F stop setting ???

[LOVEMYLABXS]

Moving away from the auto setting what makes you decide what F stop you want to use? Ok I know that bright days and non-moving targets you can use an Fstop of say F-22 or higher and a slower shutter speed and not be to dark or open the the F stop up and slow down the shutter speed to basically get the same contrast but is there a reason why you'd use say F-22 and say 1/1000 over opening the opening to F-4.8 and a slower shutter speed and say 1/400 or less on the speed? Does distance to target come into play or does it matter if you just want your target subject in focus or if you want to also show the background?

I'm wondering cause the other day on one of my drives I messed up and know basically why the shots didn't turn out but didn't have time to make changes but is there a intermedite setting?

Beings it's winter and a lot of white alot of things come into play and sometimes you just got to be QUICK to change settings on the camera.

But over all does a larger opening (lower F-stop) or smaller opening ( higher F-stop) give you more background sharpness or less? Sometimes you just don't have time to switch settings.
2 shots that didn't run out but had I had time to adjust could have been pretty darn cool. 1st one flyin pheasants and the second a pheasant that should have flown faster

I'm sure of why neither turned out but what settings would you have'd picted?

 

[LOVEMYLABXS]

Nothing is workin so I'll try agin

 

[grandpawrichard]

One of the most important steps in learning about photography is understanding how to use aperture, because controlling your lens’ aperture settings enables you to take control over depth of field and dictate the size of the sharp area around the focus point in an image.

If you want a lot of the image to be sharp, for example, you need to select a small aperture setting such as f/22 and if you want to restrict the depth of field to isolate a subject from the background, you need a nice wide aperture setting such as f/2.8 or f/2.0.

Whatever aperture setting you use, you need to select an appropriate shutter speed to ensure that the image is correctly exposed.

The source of the confusion around apertures often tends to be around the f-numbers. The smaller the f-stop (eg f/2.8) the wider your aperture will be, and thus let in more light.

The bigger the f-stop (eg f/22) the smaller your aperture will be. Once you get your head around that numbering system it becomes much clearer and you will soon be using apertures confidently to achieve different effects.

Dick

 

[FERAL ONE]

mike, jason f posted this many moons ago ( i believe it was him, forgive me if it wasn't ! ) i have shared it with many folks since then. move the settings on the little camera and you can see what happens to the picture. a good hands on tool !
http://dryreading.com/camera/index.html

 

[cornpile]

These were both great pics,Mike

I tried my hand at adjusting them a little,hope you dont mind.....

 

[Hoss]

Good info for you Mike. Distance from the subject also comes into play. You can go somewhere like here to get a feel for how things change.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Other suggestion is set up your camera on a tripod and shoot the same subject using varying aperature setting. I'd do this in aperture priority mode and let the camera adjust the shutter speed. Note when doing this how the shutter speed changes.
Best way I know to learn this stuff is to do a bit of reading and then try some things out.

Hoss

 

[JasonF]

I recommend using your camera's Aperture or Shutter Priority features and let the camera do the majority of the work for you. In aperture priority, select the desired f-stop based on your subject and what you are trying to accomplish and the camera will select the shutter speed to get a good exposure.
Shutter priority is just the opposite...select the shutter speed and the camera will choose the aperture for a good exposure.
Using these features on your camera will help lay a good foundation and then you can exposure compensate if need more highlights or shadows. Pay close attention to your histogram.

I think the fellas who commented above answered your questions directly but felt maybe this additional info would be beneficial to you.

Also, when shooting a moving subject, I prefer to use the Shutter Priority shooting mode and make the necessary adjustments as I shoot. Using this mode when shooting moving subjects will give you the control as to the outcome of the subject sense of motion. Race cars, for example, I prefer to shoot at no more than 1/125th of a second.

About the only time I use manual mode anymore is when flash(es) are involved...there is just no need to use it otherwise.

 

[LOVEMYLABXS]

Thanks guys yall pretty much confirmed what I thought. One question I have from what I've been reading is if I'm right that by using a higher Fstop is that it will show more detail in say a long distance scenary shot then say if I drop down to F5.6?

CP you sure made those two shot a lot better and I have no problem with you messin with them. I'm really impressed at how good you made the Hawk with what was left of the Pheasant. I saw him get up and I could see the pheasant real good then it landed and I cruised up getting the camera ready as I did but just as I got close another rig came along and caused him to fly and I just had to jump out and mush a shot of what I could get but you made it look GOOD with the post processing that you did to it, THANKS

 

[Hoss]

Thanks guys yall pretty much confirmed what I thought. One question I have from what I've been reading is if I'm right that by using a higher Fstop is that it will show more detail in say a long distance scenary shot then say if I drop down to F5.6?

Now here's the perfect opportunity to do the set up on a tripod and try a few shots so that you can see the difference.

I see less impact on distance shots, but huge impact on macros. Try the depth calculator too. It gives you an idea of what the field of focus is for the distance you are shooting.

Hoss

 

[rip18]

Yikes, what a tough bunch of questions. But you've gotten some great advice.

Spending time with somebody whose shooting style you like can sure improve your knowledge & abilities quickly.

For me, the key was finally understanding how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO interact so that I could independently control them to get the picture to look more like I was envisioning it.

Playing with that dryreading link will sure help with that understanding.

Usually, I try to give my best answer to the questions folks ask (and I can come back and do that if you really want), but I think this time that I'll give a general answer that addresses most of your questions.

Aperture, f/stop, and ISO all interact to give you an exposure. Changing one impacts the other two, so there might be 9 or more "correct" exposures that give you the SAME amount of light on your cameras sensor, but depending on how you adjusted those 3 variables to get that exposure, the image will look slightly different.

Aperture or f/stop is how much light comes through the diaphragm of the lens - I like to think of it as pipe or hose-size. The smaller the f/stop number, the larger the hose. So f/2.8 lets in a lot of light quickly, and f/22 lets in light more slowly. Lower f/numbers have less depth of field and are good for isolating a subject or getting a fast shutter speed. Higher f/numbers are good for an image where you want lots of stuff in focus or you are wanting to blur something.

Shutter speed is how long the shutter stays open. A quick shutter speed freezes motion (and requires bright light or low f/number), and a longer shutter speed blurs motion.

ISO is how sensitive the sensor is to light - lower ISO numbers are less senstive, and higher ISO numbers are more sensitive. Higher ISO numbers are needed when there is lower light, but higher ISO numbers also tend to be grainier.

Hope that helped and didn't add to the confusion.