Please help a K10D n00b with aperture and shutter speed

PaddyB · 09-03-2008, 10:26 PM

Hi all,

Just got a K10D last week and took it into the mountains of central Taiwan for some practice. I'm new to SLR's and "hands on" photography. I was pretty impressed with what I got shooting in green mode with the Sigma 17-70mm zoom lens. However, I feel that due to the wide variety of lighting I was shooting in (forest of various density as well as exposed mountain sides, weather was sunny but overcast and glary etc.) many of my shots were improperly exposed. I feel that if I was able to adjust aperture and shutter speed properly, my shots would have been better.

Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value?

Any help would be appreciated, I really want to learn the basics of photography and get the most out of this excellent (if fickle) camera.

Venturi · 09-03-2008, 11:27 PM

First, grab a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and read it cover to cover. Great book with lots of info packed into 150 or so pages. Then get out and shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more.

90% of the battle with getting the "correct" exposure is seeing the situation through the view finder, and that takes practice. Over time, once you really understand the exposure triangle (ISO-Aperture-Shutter), it will begin to become instinctive to know how to compensate.

Pentaxtic · 09-04-2008, 12:21 AM

Taiwan can get very hot and brighten the image a lot so you need to shoot when the sun is setting.
Otherwise, you may need a polarizer or ND grads for you lenses. Perhaps something like a cokin P holder and square filters.

I took some nice shots of a dam and it looked good except the trees in the background was washed out a bit from the brightness of the sun.

After some extensively bad post processing, you can get this:

walter · 09-04-2008, 02:33 AM

Originally posted by PaddyB

Hi all,

Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value?

I don't think switching modes (P/Av/Tv) will have any significant affect on exposure. They are all automatic and will adjust one or more of the parameters to reach the exposure your camera thinks is right. There's a lot of other reasons to use Av or Tv though, such as control of depth of field and motion blur.

You might want to look more into adjusting the exposure compensation or changing the metering mode. For example, if you found that the picture is too dark, you can set the exposure compensation to +1 and retake the photo. Or you can set the metering to spot, point the camera at something medium gray, press the AE-L button to lock the exposure, then take the picture.

Some scenes with really bright areas and really dark shadows just won't expose very well regardless of camera setting. You may have to pick the best exposure you can and try to fix it later in post processing.

**Canada_Rockies** · 09-04-2008, 08:45 AM

Originally posted by PaddyB

Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value?

Any help would be appreciated, I really want to learn the basics of photography and get the most out of this excellent (if fickle) camera.

One way to cover the difficult exposure situations is to use bracketed exposures. Your k10d can bracket 3 or 5 exposures around the meter recommendation.

I often use this on my k10d in difficult lighting situations. You then have two options when you get the images on your computer: pick the best of the 3/5, or to use the images to produce an HDR (High Dynamic Range) shot. With all the pictures I have taken for a very long time now, I still use bracketing quite a bit. When I see a possible image that goes from dark shadows to bright unlit highlights, I will often take 5 exposures 2 stops apart with the idea that I have everything I need to use an HDR program to create an image that is closer to what the eye sees.

If I just want to bracket the exposures I will set the camera to 5 exposures at 0.5 stop intervals. One of the five is invariably the exposure I want. There are some who set the system to 0.3 stop intervals, but I find the latitude of the k10d sensor, shooting RAW, handles 1/2 stops just fine.

Marc Sabatella · 09-04-2008, 09:26 AM

Although I've never read the Peterson "Understanding Exposure" book, it's such a common recommendation I'm willing to take it on faith that it must be good. I'd just add there are actually plenty of books that will explain the basics of exposure. I learned a lot from the National Geographic Field Guide to Photography. Really, any book on photography (other than one that caters primarily to P&S cameras) should explain the basics of exposure. There are probably even good web sites for this, although I have to say, the couple I've seen most recommended do *not* do a good job, in my opinion. Ron Bigelow in particular has great stuff on PP, not so much on exposure - at least, not on the basic level you need.

bymy141 · 09-05-2008, 10:56 AM

Have a look at PENTAX digiich
An excellent set of "courses" learning the details of your camera!

- Bert

Dtkeith · 09-05-2008, 01:36 PM

Somewhere, Someone linked to this website: The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator - Photonhead.com
I tried it out, and I really like it! I think it would help you (I am not self-promoting, this is not my website and has no affiliation with me!)

legacyb4 · 09-24-2008, 06:36 AM

Also, spend time post-shooting to review your shots and look at the EXIF data to understand how your choice of settings affected your final photos...

egordon99 · 09-24-2008, 10:30 AM

To follow on with that, feel free to post a BAD picture you took, along with the settings and we can help you with why it was bad, and what to do so it's not as BAD next time.

