Learning Manual Mode
Dec 19, 2018 23:35:33 #
IDguy
Loc: Idaho
fotoman150 wrote:
Don’t feel bad. I photographed weddings using film... (show quote)
The easiest way to use M mode is to actvate auto iso. Then you can play shutter speed and fstop and still get satisfactory exposures.
It isn’t much different than using P mode.
Dec 20, 2018 02:55:45 #
IDguy wrote:
The easiest way to use M mode is to actvate auto iso. Then you can play shutter speed and fstop and still get satisfactory exposures.
It isn’t much different than using P mode.
It isn’t much different than using P mode.
My cameras are older and don’t have auto ISO.
I’m not sure I would use it anyway. I tend to be kind of old school.
Dec 20, 2018 03:49:03 #
Timmers
Loc: San Antonio Texas.
BASIC DAYLIGHT EXPOSURE:
Let me begin with a truly informed and some what obnoxious statement: Light meters are to photographers as heroin is to a junky, a monkey on your back. Cute Hugh! My camera has a built in light meter, I have a super expensive Minolta Flash Meter IV (the older super expensive one), I still have the Minolta IV and use it like a studio densitometer for technical set ups like flat copy.
If you truly know what you are doing a camera meter is useless most of the time and a hindrance to you mastering the craft of you photography. A much better tool and should be every photographer's camera bag is a down load from the internet and then printed out, laminated and kept in the camera bag.
It is the Brooks Institutes B.D.E. Guide. BDE = Basic Daylight Exposure, but that can be ever so misleading. Here is where you can find a copy at Garage Glamour.
http://www.garageglamour.com/tips/bdeguide.php
So BDE is based on the standard of the age old Rule of 16, that is f=16 where the shutter speed is 1/ISO. So in average daylight in the continental US will be f 16 and the shutter speed for ISO 100 would be 1/100 of a second. So that you don't get bogged down by the BS on the internet, there are TWO (2) modifiers to the rule of 16. First, this rule is true at SEA LEVEL. At 5,000 foot you GAIN one stop of light. The second is that the rule of 16 is true in SUMMER, in winter you LOOSE one stop of light.
If there is no light Example: Shooting fireworks displays, 'plus 6 stops BDE'. So you will loose 6 stops from the rule of 16, even though there is no sunlight! BDE is a new way of referencing the Rule of 16 it is that simple.
Here is the rub, by mastering this BDE and using MANUAL mode and ignoring the light meter you will be on the road to controlling your photography. How so? Here is why I selected the fireworks example. Your light meter is useless so you need this basic exposure guide of 6 stops less BDE. Here is what it will do for you.
Before the sun sets and the fireworks are still not activated you need to plan your photo opportunity. When doing photography it is a must for achieving great results and that means planning your gear and accessories. So here we go:
Lets say you have your location for the fireworks. First camera technique says that your main subject (the fireworks) are a goodly distance. What ever lenses you will use you will have the lens set to infinity. If you can, tape them down at infinity, with auto focus gear, turn OFF the auto focus, and camera body on manual. Your variable will be ISO (this will get rather tricky so don't be surprised!).
Next, there will be NO depth of field so the aperture is of no consequence except as an exposure control to the shutter speed. So at ISO 100 your exposure is 1/100 at f=16 MINUS 6 stops.
Keep clearly in mind one extremely simple rule: if you GIVE UP one f stop you GAIN one shutter speed.
Here we are loosing SIX stops for correct exposure so with f stops it goes 16 to 11, 11 to 8, 8 to 5.6, 5.6 to 4, 4 to 2.8, 2.8 to 1.4. (Here is a simple way to know f stops, they double and half to the second one above or below. What? f16 cut in half to f8 is a drop of TWO (2) f stops. So if you know any two adjacent f stops you have them all! F16 and f 11 are adjacent, so I cut f16 in half and get f 8. The f stop between f 8 and f 16 is f 11. going the other way, f 16 doubled is f32, while f 11 doubled is f 22. Their order is f32, f 22, f 16 and f 11 in that order. In the old days, we just clicked a shutter speed on the shutter dial UP on click and opened the fm stop ONE f stop larger! Easy back then! Here you need to 'know' the up and down of the f stop and shutter speed. DO NOT USE THE ISO to make exposure corrections, use the shutter speed and f stops to control your image out come.
