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Beginner Getting Into Manual Photography
- Thread starter Professor1991
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The battery indicator is unlikely to be that precise, but unless you're shooting many thousands of shots a day, your battery will last all day.Update: I've finally managed to get my DSLR ! A Nikon D5500
I'm having to get used to the controls and I like to think I have a good theoretical understanding of ISO, Shutter Speed & Aperture although I'll be made humble when I practically apply this knowledge. I intend to visit some botanical gardens within my City (Birmingham, UK) to put myself through my paces (Not the camera as I'm the 1 who needs to do the learning).
PS, my camera didn't come with a manual sadly but does anyone know how I can find out how many shots I have left till my battery depletes ? I'm not worried shots left in relation to storage as I have a quite a large memory card in their, it's the battery life I'm more worried about. Online doesn't seem to be bringing any results.
In my experience, a DSLR battery with casual use will last several days of shooting (not quite a full wedding if I sit chimping through the meal break) less if used in really cold conditions or if you use live view extensively.
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Personally I prefer shooting manual and have done for the last 5 or so years. Why? I found that using AV would often under expose and just not look right. I could exp comp but then why not just adjust the rest myself. Once you get used to it its very quick. Understanding Exposure by Petersen really helped me understand the relationships with ISO/SS/Aperture. Habit i guess makes me carry on in manual mode.
In terms of speed I find it really quick, often I will be calculating the exposure in my head while getting it out the bag - gut feel, will think to myself that the shot/light means I will start at 200 ISO at 1/250 and f4, will see what the meter says too then take adjust if needed and take. Sometimes its bang on 1st time, other times it needs say the ISO changed to 400 or moving to 1/125 for example. In fact I don't even think when I shoot anymore, its automatic. Makes swapping to film cameras a bit easier too!
No right or wrong but I enjoy shooting that way, find it quick and works for me!
In terms of speed I find it really quick, often I will be calculating the exposure in my head while getting it out the bag - gut feel, will think to myself that the shot/light means I will start at 200 ISO at 1/250 and f4, will see what the meter says too then take adjust if needed and take. Sometimes its bang on 1st time, other times it needs say the ISO changed to 400 or moving to 1/125 for example. In fact I don't even think when I shoot anymore, its automatic. Makes swapping to film cameras a bit easier too!
No right or wrong but I enjoy shooting that way, find it quick and works for me!
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Many thanks for the responses. I'll be going out with it my other camera in tow and I'll gauge the battery life with my usage. I want to know first hand so if it depletes before the day is over (Which sounds unlikely but I want to be sure) I'll get another battery otherwise I'll be content with my 1 battery set up.
When I first got into photography I was using my compact camera (Panasonic Lumix TZ60) and I left it on auto mode and the photos were perfectly usable, Albeit I was just taking photos of buses during the day so it was hardly shooting in challenging situations and if I had to be picky when I zoomed in (30x) their was some slight noise but I wasn't surprised. With my DSLR however I intend to push the boat out when it comes to creativity. The only concept I'm having to get used to is White Balance.
When I first got into photography I was using my compact camera (Panasonic Lumix TZ60) and I left it on auto mode and the photos were perfectly usable, Albeit I was just taking photos of buses during the day so it was hardly shooting in challenging situations and if I had to be picky when I zoomed in (30x) their was some slight noise but I wasn't surprised. With my DSLR however I intend to push the boat out when it comes to creativity. The only concept I'm having to get used to is White Balance.
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As a beginner, prioritise your learning and control.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to control everything, until you fail completely then miss capturing stuff you can't recreate.
I learnt on film, and used to pay £10 a week for a pile of photos from which there might be 1 technically good image, it can be soul destroying.
So start with AV or P, make sure you select the focus point, and concentrate on focus and composition. When you can make pictures, make sure they're right more often by learning how the meter works, A, S, P, M makes no difference if you follow the meter. The world has enough sharp well exposed but utterly s***e images.
I've seen debates with people who can give you 20 great reasons to shoot with soot metering in manual and all they've got to show for their knowledge is a badly framed boring lit picture of a duck.
Edit to add. I hate that people still recommend 'understanding exposure' it was written 30 years ago and was polished to include 'digital' missing the great ways that digital gives us better control over exposure. It misses ETTR, blinkies and blending exposures.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to control everything, until you fail completely then miss capturing stuff you can't recreate.
I learnt on film, and used to pay £10 a week for a pile of photos from which there might be 1 technically good image, it can be soul destroying.
