Can anyone help me Please? i really need it

[Galileos]

HEllo from Me i am a new photographer and i love studying photography.
but can anyone from you tell me what the best settings for taking better photos and quality with 350D? may be it's a bad question but i dont know at all.
which parameter to use..
where is the best setting in creative zone or the basic zone
if creative (that's for sure) which is the best taking landscapes and which portraits? what ISO, aperture, OOOOOOOO help me please i am confused
whatever is acceptable.
Thanky and regards from Athens. ciao

[richardho11]

For landscape, I would just put it on AV mode in the day time and set it to F/8 or higher but make sure your shutter speed is at least 1/focal length or have it on a tripod.

For portraits, if you like the background to be more blurred out, set it on AV for aperture priority and go as low as your lens will allow... for example f/1.4 is lower (bigger) than f/2.8. If you want less background blur, go higer... like f/8. But again make sure your shutter speed is at least 1/focal length. Hope this helps.

[lee_m815]

do wot ive done for the past month m8, just search & read this forum, u can learn so much from here. im a newbie as well ive hardly used my 350d yet but getting some great tips from reading peoples posts.
im sure alot of the photographers on here will say.... get out with ur camera get to know it & practice practice & practice

[Tonky]

HEllo from Me i am a new photographer and i love studying photography.
but can anyone from you tell me what the best settings for taking better photos and quality with 350D? may be it's a bad question but i dont know at all.
which parameter to use..
where is the best setting in creative zone or the basic zone
if creative (that's for sure) which is the best taking landscapes and which portraits? what ISO, aperture, OOOOOOOO help me please i am confused
whatever is acceptable.
Thanky and regards from Athens. ciao

I'd love to help you here, but you're really asking for a potted complete course on photography! :lol:

Seriously, get yourself down to your local library and grab some basic photographic books. I don't think you quite realise the scale of the question you're asking, and the work entailed in answering it. A good read through your user manual will answer some of your questions.

You need to get a grasp of some basic principles, then if you have some specific questions, I'm sure people will be only too happy to assist you. :)

[Jim_T]

Yes.. What you're asking is kind of like asking: "How do I drive a car" :)

You haven't even mentioned what lens you're using... The lens is probably one of the most important parts of taking a photo.. (There's a reason why some lenses are $100US and others are almost $1000US)

[Tom W]

I'd love to help you here, but you're really asking for a potted complete course on photography! :lol:

Seriously, get yourself down to your local library and grab some basic photographic books. I don't think you quite realise the scale of the question you're asking, and the work entailed in answering it. A good read through your user manual will answer some of your questions.

You need to get a grasp of some basic principles, then if you have some specific questions, I'm sure people will be only too happy to assist you. :)

Very good advice, and you should follow it.

Here's a quick primer to get part of the idea across.

The camera is nothing but a box that records light. Let more light in and the recording (the image) gets brighter. Let less in and it gets darker. Let the right amount in and the dark areas are recorded as dark while the bright areas are recorded as bright, just as you see them.

You have 3 ways of controlling how bright or dark the final image will be:

1. You control the amount of time that the shutter stays open, thus exposing the sensor to light. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter the recorded image. The shutter speed is usually expressed as a number like60, 125, 250, 500, and so on. This stands for fractions of a second: 125 = 1/125th of a second, 500 = 1/500th second, and so on.

2. You can control the size of the hole that lets light into the camera. This hole is referred to as the aperture. The larger the aperture, the more light can get through so that when you open the shutter, a large aperture opening will give the sensor a bigger "gulp" of light to record the image. The larger the aperture, the brighter the image. The aperture is measured in the f/stop. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture opening. An aperture of f/4 is larger than an aperture of f/8. It seems odd, but there's math behind it that you don't need to know just yet. Common whole f/stops are f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and f/16.

