Question about settings

[czmom]

Hi! I have a Nikon D3100 that I love. It works great for casual use with my family. We are taking a trip to WDW in December, and I would love to be able to capture a few shots. Since my camera is typically left on auto, can someone help me with the manual settings for the following pictures?
- castle at night with lights on
- shot of daughter inside teacups
- shot of son riding Dumbo at night
- MVMCP parade

I did take a class on this a year ago, but obviously did not take very good notes.

Thank you!

 

[photo_chick]

This is a really subjective question and will depend on your style and what lens you have. You'll get varying answers and none of them are wrong. I won't give exact numbers because I shoot pretty loose. I see what I've got in a situation and go from there. And my exact numbers probably wouldn't be exactly right for your camera and lens anyway.

Castle at night- this is best done with a tripod to me. ISO 100, f/8- f/11 and what ever shutter speed is needed to get teh exposure at that point. If I'm doing it hand held I choose the slowest shutter speed I can hand hold for the lens I'm using then use the lowest ISO that lets me get the exposure. The aperture is going to be wide open in that scenario and I'd most liekly be using a fast prime.

Kid on teacups- I tend to go for the slowest shutter speed I can hand hold with the lens then add one stop to help freeze the kid. I also lean toward a shallow depth of field here.

Kid on Dumbo at night- I'd take a similar approach to the tea cups really. It's dark so I'm going to be using a fast prime and shooting close to wide open, if not totally wide open. I'll pick the slowest shutter speed I can get by with to keep the ISO low.

MVMCP- I'd go a lot like the castle at night. And use a fast prime.

 

[mom2rtk]

OP, if you want to refresh your memory on the things they probably covered in class, try reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

I would probably add some flash to Dumbo at night. Otherwise your child's face is likely to be underexposed.

The MVMCP parade tends to be fairly dark. You really need a fast lens (something with 2.8 aperture or lower) and a high ISO to be able to capture this without a flash. It's also moving so you need to be able to get a fast shutter speed to stop the action. I shot last year at 3200 ISO and f/2.8 and still felt like my shutter speed was a little slow in spots. If you don't have a fast lens, then you might need to add some flash. If you do, I'd dial down the flash exposure compensation a bit.

 

[czmom]

Thanks! I will start practicing some of these so I can have it mastered by our trip! Now I have a place to start.