Photo Class 2

Some boring stuff for people who don't take pics...

Okay here's what I've got. Here's a list of equivalent exposures for f/stop (aperature) and shutter speed. If you like the exposure you've got (amount of light in your shot) but need a faster shutter speed because you're photographing a bird, or a shorter focal point for more blurred background, change shutter and aperature by same amount.

f/stop Shutter Speed
f/2.8 1/500
f/4 1/250
f/5.6 1/125
f/8 1/60
f/11 1/30


We had some homework to do also. If you set your camera to spot meter or partial spot meter in manual, it shows you what your exposure is (based on the aperature, ISO, and shutter speed you've selected). So I point my camera at a plain white piece of paper under the sunlight, and I know by looking that it *should* be an exposure of +2. My camera blinks at +2 meaning it's exceeding +2 and will be overexposed if I take the shot. So I adjust the shutter speed down (faster) until it stops blinking and rests happily at +2. Now, as long as my lighting doesn't change (like the sun goes behind a cloud or something), my camera should be set just right in manual to give me accurate exposure (I think)? Like I said, my class is kind of confusing me so I need to check on this before I can confirm this strategy. But if that's right, then I think this is where a gray card would be really beneficial to me. I'm thinking that if I had a gray card (something you can buy from a photo store), wherever I am, I can take out my card, point my camera to it, adjust it so it says the exposure is 0 (since I know the gray card should be 0), and then shoot away in great exposure. Hm... seems too easy...I'll get back to you on that.