Digital SLR (nikon d80) please help!?

Question

i just bought a nikon d80 and have a few questions:
1) what is the shutter speed
2)what is the aperture
3) how do i take photos that focus on what i'm of course focusing on and make everything that is behind/beside it blurry (how do you do this without editing?)


thank-you to anyone who will help me

Answer 1

Ignore the Wurm. I'll help you.

The Shutter Speed is how long (usually in a fraction of a second) the shutter curtain will stay open and allow the image to be imprinted on the sensor. The faster the shutter speed, the more 'stop-motion' the image will be. But, the faster the shutter speed, the darker the picture will be. That's where Aperture comes in.

The Aperture Value (also known as F-Stop) determine how big the lens' iris is. The wider (larger diameter) the iris, the more light is let into the camera through the lens. The narrower it is, the less light is let in. Also, the aperture controls the Depth-of-Field, which determines how much area (from front to back, not side to side) is in clear focus. The narrower the aperture, the longer the depth of field. At a high f-stop (higher f-stop numbers mean narrower aperture), you can get a very, VERY long depth-of-field. You can take pictures of close subjects and keep both them and the distance trees in focus. At a low f-stop (wider aperture) you can narrow your depth-of-field very tightly, sometimes as tight as half the length of a dime. And the longer your focal length on the lens (i.e., magnification), the longer your corresponding depth-of-field.

This aperture is inside the lens, and has NOTHING to do with the shutter (which is inside the camera), at least not directly.

In Automatic or Program mode, the D80 will choose a shutter speed & aperture value for you. This is usually good, because the faster the shutter is, the wider the (aperture) iris needs to be to keep the image exposure properly balanced. A fast shutter and narrow aperture makes a dark (underexposed) picture. A slow shutter and a wide aperture makes an overly bright (overexposed) picture.

Now, depending on the effect you are trying to achieve, you can modify the camera. But you have to be in the right Mode.

You want to take portrait pictures than have a blurry background, but the subject remains in sharp, focus, correct? Here's how to do that.
Set the camera into Aperture Priority Mode (the A on the command dial). Now, look at the LCD. Turn the thumbwheel on the top right of the camera body (I forget if it's the front one or back one), until the F number starts to change. Set it as low as it will go. If you are using Auto focus mode, set your center reticule on your subject. Press lightly on the shutter, and hold your finger on that shutter. Don't press all the way down, just hold it gently. Compose your shot to put your subject where you want him/her. Make sure he/she is still in focus. Now press gently the rest of the way on the shutter. You should have a fast shutter speed (depending on the available light) with that low of an f-stop. Your picture should look exactly how you want it.

Try this out, and let me know if it works.

Answer 2

okay shutter speeds is how long the picture will be exposed Aperture is how wide open the shutter gets during the time the shutter opens the lower the aperture number the shorter the depth of field only a small portion will be sharply focused...the larger the aperture number the deeper the field of view is in sharp focus...you can set the selection knob to S or A shutter or aperture and manipulate your depth of field by changing the setting you are using...it isn't really hard and you'll catch on with practice best thing about digital cameras you can delete those bad pictures and try a different setting to get the image you want... it is really fun once you get the hang of it...

Answer 3

If you don't know that you've got too much camera for your own good. Do a google search of camera tutorials and read up.