billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Manual exposure is easiest with a mirrorless camera because in manual, as you change, ISO, or shutter speed, or F stop, you see the exposure your going to get instantly through the eye piece or rear screen.
When I am shooting with my DSLR, I like to start with the exposure scale showing me slightly under exposed, I start there and see what final adjustments I need to make.
I like to shoot in Aperture Priority because when shooting in manual I generally only want to change one of the three settings, so in Aperture Priority, I am only changing F stops to fine tune my manual exposure, makes things easier when shooting birds in flight, I have my shutter speed already set high, and my ISO is almost perfect, I only need to change my F stops one or two for over or under exposure.
Some guys and gals like to shoot auto ISO using manual exposure, again, any thing you can do to simplify your exposures in manual.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.

SWADE Loc: Rochester, MI

I agree with your method 100%, I always decide what aperture first!

melueth Loc: Central Florida

Excellent info - thanks!

Marylea

ELNikkor

I shoot in manual when the lighting is stable, (not the sun in and out of clouds on a windy day!). Shutter speed high enough to freeze the action, aperture enough to give the depth I need, ISO as low as possible to accommodate the other two. Easy enough to do test exposures and see the results on the rear screen to fine tune.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Our Auto setting for modern cameras is smart and will set the camera close to ideal. When focusing take note of the setting that the camera tells you on screen. If backlighting is a problem, then zoom in on the subject and use those setting as the base point for a wider shot with proper exposure on the main subject. You can then "manually" adjust shutter speed and other settings from that base point.

There are times when same-subject settings can be set in a camera's C1, C2 go-to presets. For example, When I close up shoot flowers in the sun regardless of wind, and want to blur the trash behind the wildflower, I use a quick shutter, open lens, and flash. Always the same and in my C-1 preset. The quick shutter stops the movement, also it along with flash diminishes the effect of the sun lighting on the background. That is to say, the trash in the background is underexposed and the main subject is well lighted by the flash. The open lens blurs the background.

Remember, the old Kodak box cameras did a good job set at f-8 or f-16 for a bright day at 1/50 seconds with a focus 15' to infinity. Manual is not magic, just common sense. A DSLR is just a highly flexible box camera.

tcthome Loc: NJ

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Decide on a good ISO for your general situation. Depending on the subject, pick either an aperture or a shutter speed. If you don't need a fast shutter, pick an aperture. So, you have the ISO and the aperture. Now all you have to do is set the shutter speed. There should be an indicator in the viewfinder to tell you when you have it right.

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

Would you please expand on your thought process and your reasons for first selecting aperture? Is this simply depth of field consideration or are you considering some other factors?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It's probably depth of field (either more or less), but it also accounts for known sharpness considers of the individual lens.

Take a lens like either version of the EF 24-105L. That lens offers a fixed f/4 aperture across the entire zoom. But, that lens is never as good at f/4 as stepped down to f/5 or f/6.3. So, if using this lens, any composition decisions would begin at f/5, with a willingness to step down further, given the needs of the composition.

Another example would be many of Canon's EF primes that open to f/1.4, such as the EF 24L, or EF 35L, or the non L EF 50 f/1.4. These lenses are 'interesting' at their wide-open f/1.4 aperture. But, they are much sharper and give a more intelligible depth of field at f/2. Only extremely low light would drive me wider than f/2 for these lenses, given my own artistic vision and needs.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Why is manual exposure any better? We take pictures for the picture, don't we? If the camera can fine tune your picture better than us, why not use it. I do, I set my f stop (and ISO) to control my depth of the picture and let my camera finish the setting. I take pictures and I am not a camera technician, I want the picture I see and don't need to have to do any more then I have to to get it.
Take pictures and enjoy the results as a picture, don't sid track you creative self.

Red6

Practice, practice, and practice even more.

Around 40 years ago I starting working as a Manufacturing Engineer in the electronics industry. One of the machines I was assigned to get into production was a high-volume soldering machine. It was a completely manual machine with a number of controls, buttons, and adjustments. It took me a while but after learning its operation and operating it for many hours, I knew that machine inside out. Eventually, I could tell whether it was adjusted properly and producing good results just from the way it sounded and acted.

In later years, we purchased a newer, more highly automated, and computerized model. With this model, one just selected the mode of operation, hit the return key and the machine performed internal testing and set itself up for production. New operators who had never operated the older machine were constantly baffled at times when the new machine did something out of the ordinary. Not having the experience from running the fully manual machine they simply did not understand when something "off the programmed path" happened and what to do to fix it. Their experience was to simply turn it on, hit the buttons, and let the machine tell them what to do next. That is all OK when things go well, but if things go awry, someone needs to lead the machine back on the proper path.

Sound familiar? To me, it is a lot like photography. I feel lucky that I got into photography many years ago when all I had was a fully manual camera where every shot required adjusting shutter and aperture as desired. Do I use the auto modes in photography now? You bet I do, but I also understand how to use the manual modes to get myself (or the camera) back on track in situations where the automation may go off in the weeds.

So, my advice is to learn the manual modes of your camera inside out and you will have a much better understanding of how things work and what is happening. That takes practice and these days with digital, you can take dozens or hundreds of photos at no cost to learn how your camera works.

After lots of practice, then use the auto modes to speed things up when you need to be agile and capture those moments. In fast-changing situations, such as street photography, pets, or family, I mainly use the auto or semi-auto modes. In landscapes, close-ups, still subjects, or macro, it is 100% manual.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

It's not better. I mostly use my camera in Program mode and I get the same results I would otherwise get using manual mode.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

"Ysarex" That is the point I was trying to make. Take the pictures and set what you need to control, as the depth of field and let the camera do the rest. Constraint the picture not the setting that can de done by the camera.

DJCard Loc: Northern Kentucky

Great explanation. I find starting with aperture works for my intent also.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

When taking a photo I control the exposure. The choice of the various camera settings is mine. I decide what ISO I will set. I decide the shutter speed that will be used and I decide the f/stop that will be used. There's just no reason I have to have the camera in manual to do that. With my camera that's all most easily accessible in Program mode.