markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

A great response SS. I might suggest, araia, consider purchasing or borrowing from a library, a book on Exposure. There are many available. http://www.bestphotographybooks.com/technique/exposure/. You might also use the search tool of UHH. There are a host of posts on a given topic. Of course youtube offers many videos too. There are an unlimited number of learning tools available to you.
Good luck and enjoy learning your DSLR.
Mark

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I do not seem to understand very well your description for Manual Mode. When the camera is set to Manual Mode you have to select aperture and shutter speed. Setting the ISO manually is what I do even if I am in an AUTO mode.
In Manual Mode if you select the aperture the camera will not set the shutter speed (metering) that is something that you have to do. I am assuming you understand the basics of exposure because otherwise we are not going to understand each other.
You do not have to use Manual Mode always. You can use shutter priority if shutter speed is your main concern or aperture priority if you want to give good use to the depth of field. I seldom use Program.
My favorite setting is Aperture Priority but I also use Manual Mode when conditions call for it.
One way or another I recommend that you learn exposure.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

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Well stated there "SS"...

I might add to this by saying to make use of the "Aperture Priority" mode. This will show you the differences of the "f - Stop" and how they relate to making any image with any camera. Here is where You set the ISO (depending on the Light that you are capturing) .. And You select the f-stop you wish to use (this depends on what lenses you are making use of) .. And the Shutter Speed is selected By The Internal Workings of The Camera.

You will take not of the Focal areas of WHERE You focus and as to what f-stop you have selected. (I would keep notes if I where you = to help you understand what you are doing).... Take notice that the "Larger" Number of f-stops the "Smaller" the hole... f-22 on most lenses with give you very in-focused sharp image capture. Where as the Lower Number will give you a "selective" area = What You have focused on will be In Focus.... Everything around it will be Off-Focus and blurred.

OKay .. That was a hurried and not very way of saying what to do --- It would be Best for you to get Bryan Peterson's great book "Understanding Exposure".

See this and get a copy::

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1607748509/ref=sr_1_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474983396&sr=1-1&keywords=understanding+exposure

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Pat yourself on the back for taking the step to shoot manually!

I highly recommend reading everything you can on the zone system. Using a camera in manual mode is easiest if you use either a hand-held spot meter, or the internal one in the camera. I would concentrate on reading the brightest areas in the image where you want to keep detail, and adding 1-1/3 stops to your camera's reading. The amount of exposure adjustment can either be higher or lower depending on the camera. This will ensure the most exposure without losing highlight detail, and it will ALWAYS provide the best exposure on a digital camera. But this is an oversimplification - you should become familiar with the zone system.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

As an officially old guy I can jump in here. When I started there was only manual mode, no automatic anything. Shutter priority meant you just set the speed and didn't change it. ISO was the number written on the film canister. The strobe was a fat flashbulb in your coat pocket.
Now shooting Manual I set ISO and speed and F-stop based on the situation and experience. The meter tells me if the exposure is correct. Experience says what finger to use to either change the speed or the shutter. And up the ISO as the last resort.
For people just learning I suggest the dreaded "AUTO MODE". Work on composition and timing and straight horizons and look at the information the camera sets for photos. Once you get more experience then start with various priorities and perhaps even manual if you want to take a trip down memory lane. There are areas of photography where manual is right but you'll see them as you progress.

Quixdraw Loc: x

We have wonderful technology available built in to our cameras, it is there to be used. P, S, A, or M, even the Scenes and Effects. Personally the first four usually do the trick for me, but I wouldn't hesitate to use the others. Having learned when manual was most of what was available, I don't believe I would care to regress to that. At the end of it all, it is about getting good photos and enjoying the process. Manual only? I don't think so. A few can use manual and match the speed and outcomes of the new tech, and may enjoy it. Most necessarily miss some shots because unless a photographer is very well practiced, it is a slower method. Depending on subject matter, that may be unimportant. I shoot virtually every kind of subject, and try to select the best tool for the task.

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

Some people believe that you have to use manual mode to be a true photographer. Wrong. You should use the method that suits you and the pictures you plan to take. Regardless of the method you choose, the goal is to have a properly exposed image that displays the image you are shooting for. It may have a shallow depth of filed, it may freeze action, it may be dark and gloomy. There is no preferred method. You should learn how your camera responds to various situations and choose the method that meets your needs. I generally select the ISO manually and shoot aperture priority as I am most interested in controlling the depth of field. I usually shoot flash manually as I want to control the shutter speed depending on the available light.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

araia I also have a D7100 body... acquired after years of experience with a D7000 (who's feature set and controls are very similar)
In my work a client's needs drive camera's configuration... And I cherish the entire suite of options available...

You have stated "Depending on the condition of the light when I choose F-stop and minimum ISO, I am relying on the camera indicator for the Shutter speed, (metering) to be at zero, and then shoot photos"

But fail to mention the genre, venue, client expectations and other pertinent parameters in the mix... Without knowing these any attempt to provide explicit guidance is merely conjecture... and doesn't likely warrant serious consideration...

