Often one of the most daunting things you are faced with once you start using a camera in the less automated or program modes is the number of selections that you are faced with before you even take a shot. Which f stop? Shutter speed? ISO (film speed)?This sheer number of options can be enough to drive you back to the safety of auto mode. To combat this I have devised a system to simplify the whole process.
Say for example we are shooting a wedding, there are huge amount of things going on and action that you have to capture so you want technical decisions to be made swiftly and instinctively so that you are free to concentrate on the composition of your images and the posing of your subjects (amongst the million other things you have to do).That’s where this system comes in, which you can use rigidly or just as a starting point for when you are working out what settings to use.
Firstly we are going to be using the camera in aperture priority mode so that we are responsible for telling the camera what f stop to use and the camera will work out the necessary shutter speed for the exposure from there. The lens that you are using will have an effect on the number of different apertures you can use but for this example let’s say that the largest aperture available to you is f2.8 (remember the reverse logic with f numbers the lower the number the larger the aperture).
So back to the wedding we are shooting. We are going to be photographing the ceremony inside a dimly lit church and don’t want to be intrusive with the use of a flash (plus the minister has already told us your not allowed to use one). So you are going to need to make the most of the available light in the church. The first step towards this is opening up your lens to allow as much light in as possible, that means the biggest aperture (smallest f number) possible. So in this case that would be f2.8. This alone however won’t be enough to give you acceptable results in a particularly dark location as the resulting shutter speed will be too long and through a combination of camera shake and your subjects moving your photographs will look far from great. To combat this the next thing we look at is our choice of ISO. If you are lucky enough to own a fairly modern digital camera you will find that you can get excellent results at high ISO settings so go ahead and push your ISO up to 800,1000 or if the church you are in is particularly gloomy 1250 until you shutter speed is fast enough to give you nice sharp results.
What is fast enough in terms of shutter speed? It will vary from photographer to photographer depending on your ability to hold the camera steady but as a general rule of thumb you don’t want a shutter speed value below the value of the focal distance your lens is set at. As an example if you are shooting with the lens at 50mm you will want to have at the very least a shutter speed of a 50th of a second. This however is a bare minimum. The more wriggle room you can buy the better so try and get closer to 100th of a second if you can. Of course the further you are zooming, say 200mm, then the quicker your shutter speed needs to get. At least a 200thof a second or quicker.
So the ceremony is in the bag and it’s back outside to shoot candid’s of the bride and groom with their guests. What settings should we use? Firstly, we no longer problems with low light as we are now outdoors so the ISO can come back down to a more standard 200 or 400 and we are no longer tied to using the camera at its maximum aperture as we now have plenty of light at our disposal. We are able to choose our f stop for artistic and stylistic reasons, which is where it can start to get tricky. Not so with this system, in fact it’s very simple. Set yourcamera to f4 and shoot away. This aperture should allow plenty of light in to keep your photographs beautifully sharp and is also where your f2.8 zoom lens (if that is what you’re using) will be at its sharpest.
Now it’s time to shoot the groups outside the venue. What to do with the aperture? It will depend on the size of the groups but the main thing you want to achieve will be a greater depth of field so that everyone from the front to the back of the group is in sharp focus.My simple answer to this is to double the f number you are using so jump from f4 to f8 and that should do it.
Your about to head off from the church to the reception but before you go you want to take a shot of the church and the lovely trees that surround it and the mountains behind in the distance. Effectively we are dealing with a landscape shot where there is a greater need again for plenty of depth of field giving us a sharp image from front to back. To achieve this I would again double my f number to give me f16. Now depending on how bright the day is you may want to consider using a tripod for this or if you don’t have one pushing up your ISO so that the shot isn’t spoilt by camera shake or movement.
In total that is four different f numbers that we have used for a whole host of situations.
F2.8
F4
F8
F16
I believe that just by using these 4 aperture settings you should be able to shoot almost any situation that you will come across.
The examples I described earlier are just that, examples of when you would use certain settings. The system can be applied to any type of photographic assignment, f2.8 will be your go to aperture in any number of indoor locations where light is at a premium. Just as you will go for f16 when you require plenty of depth of field to capture a larger scene.As with almost any photographic rule (or loose set of guidelines) this one can be broken to great effect.
The equipment that you are using may affect the options available to you slightly. If for example the lens you use won’t go to f2.8 substitute your lens’ largest aperture (lowest f number) for f2.8 in the example above. From there you can then use the other stops as described.
So from the whole myriad of options we have open to us we have managed to simplify our choices allowing us to concentrate on other things. Our choices of what settings to use can become quick, efficient and instinctive.As I mentioned you can use this system rigidly or just a starting point to get you into the ball park before you tweak the settings to what you desire.
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