The Big Three, and what order?

Dragan

Last night as i was walking home from work, hating my job and bemoaning the lack of giant conveyer belts in place of our current "footpath" system i was thinking about the joyous juggling of ISO, Ap and Shutterspeed that is photography.

I kind of realised that i will nearly always operate in the same manner when i am talking photos in the first i will set my ISO as low as i can get away with ( bridge falls apart at high ISO so i am a bit limited by this i guess? ), then the Ap, and then mess with the shutter speeds to see what results i get, then go back to ISO, Ap, SS again, and so on.

I always seem to go in this order and I cannot explain why.

Do you have a set order in which you do things? Does it depend entirely on the circumstance? Is this a completely pointless question?

Morrisseeee

An interesting Q indeed...
For me it does indeed 'depend entirely on the circumstance'.
Through experience (if its a planned shoot) you know what ISO, Aperture, white balance, lens/s you are going to use, but after that its metering and experimentation.

AnimalRights

I go ISO 1st and shutterspeed, app is always a distant 3rd, I've a habit of shooting wide open.
If doing gigs sports then its shutterspeed/iso.

PaulieC

I would also go for the lowest ISO I can get away with and then aperture, depending on what I am doing - portraits get a big aperture, landscapes a small aperture etc.

Of course if I'm shooting something which is shutterspeed dependent e.g. kids running, sports, light trails, then the shutterspeed is first to be set...

so answer is...it all depends!!:D

trishw78

I usually go ISO Aperature Shutterspeed

Nisio

If I'm shooting kayaking in some dark river environment shutter is king and the others get changed to get a fast enough shutter speed.

If it's landscapes then ap gets set to f8 and it's the best ISO I can use to get a shake free handheld shot.

dakar

Oh God, I've been reading this forum too long. I saw the title and thought, 'Oh no, here we go again, but which one is he counting along with Nikon and Canon?':(

Then I noticed the thread starter and thought, 'Unusual of Dragan to start such a pointless thread'

So I'm delighted to find an intersting topic lurking here.:)

I suppose it's horses for courses, I find I'm leaning towards Aperture the main creative variable in my shots lately, so I'd put it first, closely followed by ISO. Most of what I shoot isn't critically dependant on Shutter speed.

Incidentally AR, if you are in the habit of almost always shooting wide open, surely Aperture is your primary factor, no?

longshanks

do ye all shoot fully manual, or in aperture priority etc? or does it vary depending on situation? (sorry if this is hijacking the thread)

pete4130

I choose the ISO that allows me to shoot at the aperture and shutter speed I want to, but thats more down to how good my camera is at low light/high ISO noise handling capabilities. I don't even hesitate to crank it up to 3200 ISO.
I'd say my method is true on previous cameras too. using whatever ISO needed to give me the results I required, althought previously it migth have meant shooting wide open more often.

GristlyEnd

I usually have my ISO set at 400-560 and I work from there. During the day I will use f/8 and work from there. I will check the shutter speed if I'm using the 105mm or 70-200mm to avoid camera shake.

Borderfox

Shutterspeed first and then everything else for me, not just doing sports.

bovril

Really depends on what I am shooting. I usually either pick aperture (in Av mode) and set the ISO to give me a shutterspeed to capture the subject (taking into consideration the length of the lens) or pick a shutterspeed and set an ISO that will give me correct exposure given the aperture the camera picks.

Stephen

Another "it depends". In good light and when I'm not trying to achieve any particularly creative effect I'll just put it on ISO200 (Lowest available here in Nikon land) and set it to P and fire away.

Last night walking about in the dark in Dublin I had the nifty fifty mounted and shot in aperture priority with f/1.8 selected and ISO between 800 and 1250. This would not have been viable on my old D50

silverside

depends on the type of shot - usually for me Aperture is the most important as it determines the creative style of the shot - then I will see if the shutter speed (in Av or P mode) at reasonable ISO is low enough that I can handhold.

However for sports shots I just stick the camera into sports mode, which i guess means that shutter speed is the most important, but its nice to get a shot at F2.8 or F4.

smelltheglove

I am quite simiar to you as I try to keep the iso as low as possible, the shutter and apereture depend on the shot thjough, a lot of my work is either high speed or low light so I dont have much choice but to go f1.8 put if I am using flash and shooting portraits or social events or weddings it is a mixture depending on the shot and what sort of background blur I want.

challengemaster

really depends what I'm shooting... Generally I have the camera in Aperture priority mode and wide open, ISO...I love not having to worry about now

If I'm setting specific settings, I'll think of aperture and shutter speed first - what am I trying to create in the shot. What do I want the outcome to look like. What values do I _NEED_ . Then adjust the iso if needed

Calina

I don't know. Coming from film I tend to go for the balance of shutterspeed/AP that I want first and then set the ISO to get it.