3. The ISO setting on the camera sets how sensitive the sensor is to light. A higher ISO means that the sensor is more sensitive. You can think of it as turning the volume up on the radio. ISO 200 is more sensitive than ISO 100. Common ISO settings are 100, 200, 400, & 800.

Now that you have that, get the manual out and get acquainted with the controls on the camera. Find where you can set the f/stop, shutter speed, and ISO. Experiment. Start in the green box mode - shoot in different lighting situations and then look at the images and see what settings the camera chose for each shot. Notice how the camera speeds up the shutter, lowers the ISO, and closes the aperture (higher f/stop) when you're shooting in bright light. Notice how the camera raises the ISO, slows the shutter speed, and opens the aperture for dim situations.

Once you get a feel for what the camera is doing in the automatic mode, switch to aperture (Av) mode and set your own aperture. You can set the ISO yourself too. The camera will set the shutter speed automatically when you shoot in Av mode. Then try Tv mode - this allows you to set the shutter speed and ISO, and let the camera set the aperture.

Remember a few more ideas:

The slower the shutter speed, the more likely that you will have a blurry image due to shake and motion.

The larger the aperture, the more shallow the distance that remains in focus. If you've seen images where the subject is in sharp focus and the background is blurred, you can be pretty sure that a large aperture opening (lower f/stop number) was used.

The higher the ISO setting, the more "grainy" the image will appear.

Have fun and report back as you learn. And do get a good book as Tonky suggests. It will help a great deal.

[Titus213]

Welcome to the forums. I think you just got a crash course in photography...all good advice. I would suggest you put the camera in P mode. Read and follow the info above about f-stop and shutter speed. By turning the main dial on the camera in P mode you can change the shutter speed and f-stop without impacting the overall exposure - it changes them together to maintain proper exposure. Higher f-stop means better depth of field but slower shutter speed and vice-versa. It's a balancing act. To increase the range of that balancing act, set your ISO up to 200 or 400.

And practice, practice, practice.

[Tonky]

Top post by TomW! I didn't mean any offence to Galileos, but his post struck me as similar to buyng a violin and saying "Hey - I can't play this thing!" :D

[ericgtr]

I'd love to help you here, but you're really asking for a potted complete course on photography! :lol:

Seriously, get yourself down to your local library and grab some basic photographic books. I don't think you quite realise the scale of the question you're asking, and the work entailed in answering it. A good read through your user manual will answer some of your questions.

You need to get a grasp of some basic principles, then if you have some specific questions, I'm sure people will be only too happy to assist you. :)

I completely agree, I started out reading the manual and it explains all of the basics that got me started out on the right track, once you have the basics you will know better what to ask. This thread is very informative too and I would bookmark it and keep coming back to this stuff.

[Tom W]

Top post by TomW! I didn't mean any offence to Galileos, but his post struck me as similar to buyng a violin and saying "Hey - I can't play this thing!" :D

I've got a wonderful Martin DM acoustic guitar in its case in my closet. Had it for 4 years, but I can't get much past tuning it. But it has incredibly nice tone. Really nice. But I can't play the darn thing.

[Tonky]

Get an electric guitar, much easier. I'm about 12 months into playing, and I can strum a few chords and annoy people with my singing. I try to do the same on my acoustic and it's much harder on the fingers and very unforgiving with every buzz and rattle sounding.

[ericgtr]

Get an electric guitar, much easier. I'm about 12 months into playing, and I can strum a few chords and annoy people with my singing. I try to do the same on my acoustic and it's much harder on the fingers and very unforgiving with every buzz and rattle sounding.
Yeah but playing on an accoustic will make a man of ya and moving to an electric is a lot easier after that ;)

[PhotosGuy]

Take a look at Virtual Camera:
Cameras Interactive aims to help novice photographers grasp the main concepts of SLR photography.
http://www.camerasinteractive.com/index.php#
Exposure explained: Three gateways for light.
http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/enjoydslr/p_2_005.html
Exposure - Low Tech Tips
http://www.photonhead.com/exposure/
SimCam
http://www.photonhead.com/exposure/simcam.php
Making Photographs
http://www.photo.net/photo/tutorial/
The Three P's of Photography; Planning...
http://luminous-landscape.com/essays/ps-ls.shtml

Don't forget to look at the "Sticky"s at the top of the various sections of the forum for a lot of good information.
And...