So you do this calculations while the sun is out and if you are a smart person write it down! Make a cheat sheet for the photo session. You want one exposure set for high shutter speed and one for low shutter speed. This will be:
High shutter speed for fireworks: f 1.4 at f1/100 second for ISO 100.
Next is low shutter speed: f 16 at 1/2 second.
These are your first two cheat sheet entries for the fireworks 6 stops below BDE.
You can see that the first exposure procedure gives 'no blurring' while the second exposure with the 1/2 second will give you some 'blurring'. Now, this is were technique falls away and aesthetics takes over, when technique is put in the back seat and creativity takes over! But to get into fully creative mode we need to THINK creatively.
In the film Alice in Wonderland the Hatter asks Alice "How is a raven like a desk?" It's vexing because it is creativity at it's best! So now, Alice, "How are fireworks like a cloud?" I'm being dead serious here. The answer is that both are there and yet are not! They are both there but they are never what photographers say 'In focus'. It is NOT important that they are made of this or that, not important that they are 'in focus, or out of focus', they are just up there and we see them but you cant walk on a firework nor on a cloud! These things are just a sensation that we see but are in fact a moment in time. When we understand this we will begin to truly grasp what it is that we are working with. Or as that lovely statement by William Blake:
" To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."
Ok, back to the technical. We want to make exposures that are longer than 1/2 second. We dial down the ISO from 100 to ISO 50, the shutter speed rolls down to one second. More, drop the ISO to 25 so we can have an exposure of two (2) seconds! Dam it Jim! The ISO only goes to 100! I have never invested in neutral density filters, I should get some! WAIT! my polarizer, it is like a 2 stop ND filter! Two stops! Bring the polarizer and put it on! Now at ISO 100 I'm down to 2 seconds of exposure.
I'm thinking, I will have the car in the open field and...get the bag of dry beans (nuts in a zip lock food bag (better double layer it!), and put that up on top of the car and steady the camera/lens on the bean bag!
Then the brain leaps forward into that creative space! What if I just move the camera during the long exposure! Kool, lets see how that works! Wait! What if I use the zoom lens and I zoom in, then zoom out on some during the long exposure, what about a slow speed, say 1/4 or 1/8 shutter while zooming!
Fireworks are no longer that boring "See what I did last time?" Fireworks become creative light pattern experiments.
All because you mastered the Rule of 16 and took over control of the camera and went on an adventure! Ugh OH! New Years is about two weeks away! Happy New Year!
Let me begin with a truly informed and some what obnoxious statement: Light meters are to photographers as heroin is to a junky, a monkey on your back. Cute Hugh! My camera has a built in light meter, I have a super expensive Minolta Flash Meter IV (the older super expensive one), I still have the Minolta IV and use it like a studio densitometer for technical set ups like flat copy.
If you truly know what you are doing a camera meter is useless most of the time and a hindrance to you mastering the craft of you photography. A much better tool and should be every photographer's camera bag is a down load from the internet and then printed out, laminated and kept in the camera bag.
It is the Brooks Institutes B.D.E. Guide. BDE = Basic Daylight Exposure, but that can be ever so misleading. Here is where you can find a copy at Garage Glamour.
http://www.garageglamour.com/tips/bdeguide.php
So BDE is based on the standard of the age old Rule of 16, that is f=16 where the shutter speed is 1/ISO. So in average daylight in the continental US will be f 16 and the shutter speed for ISO 100 would be 1/100 of a second. So that you don't get bogged down by the BS on the internet, there are TWO (2) modifiers to the rule of 16. First, this rule is true at SEA LEVEL. At 5,000 foot you GAIN one stop of light. The second is that the rule of 16 is true in SUMMER, in winter you LOOSE one stop of light.
If there is no light Example: Shooting fireworks displays, 'plus 6 stops BDE'. So you will loose 6 stops from the rule of 16, even though there is no sunlight! BDE is a new way of referencing the Rule of 16 it is that simple.
Here is the rub, by mastering this BDE and using MANUAL mode and ignoring the light meter you will be on the road to controlling your photography. How so? Here is why I selected the fireworks example. Your light meter is useless so you need this basic exposure guide of 6 stops less BDE. Here is what it will do for you.
