Shutter Speed, Aperture & ISO - A Beginner's Guide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Completely master shutter speed, aperture, and ISO in less than 20 minutes! Spencer Cox of photographylife.com explains his unique method for perfect exposure using the "big three" camera settings.
A quick recap:
Shutter speed is the amount of time your camera sensor is exposed to the light.
Aperture describes the size of the opening in your camera lens, which also lets in light.
ISO brightens your photo as well, but it doesn't capture any light of its own, so boosting your ISO too high should be a last resort.
If you have any questions, let us know below!
Here are those links I mentioned:
Shutter Speed: photographylif...
Aperture: photographylif...
ISO: photographylif...
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This video is not sponsored! You can support Photography Life and Spencer Cox Photography by buying anything through the following affiliate links!
Here is all the photo equipment I use: bhpho.to/3XUv32a
And here’s my video gear to film this video: bhpho.to/3Yt8th1
#ShutterSpeed #Aperture #ISO #Exposure #Photography
This is one of the most valuable video I have ever seen. Thank you so much.
Michalis, awesome, I'm happy to hear you found it so useful!
yeah. thanks for this guy...
Thank you - thank you - thank you! In this 17 minute video, I've grasped the concept that has eluded me on every occasion I'd set my mind I was going to use "MANUAL" mode. I go out, find my composition, and then, hmmm... right back to auto settings. Now, finally, I have a "step by step system" with which to go about setting my camera in manual. This was by far one of the BEST, most concise, and most importantly - MEMORABLE tutorial for obtaining camera settings. I never did wrap my head around the "triangle" explanation. This step by step and if necessary backtrack system is so much better.
Right on! Happy to hear it. I never liked the exposure triangle method myself. (And I liked it even less once I learned that ISO doesn't affect how much light you capture, so it isn't even part of exposure.) Glad this "backtrack" system is something you find more useful, too.
Excellent explanations. You are a gifted instructor. Thank you for NOT having obnoxious music at the start of your session and then greeting the audience with the overly peppy hype seen in so many TH-cam videos. This is very professional. I'm subscribing.
Much appreciated! I hate that style of video too. It must get clicks, or no one would do it, but yikes... Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed this video and welcome to the channel!
Agreed 100%. Well done! Very well explained. Your talking pace is also just perfect. 💯
I've partaken in 20-plus years of education and yet the best teachers I've had are always found on TH-cam. What a world 🌎
Very kind of you to say, thank you, Jordan! Glad you learned something from this video.
Finally it makes total sense. Real photo samples and practical approach makes this tutorial the best. Thanks.
Glad it could be so helpful in explaining exposure!
I have been watching all kinds of videos on ISO, APERTURE, AND SHUTTER SPEED. They were all super informative however I was struggling with WHICH ONE to start with first. This video was a God sent for me. Thank you so much. Photography just became much easier for me to understand.
That’s awesome! Really happy to hear it. Good luck with your photography!
Brilliantly explained with simple method. No costly gear.only subject nothing but subject. Highly talented. 👍👍💐
No annoying jokes, no screaming and just plain good info. The perfect video I was looking for! :)
This is the only video where I actually understood the jargon lol. Thanks for sharing ☺️
Thank you so much for the precious tutorial. It looks so easy and simple when you explain the settings so clearly
Glad you liked it Vasil, thanks for the feedback!
This is excellent. Someone asked me to give them a lesson, but the first lesson will be to have them watch this, then do some kitchen or back yard experiments.
One of the best tutorials I have watched as far as photography is concerned. Thank you!
This video is wonderfully informative and logically organized. A truly helpful tutorial for anyone who wants to graduate from simply taking pretty pictures and snapshots and start experiencing the joys of photography. Kudos. Well done.
Thanks so much! I tried to think how I'd have wanted this information organized when I was learning about it - happy to hear that comes across in the finished product.
Overwhelming value and education in one lesson. Man... many thanks !
You’re very welcome! Glad it could be so useful.
Excellent video man, I'd give this 100 thumbs up if I could. There's a lot of good explanations of these concepts on TH-cam but yours is definitely the most noob friendly.
Stan Capewell this is brilliant thank you very much very well explained
Going through the process with real examples is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for a fantastic tutorial!
