A tripod is essential. First you have to have a starting point. If you want greater depth of field you would start with a small aperture size of maybe f/22 or f/32. With the aperture set......meter your scene and see what the shutter speed your camera recommends. You can vary it from there. It really all depends on the amount of light in your scene. As you vary your shutter speed you would need to compensate for the light by stopping up or down with the aperture size, the same amount of stops as your shutter speed.

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