Originally posted by legacyb4

Also, spend time post-shooting to review your shots and look at the EXIF data to understand how your choice of settings affected your final photos...

PaddyB · 09-24-2008, 10:27 PM

Thanks guys, unfortunately my computer is so crap that I can't do much RAW converting and therefore posting. I've just been buying 8gb SD cards (cheap as dirt in Taiwan) and filling them up until I can spend another grand on a new laptop. I've been focusing more on... well... focusing and also just setting up the shots correctly. Mosty Green and occasionaly Av get the job done fine most of the time. Once I add shutter speed (TAv etc) I can mess up quite easily. Also, I've noticed that setting the correct metering for the shot has been giving me better exposures as well. I might try exposure bracketing as well. It doesnt help that I only have a PDF manual though (came with a Chinese one only). Anyway, I have some great shots (and some weak ones) and I'll post them sometime in the next few months. Thanks again for the feedback.

**Lowell Goudge** · 09-25-2008, 06:46 AM

aside from the recomendation to read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson cover to cover, which is good (In fact any book on exposure and general photography will do), as a long time manual setting photographer (who shoots JPEGs primairly), I can offer the following advice.

first of all consider your scene, and the lighting. when I am in a high contrast situation, I modify the contrast (reduce it) in the camera. This helps considerably. conversely, in a low contrast situation where lighting is flat, I increase the contrast in the camera settings/

Second, switch to spot metering, and meter off what you want correctly exposed. The green button is great for this.

As for shutter and apature, and the green button function, you need to decide what you want to be constant, shutter speed (to control blurr), apature (to control depth of field) or let the camera follow the lens curve. The K10D lets you pick what you want.

You may also find that the scene is just too extreme for one single shot with natural lighting. This is where multiple shots, one for background and one for subject can be useful. ALSO note youo can use a flash to fill in dark areas.

09-03-2008, 10:26 PM	#1
PaddyB Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Taipei Posts: 65	Please help a K10D n00b with aperture and shutter speed Hi all, Just got a K10D last week and took it into the mountains of central Taiwan for some practice. I'm new to SLR's and "hands on" photography. I was pretty impressed with what I got shooting in green mode with the Sigma 17-70mm zoom lens. However, I feel that due to the wide variety of lighting I was shooting in (forest of various density as well as exposed mountain sides, weather was sunny but overcast and glary etc.) many of my shots were improperly exposed. I feel that if I was able to adjust aperture and shutter speed properly, my shots would have been better. Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value? Any help would be appreciated, I really want to learn the basics of photography and get the most out of this excellent (if fickle) camera.

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09-03-2008, 11:27 PM	#2
Venturi Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Tulsa, OK Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,636	First, grab a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and read it cover to cover. Great book with lots of info packed into 150 or so pages. Then get out and shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more. 90% of the battle with getting the "correct" exposure is seeing the situation through the view finder, and that takes practice. Over time, once you really understand the exposure triangle (ISO-Aperture-Shutter), it will begin to become instinctive to know how to compensate.

09-04-2008, 12:21 AM	#3
Pentaxtic Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Vancouver Photos: Gallery Posts: 417	Taiwan can get very hot and brighten the image a lot so you need to shoot when the sun is setting. Otherwise, you may need a polarizer or ND grads for you lenses. Perhaps something like a cokin P holder and square filters. I took some nice shots of a dam and it looked good except the trees in the background was washed out a bit from the brightness of the sun. After some extensively bad post processing, you can get this:

09-04-2008, 02:33 AM	#4
walter Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: California Photos: Gallery Posts: 239	Originally posted by PaddyB Hi all, Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value? I don't think switching modes (P/Av/Tv) will have any significant affect on exposure. They are all automatic and will adjust one or more of the parameters to reach the exposure your camera thinks is right. There's a lot of other reasons to use Av or Tv though, such as control of depth of field and motion blur. You might want to look more into adjusting the exposure compensation or changing the metering mode. For example, if you found that the picture is too dark, you can set the exposure compensation to +1 and retake the photo. Or you can set the metering to spot, point the camera at something medium gray, press the AE-L button to lock the exposure, then take the picture. Some scenes with really bright areas and really dark shadows just won't expose very well regardless of camera setting. You may have to pick the best exposure you can and try to fix it later in post processing.