Fantastic explanation. It has become simpler now understanding on the ISO shutter speed and aperture
I really enjoyed this video. I had a little knowledge of settings but this video made it heaps clearer. Thank you
Great to hear it, thanks, Rex!
This is hands down the best video.
I love the step-by-step explanation. I also loved that you included a lot of different types of pictures. Thank you
Thank you very much, God bless you
Photography Life approach of teaching photography is the exact the way I love. Thought processing and reasoning based on the example. I am going through each videos and take notes. The authors are very organized and well articulated. Thank you very much. I am recommending the site to everyone who want to learn photography.
Brilliant! Happy to hear our style works so well for you. Thanks for the kind feedback.
I just wanted to repeat what Michalis Lytras stated (8mos ago): this is by far an absolutely valuable video and channel. Great tempo, great voice and teaching method. Videos to this extent are either extremely hard to find or hard to sit through; as the instructor might have added too much for a step-by-step process. Great work, I understood and Thank you for your channel. Sub'd and liked.
Really happy to hear it, thanks so much and welcome to the channel!
Good point. I saw 17 minutes and thought, let's see how it goes. It flew by. Perfectly presented.
Hey man I just started in photography and I gotta say your videos are hands down the best I’ve seen. Keep up the good work can’t thank you enough for these
Very glad to hear that! Thanks for the great feedback.
Simple and lucid explanation. I am just starting to learn and will visit your pages more often
That’s great. But does the metering has an influence in controlling these triad? If so how? I mean do we need to make the metering to ‘0’ by altering the triad? Please explain. Thanks
Awesome video! Really getting to grips with my camera. I take a lot of shots of pagodas, here in Cambodia. Let's see if my new Nikon D7500 will capture better shots. Thanks again.
Great video bro!!!! You did a great job explaining each one and also like the inserts as well. Keep the info coming!
I don't have a mathematical brain at all, and have always struggled with the ISO/aperture/shutter speed "thing". Thanks to your video, now it all makes perfect sense! I can't wait to go out and experiment using this flexible formula. Thank you so, so much!
Great to hear it! Glad it could be so helpful.
Excellent video Spencer. Well structured, well explained and with the appropriate images that show what you're explaining. I definitely subscribe ! thanx alot for the effort, time & energy :)
Thank you! Welcome to the channel 😄
I am glad that I found out this channel.
Awesome! We’re glad you found it too 👍
Thank you! First video I have seen that actually explains it well
Thank you SO MUCH! You put aperture into terms that I can actually understand, and I love that you showed examples of your photography and walked the viewer through how you got the final photo. I've been looking for a video to explain this in a way that makes sense for way too long. So happy I stumbled across this!
This is a great video. But to say that ISO increases the sensitivity of the sensor is incorrect (I think). While analogue film actually got more sensitive, the sensor doesnt get more sensitive, all that hapens is that the captured data becomes amplified after the capture, and noise gets more visible.
You’re quite right, although I was careful in the video not to say that ISO increases sensitivity of your sensor! I think I said that film ASA increased sensitivity, and though it didn’t work the same way, the closest digital equivalent was ISO.
Best practical exposure triangle explanation I've ever seen - and not just for beginners! Thanks
My canon with 75-300 lens works great but birds are hard
I think is the video I've been looking for , for days and weeks. Thank you bro ! Definitely going to start using these tips and save this video as well.
Lol.
Awesome! Very glad it answered your questions.
You are born to teach. One of the best in TH-cam. Wonderful voice, well pronounced, to the point...
Very kind of you to say, thank you, Avin! Glad you’re enjoying these videos.
Awesome video. Concept clear . Thanks Spencer !
I just discovered this video and you did a great job describing the decision making that goes into selecting settings. I am a beginner and often see videos with definitions, but not always how they work together and how you adjust when the pictures don't look right. This was really a fantastic educational video. I am often shooting high school sports, so the action is fast paced and makes adjustments on the fly difficult. Any suggestions on the approach? Also, are you just looking at your shots on the camera's LCD screen, and making adjustments from there?
Oh man, this was brilliant. I have always been confused with these things, and I feel like most people who attempt to explain them always take some of that knowledge for granted. You did not, and I finally understand the practical implications of each of the three, thank you
I just uncovered a Cannon EOS 60D that is still in great quality! I cannot wait to practice with the information you presented in this video while in manual mode.
