Test Shot B&W

[Toe Knee"F"]

Much better shooting on manuel mode...the soft box was to her front right about 6 feet away on full power, the umbrella to her front left at half power aprox. 9 feet away. Something I found out to those who may not know, is that the lower the f/stop, the lighter your image will be, the higher...the darker. There are so many variations with the lights, ISO, F/Stops, White Balance,and shutter speed, to keep you busy for a long time. Thanks to Cannibalized for suggesting the manual setting.

File Name IMG_6354.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Shooting Date/Time 6/4/2007 6:43:31 PM
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/160
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 200
Lens 70.0 - 300.0 mm
Focal Length 154.0 mm
Image Size 2816x1880
Image Quality Normal
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Flash
AF Mode One-Shot AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Noise Reduction Off
File Size 811 KB
Drive Mode Single-frame shooting

[savona]

Tony, the reason for the f-stop changing the exposure of your image is because the aperture opens and closes letting in more or less light.

The smaller the number the LARGER the aperture opening. and the larger the number the smaller the opening. Here this diagram will give you a better idea:

So if you change your aperture it will also change the exposure. You can use many combinations of shutter speed and aperture to get the same exact exposure. You can also use the aperture to adjust your depth of field.

So lets say you are using 1/500 shutter speed with a f8 aperture. You field of focus (or depth of field) is going to be large. So everything from lets say 6 feet to 25 feet away will be in focus (this is just for explanation purposes). If you stop down the shutter speed one stop and also open the aperture one stop you will get the same exposure but with a more narrow depth of field.

So lets say you change that 1/500 f/8 show to a 1/2000 which is two stops up and change your Aperture (f-stop) to f/4 which is 2 stops down you will get the same exposure but a more narrow depth of field and possible a nice blurred background.

The blurred background depends on more factors than just the aperture. It depends on how long a lens your using and how far the background is from the subject. But you get the idea

I hope that helped and didnt confuse you more!

[Toe Knee"F"]

Thanks savone! Definately an ongoing learning experience this photography thing!

[MarkShannonPhoto]

Of all the things to learn and grasp when it came to SLR photography, Aperture and the whole f-stop thing took me the longest to understand.

Once you know how to master it though, you'll be glad you spent the time to learn.

[Cannibalized]

Thanks savone! Definately an ongoing learning experience this photography thing!

Keep playing around with your settings! I love the results.