Ep.39 Which do you set first... Aperture, Shutter or ISO?

Hi, my name is Kevin Ahronson from Hampshire School of Photography. 

Welcome to Tog-Talk, which is photographers in conversation. I am a professional photographer, I run the Hampshire School of Photography, and I have been pressing buttons on cameras since 1969, a very long time, and I'm old. 

At the end of this month, I will be 70 years old!  That's seriously old. I don't feel it. I still feel about 20 something inside. My wife thinks I'm more like 14.  Sometimes she thinks I'm as young as eight. 

Eight years old. Yeah.  Yeah so there is this thing, isn't it? As you get older, you get younger. What was that film with Brad Pitt in... where it starts off with him sort of being really old and he gets younger as you go through the film. It was a kind of weird thing. Yeah, I guess I'm a bit like that in many respects.

I do behave quite infantile on occasions, but I can be very sensible and very, very grown up if I need to be. Honest officer. Honest. Right. Okay. So what can I tell you? First of all, if you're not already a member of our Facebook group, Hampshire Photography Network. You must join, go into Facebook and just search for Hampshire Photography Network.

This week, we passed 1000 members.  That was a really good feeling and it's happened really mainly this year. It's been a fantastic feeling. So thank you to everybody who's joined and for all the stuff, all the photos, all the conversations it's very active group, certainly in Hampshire of all the photography groups, it's the fastest growing and the most active. 

really loving it. So there's a Hampshire Photography Network. Now I've got some tutorials on phototeacher.blog. So if you just go into Google phototeacher.blog, loads of tutorials on there. That's my blog place. Okay. Now we are actually also we have a YouTube channel, but don't do it very much.

We've got an Instagram channel. Don't do it very much. I really just concentrate mainly in the Facebook group. And currently, although for the last 2009, really, I've been teaching face to face with people in a classroom. These past few months, I've been setting up an online training network, which should be finished by the end of this year.

So, most of the training and teaching workshops will be available online.  as some form of online thing. So watch out for that. So it is a solo session, this one it's me and I'm I've got a question here from a member of the Hampshire photography network. Did I mention that Facebook group? So Chris, Chris Taylor sent in a question and I guess it was probably sparked off by my previous solo show, which was talking about transitioning from.

Shooting in auto mode, going over to manual. And when you hear him speak, you'll understand why I say that, because there's an obvious connection. He listened to it, and it's thrown out some things in his head. So, here we go. This is Chris Taylor.  

"Hey Kevin, it's Chris Taylor. So my question is, how do you know what settings to put your camera in,  before you start shooting? 

And my question comes from a recent shoot that I've done, a children's birthday party where my shutter speed was far too slow and many pictures came out blurred.  Also, movement from indoor to outdoor knocked the exposure off a little bit, which I had to then try and quickly figure out.  So, for anyone moving into manual mode like myself,  is there any key tips that you can give us which will help us finding the right exposure before we get blurry shots? Thank you".

His question is basically, how do we know what settings to put in our cameras before we start shooting? So Chris is shooting in manual. He's not shooting aperture priority or shutter priority. He's moving away from auto.

And he's, he's had this situation, I think where he was photographing some kid's birthday party and he said he shutter speed was.  Far too slow and many pictures came out blurred and then he gave a problem which a lot of photographers experience when you're shooting indoors and then you have to go outdoors where the lights very different and he noticed there were some problems there. 

So his final question, which is a summary, I guess, of all the previous questions and issues that he's been experiencing is.  Are there any key tips  that. will help you find the right exposure.  When I first looked at this,  the thing that leapt out at me is how do you know what settings to put your camera in before you start shooting?

You know, we talked about,  we talked about shooting in manual at the last solo show, which is episode 37. And. The one thing I didn't cover and I was mindful of that, but we kind of run out of time is  which settings do you do first? So when you're shooting a manual, you're, you're working with aperture, shutter speed and ISO or ISO  and which should you adjust first?

First. And to me, this was a big question when I'm running my masterclass, which is a one year course for photographers. I teach in a classroom and I've been doing it now since 2019. I've done nine of them so far. And the 10th one starts in January. This question of what do you set first, the aperture, the shutter speed, the ISO.

And we work in masterclass. We, we work through some examples to try and get people thinking about what they would set first.  This is a really puzzling question for a lot of people. When they first learned the exposure triangle and they start balancing aperture and ISO and shutter speed and so on,  so many things going on in their head.