That’s awesome, great camera too! Glad this video could be of use.
Fantastic video. I'm planning on buying a camera to take sports photos under floodlights after probably 30 years of using point and shoot cameras (used my dad's Pentax SLR as a teenager). This video explains things beautifully, it's all slowly coming back to me and will help me buy the right camera/lenses for the job. Thank you.
Awesome! Sports photography under artificial light is particularly tricky so I’m glad it could be of use.
Extremely well explained- stepwise approach with examples very helpful and logical
Question though: when you take "test shots" to check your settings, are you eye-balling the photos on the LCD or do you use the histogram to show correct exposure? I follow ISO as low as you can, aperture set to preferred depth of field and shutter speed to allow enough light to allow ISO and aperture settings (unless dictated by motion blur), but how can you be confident of your exposure? Many thanks
You can do either. The camera’s preview on the LCD is flawed but usually not way off, if you’re using ordinary picture control settings (i.e. not doing maximum contrast, vivid mode, maximum saturation). Technically the best way to do it is to use the histogram and shoot with a low-contrast color profile. But at the end of the day, if the photo looks good on your camera screen, it will look very similar on the computer.
I'm trying to do a project on product photography and I'm learning about the science behind photogry. This is the best explanation anyone can give about ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
Very glad you found it useful! Thanks for the kind feedback.
Thank you so much. What a great educational video, with examples as well as making the process super logic
You’re welcome, Doriane! Glad you found it so useful.
what about the focus on your pictures ?where & when ?
One thing you didn't mention is what shutter speed to have your setting too while you decide what iso and aperture to set. Cause if your camera defaults to a specific shutter speed, or maybe retains your shutter speed from the previous shoot, then that's gonna effect what iso you choose.
Thanks.
this video is perfect. I am a visual learner and seeing examples really helps! I also appreciate. how easy it was to follow and understand even as a beginner. excited to put it into practice.
This is a really clear and helpful video for a newcomer to photography like me.
Wonderful! Glad it was helpful, and thanks for the great feedback.
I’ve watched so many videos trying to understand this and this video is by far the most helpful I have found. Thank you!
Glad to hear it!
Absolutely a wonderful job explaining everything thanks
Sure thing, Chris!
I've tried to get my head around this topic so many times and this is the first teaching of it that has made total sense. It's like a light bulb went on for me! Very well done and thank you!
That is awesome! Very glad to hear it.
Superb easy to follow along and practically demonstrates to everyone ,thank you.
You are quite welcome! Happy to hear it was a useful demonstration.
Trying to limit to 100 iso, is a thing of the past. My camera is good at super high iso without visible noise. I always set my camera to auto iso.
Cameras these days have very good high ISO performance. Auto ISO is great, especially when trying to shoot quickly - I use it pretty often for wildlife photography myself.
Dude this was incredible thank you for the lessons.
Sure thing!
How does this only have 40k views after half a year? Great explanation, easy to follow along!
Haha, thanks Albion!
More concise and informative video ever seen related to basics of photography. Good content
Much appreciated! Glad to hear you found it so useful for learning the basics.
That was super helpful, thanks!
Thank you so much for making it easy for me to understand. I was so frustrated and even a lesson in photography didn't help. Well done.
Thanks for your video, I think your intend in using the 5 steps was pretty clear and especially good for a beginner or any landscape photographer where sharpness (less grain, thus lower ISO) is important most of the time. For sports freezing action is often the most important, thus shutter speed takes priority. I would think sports photographers still start at a base ISO, but it might be 800 and will accept the grainier photo. Whatever your importance is, ISO, aperture, or shutter speed, the “system” works (however you want to adapt it), which to me is the main point of your video. Thanks again...
Thank you, Carl! Absolutely, the point of the 5 step system is to be a starting point that always gives the right settings, so photographers can develop quicker systems that work for the particular subject they shoot. For something like sports, this will give the right settings, but it won't be fast enough to be practical - so something like manual mode with auto ISO is more common (essentially fast forwarding through steps 1-3).
Very well explained.i enjoy your presentation
Thank you, Lawrence! Glad you liked it.
Thank you so much for the educational content. One question: The picture at 09:30 was taken with 1 second shutter speed but if we increased the ISO and reduced shutter speed maybe we could get a similar or better result to avoid the blur? Or would it make another aspect of the photo worse? Thanks once again!
