ideal shutter speed / aperture / exposure setting in indoor and out door conditions.

<p>Hi!<br>

I am an amature photographer. I use a Nikon D60. I am unable get the cool effect on the pictures that I am clicking. I get this harsh light on the picture when taken outdoor. And lot of noise when taken indoor with out flash. Can any one suggest me on the ideal shutter speed / aperture / exposure setting in indoor and out door conditions.<br>

Thanks in advance,<br>

regards<br>

Vikram</p>

<p>Hi Vikram,</p>

<p>Its good to hear that you don't shoot with flash While shooting Indoors, flash flattens everything and the 3D effect gets dead (my opinion and taste, as I do lot of architectural photography).</p>

<p>While shooting indoors, the tripod and cable release or a remote should be used to get sharp pictures. As you said you get a lot of noise, that is because you are using auto ISO and maximum shutter speed so the pictures get a lot of noise because your D60 uses higher ISO at the speed you set and is not as greater at higher ISO as the D700 or D3 are.</p>

<p>For getting minimum noise you should set your camera at ISO 200 and than use the tripod to ignore any motion blur possible because when you will use a lower ISO like 200 or 400, you won't get sufficient speed to handle your camera in your hands and hand held will definitely get some blurs. Hand held shooting needs more practice and luck in low light shooting.</p>

<p>I think you will normally get shutter speed between 1/15 to 1/90 in different interior low light conditions at the lowest possible ISO.</p>

<p>Lenses are also concerned here and I think your are using kit lenses which are also not capable to handle low lights in hands.</p>

<p>For exteriors there shouldn't be any problem in Auto mode. The thumb rule for bright sunny day scene is shutter speed 1/125 @ f8 with ISO 100 speed. If your camera meter says the same like this than the shot should come out okay.</p>

<p>It would be better to post some sample shots taken by you here to understand a bit more.</p>

<p>I am posting a shot taken by me :<br /> Hand held shot taken with Nikkor 28-80mm 3.3-5.6G lens at ISO 400 kodak film (you can concern your D60 ISO 400)</p>

<p>(<strong>You can also have a look at my this folder: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=900748</strong> where all the interior and exteriors are taken without tripod because I forgotten my tripod at home and the trip was 330 km away from my home, I have recorded information about lens and iso with every shot so you can see that also :</p><div></div>

<p>Vikram, it would help if you could post some examples of "<i>harsh light on the picture when taken outdoor... lot of noise when taken indoor</i>". In the meantime, you may find <a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm">this link</a> useful.

<p>You need to teach yourself how the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, along with your choice of lens, affects the final result. This is not somethng that comes qulickly. Photo net is a good place to start but you probably need to read a book or two on the subject. There are loads around. Then with a better understanding of how your camera works you can select the right combination and achieve whatever cool look you are after. Good luck!</p>

<p>If you want to take indoor pictures without flash, you need to see what is possible with what you have - that includes not only the camera but yourself.</p>

<p>Everything in the camera is tied to everything else. Increasing ISO will increase noise. Decreasing ISO will result in slower shutter speeds which reduces sharpness UNLESS you can hold the camera still (that's where you enter the picture as part of the equation).</p>

<p>Using wider angle lenses indoors can help, because you don't need to be as still to have a relatively sharp image. Or of course buying a faster lens with a wider possible aperture. But otherwise you need to see how well you can hold the camera and try to keep the ISO as low as possible.</p>