Please educate me
Posted 26/05/2008 - 18:30
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Your questions are really about the general basics of photography rather than the specifics of your particular camera. This is where it helps to read books, magazines and websites on photography in general. A lot of it will apply to all decent SLR cameras - which all have Av and Tv modes, for example.
No one can fully answer your questions without writing a book and posting it to this forum!
But here's a couple of points meanwhile:
Av mode is good for a lot of things, including portraits. No you don't need to switch to M mode afterwards.
For portraits and kids, try this with your Tamron zoomed out to about 75 to 100mm. Set ISO to Auto. Select Av mode with aperture set to F4*. Fire away! Use +/- Ev compensation if a picture is too dark or light and try again. See the camera manual for more about exposure compensation.
* This is a relatively large aperture that will minimise depth-of-field (the amount that is in focus).
If you can't get far enougg away with 75mm, try the kit lens with the largest aperture possible (turn the dial until the number stops lowering). Small 'F' number = large aperture.
Excluding flash photography (which is a whole subject in itself), for images not to look flat, you need good light, usually with the sun shining, with the sun more behind you than in front. The best times tend to be early morning and late afternoon. If all that's not possible then you can enhance the images afterwards with software, and RAW allows more processing than JPEG. Silkypix is brilliant.
For good sharpness, you need to make sure the shutter speed doesn't drop too low, and you can consider enhancing sharpness with software afterwards. But don't get too obsessed with having everything as sharp as possible. It's better to have something too soft than look like a cardboard cut-out... unless it actually is a cardboard cut-out!
No one can fully answer your questions without writing a book and posting it to this forum!
But here's a couple of points meanwhile:
Av mode is good for a lot of things, including portraits. No you don't need to switch to M mode afterwards.
For portraits and kids, try this with your Tamron zoomed out to about 75 to 100mm. Set ISO to Auto. Select Av mode with aperture set to F4*. Fire away! Use +/- Ev compensation if a picture is too dark or light and try again. See the camera manual for more about exposure compensation.
* This is a relatively large aperture that will minimise depth-of-field (the amount that is in focus).
If you can't get far enougg away with 75mm, try the kit lens with the largest aperture possible (turn the dial until the number stops lowering). Small 'F' number = large aperture.
Excluding flash photography (which is a whole subject in itself), for images not to look flat, you need good light, usually with the sun shining, with the sun more behind you than in front. The best times tend to be early morning and late afternoon. If all that's not possible then you can enhance the images afterwards with software, and RAW allows more processing than JPEG. Silkypix is brilliant.
For good sharpness, you need to make sure the shutter speed doesn't drop too low, and you can consider enhancing sharpness with software afterwards. But don't get too obsessed with having everything as sharp as possible. It's better to have something too soft than look like a cardboard cut-out... unless it actually is a cardboard cut-out!
~Pete
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22 posts
18 years
Belfast,
Norn Iron
What are the best settings to have for the main situation? Do I have to go to each selection ie Tv, Av etc and set them then shoot in M mode? I really am starting afresh here people so please be nice. I took a few shots yesterday of my mum, sister, her partner and my nephew, but they are not sharp, seem over-exposed and flat (I'll stick them up after work tonight)
Help please.