So start with AV or P, make sure you select the focus point, and concentrate on focus and composition. When you can make pictures, make sure they're right more often by learning how the meter works, A, S, P, M makes no difference if you follow the meter. The world has enough sharp well exposed but utterly s***e images.
I've seen debates with people who can give you 20 great reasons to shoot with soot metering in manual and all they've got to show for their knowledge is a badly framed boring lit picture of a duck.
Edit to add. I hate that people still recommend 'understanding exposure' it was written 30 years ago and was polished to include 'digital' missing the great ways that digital gives us better control over exposure. It misses ETTR, blinkies and blending exposures.
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I am sure there are many other resources out there but the main thing for me from the book was getting across the triangle of Aperture, shutter speed and ISO - how they work together for the correct exposure. I had struggled to understand that but reading this really made sense and gave me that core understanding.
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Agree 100%. If you like learning from your mistakes, then by all means go with manual and also use another 'professional' setting, spot metering - that combination is almost guaranteed to throw exposure all over the place until you know what's what.
But if you'd prefer to get things right and be spurred by your successes, use an auto mode - P is excellent for newcomers (and pros use it too
). The learning comes from looking at the settings the camera has chosen and understanding the effects they've had.Agree about that book too, Understanding Exposure. It does a lot of things well, but is truly hopeless on the key aspects of digital and IMHO, blinkiies (highlight over-exposure warning) are of over-riding importance. They're pretty much all I use for exposure setting these days.
NB - P mode can be manually modified and overridden with exposure compensation and programme-shift, making it totally versatile and allowing any combination of settings if you don't like what the camera has chosen. Very underrated mode when you need to work fast in changing conditions.
Excellent guide on Phil's link. You don't need a whole book to get to grips with exposure control. It's really not that hard. Here's a popular analogy:
Filling a glass of water form the tap - it's got to be filled to the top.
- shutter speed is how long the tap is turned on
- lens aperture is how hard the tap is turned on
- ISO varies the size of the glass
- the ambient light level, eg daylight, is the water pressure in the pipe
Alongside that:
- shutter speed controls movement, both subject movement and camera-shake, to either freeze it or blur it
- lens aperture affects depth of field - the zone of sharpness in front and behind the sharply focused point
- high ISO creates noise, most noticeable as grainy-looking shadows
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Many thanks for your insights. I'm currently using the priority modes as I find them to be good stepping stone to fully manual operation. Honestly speaking I do still see myself using auto mode occasionally as I find the photos to be perfectly usable but when I have time and the mental capacity to be creative I'll be sure to get down with the manual controls ! I've taken photos with manual controls and I find it takes me roughly 5+ photos to get the exposure I want so I can always delete those I don't need. (Hail digital photography)
1 contention I have is the use of software. I've watched many videos and I find them to be quite insightful as they give good insights and ideas. I don't personally regard myself to be creative so they give nice ideas to try out but almost all of them always mention software after to touch up photos. Software such as Lightroom, photoshop and so on. I can understand people using them from a professional standpoint (As in paid photographers and so on) but I regard myself as an amateur so is the software really necessary ? Can I take great photos (Subjective standpoint) without the need for post processing ?
E.g. I've seen this great photo of a sunset but it was edited in light room. The before photo looked pretty uneventful although the scenery was nice but post light room the photo looked really great. A credit to whomever done it, the colours pop and overall its a better image but I'm thinking is it possible to create that image soley in camera ? I'm not knocking the use the software as the results speak for themselves but from a personal standpoint I'm not vested enough to use it.
1 contention I have is the use of software. I've watched many videos and I find them to be quite insightful as they give good insights and ideas. I don't personally regard myself to be creative so they give nice ideas to try out but almost all of them always mention software after to touch up photos. Software such as Lightroom, photoshop and so on. I can understand people using them from a professional standpoint (As in paid photographers and so on) but I regard myself as an amateur so is the software really necessary ? Can I take great photos (Subjective standpoint) without the need for post processing ?
E.g. I've seen this great photo of a sunset but it was edited in light room. The before photo looked pretty uneventful although the scenery was nice but post light room the photo looked really great. A credit to whomever done it, the colours pop and overall its a better image but I'm thinking is it possible to create that image soley in camera ? I'm not knocking the use the software as the results speak for themselves but from a personal standpoint I'm not vested enough to use it.
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Well some cameras create very nice looking JPEGS straight from the camera, but most cameras only produce 'OK' images that way.