Before the sun sets and the fireworks are still not activated you need to plan your photo opportunity. When doing photography it is a must for achieving great results and that means planning your gear and accessories. So here we go:
Lets say you have your location for the fireworks. First camera technique says that your main subject (the fireworks) are a goodly distance. What ever lenses you will use you will have the lens set to infinity. If you can, tape them down at infinity, with auto focus gear, turn OFF the auto focus, and camera body on manual. Your variable will be ISO (this will get rather tricky so don't be surprised!).
Next, there will be NO depth of field so the aperture is of no consequence except as an exposure control to the shutter speed. So at ISO 100 your exposure is 1/100 at f=16 MINUS 6 stops.
Keep clearly in mind one extremely simple rule: if you GIVE UP one f stop you GAIN one shutter speed.
Here we are loosing SIX stops for correct exposure so with f stops it goes 16 to 11, 11 to 8, 8 to 5.6, 5.6 to 4, 4 to 2.8, 2.8 to 1.4. (Here is a simple way to know f stops, they double and half to the second one above or below. What? f16 cut in half to f8 is a drop of TWO (2) f stops. So if you know any two adjacent f stops you have them all! F16 and f 11 are adjacent, so I cut f16 in half and get f 8. The f stop between f 8 and f 16 is f 11. going the other way, f 16 doubled is f32, while f 11 doubled is f 22. Their order is f32, f 22, f 16 and f 11 in that order. In the old days, we just clicked a shutter speed on the shutter dial UP on click and opened the fm stop ONE f stop larger! Easy back then! Here you need to 'know' the up and down of the f stop and shutter speed. DO NOT USE THE ISO to make exposure corrections, use the shutter speed and f stops to control your image out come.
So you do this calculations while the sun is out and if you are a smart person write it down! Make a cheat sheet for the photo session. You want one exposure set for high shutter speed and one for low shutter speed. This will be:
High shutter speed for fireworks: f 1.4 at f1/100 second for ISO 100.
Next is low shutter speed: f 16 at 1/2 second.
These are your first two cheat sheet entries for the fireworks 6 stops below BDE.
You can see that the first exposure procedure gives 'no blurring' while the second exposure with the 1/2 second will give you some 'blurring'. Now, this is were technique falls away and aesthetics takes over, when technique is put in the back seat and creativity takes over! But to get into fully creative mode we need to THINK creatively.
In the film Alice in Wonderland the Hatter asks Alice "How is a raven like a desk?" It's vexing because it is creativity at it's best! So now, Alice, "How are fireworks like a cloud?" I'm being dead serious here. The answer is that both are there and yet are not! They are both there but they are never what photographers say 'In focus'. It is NOT important that they are made of this or that, not important that they are 'in focus, or out of focus', they are just up there and we see them but you cant walk on a firework nor on a cloud! These things are just a sensation that we see but are in fact a moment in time. When we understand this we will begin to truly grasp what it is that we are working with. Or as that lovely statement by William Blake:
" To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."
Ok, back to the technical. We want to make exposures that are longer than 1/2 second. We dial down the ISO from 100 to ISO 50, the shutter speed rolls down to one second. More, drop the ISO to 25 so we can have an exposure of two (2) seconds! Dam it Jim! The ISO only goes to 100! I have never invested in neutral density filters, I should get some! WAIT! my polarizer, it is like a 2 stop ND filter! Two stops! Bring the polarizer and put it on! Now at ISO 100 I'm down to 2 seconds of exposure.
I'm thinking, I will have the car in the open field and...get the bag of dry beans (nuts in a zip lock food bag (better double layer it!), and put that up on top of the car and steady the camera/lens on the bean bag!
Then the brain leaps forward into that creative space! What if I just move the camera during the long exposure! Kool, lets see how that works! Wait! What if I use the zoom lens and I zoom in, then zoom out on some during the long exposure, what about a slow speed, say 1/4 or 1/8 shutter while zooming!
Fireworks are no longer that boring "See what I did last time?" Fireworks become creative light pattern experiments.
All because you mastered the Rule of 16 and took over control of the camera and went on an adventure! Ugh OH! New Years is about two weeks away! Happy New Year!