[Galileos]

Thank YOU very very much because i am a '' Dummy One'' in photography but the Best One in Photoshop, i have studied it fot 9 years and i think i am a good one.
All of your posts here are very very useful thank you for taking time to write me i really appreciate it. if you want to see a foto of what i can do you can have it and tell me what you think. I love B/W photos

THank You ALL OF YOU
Ευχαριστώ (it means thank you in Greek)

[Galileos]

Top post by TomW! I didn't mean any offence to Galileos, but his post struck me as similar to buyng a violin and saying "Hey - I can't play this thing!" :D

Doesn't matter it's ok i am not good at English but i tried to explain my problem as i could.
I wish i could play the Guitar TOnky

[Galileos]

I'd love to help you here, but you're really asking for a potted complete course on photography! :lol:

Seriously, get yourself down to your local library and grab some basic photographic books. I don't think you quite realise the scale of the question you're asking, and the work entailed in answering it. A good read through your user manual will answer some of your questions.

You need to get a grasp of some basic principles, then if you have some specific questions, I'm sure people will be only too happy to assist you. :)

I would have done that if i didn't know about photography but i have bought many books and i have read those, but the point here isn't how to take photos but the settings i can use TONKY Don't forget that i am a professional photoshop user and i can do whatever i want with photos but recently i thought to buy a camera and try with photography if i can affort both of them but i think that i can, LIke You nobody knew, everyone of us have learned as we have grown up, and i think that i have the chance to give a try in photography don't you think?
Thank you

[Galileos]

Very good advice, and you should follow it.

Here's a quick primer to get part of the idea across.

The camera is nothing but a box that records light. Let more light in and the recording (the image) gets brighter. Let less in and it gets darker. Let the right amount in and the dark areas are recorded as dark while the bright areas are recorded as bright, just as you see them.

You have 3 ways of controlling how bright or dark the final image will be:

1. You control the amount of time that the shutter stays open, thus exposing the sensor to light. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter the recorded image. The shutter speed is usually expressed as a number like60, 125, 250, 500, and so on. This stands for fractions of a second: 125 = 1/125th of a second, 500 = 1/500th second, and so on.

2. You can control the size of the hole that lets light into the camera. This hole is referred to as the aperture. The larger the aperture, the more light can get through so that when you open the shutter, a large aperture opening will give the sensor a bigger "gulp" of light to record the image. The larger the aperture, the brighter the image. The aperture is measured in the f/stop. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture opening. An aperture of f/4 is larger than an aperture of f/8. It seems odd, but there's math behind it that you don't need to know just yet. Common whole f/stops are f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and f/16.

3. The ISO setting on the camera sets how sensitive the sensor is to light. A higher ISO means that the sensor is more sensitive. You can think of it as turning the volume up on the radio. ISO 200 is more sensitive than ISO 100. Common ISO settings are 100, 200, 400, & 800.

Now that you have that, get the manual out and get acquainted with the controls on the camera. Find where you can set the f/stop, shutter speed, and ISO. Experiment. Start in the green box mode - shoot in different lighting situations and then look at the images and see what settings the camera chose for each shot. Notice how the camera speeds up the shutter, lowers the ISO, and closes the aperture (higher f/stop) when you're shooting in bright light. Notice how the camera raises the ISO, slows the shutter speed, and opens the aperture for dim situations.

Once you get a feel for what the camera is doing in the automatic mode, switch to aperture (Av) mode and set your own aperture. You can set the ISO yourself too. The camera will set the shutter speed automatically when you shoot in Av mode. Then try Tv mode - this allows you to set the shutter speed and ISO, and let the camera set the aperture.