09-04-2008, 08:45 AM	#5
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	Originally posted by PaddyB Can someone give me a few pointers on how aperture and shutter speed interact in the above shooting conditions? Also, would I get pretty good results just shooting in aperture priority and letting the camera select shutter speed? Or, am I on the wrong track and need to just manually adjust my exposure value? Any help would be appreciated, I really want to learn the basics of photography and get the most out of this excellent (if fickle) camera. One way to cover the difficult exposure situations is to use bracketed exposures. Your k10d can bracket 3 or 5 exposures around the meter recommendation. I often use this on my k10d in difficult lighting situations. You then have two options when you get the images on your computer: pick the best of the 3/5, or to use the images to produce an HDR (High Dynamic Range) shot. With all the pictures I have taken for a very long time now, I still use bracketing quite a bit. When I see a possible image that goes from dark shadows to bright unlit highlights, I will often take 5 exposures 2 stops apart with the idea that I have everything I need to use an HDR program to create an image that is closer to what the eye sees. If I just want to bracket the exposures I will set the camera to 5 exposures at 0.5 stop intervals. One of the five is invariably the exposure I want. There are some who set the system to 0.3 stop intervals, but I find the latitude of the k10d sensor, shooting RAW, handles 1/2 stops just fine.

09-04-2008, 09:26 AM	#6
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,685	Although I've never read the Peterson "Understanding Exposure" book, it's such a common recommendation I'm willing to take it on faith that it must be good. I'd just add there are actually plenty of books that will explain the basics of exposure. I learned a lot from the National Geographic Field Guide to Photography. Really, any book on photography (other than one that caters primarily to P&S cameras) should explain the basics of exposure. There are probably even good web sites for this, although I have to say, the couple I've seen most recommended do not do a good job, in my opinion. Ron Bigelow in particular has great stuff on PP, not so much on exposure - at least, not on the basic level you need.

09-05-2008, 10:56 AM	#7
bymy141 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,563	Have a look at PENTAX digiich An excellent set of "courses" learning the details of your camera! - Bert

09-05-2008, 01:36 PM	#8
Dtkeith Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Photos: Gallery Posts: 39	Somewhere, Someone linked to this website: The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator - Photonhead.com I tried it out, and I really like it! I think it would help you (I am not self-promoting, this is not my website and has no affiliation with me!)

09-24-2008, 06:36 AM	#9
legacyb4 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Tri-Cities, British Columbia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,784	Also, spend time post-shooting to review your shots and look at the EXIF data to understand how your choice of settings affected your final photos...

09-24-2008, 10:30 AM	#10
egordon99 Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Outside of Philly Posts: 1,561	To follow on with that, feel free to post a BAD picture you took, along with the settings and we can help you with why it was bad, and what to do so it's not as BAD next time. Originally posted by legacyb4 Also, spend time post-shooting to review your shots and look at the EXIF data to understand how your choice of settings affected your final photos...

09-24-2008, 10:27 PM	#11
PaddyB Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Taipei Posts: 65 Original Poster	Thanks guys, unfortunately my computer is so crap that I can't do much RAW converting and therefore posting. I've just been buying 8gb SD cards (cheap as dirt in Taiwan) and filling them up until I can spend another grand on a new laptop. I've been focusing more on... well... focusing and also just setting up the shots correctly. Mosty Green and occasionaly Av get the job done fine most of the time. Once I add shutter speed (TAv etc) I can mess up quite easily. Also, I've noticed that setting the correct metering for the shot has been giving me better exposures as well. I might try exposure bracketing as well. It doesnt help that I only have a PDF manual though (came with a Chinese one only). Anyway, I have some great shots (and some weak ones) and I'll post them sometime in the next few months. Thanks again for the feedback.

09-25-2008, 06:46 AM	#12
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,887	aside from the recomendation to read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson cover to cover, which is good (In fact any book on exposure and general photography will do), as a long time manual setting photographer (who shoots JPEGs primairly), I can offer the following advice. first of all consider your scene, and the lighting. when I am in a high contrast situation, I modify the contrast (reduce it) in the camera. This helps considerably. conversely, in a low contrast situation where lighting is flat, I increase the contrast in the camera settings/ Second, switch to spot metering, and meter off what you want correctly exposed. The green button is great for this. As for shutter and apature, and the green button function, you need to decide what you want to be constant, shutter speed (to control blurr), apature (to control depth of field) or let the camera follow the lens curve. The K10D lets you pick what you want. You may also find that the scene is just too extreme for one single shot with natural lighting. This is where multiple shots, one for background and one for subject can be useful. ALSO note youo can use a flash to fill in dark areas.