AV or TV settings

[Elsa46]

I would like to ask which is the best setting to try to get off Auto settings.

Not sure whether to try AV or TV at the moment and a bit scared of moving away from Auto.

I am so confused and not sure where to start for everyday photography.

I have registered to do a Night photo workshop on thursday night at Vivid Sydney, hopefully this will help with my fear of night photography!

Thank you in advance

[ricktas]

My suggestion. Learn to play with aperture first. Setup something static in a row, like drinking glasses. Then set your camera so that you can change the aperture. Now, set your aperture to the largest (smallest number, ie f4). shooting from the end of the line of glasses, so one is close and the one at the other end is furthest away. focus on the middle glass and take a shot. Then change to f10, and do the same, then f16 and do the same, then f22 and do the same. Now go to your computer and compare the shots. Look at what is and is not in focus. This should give you an understanding of how changing the aperture affects what is in focus (front to back).

From this come back to this thread and tell us what aperture you would use to get a portrait of a person in focus, but the background blurry.

[ameerat42]

I would like to ask which is the best setting to try to get off Auto settings.

Not sure whether to try AV or TV at the moment and a bit scared of moving away from Auto.

I am so confused and not sure where to start for everyday photography.

I have registered to do a Night photo workshop on thursday night at Vivid Sydney, hopefully this will help with my fear of night photography!

Thank you in advance

Elsa. Let's take your post point-by-point.
1. What are you afraid of by moving away from Auto? - Wrong exposures for an image?
1a. What scenes are you shooting? Later you say you're going to Vivid Sydney for a workshop, so I'll
not address the issue of "night" photography with lights.

2. Av and Tv are "semi-automatic" modes. You set either one, and the other varies. Have you got trouble
about which one to set and what it means? See point 3.

3. "Everyday photography". Let's start with an "ordinary sun-lit scene". There is an old "rule-of-thumb" that is called
the "Sunny-16 Rule". You can look it up for reference, and you can use it as a starting point. It simply states that
[if you are using manual settings on a sunny day, then]...

Set your camera to Manual, but leave your focus set to "Auto Focus". Now set your ISO to 100, your shutter speed to 1/100 sec, and your aperture to f/16.
Now go out and take some "sunny day shots".

Later on, look at those shots. Are some over-exposed, some under-exposed, and some pretty well exposed?

You have just done what your camera does in Auto mode, except you provided the "auto".

That should dispel your fears of going off "Auto". If you then try to understand the reasonably simple relationship
between ISO-Aperture (F-stop)-Exposure time that is sometimes referred to as the Exposure Triangle, then you're
on the way to the rest of photography.

Now, some timely advice: go and do the Vivid Sydney workshop and try to understand it as best you can. Ask about it
here when you get back from it. Also, try to attend any meet-ups that may be organised, or, ask (more specific) questions
here on AP.

Main point: ZACHARY SMITH. That is, Never fear.

[Brian500au]

Hi Elsa

All I can say is let the journey begin.

Do you ever look through the forum here and go "wow I wish I could take a photo like that". Well you are about to take your first step into taking better photos.

The beauty of the camera today is you can make mistakes and learn and it costs you nothing in having to buy more film or pay to have it processed.

Both posters above have given you some great advice - I will not add to it but I will say "give it a go" - you will be glad you did.

Kel

[Mark L]

It depends on subject and the photo you want to take and I suspect Vivid ain't gunna help answer your question.
If you want to start taking photos of birds AV is the way to go to start with. (man what ISO do I need to use to get that shutter speed up?)
Don't be afraid to keep asking question on your journey Elsa.

[Elsa46]

Thank you everyone for the great responses and support, makes me feel much better having great people to help out with my stupid questions. Hopefully one day I can take some amazing photos too. Am so scared of stuffing something up with this Camera.
Love the Sunny 16 rule thank you Ameerat42, I have just set my Camera to:
Manual, Auto Focus, ISO to 100, shutter speed to 1/100 sec and Aperture to F/16, now that sunny day cannot come quick enough.

When do you need to use a Tripod? Is it mainly for slow shutter speeds at night?

[ameerat42]

...I would like to ask which is the best setting to try to get off Auto settings.
...
...a Night photo workshop on thursday night at Vivid Sydney, hopefully this will help with my fear of night photography!

It depends on subject and the photo you want to take and I suspect Vivid ain't gunna help answer your question.

It should help allay th OP's "...fear of night photography!..."

So Elsa, do go on that workshop.

[Hamster]

Hi Elsa. Try having a play with this, it might help to make things clearer.
http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca

[fillum]

Hi Elsa. I think you'll really enjoy the workshop. A few points that might be helpful...

It's highly probable that the instructor will get you to shoot in manual exposure mode - but don't panic, they will explain it to you. You just need to be familiar with how to set your camera into manual mode and how to change aperture, shutter-speed and ISO (from your post above it looks like you know how to do that).

Typically there will be a range of skill levels in the group. The instructor should check this at the start of the workshop, so just make sure they know you're a beginner and they will provide info at the appropriate level for you. Don't feel that any question you have is dumb or trivial - odds are that everyone in the group (including the instructor) has asked the same question at some stage. If there are other beginners in the group maybe 'buddy up' with them to help each other out and for a bit of moral support .

