Arperture?? Shutter Speed??

[suzleigh]

Help! I'm just getting started -- I've been taking photos for my church using point&shoot cameras and wanted to get into something better, so I got the FZ20, which I really love!! However...

After LOADS of reading (including great posts here), I'm just not getting arperture and shutter speed (I'm not even thinking about ISO at this point). I think I've got a handle on exposure and flash levels.

I really want to do more with this camera than point & shoot -- like some B&W 'artsy' photos for our book store/coffee shop, in addition to church service photos which are held in a room thats lit like a dungeon. I really like the look of blurred background and sharp foreground.

I'm looking for something really straight forward. I've also been reading and re-reading the book that came with the camera, but am not having any luck actually getting the photos I want.

Thanks -- SuzLeigh

[genece]

Maybe you can get what you want here.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

But leave me oversimplify it, the fact is, the larger the aperture (F2.8) on the FZ20 and the higher the zoom 12X the more you get the blurred background.

and if the background is further from the subject than the camera is from the subject the more of the blurred effect you get.
And because of the smaller sensor size a consumer camera is more difficult to get that effect( often called boken), but its possible...if you keep the above in mind.

To the best of my knowledge it has nothing to do with shutter speed and every thing to do with the aperture.

[1andyw]

Hi,

This intro page from Panasonic provides quite a bit of info:

http://www.panasonic.ca/English/audiovideo/camerascamcorders/digitalstill/fz20_features.asp


Andy