It's nothing new.
In the old days most of us took our film to Boots and were happy with the prints we got, but lots of people foolishly believed they had produced that result in the camera.
The reality is that Boots printing machine would assess the negative, do some colour correction and some exposure adjustment (a little bit more help than your SOOC* JPEGS.
Back then 'serious' photographers either:
Shot slide film to be totally in control of the processing
Paid extra for a professional lab tech to analyse their negs to produce the best prints possible
Had their own darkroom and printed all their own work.
Nowadays software has meant that most of us have landed in the digital equivalent of having our own darkroom. (It no longer has to be dark - can you see what they did there)
*SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera
It's nothing new.
In the old days most of us took our film to Boots and were happy with the prints we got, but lots of people foolishly believed they had produced that result in the camera.
The reality is that Boots printing machine would assess the negative, do some colour correction and some exposure adjustment (a little bit more help than your SOOC* JPEGS.
Back then 'serious' photographers either:
Shot slide film to be totally in control of the processing
Paid extra for a professional lab tech to analyse their negs to produce the best prints possible
Had their own darkroom and printed all their own work.
Nowadays software has meant that most of us have landed in the digital equivalent of having our own darkroom. (It no longer has to be dark - can you see what they did there)
*SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera
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I take your points on board but is me buying a DSLR and choosing to shoot in JPEG and not post processing images an exercise in futility ?
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Nope
Horses for courses.
In fact if you really really want to go for it you can fine tune the processing styles in your camera to just the 'look' you want.
But I think what will happen is if you get into photography you will gravitate towards the same direction as everyone else.
for clarity, I know it's not actually 'everyone' but it's a large enough % to be statistically valid.
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Make your mind up are you processing your images or not?
If you are processing your images then you need to think about what said about the sunset processed in lightroom.
The post by Phil about PP and the Boots processing machine is valid.
It is common to shoot in a way that produces a RAW file that aids PP but does not look great SOOC. Machine printed B&W shots on film were usually dire as they needed more input to get the best from the negative.
You either do the PP from a RAW file or you let the camera do it and you get a JPEG.
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Why the rush to manual? There are very few situations you truly need it & 99% of the time an auto mode will give as good if not better results.
Regarding PP less is nearly always more. You can use it to enhance and make a good photo great, but it can't make a photo in the first place. You can overdo it and spoil a good photo though
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I wouldn't say it's a rush but pretty much all my photographic ventures have been using the automatic setting. The photos have always been great and by in large the only time I've deviated away from auto was onto aperture priority mode for the sake of some nice blurred background. I made the plunge into buying a DSLR and I've been using it on auto for a week now and I've been getting a nice feel for it but I think its about time I stepped it up a gear.
The notion of buying a DSLR and leaving it on auto doesn't seem appealing. I'll be heading to a museum tomorrow so hopefully that'll be good !
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Respectfully suggest you re-read the thread and what people have been telling you since July. There is nothing inherently 'creative' about manual, and neither is it 'stepping up a gear'. The various exposure modes are all just different ways of arriving at the settings you want, according to the subject and conditions and personal preference. Sometimes manual is the best mode, often it's not, but either way the settings you end up with should be the same, the result the same.
By all means try everything and experiment - you should. And then when you've discovered that using manual just for the sake of it is too slow, or inappropriate, or both, then you'll probably revert back to an auto mode for general photography - like most of us
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Update: I've finally managed to get my DSLR ! A Nikon D5500
I'm having to get used to the controls and I like to think I have a good theoretical understanding of ISO, Shutter Speed & Aperture although I'll be made humble when I practically apply this knowledge. I intend to visit some botanical gardens within my City (Birmingham, UK) to put myself through my paces (Not the camera as I'm the 1 who needs to do the learning).
PS, my camera didn't come with a manual sadly but does anyone know how I can find out how many shots I have left till my battery depletes ? I'm not worried shots left in relation to storage as I have a quite a large memory card in their, it's the battery life I'm more worried about. Online doesn't seem to be bringing any results.
You can download a manual from the Nikon site or there is an app for your smart phone called Manual Viewer.
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A good understanding of how all the variables involved in taking a photo fit together would serve you better then shooting manual. Doing that isn't stepping up a gear. When did you ever look at a photo and think 'I wonder what mode he used for that?'. I bet never?