Case in point: I have a lot of sports gigs i.e. fast action which benefit from burst mode (the CH settings on the Release Mode Dial).
The Nikon D7100 is crippled with a small buffer which chokes after 1 second! To this end I set my RAW to 12 bit to extract 12 rather than 8 images before the buffer fills... btw, Nikon realized that this was a major deal breaker for the D7100 and corrected the issue in the D7200 which can now buffer 18 images in 14 bit RAW and 27 in 12 bit RAW... araia the devil is in the details... Read/understand the manual...

As for shooting styles? Where to you want to go? As you can sermonize from the myriad of responses to your query there are quite a few "favorite configurations" and each will be fiercely defended by those who use them...

Best guess? If you have lot's of daylight to mitigate camera shake and subject movement then the sunny 16 rule will work (provided that the sun isn't dancing in and out of clouds) Since you are choosing Aperture Mode I can only assume you endeavor to control DOF for creative effect... Manual Mode works well here also and I use it often shooting sports albeit if the sky is even the least bit tricked out with cloud then I'll deploy auto ISO with a shutter speed range germane to my genre...

As many have already said... Tenure comes with experience... and every genre is different... In time you will find your voice and become one with you camera provided you take you work seriously...

My question to you is: Can you find all the controls on your D7100 without looking at the camera? Do you know precisely where in the Menu Tree to instantly find each and every critical feature? There are no substitutes for hands on time with your kit... A camera is no different than a violin... only with years of dedicated study can one even hope to master it at a level of proficiency necessary to work at a commercial level...

Hope this helps or is at least food for thought...
Enjoy your journey

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

In order to properly use any mode it is necessary to understand the relationship of what I call the holy trinity, f-stop or aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The proper combination of those three is necessary to obtain the proper exposure. Each influences the amount of light captured, but impacts the image obtained in a unique way.

F-stop has a large impact on depth of field, which is the range of distances in focus. The larger the number (which is the smaller the lens opening) the more is in focus. A large number is good for landscapes to keep the most in focus, a small number is good for portraits to blur the background.
Shutter speed has a major influence on stopping action, or blurring (as in a creek).
ISO can be used to balance the other 2, but the more it is increased, the more it will add "noise".

My first "automatic" camera had only one automatic mode, shutter speed preferred. I chose this type to help insure minimizing shake due to hand motion. I chose a speed adequate for that and let the camera choose the aperture (F-Stop) appropriate for the film speed (ISO).

Once you become experienced in these concepts, then you would need to learn when you need to intentionally increase or decrease the amount of light captured, or the exposure rather than accept what the camera metering indicates. I think that is best left for the future.

Dbez1 Loc: Ford City, PA

Hello Araia. You have received some excellent advice. Some possible reasons for using manual mode are:
1. If you NEED to control BOTH shutter speed and aperture.
2. If you are good enough to select both BETTER than the creators of your fine camera.
3. If you want to learn the "basics " or just appreciate the challenge.

Keep in mind that you also have the option of auto aperture on your D7100, even in manual mode. As others have said, don't neglect the other modes available to you, thinking that you can only create great photographs in manual mode. Most of all, have fun!

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Everyone has an opinion, especially on THIS subject, so here is mine.

I am a proponent of using whatever mode works best for the situation.

If I want to control DOF I use Aperture Priority and just ensure that the resulting shutter speed is high enough to stop motion blur that can arise from either subject motion or camera movement. When I do scenery/landscape shots I invariably use a tripod with the self-timer or remote shutter release, I set ISO to 100, and I don't worry about shutter speed for the most part. If the wind is strong and gusty I will raise ISO to allow a faster shutter speed.

If I know that I have to freeze movement I go with Shutter priority and set ISO to the lowest value that will give enough DOF for the image.

If I don't care too much about either DOF or freezing action, and if there is plenty of light and the lighting is not "tricky", then I will comfortably use Program mode.

I find that when things are REALLY challenging in terms of lighting and I REALLY want the shot and I DON'T have time to fiddle with settings and multiple takes, AUTO will do the job best. In full AUTO mode the camera will assess the scene against its database of images and select a scene mode it thinks is appropriate (landscape, portrait, macro, sunset, etc). It will also apply a host of other settings automatically (colour cast, sharpening, bias toward shutter or aperture as deemed appropriate, ISO, etc) that gives me a surprisingly good image most of the time. There are very few times when AUTO results in a poor image, and it is usually because the ISO ended up at 3200... but I got the picture.

The mode I use least, if at all, is full MANUAL. In my (emphasis on MY) shooting situations I just do not have the time to manually adjust all of the exposure parameters. In fact, if I do take the time to do anything manually it is to set the focus carefully using the 9X live view magnification.

