
EYEWITNESS 2015 blog by Aidan O’Rourke – Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, photography, art, travel, local interest

As I post this image, it’s the middle of winter in December 2015 but there’s been no snow yet! I decided to pick a featured photo from the archive with a snowy landscape. This photo was taken not far from Macclesfield, Cheshire on high ground not far from the village of Gawsworth. We are looking south east towards The Cloud – that’s the curved hill rising up in the distance.
This photo was taken on 31 Dec 2001 using the Nikon Coolpix 990, the first digital camera I owned that was good enough for day to day use. It’s a great camera, I still have it and it still works. Here is the exposure information:
1/344s f/9.9 ISO100. The setting was Program Auto, which is the best general purpose setting.
A shutter speed of 1/344th of a second is about two and a third stops above the standard 1/60th of a second.
The aperture f/9.9 is around one a third stops above the standard f/5.6
The ISO was at 100, one stop below the standard 200.
Therefore the light level in this scene is plus 2.6 above the standard.
Using this information you can work out any combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Exposure is very easy! I teach my unique approach to Manual mode on my walks and in one to one sessions.