It's like when you first learned to drive a car and you're driving a manual. So you've got a clutch to press down. You've got gears to change. You've got indicators, you've got steering wheel, you've got to use a mirror. And it just seems so complicated to get all those things in one place. In the right sequence, but of course, as you know, the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit, and it reaches that point where it's second nature,  and that will happen with Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, but you just have to keep practicing at it.

The thing to bear in mind is Aperture controls the light, the quantity of light. Shutter speed controls how long that light goes into the camera. And ISO controls how much the picture is brightened up once it hits the sensor. And as I said in the previous solo, in episode 37, it is not about sensitivity.

It was with film, but it's not with digital. So ISO is about turning up the volume control on the on the gain of the signal that's leaving the sensor.  the sensor and there's actually traveling to the camera's processor.  So one's about the quantity of light one's about how long that light goes in for.

And the other one is about how much do I brighten up. How much do I increase the volume level, the gain as it's called. How much do I amplify the signal that's coming off  the camera's sensor.  But, all three of them, the adjustments on those are measured in stops. So you may have heard of f stops for aperture.

Shutter speed has stops as well, and so does ISO.  And when you adjust the aperture by one stop, it's the same as adjusting the shutter speed by stop. And it's the same as adjusting the ISO by stop. And part of the presentation for masterclass and also for the introduction to photography one day course is this, this strap line to try and help people get their head around it.

They all do the same thing  by the same amount, but by different methods. All three of them, aperture, shutter speed and ISO, they do the same thing by the same amount and you can adjust them with stop at a time, but by different methods.  So a stop is just a level of brightness.  If you brighten it up by one stop, you're doubling the amount of light.

If halving they both, all three of them, do the same thing by the same amount. But by different methods, one by the lighting, one by the duration of light and one by how much amplification to the original image  on the sensor.  Okay, so. With those three things all doing exactly the same thing,  yeah,  which one should you adjust first? 

What I want to do is to give you a really simple set of guidelines that work every single time because you're going to be asking yourself the right questions. So, let's just look at those three elements. Shutter speed, what are its side effects? Well, shutter speed either freezes action or it allows action to be blurred.

Okay, that makes sense. If you shoot at a fast shutter speed, action which is moving tends to get frozen, so  images are crisp, or certainly the action is crisp. If you shoot in a slow shutter speed, you get blur behind the movement, and that can be creatively interesting.  Aperture on the other hand, That controls the depth of field and that enables you to choose how much of the picture is going to be sharp.

Whether it's a small amount which might be good behind someone's head if you're trying to blur out the background so you're kind of separating that person from the background because the background has gone all soft and is used a lot by portrait photographers. Or it could be that you're a landscape photographer and you want everything sharp from foreground to background. 

So, by adjusting the aperture first, you're choosing how much of the shot is going to be in focus. And then finally, ISO. And of course, you can crank up the ISO a lot to brighten up the picture, but the more you crank it up, the more digital noise, which looks like grain. But of course, technically it's not grain, but as it annoys a lot of people when you call it grain, I'm going to call it grain, okay?

It looks like grain.  If I was shooting black and white film back in the 60s and 70s and even the 80s, it would look like grain, so I'm going to call it grain. So, with ISO pushing that up, you get more grain.  Open brackets, digital noise, close brackets.  Alright, so those are the three side effects.  You either have a freezing action or you don't.

You can change how much of the picture is in focus and how much is blurred and how much grain you're going to get by brightening the picture up. Those are the three things. With those things in your head, with your understanding of the side effects of adjusting the shutter speed, the aperture and the ISO, you can then make a decision  What to change first when you come to take a picture. 

In the case of Chris's photo, his main requisite is that he nails the movement of these children. He, he freezes the kids action. The most important thing for him for this particular shot is that the kids are frozen in their movement, that he captures them as they're running around. So what's the first thing he adjusts? 

Shutter speed.  There are other answers to this, but I'm keeping it simple. Just so you know, for me, I actually would adjust the aperture first, because I want to control the depth of field. But for most people, actually, they're more concerned about freezing action in this situation, so Let's freeze the action.

The first thing we're going to adjust is the shutter speed.  So you adjust the shutter speed first, and then you adjust your aperture and your ISO after that. And you're adjusting your aperture, for instance, mindful of how much of the picture you want to be within the depth of field. In other words, how much of the picture is going to appear sharp. 