Dec 20, 2018 05:31:09 #
IDguy wrote:
The easiest way to use M mode is to actvate auto iso. Then you can play shutter speed and fstop and still get satisfactory exposures.
It isn’t much different than using P mode.
It isn’t much different than using P mode.
Sorry . . . but I don't believe you can learn to use manual effectively using auto ISO. The purpose of manual is to accomplish perfect exposure using the aperture and shutter speed setting properly.
Dec 20, 2018 05:33:06 #
Timmers wrote:
BASIC DAYLIGHT EXPOSURE: br br Let me begin with ... (show quote)
That sir, is the biggest pile of hogwash I have ever seen, offered to teach anybody, anything!
Dec 20, 2018 11:19:36 #
larryepage
Loc: North Texas area
I would contend that if a person is using Auto ISO, that person is not shooting manually. That may be a fine way to shoot (I personally don't think so), but it is not shooting manually. The camera is determining exposure, not the photographer.
Dec 20, 2018 11:56:03 #
Timmers
Loc: San Antonio Texas.
"offered to teach anybody"
Yepers, 15 years as chairman of a photography department, from 'How to use your camera' to advanced techniques in studio, location and landscape. The avatar is of myself made by another educator/photographer Arnold Newman. The real test of ones photographic knowledge is can you explain photography to a new person just beginning the adventure.
Yepers, 15 years as chairman of a photography department, from 'How to use your camera' to advanced techniques in studio, location and landscape. The avatar is of myself made by another educator/photographer Arnold Newman. The real test of ones photographic knowledge is can you explain photography to a new person just beginning the adventure.
Dec 20, 2018 12:25:11 #
Timmers wrote:
"offered to teach anybody"
Yepers, 15 years as chairman of a photography department, from 'How to use your camera' to advanced techniques in studio, location and landscape. The avatar is of myself made by another educator/photographer Arnold Newman. The real test of ones photographic knowledge is can you explain photography to a new person just beginning the adventure.
Yepers, 15 years as chairman of a photography department, from 'How to use your camera' to advanced techniques in studio, location and landscape. The avatar is of myself made by another educator/photographer Arnold Newman. The real test of ones photographic knowledge is can you explain photography to a new person just beginning the adventure.
Dec 20, 2018 12:31:08 #
Triggerhappy wrote:
I need to use my Nikon D7100 by learning how to us... (show quote)
Hi here is a simple way to learn exposure in a practical hands on way. Set your camera on a tripod, then set your camera to Aperture Priority using an aperture of F8. Look at the numbers on your camera to see that the Aperture has not changed from F8 as you circle around the room, but note how the numbers on the left ( shutter speed) do change. The numbers will tell you how the shutter changes with different lighting while keeping the Aperture ( lens opening) the same. Get a good feel for how shutter speed works with dark or lighter ambient light. Next go on line to YouTube and learn what a histogram is and how it works in your camera. Once you have a general understanding of what info the histogram is giving you, you can now see how shutter effects the histogram. Eventually you will use the histogram as your go to guide. In a short time you will shoot in Manual. I must also say that shooting in Manual is not always the best mode to shoot in. In a studio setting where the lighting is fixed, Manual is ideal. Shooting outdoors where the lighting is variable perhaps Aperture Priority might be best. You can do the same test using Shutter Priority for shooting movement. I do studio shoots as well as on location. For example when shooting real estate I use, exclusively , Aperture priority since I don't use any flash or lighting just ambient light. Shooting this way takes all of the guess work out, all I do is set the aperture for the maximum depth of field which is around F8~16mm and the camera sets the proper shutter for me. ( since I do HDR I bracket my shots -3 +3 exposure steps) but this type of shoot is for another day) Lee
Dec 21, 2018 14:13:29 #
Having learned photography in the film age, I understand the concept of manual metering and the triangle. When in manual on my Sony A58 I have trouble switching the control from aperture to shutter speed. What I have found, however, is that using A or S mode gives me the same manual control to either emphasize depth of field with aperture or using the appropriate shutter setting for the effect I want. Then by bracketing my shots I get good exposure. Occasionally I will also use the exposure compensation to increase of decrease the exposure. ISO is, of course, part of the equation, but I usually set that at the start of a session based on the lighting.
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