Good question! Raising ISO and using a faster shutter speed would have meant more noise/graininess in the image, particularly in shadow areas. That’s the drawback of using a high ISO instead of capturing enough light in the first place.
However, if my primary subject had been the moving ship, it would have been worth some extra graininess in order to avoid motion blur. But because it’s a tiny detail in the image, I chose the route of a longer shutter speed at base ISO. That leads to a cleaner image overall.
@@PhotographyLifeChannel I get it now, thank you for the detailed explanation :)
I'm an amateur photographer and I've been having a hard time lately trying to get the right exposure by combining all three. This video has simplified it for me. Thank you.
is this a manual mode or aperture
Finally I understand, thank you!!!
Awesome!! Very glad to hear it.
you r on fire best of the best
Thank you for this video that brings information to people who are new to the finer aspects of photography. Being new in details myself it's been a challenging segment of learning and I'm grateful for your good hearted sharing of great info. Thank you.
Much appreciated, Jeffery! Glad you've found this useful for finding your optimal camera settings.
Thanks! Great explanation for begginers like me.
Sure thing! Happy to hear it.
you solve a 1.000 questions with this video, thanks :)
Awesome!! Happy to hear you liked it so much.
Thank you so much. I'm just learning how to use a camera now and this was really really helpful. Most of the guides I've been reading left me confused but you broke it down extremely well. Thank you for showing us examples and putting the text on the screen. Helped a lot :). x
Thank you so much....youre a Great Tutor
😘😘😘😘😘
You're welcome!
Thank you so much!!!! I've struggled with my camera for a while now, but your videos make everything crystal-clear. Keep up the good work!!!
ive never understood why a larger aperture (hole) (although offering more light) lowered the depth of field, it seems counter intuitive to me - could you clarify why mate? thank you:)
The most intuitive explanation for me is as follows: any background blur or points of light always take on the shape of the aperture blades in a lens. (This is why you’ll see some specialized lenses with star or heart-shaped aperture blades; just Google “heart-shaped bokeh” to see what photos that leads to.) When you use a larger aperture, it’s not immune from this effect; the background blur gets larger. And when you use a small aperture, the background blur correspondingly takes on a smaller shape. Smaller blur = more sharpness. And therefore more depth of field. Same with larger blur = shallower depth of field. Hope this helps!
@@PhotographyLifeChannel thank you for your reply :) keep up the work mate
Thank you so much!
Absolutely brilliant video.It's so easy to understand because of the examples and the clear and unrushed way the methods have been explained. Thank you!
Much appreciated! Glad you found the examples useful and the pacing to be good.
VERY nicely done, Spencer! Thanks for your insight and expertise...
All that being said, it appears that you are a proponent of shooting in full Manual mode, which is a totally mind-boggling experience for some folks (it was for me at first, but with LOTS of practice, I do better now). Nice when you have the time to do "set" shots (like landscape) but what about those other "shoot from the hip" moments?
Do you have any advice as to shooting in Aperture or Shutter Priority? Do you trust the camera enough to let it take control of ONE of the sides of the triangle whilst you exercise some control over the other two?
Cheers, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours...
Very kind of you, Neil! I actually leave my camera on aperture priority mode very frequently for landscape photography. It's not really about trusting the camera or not, because if I disagree with the shutter speed it suggests, I can change it quickly with exposure compensation. I really just use it to save time. Why bother manually setting the shutter speed to match the meter's recommendation, when the camera can do it more quickly and react to changes in light?
I never use shutter priority mode, though, and don't recommend it. Aperture is too important of a creative variable in photography to be shuffled around as the light shifts. For instance, at a sunrise overlook, I'll probably want to keep my camera at f/5.6 or f/8 all morning, while shifting shutter speed to control exposure. It would be a bad plan to keep shutter speed constant and shift aperture, but that's what shutter priority mode will do.
Hope this clears things up! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
@@PhotographyLifeChannel Do you use "Auto ISO" at all? If so, any tips, "does and don'ts, etc?