Let's, let's pick another scenario. You're photographing a beautiful sunset. And in the distance you've got some lovely mountains with the sun going down behind them. And in the foreground you've got a beautiful lake, there's a picturesque cottage there, there's a little old lady  doing some gardening, and you want to get the whole thing in right from the foreground right the way through to the background.

What would be the point of adjusting the shutter speed first there? None.  What's the most important element there? How much of the picture is going to be? in focus. So in that case, the first thing you adjust is your aperture.  And then depending on what type of photographer you are,  you'll start looking at shutter speed or ISO after that.

I mean, me personally, I would do the Aperture first, to give me a really wide depth of field.  Then I would adjust the ISO to take it as low as possible because as it's a landscape picture I want detail, I want crisp detail. And of course the best detail comes with low ISOs. And by shooting something at the lowest possible native ISO in your camera you get the best dynamic range out of the file you produce.

You're shooting RAW. That raw file when you import it into your computer and into Lightroom or whatever editing software you're using. If it's been shot at the native ISO, the naturally lowest, not artificially lowest, but the naturally lowest ISO rating. When you come to manipulate that. In post processing,  you've got the most amount of data to work with when you've been shooting at that native ISO.

As soon as you start cranking that ISO up to brighten the picture, 400, 800, 1600, you're starting to lose quite a bit of the dynamic range. You can't draw as much out of the shadows without lots of ISO. unpleasant side effects and artifacts as they're called appearing or the picture getting more grainy and it's not as easy to draw information out of the highlights so if you can shoot with a low iso your camera's native iso if you don't know what your native iso is google it  whatever camera you've got type in your camera put native iso someone will tell you what it is all right  on the other hand  it might be you're doing a bit of street photography  And the most important thing for you is you want a really grainy, gritty, urban looking feel to it.

Push up the ISO first, and then worry about the others last. So, there's no rule about which you should set first. The only rule that exists is, think about the shot, think about what you're trying to achieve, and then based on that answer, make a decision about which you want to adjust first. So if it's all about movement, it might be you're going to adjust your shutter speed first.

If it's all about controlling what's going to be in focus in your shot, then it's almost certainly going to be the aperture. You'll adjust first and then ISO is pretty much a law to itself. And of course, you can stick, you can stick the camera setting to auto ISO. So once you set the aperture and the shutter speed, the camera does the ISO for you, which is great for street photography because  you could shoot manual.

In street photography and pick a shutter speed, which you know is going to freeze just about everything apart from the really fast stuff. So set your shutter speed to two fiftieths of a second and then you pick a depth of field, which you know is going to give you a nice broad area in focus. So that wherever you, wherever you point your camera, pretty much everything is going to be.

Within the depth of field, everything is going to be acceptably sharp. If you then stick your camera on auto ISO, the camera will use the ISO,  automatically adjusting it to give you the correct exposure. And it doesn't matter if it gets a bit grainy.  Open brackets.  Digitally noisy, close brackets, because street photography is one of those genres where grittiness is quite acceptable and often encouraged. 

I hope that explanation is helpful because  there's no one thing you always set first.  You set first  the parameter, and by parameter I mean aperture, shutter speed or ISO. You set, you, you set first the parameter that is right for the shot. If  there's movement, it's shutter speed. If it's all about depth of field, it's aperture. 

And I was just trying to recall the last time I shot in manual, where I adjusted the ISO. The ISO first. And it does happen.  If I'm shooting indoors in a dark situation, I know the ISO is going to be high, but unlike  some photographers, and I'm not saying whether I'm more right or wrong than they are,  I prefer to avoid using auto ISO if I can.

And so I know for instance, that with certain cameras I've got,  if I go above a certain ISO level, I'm going to get the kind of background noise that I'd rather not have. So, what I'll do is I'll set my ISO to what I think is a comfortable maximum and then  I will use the aperture or the shutter speed to balance out the rest of the image. 

Now, in any kind of situation like this, you have to be flexible because there are occasions where you just have to go beyond where you want to go. So for instance, I could maybe set my ISO to a maximum of 1600 and even in auto ISO, you can tell it, you can tell the camera or most cameras not to go above.