CabanSail

My general set up is to have the ISO set to 200 with Auto ISO compensation ON set to 1/30th sec (1/15th with a VR Lens). I then have the camera in P. This allows for a Grab Shot. It also allows me to look at the settings in the viewfinder & quickly adjust with just one dial.

I then vary these for specific situations when anticipating what I am going to shoot.



I was also expecting another Tribal Thread when I read the title.

Dragan

CabanSail wrote: »

I was also expecting another Tribal Thread when I read the title.

I think it's a sign that i honestly don't think or care about that type of thing...i didn't even think about myself until Dakar pointed it out!

Then again, maybe when i have spent a whole heap load of money on a camera i will begin to care more.

elven

It depends (:rolleyes:) on how much light you're working with really. I can only go up to iso 400, and i can only shoot faster than 1/250th on the 100mm macro without getting the fuzzies so I usually end up shooting wide open to maximise the light, in tv, to make sure i don't drop the shutter speed too low. However, I do like my bokeh nice and smoooooth so if it's brighter, i'd go into av mode, set the aperture and let the shutter speed away to its own devices.

RoryW

I also thought this was going to be a Nikon, Canon, ANO thread - no need as we all know which is best

For me
1. ISO
2. Aperature
3. Shutter Speed
4 Review ISO if shutter speed is not enough
5. Then realise I forget to change the WB !

Burnt

For me Aperture Shutter Speed and ISO; as aperature controls other factors

silverside

i find my DSLR does a decent job on auto ISO in "P" mode so i would hardly ever force the ISO up , except if i was shooting handheld at night when i would go for 1600 ISO (still a bit blurred at 1/6th or so, but fine for snapshots).

PixelTrawler

Av mode 90% of the time.
So for me its ISO, Apeture and obviously shutter takes care of itself

Manual Mode the rest of the time
ISO, Apeture, then shutter to get the exposure I want.

I never do sports or fast moving objects such as cars so I never set shutter first.

CabanSail

RoryW wrote: »

5. Then realise I forget to change the WB !

Shoot RAW & then you don't need to worry about WB until later

daycent

Sorry to hikack the thread, and this may be a silly question but... How important is metering? Is it more important for film cameras when you need to get a perfect exposure every time? Does digital render it a bit obsolete? I'd be curious as to how many people change it regularly and why...

CabanSail

Correct exposure is always important.

Now what is "correct" is another can of worms.

Hugh_C

I'm an aperture man myself, almost always shoot in aperture priority. I saw an acronym in here or on flickr or somewhere, when shooting, do the WIFE check:

W- white balance
I - ISO check
F - focus
E - exposure

I may have this a bit wrong, but that's the gist of it.

RoryW

CabanSail wrote: »

Shoot RAW & then you don't need to worry about WB until later

I do !

elven

daycent wrote: »

Sorry to hikack the thread, and this may be a silly question but... How important is metering? Is it more important for film cameras when you need to get a perfect exposure every time? Does digital render it a bit obsolete? I'd be curious as to how many people change it regularly and why...

I have mine on centre weighted cos i don't have spot. Over the years i've discovered that generally i like it to be 2/3 of a stop over, to give me more latitude to playw ith in pp. As long as the highlights are still intact i'd try to overexpose, to a certain extent, every time if i could.

sineadw

I've been using higher ISO more as a creative element recently, rather than just trying to keep it as low as possible, so its more important in that sense than it ever was with the 350 (hugs 5D again...). Its really a balance of all three for me - and yep - metering too - depending on the shot. So I don't think I have a particular heirarchy? Ormaye I do and I just don't notice it any more. I need to be shooting more anyway...

Still trying to find slow film too. Seems to be nowhere bricks and mortar that has anything nice!

ThOnda

I have gone digital recently, but I am trying to keep ISO as low as possible. After that is the Aperture Priority program in the most cases. WB - I don't care, because I still don't have a gray card.
So Aperture, time calculated and if the time is too long, increasing of the ISO. Or switching to manual in case of difficult light situation. In that case Aperture (because it is the main creative tool), shutter, ISO.

rahtkennades

For me, I usually forget that I can change the ISO on the fly (hangover from film), but it's usually set to 100 or 200. Then usually aperture unless shooting something fast-moving, then shutter speed to match.

elven wrote: »

...Over the years i've discovered that generally i like it to be 2/3 of a stop over, to give me more latitude to playw ith in pp. As long as the highlights are still intact i'd try to overexpose, to a certain extent, every time if i could.

I remember a while ago somebody here posted a link to a site on this, where the author was commenting on how the sensor absorbs light. Basically his premise was that if you constantly shoot overexposed so that it's just not blowing the highlights, and shoot in RAW, then dial back the exposure in PP, it retains the most amount of information in the photo. It made a certain sense (but then the craziest theories sometimes do!!)

Buzz Lightyear

I find its hourses for courses as is the case with Keith. He shoots mainly shutter as its to capture action. I'd be the same if action is what I was shooting. Normally though its aperature for DOF followed by ISO to be able to hand hold.

Good topic Dragan