I agree with you about auto mode,
D
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I would suggest that the easiest way today to get a good understanding of how the *primary controls work and also be able to visualise the final exposure is to adjust the the dials on the top plate of a Fuji X-T1 or 2 (aperture, speed, ISO and +/- EV). You can see the result live as you rotate any combination of the dials. Whilst this is true for many mirrorless cameras the top plate controls make it particularly easy. 40 years ago I wrote down the exposure for every frame I took, but I had to wait until I developed the film to see my results and compare the information to learn and fully understand the how the exposure triangle effected the final image.
*ISO, aperture, speed.
*ISO, aperture, speed.
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Definitely with canon you can go into the advanced settings and change the order of AEB from 0,-,+ to -,0,+.
The advantage is you don't touch the camera between shots, and in live view with the mirror up with the timer release enabled after letting the camera settle it will blast the shots of together so ghosting is less of an issue.
Hope this helps.
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Nope there isnt an option to change the order on the 450D.
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Ah ok fair enough. It is nicer when your RAW files are in order so at a glance you can see which ones belong together so it is a shame that camera does not do it.
When you said about manual fixing the aperture, well aperture priority will do that too of course and mean you can get on and shoot the brackets quicker.
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My camera is quite old now and only a few new cameras have the option to change the order of the AEB, but thank you for the suggestion. I guess there are a couple of more ways in bracketing shots, I'll see what they are and see which one I like best. I may use Av mode.
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Like others have said there is no rush to use 'manual'. Phil is right not everyone uses manual mode, it's one of the most common misconceptions beginners have. Shooting in manual doesn't make your images better just because it wasn't shutter or aperture priority or even auto mode for that matter, and it doesn't make you less of a photographer. Aperture priority, shutter priority and manual are just tools to get an image, it's about choosing the right tool to get the image you had in your mind. I've lost count of the number of people I've met whilst out that have said to me you should only use manual yet they either use manual mode with auto ISO (basically it's really a semi auto where the camera only changes ISO) or use manual and just line up the meter in the viewfinder to the centre point (i.e. the camera is saying what it thinks is the correct exposure and you alter settings to get it in the middle). I do about 99% of my photography in the semi auto modes, and I only ever use manual when using filters for long exposures (and then I pre-check exposure in aperture priority mode to get an idea of the exposure settings!). There are times I can see manual mod would be useful but for my photography (wildlife and landscape) they don't come up often.
I wouldn't worry too much about battery life only having a single battery. I've been out most weekend mornings and afternoons over the last few weeks photographing my local deer rut. In around 4 weeks I've only used nearly two full batteries, that's roughly 4 weekend days shooting for around 4-7 hours per day per battery. The only time I find a battery won't last a full day is when I'm using live view and doing long exposure landscapes, that is a battery eating combination! I only ever bought more batteries when I started staying on Skomer Island for a few nights where access to electricity to charge batteries can be limited by weather and other photographers.
I wouldn't worry too much about battery life only having a single battery. I've been out most weekend mornings and afternoons over the last few weeks photographing my local deer rut. In around 4 weeks I've only used nearly two full batteries, that's roughly 4 weekend days shooting for around 4-7 hours per day per battery. The only time I find a battery won't last a full day is when I'm using live view and doing long exposure landscapes, that is a battery eating combination! I only ever bought more batteries when I started staying on Skomer Island for a few nights where access to electricity to charge batteries can be limited by weather and other photographers.
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Update: I figured this past bonfire night was a good opportunity for photography. I visited this 1 place which was some miles away from my house (It was free) I went, stood in the cold for like an hour only to be told it wasn't working !
So I traveled back home. As I was a road away, their is a small park by my house and I could see some fireworks in the distance. I quickly got out my tripod (1st time I've used it) and my camera and attempted to get some shots in. I missed quite a few shots as the camera kept taking long to focus so (I learned something) I just put it into manual focus (Infinity) and and left it in bulb mode and I was quite content with the shots. I suppose I could have increased the focal length or got a bit closer but I quickly rushed and got my camera out and I was content with the results.
I suppose you learn when you need to and practice makes perfect !
So I traveled back home. As I was a road away, their is a small park by my house and I could see some fireworks in the distance. I quickly got out my tripod (1st time I've used it) and my camera and attempted to get some shots in. I missed quite a few shots as the camera kept taking long to focus so (I learned something) I just put it into manual focus (Infinity) and and left it in bulb mode and I was quite content with the shots. I suppose I could have increased the focal length or got a bit closer but I quickly rushed and got my camera out and I was content with the results.
I suppose you learn when you need to and practice makes perfect !