Nice article on understanding shutter speed, aperture, ISO

I've been trying to photograph birds in flight and knew that a real fast shutter speed would stop motion, but problematically, it also let only a little light enter the camera. I was in the M mode on my Canon 40D. So, I adjusted the aperture and ISO setting to compensate for the less light of faster shutter speeds. After reading the following article, I have re-thought what I was doing.

As I was reading the article, the following text caught my attention:

"If you’re just getting into your DSLR, you’ve probably noticed that it has a variety of different shooting modes. When I first started learning about all of this, my more experienced friends advised me to use Aperture Priority mode when taking pictures. I recommend that you do the same. In Aperture Priority mode on my Canon rig, you select an ISO speed and the aperture to use, and the camera will pick out the shutter speed for you."

Well, I'm going to try this tomorrow - shooting in Av mode (using f5.6, f8, etc.). I'll be setting varying ISO's (400 to 1600, and maybe even 3200). I realize that higher ISO's produce grainy (noisy) photos, so I don't want to go too high.

If I don't get the results I want using Av mode (wings of flying birds frozen in motion, so I can see the individual feathers, so to speak), then I'm going to try it again using Tv mode. That is, I'll select the shutter speed and ISO, and let the camera worry about the aperture.

Here's the article I read: It helped me better understand the 3 variables (shutter speed, aperture, ISO).

http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/12/24/aperture-iso-and-shutter-speed-the-good-kind-of-threesome/

Hack

PS, if you all have any tips or points to add, please do.

Here's another nice article on the 3 variables:

http://photodoto.com/understanding-exposure-shutter-speed-aperture-and-iso/

Hack

One more. I found this one a moment ago. After the previous two, this ties it together nicely.

http://www.photographyjam.com/articles/29/camera-basics-shutter-speed-aperture-and-iso

Hack

Edited, because I forgot to include the link.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2010 12:49 AM