F STOP SETTINGS HOW TO
F STOP SETTINGS MANUAL

These easy to remember distances combinations will produce a 3:1 lighting ratio, with exactly one-f/spot difference in exposure between them:Ĭamera fill / key light on stand: 16ft/11ft, 11ft/8ft, 8ft/5.6ft, 5.6ft/4ft, 4ft/2.8ft

Moving the key light closer than the fill will produce darker shadows. Is well suited to portraits of women, children and animals where shadow detail is desired This ratio has light open shadows with considerable detail. It is the only remaining variable.Įqual distances will produce a 2:1 H:S ratio.

Having both lights identical allows the lighting ratio to be controlled by the relative distance of each light to the subject. The aperture (f/stop) is used to control the exposure.

F STOP SETTINGS MANUAL

When using manual flash you want the camera in M mode with the shutter between 1/125th and 1/250th or your cameras 'x-sync' speed. It's also worth noting here for beginners that shutter speed doesn't affect flash exposure because the flash duration is so short. It's really not necessary to have a flash meter for setting ratios, but then again its not a bad thing to have either if you have time to take the measurements. If you want to stay sane and get predictable results when using manual flashes for candid work I strongly recommend using two identical flash units at the same power setting with identical modifiers. The overlap of key over fill that puts two units of light in the highlights for every one in the shadows. This is denoted as a 2:1 highlight-to-shadow or reflected ratio. When two flashes of equal intensity are used at the same distance the overlap produces highlights which reflect twice as much light as the shadows. The light from the off camera key light overlaps the fill. The fill light on the flash illuminates everything the camera sees. Here, a tripod or an effective image stabilization system can help.Lighting ratios are based upon the intensity of light reflecting from the highlights of the object illuminated vs the light reflecting from the shadows. These apertures are also harder to use when hand-holding a camera, as the smaller the aperture the longer the shutter speed you need – and at some point you simply won't be able to hold it steady enough to produce a sharp image. Small apertures, meanwhile, can make an effect known as diffraction more prominent, which also has a softening effect on images. Particularly wide apertures can also be tricky to use in bright conditions, as your camera may not be able to use a fast enough shutter speed to keep everything exposed correctly, which leads to overexposed images. Wide apertures are great for isolating subjects from their backgrounds, but images can be softer at these settings due to an effect known as spherical aberration. There are issues with using both very small and very wide apertures, so you need to judge this from scene to scene to understand which setting is most appropriate.

F STOP SETTINGS HOW TO

Read more: Cheat sheet: How to read a histogram (opens in new tab) Depth of field does, however, also depend on other factors, such as where you focus in the scene. Depth of field concerns the extent to which different areas in the scene are rendered in focus, and a photographer will typically use a medium or small aperture to achieve more definition throughout. Whichever mode you use, changing aperture has an effect on depth of field. Opening up, meanwhile, means doing the opposite. Ever hear these terms? Stopping down the lens or aperture simply means to make the aperture smaller, such as from f/8 to f/11.

F stop settings