the proprietary software doesnât work, the only option is to get a capture card for your PC.
- For editing, I strongly recommend Darktable, also as advised before!
- Shooting manual is rewarding; shooting âblindâ (idk if there is a specific word for that), where you estimate the exposure âby handâ is a lot of fun imo, and very forgivable on digital camera! If you can, give a shot at the âSunny 16 ruleâ technique. To me, it makes shooting outside very relaxing since I donât have to care about the camera settings that much once itâs figured out.
Have fun, but beware! Itâs a deep, deep rabbit hole.
Thanks for the nice response :)
Iâve heard Darktable a lot, and Iâve actually looked at it before, but it looked intimidating and I did not yet really have any photos I could try to edit, so I continued doing that first. As for the webcam thing: I have a capture card, and it kinda works, but Iâm not too sure on how to get a clean output through the HDMI port.
However, Iâll definitely look into those things :D
As for the lens thing: I donât think Iâll spend money on new lenses immediately, and if I was, Iâd look for cheap used ones. I kinda wanna create art and not necessarily perfection, and also I donât like spending money xd
I think itâs about finding character in the gear you have.
First, nice photo! Even âoldâ gear can take great photos. Throw motion and/or low light (with a fast lens) into the mix and youâll beat a modern smartphone.
The quick lead into the exposure triangle is:
- ISO is basically âgainâ applied to the photons that hit the sensor. Some gain = fine. More gain = you start to run into signal to noise ratio challenges
- shutter speed helps you freeze the action, or can also let the action blur on purpose. Examples of intentional blur include panning photos (think auto racing) and long exposures (at night or during the day with the aid of a ND filter)
- aperture. This is the ratio of focal length to lens aperture. Keep in mind itâs 1/x, so as x grows the actual aperture is getting âstopped downâ (aka closed/smaller). Wider aperture (aka small denominator) = less depth of field and more light will hit the sensor. Stopping down = more depth of field and generally more sharpness/less vignetting, but if you take this too far youâll hit diffraction and lose sharpness
You wind up trading values against each other in various scenarios, which is why itâs called the exposure triangle. Itâs very much a âyou pick two and deal with the thirdâ situation. Which two you prioritize really comes down to what youâre trying to accomplish.
For your barn photoâs exposures, letâs talk tradeoffs. It sounds like you know that your ISO value was too high, especially for a static subject and good light. So how to get it to go down? You could do a mix of:
- using a slower shutter speed. Unless you have a tremor, the rule of thumb is minimum shutter speed should be more than 1/focal length. You could have easily shot this at 1/100, if not lower. That would cut ISO down to around 1600
- open your aperture. f/14 is very closed and likely isnât needed unless you really want to see something deep in the background/foreground. Youâre also likely losing some sharpness due to diffraction
Happy shooting! Feel free to ask follow ups.
Yeah, I definitely noticed the âyou pick two and deal with the thirdâ thing.
I think the trick in most cases is to
- Set the ISO as low as possible, depending on the lighting of the scene
- Set the shutter speed, depending on if itâs a moving target, such as animals
- Set the aperture to even out the brightness
- Play around with the ratios, as needed
That worked pretty well for my latest tries.
When I made the barn photo, I did have that composition in mind since I played around with compositions in the past, but literally had no idea whatâs important for the exposure triangle. I pretty much just pressed buttons until it was bright enough and was lucky it looked good, besides the grain
It is all about trade-offs, but the tradeoffs have to be situational.
Considering only shutter speed and a âstaticâ subject, you have to consider whether or not your subject is actually static. For example, are there flexible things present (plants, etc) and is it windy? For something like a desert landscape with zero motion your shutter speed can be as low as you want it to be (note that you might need to block some light from reaching the sensor using a ND filter). For âstillâ people you probably donât want to go too low because weâre constantly in motion. That said, ever rule was made to be broken. Want to photo stars? Donât use a super long shutter speed - youâll get star trails. Whatâs that, you want star trails? Bump shutter speed even more so they look intentionally vs somewhat smeared balls of light. Sports and wildlife are basically the only scenario where you need a fast shutter speed⌠until you want some motion blur. Granted, motion blue and sports will still probably be a fairly fast shutter speed.
Aperture follows a similar arc - do you want shallow depth of field, do you want to see more of the foreground/background, maybe you forgot your ND filter and want a slow shutter so you have to stop down, maybe itâs really dark so you have to use a fast (wide aperture) lens wide open.
The only thing you universally want to take one way is ISO and that way is low. Unless you want some grain. Or youâre shooting something with motion indoors and you canât compromise any more on shutter speed or depth of field. Or your lens aperture is already wide open and you still need more light.
When staring off you might want to try shutter or aperture priority, based on the situation, and let the camera handle the other two values. Heck, I still do this 95% of the time 15 years later.
This is really good for a person starting out with a DSLR. You have a great composition here. I recommend learning by experimentation and inquiring with others. A lot of photography concepts are covered well on YouTube. I learned a lot from Ken Rockwell though I know a lot of people donât care for him. One thing to invest in is a good tripod. Take the same photo with multiple settings until you find what you want. Though knowing techniques is good and desirable, a lot of decisions are subjective to you as the photographer.
As mentioned in other comments, you can use a more appropriate aperture here because f14 is too small and youâll suffer from diffraction as a result.
The reason itâs a problem, is similar to when you squint your eyes. The light gets spread more than is ideal and the image will have reduced sharpness.
Ideally, you should try not to go beyond f11, as thatâs usually where most lenses will start to become effected.
Itâs worth noting that despite this, if you need a small aperture then donât be afraid to use it. The reduction in sharpness wonât really notice until you get to larger print sizes, such as 1 x 1.5 metres.
Even then, itâs much better to have a great photo without ultimate sharpness, than a super sharp photo thatâs boring or just bad. If you have the time, such as with non moving subjects, none of these things should happen. If your subject is moving, things get complicated quickly.
Sorry to go on a bit, I just wanted to bring some context and info to the subject of diffraction, as itâs an important one, but once you know the whys and wherefores itâs easy be aware of and incorporate into your workflow.