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I totally blew it today!!! Neglected ISO setting...newbie mistake.

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tallahassegreys

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So today it was extremely bright in Charleston, SC aound 1:00pm. I went to Water Front Park and was trying to get some pics of the fountains. I wanted to do the usual...blur the water coming off the fountain. I had the 18-55 on my D40 and stopped it all the way down. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/30. I did get some blur, but I would have liked a little slower shutter speed. But this would obviously give me too much light. It wasn't until I got home that I realized all I needed was to bump up the ISO!! I was shooting in Auto ISO, and since it was such a bright day, the camera was giving me ISO 200, which I would usually be happy with. But I just didn't think to increase it to 400 or 800 so that I could achieve a slower shutter speed and get the same exposure.

So I might try to go back tomorrow and take advantage of ALL the settings my camera has to offer!!!

55mm, f/36, ISO 200

 
--

I dont know if I'm just having another stupid moment, but...if you were to increase your ISO, would that not in turn give you a higher shutter speed? as far as I remember, the higher iso you go, the more sensitive to light it is?!

Thats just my thought, I could be wrong.

Rob
 
Whoa there! If you increase your ISO then your shutter speed also increases to compensate for the increased sensitivity. It's not what you are looking for. A Neutral Density filter will help cut down the amount of light and give you a slower shutter speed, in S, A or Manual mode.
--
Charles.
Nikon D40x, 18-105VR, 50mm f1.8, Capture NX2.



'There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.' --Ansel Adams
 
Wait a minute...I think I'm confused again. Increasing ISO would overexpose my pics....even more so if I decreased shutter speed at the same time!

So what are my options in this situation?? All my settings seem to be maxed out for the longest possible shutter speed, right? Would adding a polarizer or other filter decrease the light a stop or two? This might allow me to decrease shutter speed....I THINK!!?!?
 
Haha, yea ok. Thx for the response!! I must have typing while you were posting. OK, a neutal density, huh? I'll check them out. Is this type of situation one where people typically use a ND?

Also, any thoughts on the pic itself?? Thanks.
charita said:
Whoa there! If you increase your ISO then your shutter speed also
increases to compensate for the increased sensitivity. It's not what
you are looking for. A Neutral Density filter will help cut down the
amount of light and give you a slower shutter speed, in S, A or
Manual mode.
--
Charles.
Nikon D40x, 18-105VR, 50mm f1.8, Capture NX2.



'There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.'
--Ansel Adams
Click to expand...
 
ND filter would work, though I've never used one. I read about them all the time when people are photographing water (e.g. water falls, rivers and the like)

Another option is to take the image just before sunset or right after sunrise so that there just isn't as much sun.

--
David



http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoeng/
 
tallahassegreys said:
Wait a minute...I think I'm confused again. Increasing ISO would
overexpose my pics....even more so if I decreased shutter speed at
the same time!
Click to expand...
You certainly don't want to increase the ISO as the goal is to lower the shutter speed.
tallahassegreys said:
So what are my options in this situation?? All my settings seem to
be maxed out for the longest possible shutter speed, right? Would
adding a polarizer or other filter decrease the light a stop or two?
This might allow me to decrease shutter speed....I THINK!!?!?
Click to expand...
If you're shooting in the daytime, to get the shutter speed to where you want it (I would think at least an 1/8 of a second - probably closer to a full second or so) get the aperture closed down as much as possible to allow for the least amount of light. You'll probably need at least a polarizer (good for a stop or 2) or an ND filter (good for 4 or more stops).

With these slow shutter speeds of course you'll be wanting your tripod.

Good luck.

--
James

 
If you're after such effect as on my photo bellow, I warmly recommend ND filter. On this one I used 3-stop ND filter to get the photo at ISO 200, F13 and 3 seconds exposure. Of course, tripod is obligatory :)

 
I ran into this same situation last weekend on a bright day. I didn't have an ND filter so I went back later in the day under lower light conditions.
 
Just a question, couldn't you just shoot in Shutter priority?

Turn the dial to S and get the correct shutter you are looking for and let the camera do the rest of the work?
 
Google "Bryan Peterson - Understanding Exposure". It's relatively cheap (softback) and has done wonders for my comprehension on the subject.

The way I understand it - you don't want to mess with ISO beyond setting it appropriately for the natural light that you have. If it is bright out, set it low and obviously high for darker, evening situations (or indoors, but it looks like you are outdoors with this particular shot.) In this case, the lower the better since it is bright, afternoon sunlight. (on a sidenote, you might consider going back in the morning or evening to get much better light on this subject.)