In the menu on my Z5, in the Photo Shooting menu, under "ISO Sensitivity Settings", I set "100" as my base ISO (lowest setting above the first Lo. setting), have Auto ISO sensitivity control set to "ON", set Max Sensitivity (as well as Max Sensitivity w/flash) to 6400 and Minimum Shutter Speed set to 1/60. I can turn ISO Sensitivity on and off by holding down the "ISO" button and toggling back and forth with the front command dial. I also turn Auto ISO off when I'm shooting from a tripod (as well as VR, or IBIS in the Z5's case).
Am I barking up the right tree here? 😶🌫Is it OK to use Auto ISO in both AperPri AND Manual, and what do you use as considerations for turning it off or on?
Cheers, many thanks and Happy Independence Day!
Brilliant...Matt you are one of my favorite YOUTube producer...so smart and careful...
Thank you for explaining it so well. I'm a total beginner and have a question: would those same principles work for a video? (I have a Canon 80d with a 18-135 lens and need to film marching band on the football field. Sometimes during day time and sometimes at night under the big lights). Thank you in advance.
Thank you !!!
This was probably the best video I've watched for photography, explaining to me the basics
Wow, this is the first You Tube video that I've found on shutter, aperture and ISO that isn't wrong on the basics. Well done! I would however disagree about your recommended order of setting. It is best to set ISO last, not first, for the following reason. The noise is dependent on the amount of light energy captured (exposure times sensor area). This you want the biggest exposure that you can get whilst satisfying your pictorial objectives (usually DOF and motion blur). If you set ISO first you are making a guess at the exposure, and therefore might get a smaller exposure than you could have. It's best to set the largest aperture that gives you the DOF that you want and the slowest shutter speed that avoids motion blur, then set the ISO so the meter is centred, or, if the bright is light enough that you can't centre the meter at base ISO, reduce exposure (using smaller aperture or faster shutter speed, depending on what you're trying to achieve) until you can. I would also suggest that the phrase 'proper exposure' is extremely unhelpful. No-one can define what it means, and to a beginner it's just a scare word. The best exposure is the largest, as explained above. Other than that, just one pedantic quibble. 'ISO' is pronounced 'eye-so', not 'eye-ess-oh'. According to ISO it is neither an acronym nor an initialism, but a name. Even were it an acronym it would be 'eye-so'. As I say, pedantic, but 'eys-so' is not only correct, it's easier to say than 'eye-ess-oh'.
Photography Life is the most valuable channel to learn how to take photos, very clear and logic explanation! I am so fortunate to find it! Learning becomes much easier and enjoyable. Thank you 😮.
Good video, Spencer. Aside from the well presented content, the change to the dark background provides a better viewing experience as compared to the previous stark white background.
Cheers, HMS
Thank you, HS! I like the black background too. I'll probably switch it up from time to time just for variety's sake, but this is probably going to be my new default.
Really helpful I just started!!!
Happy to hear it! Good luck with your camera settings, it’s not as hard as people make it seem!
This video was so helpful!! Probably the most useful video on photography i've watched so far, than you!
i'm trying to learn how to use my Olympus OM10, a manual film camera. and I swear, I feel like i'm in a masterclass or something. Thanks so much!
Great video!! Thank you!
This is the best explanation I have seen. Bravo! I had 1year of photography wen I went to art academy and the teacher there was horrible!! Those institutions are just good at gatekeeping & obfuscating, but not teaching.
this saves me a lot of money and time learning from Udemy
Awesome! That’s what I’m hoping for.
Thank you so much for a great tutorial. Explanations are so simple and with visual examples I found this extremely helpful. So easy to listen to as well. Thank you again.
Wow, one of the best tutorials I have ever seen...
Really appreciate that, Daniele!
Thanks Spencer. I just started photography with a gh5 and these two clips (shutter speed and this one) are awesome. no enough words to thanks you. please keep up the good work
Glad to hear it was so useful!
thank u
I am an armature real estate photographer...I shoot inside homes without a flash using Cannon EOS camera (which I just purchased) I do open all the windows and turn on all the lights in the home...Matt what Aperture and Shutter speed do your recommend as a rule with my set of scene?
Way to teach us the Triangle basics...THANKS for this video! :)
excellent video.
Though you really start with Aperture, don't you.
Thank you vey much indeed for the good video, well done.
Happy you thought so! Thanks for the feedback.
Very well explained, I got the answers I was looking for, Thank You!