Play

Home \ Play \ Taking photographs

Pat Kay's Photography Guide to Japan v1

Taking Photos

A - manually control aperture, shutter is on auto.
S - manually control shutter speed, aperture is on auto.
S and A - these settings do everything P does.
P - ⚠️ Forget about P. P is useless (P stands for programmed automatic. It’s a mode halfway between automatic and manual).
M - ⚠️ Everything's on manual. Unless you're pro STAY AWAY FROM MANUAL!

Tips

⚠️ Use autofocus whenever you can. It's better than you are. Seriously.

f-Stop/Aperture

Static (still) subjects

Lens wide open

Lens almost closed

f/1.4

f/2

f/2.8

f/4

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

Shallow

Depth of field

Deep

Photo is brighter

Photo is darker

Single point (fixed
distance) is in focus

Entire field of view (near
and far) is in focus

Portaits

Crowds

Cityscapes

Night sky

Cafes

Landscapes

Shutter Speed

Dyanmic (moving) subjects

Slower moving subject

Faster moving subject

Can still be held by hand

▼

1/2

1/4

1/8

1/15

1/30

1/60

1/125

1/250

1/320

1/500

1/1000

1/2000

Blur motion

Use tripod

Handheld ok

Freeze motion

(Km/h roughly translates to shutter speed. So 60 km/h → 1/60; 100 km/h → 1/100.)

rain

fireworks

walker

panning

runner

ocean waves

ISO

ISO is a setting that brightens or darkens a photo. If you're using a low ISO you can brighten the image with a longer shutter speed. But use a tripod, or the longer shutter speed might cause blurry.

ISO brightens an image after it was taken, so is not a component of exposure.



100	200	400	640	800	1600	3200	6400

◄ Higher quality img				Grainy/noisy img ►

Always keep ISO on auto unless(!) image comes out too dark.
If you set ISO manually set it as low as possible, and as high as necessary.
On a tripod always set ISO to lowest setting. If the result tanks, try auto. If that still tanks, decrease shutter speed.
ONLY raise the ISO when unable to brighten the photo via shutter speed or aperture (e.g. if using a longer shutter speed causes subject to be blurry).

Rules of Thumb

Always zoom in as far as you can and then move towards or away from subject (with your feet) so that subject is framed as desired.
Don't do selfies at arms' length. Perspective is too shallow so your nose will always look bulbous. Use ½ picture frame for head, about 2m from face.
These are guidelines. No rule works 100% of the time.

Home \ Play \ Photography | ^ Back to top