Fix the shutter speed, aperture, amount of light, and desired exposure and then ISO is implicit..

Usually either shutter speed or aperture will be a 'primary' consideration of sorts, given that camera shake, subject motion, and desired depth of field (or lack thereof) will constrain settings...

Beth wrote:.

I have two camera's the Cannon s5 and the Fuji F40 I am in theprocess of learning and believe me I have a long way to go. I havetaken a couple of photo's with both but I'm not sure what I am doingwrong. I believe in lower light without a flash you should increaseyour ISO is that correct. I like to take photo's in the naturallightAny suggestions would be great..

Let's assume you want to take a picture in a dark room of a person with no flash and no tripod..

Most people cannot hold a camera steady at less than 1/60th of a second. So for a shot in a dark room the minimum shutter speed should be 60..

There are three elements that work together: ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Changing one may require you change one or both of the others..

Let's assume that when you look through the viewfinder your settings are as follows:.

ISO = 100Shutter Speed = 4 (1/4)Aperture = 14.

At this point you could just change the ISO until you get a shutter speed at or near 60. But ignore this for a moment..

You want to keep ISO as low as possible.You know you need to increase shutter speed.You know that you could use a smaller aperture..

Let's say you are willing to change the aperture to 10..

Changing the aperture to 10 may cause the shutter speed to also change. In this case it will become faster. Let's assume it changes to 6 (1/6) and is now faster, but not fast enough..

Now you increase ISO until you get a shutter speed of at least 60.Take the picture..

Unless you have a certain amount of light, as you increase ISO your colors begin to fade. Take a picture in the above situation at ISO 100 and again at ISO 1600. You will notice the difference..

I also like natural light, but there is a limit. Sometimes you just have to use flash if you want good colors..

I hope this helps you. I also hope if someone can refine the above process they will do so. I am not a pro..

FINE PRINT: I reserve the right to be wrong. Should you prove me wrong, I reserve the right to change my mind...

I'll go along with that up to a point; I'd say that most people can hold a camera still for 2 seconds or 1 second with a bit of the right technique and a lot more practice. As you get older you think you still can but or second is more likely... I speak from better experience..

Needless to say, I am referring to normal focal lengths and not telephoto shots..

Do a search on "breathing" and you'll probably find all the threads about holding cameras still..

Regards, David..

I find it imposible to hold the camera still, as you press the shutter, the camera allways moves, no matter how hard you try, so my solution in these cases, is to set the timmer to 2 second delay, then when I press the shutter, I have 2 seconds to hold the camera steady, (works for me ) but then I am 68 and a doddery old sod.

Mike Rudge..

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain, I am printing this page and will refer to it until I can somewhat get the hang of it.Thanks againBeth..