Remember a few more ideas:

The slower the shutter speed, the more likely that you will have a blurry image due to shake and motion.

The larger the aperture, the more shallow the distance that remains in focus. If you've seen images where the subject is in sharp focus and the background is blurred, you can be pretty sure that a large aperture opening (lower f/stop number) was used.

The higher the ISO setting, the more "grainy" the image will appear.

Have fun and report back as you learn. And do get a good book as Tonky suggests. It will help a great deal.

Thank you very much for writing me so many things, everyone here is taking me around but it's ok when anyone is new to something it's dummy but it's not nessecery taking him around, that's why i came here in forum to learn and not suggesting me playing the guitar. But i really appreciate your post it's very very nice. Thankyou

[Tonky]

Galileos.

No-one thinks you a dummy, I certainly don't, and I certainly didn't mean to cause you any offence. I totally understand the frustration you feel at the moment - you've bought a superb photographic tool and you are eager to get producing good pictures. The advice I gave you was meant sincerely, get a good basic book on photography sit down somewhere quietly and read it, digesting it slowly and thoroughly. It's what I did, and it fired a passion which has stayed with me all my life.

I almost envy you coming into photography in very exciting times, where the combination of digital photography and digital processing means pretty well all things are possible. Never has photography been such a creative medium as it is now. The fact that you are already more than adept with Photoshop means that you've already cleared the second big hurdle which the newcomer to digital photography has to face. Once you have a grasp of the basics of photography, I've no doubt we'll be seeing fine creative work from you in no time. :cool:

[Tlee05]

Hey, Ok camera wise im not sure what camera you got, my advice best to get digital then u can try loads of different modes etc 300D you get a basic lens with that 55mm whats pretty nice/just put the setting in M all the time M=manual, then just play around took me about 3 weeks to get on to manual, and understand it all, Well i hope you have fun, Read the guide book about your camera and what certain things do, if you do get confused on ISO etc just ask on here :D

[Galileos]

Galileos.

No-one thinks you a dummy, I certainly don't, and I certainly didn't mean to cause you any offence. I totally understand the frustration you feel at the moment - you've bought a superb photographic tool and you are eager to get producing good pictures. The advice I gave you was meant sincerely, get a good basic book on photography sit down somewhere quietly and read it, digesting it slowly and thoroughly. It's what I did, and it fired a passion which has stayed with me all my life.

I almost envy you coming into photography in very exciting times, where the combination of digital photography and digital processing means pretty well all things are possible. Never has photography been such a creative medium as it is now. The fact that you are already more than adept with Photoshop means that you've already cleared the second big hurdle which the newcomer to digital photography has to face. Once you have a grasp of the basics of photography, I've no doubt we'll be seeing fine creative work from you in no time. :cool:

Tonky thanks but i wasn't frustrated i really like your advice i bought the book of Peter Anderson the secrets of photography i don't know if you know that but it seems good to me. Ok does every one know how to post any photo here?

[PhotosGuy]

Several ways to do it for a Post: one of these will put the pic or link in the text anywhere you choose.

1. If the image is online , Rt-click on it & choose “Copy image location”
In the post, goto “Go Advanced” at the replies area.
Above the replies box, click on the little yellow (box with the mountains) “Insert Image” icon. Paste in your link.

2. If the image is online , Rt-click on it & choose “Copy image location”
Type pasteyourimagelinkhere then type so it looks like this with no spaces:
http-etc.jpg

3. Or, just copy the link to the image in the text as in http-etc.jpg This won't show the image, just provide the link.

4. This will attach the pic at the end of the post.
In the post, goto “Go Advanced” at the replies area.
At the bottom you’ll see “Attach Files”. Click on “Manage Attachments”, and navigate (Browse) to where the pic is on your hard drive. Find it & click “Upload”, & you’re done. Remember, you get only 2 pics this way, max size is 800ppi & 100KB each.

