Photography: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO

So, you have bought your first dslr and are wondering where to start…

These 3 are the most basic settings you should start experimenting with.

Often referred to as The Triangle, these settings affect each other.

Shutter speed

Or how much light your lens will let in… I found this quote about shutter speed on betterphoto "The shutter speed changes the way we see time in a photograph - a long shutter speed blurs time and a short shutter speed stops action." In other words, if you let in more light every action in the photo will become more blurred. If you want an action to be sharp, go for less light.

The shutter speed controls the amount of time that the light will be coming through the lens 

ISO

This determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light.

The lower the ISO, the better the quality and the darker your photo.

ISO help a lot in those dark environments where you don't care about quality, as long as you have a sharp photo. In that case you can choose a high ISO with a decent shutter speed… problem is, as your ISO goes up, so does the noise in your picture.

Here are some general guidelines:

• On a clear day: ISO within the range of 100 to 200.

• Outside with a lot of clouds or evening light: ISO of 400 to 800.

• Night time or low light: go as high as you need to but beware of the increasing noise.

Aperture

This setting (F) is a difficult one to explain in detail so I'll try to keep it very simple. The smaller the number, the larger the lens opening; the larger the number, the smaller the lens opening. So what does this actually mean in practice… Aperture plays a big part in the depth of field (DOF) of a photo, if you have a large F number, a larger area in your picture will be sharp, when the F number is small, the objects in front of and behind your subject will be more blurred. With a small F number you can create some pretty dramatic pictures as the subject really pops out of the blurred background.

Keep in mind that the larger your F number is, the darker your photo will be and vice versa, so try to adjust ISO and shutter speed accordingly...

Now that you have some grasp of the triangle, go out there and experiment.

I'll give a little overview.

Brightness & consequences:

ISO: the lower your ISO, the darker (but better quality)

Shutter speed: the faster, the darker (but sharper picture)

Aperture: the higher, the darker (but larger depth of focus)

ISO: the higher your ISO, the brighter (but more noise)

Shutter speed: the slower, the brighter (but more blur with movement)

Aperture: the lower, the brighter (but smaller depth of focus)

Example: If you need to make a portrait of someone... first up make sure your environment is well lit so you can keep the ISO low (better quality, try to keep below 400). 

You'll probably want the person to really pop out of the picture, this is where aperture comes in, keep this one low (small DOF, tho not too low so you're sure that the whole face is sharp). F1.8 is mostly too low for a face portrait, F5 is probably too high.

Now for the shutter speed, when you make a normal portrait of a face, there isn't going to be a lot of movement so you can keep the shutter speed reasonably low (but be sure it's high enough to make a sharp photo). 1/20 is too low but you won't need to go as high as 1/800.

Experimentation is the key.

ps: I created a blog on how to earn money with your pictures, for those interested... 
Dutch version:Microstockgeld
English version:Microstockmoney