Any ISO level that you want. I guess I'm a bit old school in that I just rather not let the camera control the ISO for me. You know, if I have to make a decision, it's going to be a high ISO. It's my decision. I don't want the camera to make that decision,  but for other people, they have an equally valid argument that says  camera can do it quicker.

When I let the camera do it. So  pay your money. You takes your choice, whatever your preferences work with that. For me, I prefer to set my ISO manually and then work around that.  If I set my ISO as high as I want it to go,  and I've opened up my aperture as wide as it'll go. And I'm shooting at a shutter speed, which is pretty slow and I don't want it to go any slower and still the pitch is dark.

Then I just have to eat humble pie and push the ISO up a bit more.  To summarise then,  think about the shot and think about what elements of the shot are the most important things to you. Is it how much of the picture is in focus? Is it there's an element of action that needs to be frozen, that you're trying to capture as frozen action?

Or is there something else going on? Whatever is important, then you base your decision on which to adjust first  On that element of your picture.  Hi everyone. It's Kevin Aaronson and I want to tell you about some exciting changes I've made to the photography masterclass. My in person course that's been helping photographers grow since 2019.

Yep. This is an in person course in a classroom with me face to face. This is not online.  As we approach our 10th intake in January, I've made some significant changes to celebrate this milestone.  This masterclass goes beyond. Just technical skills. It's about learning to see the world as a photographer.

I've shifted the focus to give even more attention to creativity with three entire modules dedicated to developing your photographer's eye. I retained the more popular modules on shooting landscapes, photographing people, and there's a new one on black and white photography.  This masterclass is more than just a course.

It's a creative one year journey you'll share with other passionate photographers growing together and forming lasting connections along the way.  Need more information? Visit GoHSP.  com. Click on Courses and select Masterclass. I'll also provide a link in the show notes below.  Chris had another element to his question and it was about what happens when you're working indoors, maybe in low light, and then you have to take your camera outside into the bright sunshine. 

What's the answer to that? Well, the answer to that is you're going to have to change your settings. Some cameras give you the ability to pre program some of the settings so that when you move outdoors. You turn the dial, and it's already set up for shooting outdoors. Turn the dial the other way, and it's already set up for shooting indoors.

That makes the transition really quick. If you regularly find that you have to transition from shooting indoors to outdoors, or vice versa, checking to see whether your camera has this option available to you could make a big difference to reducing your stress level.  If all of this sounds  Painful and terribly complicated. 

And you don't feel you can compete with the other photographers you see around you who work with this kind of stuff all the time. Just bear this in mind,  everybody. And I mean, everybody's been in the same place at some point, everybody at some point is a beginner. Everybody goes through a pain barrier, but those who persist, those who go on to become remarkably talented photographers have only done it.

By consistently trying again, again, again, making mistakes, succeeding, making more mistakes, succeeding again, making more mistakes, and more mistakes. And in the end, the process of learning through all those mistakes, Gives you the skills you need to cope with any situation that light throws at you.

Mastering your camera is one thing, but mastering the camera's ability to cope with different lighting situations takes that extra level of determination.  The fact that you've chosen, as a photographer, to come out of auto and start shooting in manual, or aperture priority, or shutter priority, but basically to come out of auto, suggests that You're not content  to let the camera take control of your images, that there's a sense of determination in you to take control, to be the creative artist you can be.

Even if it means making lots of mistakes along the way,  how you deal with those frustrations, how you pick yourself up and go back out with your camera again is what marks you from the average photographer.  Chris, this was a great question. And I kind of feel that there may well be some people who have listened to this podcast, who,  their brain has probably exploded. 

But,  if you can stick with it, and keep going, and fight through it,  Maybe book onto one of my workshops  and in many ways that's a great course of action whether it's one of mine or somebody else's.  The more that you practice, the more that you learn, the more that you study, the more you interact with other photographers, the more you immerse yourself in an environment that allows you to explore your photography.

In all its possibilities. The more photography will stop being about which buttons you press,  I will be more about how can I make an amazing shot from what I see before me.  Thank you for listening to this episode of Tog-Taalk. My name is Kevin Ahronson from Hampshire School of Photography. I'll be back on my own in two weeks time.

Next week, we will be joined by my co host Kelly Perrin, where we'll be digging deep into some element of photography that doesn't normally get dug deep into.  I think that's right.  Have a great week. Keep going out with that camera. Keep pressing that shutter button. and take some amazing photos.

See ya.