Then to put a link to your post in my links post, or in a sticky links post, just type the title for the link, format the text (Verdana 3, blue), highlite it, & click on the little blue world “insert link” icon, & paste in the link from your original post on the “Threads in Forum: Lighting” page. Add a brief description & you’re done.

Pretty intuitive, isn't it!

[MattyB]

without reading other replys, the best advice i can give it this;

in the auto mode, take a load of photos in all different scenes. ie-
dark scene with flash
a car at night
a car at daytime
a landscape
a model
a bird

ETC

then look at the EXIF info (the history of the shot, it tells you what settings were selected by the 'auto' mode automatically)

now you know (extremly) ROUGHLY what settings do what.

study these settings, why they were taken, how they affected the photo, and what you would do to change it.

up the ISO so you can get a faster shutter? you'll have to learn that yourself - depending on the scene.

then go into the manual (creative) modes, and mimic the settings that were used in the 'auto' modes - then change each settings one, take a shot, change it back, and change another setting - etc, until you understand which setting affects the image, and how.

with alot of practise, you'll soon learn what does what, how it does it, and when to use it.

good luck & welcome to the forums :)

[Galileos]

Several ways to do it for a Post: one of these will put the pic or link in the text anywhere you choose.

1. If the image is online , Rt-click on it & choose “Copy image location”
In the post, goto “Go Advanced” at the replies area.
Above the replies box, click on the little yellow (box with the mountains) “Insert Image” icon. Paste in your link.

2. If the image is online , Rt-click on it & choose “Copy image location”
Type pasteyourimagelinkhere then type so it looks like this with no spaces:
http-etc.jpg

3. Or, just copy the link to the image in the text as in http-etc.jpg This won't show the image, just provide the link.

4. This will attach the pic at the end of the post.
In the post, goto “Go Advanced” at the replies area.
At the bottom you’ll see “Attach Files”. Click on “Manage Attachments”, and navigate (Browse) to where the pic is on your hard drive. Find it & click “Upload”, & you’re done. Remember, you get only 2 pics this way, max size is 800ppi & 100KB each.

Then to put a link to your post in my links post, or in a sticky links post, just type the title for the link, format the text (Verdana 3, blue), highlite it, & click on the little blue world “insert link” icon, & paste in the link from your original post on the “Threads in Forum: Lighting” page. Add a brief description & you’re done.

Pretty intuitive, isn't it!

i have some portraits on the web in another forum but not the url you say, does it have another way to do it or selecting from my computer from my pictures for example?. This way you tought me seems te be very complicated to me. Your links were very useful to me thanks a lot.

[Tonky]

GALILEOS PICTURES

http://newton-i.usefilm.com/3/8/3/7/3837/982449-large.jpg

http://newton-i.usefilm.com/3/5/8/2/3582/917071-large.jpg

[kenyc]

I would have done that if i didn't know about photography but i have bought many books and i have read those, but the point here isn't how to take photos but the settings i can use TONKY Don't forget that i am a professional photoshop user and i can do whatever i want with photos but recently i thought to buy a camera and try with photography if i can affort both of them but i think that i can, LIke You nobody knew, everyone of us have learned as we have grown up, and i think that i have the chance to give a try in photography don't you think?
Thank you

I guess what I'm thinking here is that if you have really read many books about photography then you should at least have a basic idea about settings. Maybe you read the wrong books? My suggestion would be to go back to the library and find the books that have the answer to the settings question. Even better do a search here on the internet for photography instruction, you'll find a wealth of information.

As far as your question there is no simple answer, it depends on what you are trying to do with a landscape or portrait.

KAC

[Galileos]

i have two lenses the kit one 18-55mm and the Tamron 28-105mm F/4-5.6 (IF)
which one is the best (for me of course because i havo no money to buy an expensive one) which one would i use more and and why>?

thanks