If you're not currently shooting raw files I'd suggest that you set your camera to shoot raw+jpeg for the workshop. That way you can come back later and process the raw files if you want. (Basically, raw files contain more image data so you can generally do more with them in post-processing).

Don't forget
- fully charge your battery
- have plenty of free memory card space
- your tripod quick-release plate (I speak from experience here )

Probably worthwhile taking the user guide for your camera in case you need it.

Have fun...

[ricktas]

Am so scared of stuffing something up with this Camera.

You can't. If you end up changing something and cannot remember what it was and it is causing issues, do a reset. (check your manual). A reset will funnily enough reset your camera back to the defaults, so any setting you have made and forgotten about will be back to its default.

[aussirose]

Oh you are going to have fun on your workshop. Don't forget to take a small torch to see your settings in the night. Tripod is a must for night photography. Yes I remember struggling with settings to begin with. Most likely as said before your instructor will use manual settings. I've shot at night also using AV mode and the photos worked out well. F16 is good for getting the nice star burst night lights. But just normal night shooting I find that F11 works well. If in AV mode the camera will work out the shutter speed for you. Start at ISO 100 and if too dark, up the ISO to 200, 400 etc. Have fun and show us your shots.

[Hamster]

Also, don't worry about using manual if you don't want to. Some people (not in this thread) will tell you that "real" photographers shoot manual. This is not true. What "real" photographers do is understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Hence, why I posted the link above to help with this. It will let you do exactly what Ricktas suggested in post #2.

If I go and take aerial shots I don't need a big depth of field, but I do need a fast shutter speed. It makes no difference if I set the camera on Av, set an aperture of 2.8 and an ISO of 100 and let the camera work out the shutter speed. Or I put it on manual and set all of those manually. The first way I have to keep an eye on shutter speed and adjust the ISO if the speed drops too low. The second I have to keep an eye on the meter/histogram and adjust ISO if the exposure is too low or adjust shutter speed if the exposure is to high. There are other nuances not worth discussing here, but the point is that either way I've got to keep an eye on something and adjust accordingly. But in that situation Av is easier. So don't let anyone tell you, you have to shoot manual because that makes you a better photographer or gives you more control or whatever. Learn to achieve what you want with aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and then achieve that the easiest way for you, which may or may not be in manual mode. Just to throw another thing in the mix, you will need to be able to check if a shot is correctly exposed, the best way being with the histogram.

[peter1929]

Hi , Thanks, the link is very help full.

[Machiavelli]

We are all in the same boat, when we start. It _can_ be a little daunting to take more control over the process because we are new at it all and just struggling with composition. However, like anything, you learn from doing and by making mistakes. The great thing about these modern digital cameras is how they record your settings along with the picture - so if you have a shot that doesn't come out right, you can look at what settings you used and perhaps understand why.

Eventually, as the others have said, you will move into the various semi-auto modes and play with the different looks you can achieve. You will understand what each mode offers you and where you can use them to best advantage. Maybe (or maybe not, up to you) you will begin to play with full Manual mode. Again - another learning curve as you begin to wrestle with balancing all of your settings yourself to achieve the look you want.

But this is why we are here, isn't it? It's part of the fun of this hobby/pastime. At the end of the day, go with whatever it is that gives you the most fun.

Mike.

[Hawthy]

You will get a lot out of a night photography course - including some great photos! I shouted myself a course a few years ago as a birthday present (I am so thoughtful) and it taught me more about my camera controls in a couple of hours than I had learned reading the manual for six months. If none of the above makes much sense there are endless Youtube videos about shooting in various modes, such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYT24lzOK7w

Personally, I prefer manual mode because I shoot mainly static scenes and therefore have plenty of time to set up. Also, my first camera was an old Minolta film SLR and the way that I knew the exposure was correct was by getting a needle in the viewfinder to centre between + & - much like the indicator that you see when you shoot in Manual mode on a DSLR. Old habits die hard.

[KevPride]

Having recently purchased a Nikon body for my birding photos, I was bemoaning the lack of TAV mode which I used with my Pentax. Sat back and thought well TAV is really only Manual Mode using Auto ISO and setting up a dedicated User preference I have exactly what I had before. I switch back to Av or Tv whenever it suits.

Hope that helps someone.

[Mark L]

I switch back to Av or Tv whenever it suits.

So when does it suit.
I use Av and my preference of ISO depending on the lighting for birds.Any more manual makes me miss more photos.

[aussirose]

I mainly shoot in AV but if I am shooting moving objects like panning for instance I will use TV.

[ameerat42]

Knock! Knock! Sorry, but where is the "I-use-Manual-all-the-time" thread?

[Phil Mac]

I was recently shooting from a zodiac (inflatable run-around) in choppy waters, so I used Tv and set 1/1000th to try and combat the camera movement. Of course ISO might go up and aperture goes small (in numbers) but I got some nice crisp shots.

On a tripod, no camera shake, then Av will control your depth of field.

Some lenses have a sweet spot for aperture where the picture will be at it's sharpest, and you might choose to use Av to force this as well.

Have fun!