Help with gettin the right shutter speed & aperture sett

Okay, so I got my new Digital Rebel (with the lens kit). I read the manual to get a good feel for it, and read a book that goes into each setting a bit more in-depth. One of the things I've always wanted to do was learn how to take those nifty waterfall picture while setting the shutterspeed. I tested this out in the kitchen sink, using the Tv mode, and everything worked perfectly. I can set the speed to run for about 4 seconds, and everything looks perfect. But then I go outside to test it out, and I can't get it to look right because I can't make it go longer than 1 second without overexposing the image. So I go to the M mode to test it, and again, I can only do it for about 1 second, with the aperture setting maxed out at 32. If I go anything longer than 1 second, it'll overexpose the picture. Keep in mind, it's cloudy outside, and the sky is pretty much just greyish white, no blue at all. I don't know if that matters or not, but I'm surprised that it can't go much longer than 1 second. Do you guys have any tips for me?

EDIT: I'm a complete beginner, so if this seems like a really newbie question, please indulge me. I did a search and couldn't really find anything to help me out.

Basically, when you went outside to try it, the scene was too bright. Right? So your camera would let you slow down the shutter somewhat, but not enough.

Well, you need to force the scene to be darker. The easiest way to do that is to use a solid neutral density filter. It is just a gray filter that knocks out 2 or 3 stops of light.

Put that on, then let your camera meter just like before. You should be able to slow your shutter down by 2 or 3 stops, so the water blurs out more.

---Bob Gross---

Use the lowest ISO............and if that is still too fast......then use a ND filter.

Ro1

What did you have the film speed (ASA) set to?

This is another place you can adjust the exposure. Set it to the lowest number possible. Don't know what that is on the Rebel, think it is ASA 100. So cameras can go down to ASA 50 by setting custom functions.

Remeber there are three legs invovled in getting exposure correct -
Shutter Speed / Apature / Film Speed (ASA)

ASA? Is somebody showing their true age here?

I never heard of the ASA, though I do remember at least reading about the ISO, so I'll check those stuff up. Thanks for the help. Obviously I still have a lot to learn

Another very quick question: the manual tells me to use the landscape setting in basic zone to take landscape pictures. What exactly is the benefit of doing this? I took 2 pictures, one using the normal mode, and the other using the landscape mode, and the one using the normal setting looked much better. The one taken using landscape mode was too dark. What gives?

Hey, I am 34 and tend to use ASA and ISO depending on who I am talking to.

ASA = ISO...........it's something that was used more commonly back in the day.

I would also suggest using a polarizing filter before the ND filter. The polarizer will make things darker by a stop or two and will also give you the ability to remove reflections from the water. If it's still too fast, stack an ND on it. If you are shooting with the a bright sky visible, you might need a graduated ND.

Get used to using M, TV & AV, it gives you the most control. I don't even think anybody around here uses those auto settings.

Also, what are you metering? You might want to spot/partial meter the green foliage around the water.

Cheers

I'm trying I'm trying! The problem with using those settings is that for some reason, it's really hard for me to tell whether or not an image is really in focus. Do you guys just use those settings (M, TV, and AV) with autofocus most of the time, or do you manually focus things by yourself?

I was playing around with the AV settings earlier, and I was having a problem blurring out the background. They were blurred, but just not as much as I was wanting to blur them out.

As far as using these settings go, I'm curious, how do you guys figure out when you have the right amount of lighting? I keep going back and forth between manual and auto, and I can't seem to tell when I need to use a flash and when I don't need to use it. I suppose experience will help. Anyway, just rambling now, thanks for everything.

Use the meter.............you know

-2.1.\/.1.2+
^

A properly exposed image will have the indicator right in the middle. You might also want to have the custom function set up so you can focus with the *. The metering is done with half depressed shutter button while focus is controlled by the thumb. Most guys use AV, I go between AV and M depending on the situation.

M - you set all exposure variables, thus you need to make sure to check you meter reading

AV - you set aperture and ISO, the camera automatically sets the shutter speed for proper exposure.

TV - you set the shutter speed and ISO and camera automatically sets aperture for proper exposure.

For landscape use M, for most of the other times try to use AV.

Ah, well, most of the testings I've been able to do have been indoors, and whenever I'm in the AV mode, the shutterspeed is so slow. Do you guys generally find it that you have to use a tripod when shooting indoor due to the slow shutterspeed? Most of my pictures are blurry because of it.

I also notice that in the AV mode, the shutterspeed becomes slower or faster in correlation to the apeture setting. I'm still not really sure why this is, I really need to understand this. Basically what I'm doing is pressing the button halfway, then I play around with the main dial before finally clicking it.

PacAce wrote:
ASA? Is somebody showing their true age here?

Awww.. How come I can't set my DSLR to display DIN 21?

Ken

Here is a good read that should help you out with some of the things you don't understand.

Hope this helps.

wolf wrote:
Here is a good read that should help you out with some of the things you don't understand.

Hope this helps.

Ironically, that's the book I'm reading, and I seem to be confused over the differentiations of aperture, shutterspeed, etc. Since I'm going off-topic from the EOS talk, I posted a more general question in the photography forum so that I'm not posting in the wrong place. I posted a more detailed question there, and if you have anything to add, I'd be glad to hear what you have to say. Here's the link to the thread:

More questions link

I've found that at ISO 100, on a bright day, a shutter speed of 1/30 or 1/15 works great for waterfalls--adjust f-stop to proper exposure. Of course, the contex impacts the exposure--is the waterfall in a dark canyon, etc...