According to Bryan, you have to ask yourself what you are trying to achieve with each particular shot. Here it looks like you are more concerned with getting a certain look out of the cascading water and depth of field is less of a concern. So, with that in mind, either go to Manual or Shutter Priority and choose a shutter speed that you recon will be long enough to capture the movement of the water. It takes a bit of knowledge, but experience will tell you that 1/500 won't blur the water and 1/15 probably will. So try a slower speed and then meter TTL for the correct aperture. Simply turn the dial until your meter indicates an aperture that, when combined with the shutter speed you already set, will give you a correct exposure. Then take the shot. Keep in mind that it might be a slow enough shutter speed that a tripod or some sort of stabilizer will be needed to elliminate camera shake due to handholding.

Now, will it be perfect? Probably not, it will be correctly exposed, but it might not be the best combination of shutter speed and aperture for the look you are going after. If you don't like it, then either slow up the shutter speed or go a bit longer. This will necessitate adjusting your aperture as well in order to maintain a correct exposure.

According to Bryan, it's really as simple as that.
 
gilmourbto2001 said:
Google "Bryan Peterson - Understanding Exposure". It's relatively
cheap (softback) and has done wonders for my comprehension on the
subject.

The way I understand it - you don't want to mess with ISO beyond
setting it appropriately for the natural light that you have. If it
is bright out, set it low and obviously high for darker, evening
situations (or indoors, but it looks like you are outdoors with this
particular shot.) In this case, the lower the better since it is
bright, afternoon sunlight. (on a sidenote, you might consider going
back in the morning or evening to get much better light on this
subject.)

According to Bryan, you have to ask yourself what you are trying to
achieve with each particular shot. Here it looks like you are more
concerned with getting a certain look out of the cascading water and
depth of field is less of a concern. So, with that in mind, either
go to Manual or Shutter Priority and choose a shutter speed that you
recon will be long enough to capture the movement of the water. It
takes a bit of knowledge, but experience will tell you that 1/500
won't blur the water and 1/15 probably will. So try a slower speed
and then meter TTL for the correct aperture. Simply turn the dial
until your meter indicates an aperture that, when combined with the
shutter speed you already set, will give you a correct exposure.
Then take the shot. Keep in mind that it might be a slow enough
shutter speed that a tripod or some sort of stabilizer will be needed
to elliminate camera shake due to handholding.

Now, will it be perfect? Probably not, it will be correctly exposed,
but it might not be the best combination of shutter speed and
aperture for the look you are going after. If you don't like it,
then either slow up the shutter speed or go a bit longer. This will
necessitate adjusting your aperture as well in order to maintain a
correct exposure.

According to Bryan, it's really as simple as that.
Click to expand...
--

Yea, but I was already stopped down all the way. Slowing the shutter speed with IsO at the lowest setting and the smallest possible aperture would have overexposed the shot. Indeed, I started in Shutter Priority at 1/10. The camera stopped the aperture down all the way and ISO to 200. The shot was overexposed.

The difficulty I had was that that there was too much light. Seems like the ND filters others recommended is the only way to go....unless you come back at a later time when the light is lower.
 
It looks like you shot the image at an aperature of F/3.5 which is not conducive to slow shutter speeds. You should have taken the shot at an aperature of F/22.
 
As others have said, any type of filter that reduces the amount of light would help in your situation. Even at a high f-stop it'll be hard to get exposures of longer than 1/20 during midday without blowing out the photo.

When shooting water, circular polarizers can help reduce glare off the surface. Combine (stack) this with a ND or graduated ND filter, you'll get some nice effects. Longer exposurers also tend to give richer colours as well!

--
http://www.houstoncheng.ca/photo.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianpez/
 
Yep, you are correct. I forgot to add that when you get a longer shutter speed in order to blur motion, you are also taking in tons of afternoon light. You will have to filter some of it off, hence the Neutral Density filter.

Sorry, I meant to add that at the end of my way too long rant.

:)
 
Go out either early in the morning or in the evening before dusk. The light is much better for photography then, not just water but the longer shadows on a clear day bring out details.

If your camera model allows multiple exposures, you can use that to lengthen the total exposure time without having to bother with an ND8 or polarizing filter. I try to get at least a second total exposure time with waterfalls.

--
Equipment in my User Profile.
Personal gallery at http://almy.us/gallery
 
Here is an example of what a ND4 filter can do



--
Nikon D70s
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G AF-S DX
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Nikon SB-600
Manfrotto 190XDB / 486RC2 Ballhead
 
tallahassegreys said:
Wait a minute...I think I'm confused again. Increasing ISO would
overexpose my pics....even more so if I decreased shutter speed at
the same time!

So what are my options in this situation?? All my settings seem to
be maxed out for the longest possible shutter speed, right? Would
adding a polarizer or other filter decrease the light a stop or two?
This might allow me to decrease shutter speed....I THINK!!?!?
Click to expand...
Have you heard of aperture before? And I'm not talking about the software...
--
Pushed the button and the world stood still.
 
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