I can see manual exposure as being very helpful in a studio setup where you know the lighting arrangement and you have decided on the the subject and background lighting balance. When the setup changes between poses the internal meter can easily be fooled by changes in subject location or other things in the FOV. For example, if you have chosen the exposure settings to give a good skin rendition and the subject stays in the same position wrt the light sources, then you don't want exposure to change as a function of clothing or other props that may come and go into the FOV. Similarly for outside conditions where some things change and others don't. For example, if doing a wedding shoot you may want the bride's skin and dress to maintain the same exposure regardless of whether her bridesmaids/family members are in pink, red, yellow, green or blue dresses, or whether the groom and groomsmen are in light grey or black suits. So I see MANUAL mode as most useful where you want to maintain shot-to-shot consistency in some critical aspect of the image.

Most people who advocate shooting in manual mode are still using a light meter as a guide to exposure. It could be an external meter, or the one internal to the camera. If the result is not quite what they want they tweak the settings slightly from the meter-recommended. If you do not tweak, you will likely be dialing in the EXACT SAME f-stop/shutter combination that the camera would be using on any of the assisted modes, so why not just go with the assisted modes? And if you want to tweak a little you can do it with the exposure compensation setting. In the end, it does not matter how you arrive at the ISO/f-stop/shutter speed settings that give the desired results.

In the good old days the photographer could (had to) truly set f-stop and shutter speed manually; you rotated the aperture ring on the lens and the iris diameter actually changed; you "cocked" the shutter by actually rewinding the shutter spring; and you set the shutter speed by selecting the gear drive train and/or the mechanical delay between front and rear curtain release. Today's cameras are designed with electronically controlled diaphragms and shutters, so when you exercise manual control over them you are simply electronically dialing in what you want the camera to do with that parameter. It is, and always has been, impossible to see the impact of shutter speed in advance. And the effects of f-stop selection on the image are only viewable in a stopped-down mode if that is available on your camera. All of the bells and whistles that are associated with scene modes and other features (panorama stitching; auto-bracketing; rapid fire; etc) are nothing more than software-driven selection of the control parameters. These cost the manufacturer almost nothing to include, but you probably paid for them as an added feature, so why not use your camera to its capacity?

Again, in MY opinion, Manual mode is just ONE of the many options available on modern cameras. It takes a bit more effort to use, but it does give you total control over your image and the final result, good or bad. It puts you in charge, but it also makes you responsible for any screw-ups.

There is a notion (false, in MY opinion) that you are not a true master of photography until you have mastered using MANUAL mode. My take is that ONLY using Manual mode on a modern camera is a cop-out -- it shows that you have not mastered your camera!!!

jrh1354 Loc: Dayton, Ohio

I would suggest that you get a copy of David Bush's Nikon D7100 Guide (https://www.amazon.com/Busch%E2%80%99s-Digital-Photography-Buschs-Guides/dp/1285763092/ref=sr_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474989790&sr=1-20&keywords=david+busch). David writes in very clear language and actually helps you to understand how to use the variuous camera functions based on what you are shooting.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

Lot's of good advice has been given here. I have one suggestion that surprisingly was missed and that is to keep using aperture as you have comfort with it and learn to use exposure compensation to "adjust" the camera metering. The most obvious place to use it is when shooting into the light and your camera is likely to expose for the larger bright background often leaving your subject dark or silhouetted. Increasing the exposure with exposure compensation will further brighten the background and take your subject from dark to a more proper exposure.

TheDman Loc: USA

I normally shoot manual when I'm doing landscapes on a tripod and aperture priority when I'm doing action/sports, but I often just leave it in aperture even when I'm doing landscapes and dial the exposure compensation up or down as needed. The only reason I switch to manual is because exposure compensation is limited to + or - 3, and I sometimes go beyond that. But otherwise, sticking to one mode and having it become second nature is a great way to start, because when you're shooting you want to be concentrating on your composition, the changing light, etc, not on how to operate your camera.

I also wouldn't get bogged down with ETTR/EBTR/other acronyms. That can just make shooting seem like a complicated mess when it's actually very simple. That stuff is for photo forum geeks; none of the top landscape shooters worry about exposing to the right. They just shoot good exposures and work from there.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

ISO controls sensitivity to light. Low ISO is smooth, colorful, "grainless". High ISO is flat, with muted colors and noise. Everything in between is a compromise.

Shutter speed controls how long the light hits the sensor. It also controls action-stopping ability, or blur. Slow speeds like 1 second let in a lot of light, but blur motion. Fast speeds, like 1/250 and shorter, let in less total light, but stop action sharply. The faster the action, the faster the shutter speed you need to stop it, if you want to stop it.

Aperture controls depth of field — how much of a scene is in acceptable focus from front to back. The aperture also controls the amount of light coming through the lens at a given point in time. Wide open apertures yield shallow depth of field and allow faster shutter speeds and lower ISO. Tiny apertures achieve lots of depth of field, but at THREE costs — less light reaches the film at a given point in time, so you must increase exposure with shutter speed reduction or ISO increase, or both. And at some point, stopping down displays visible "diffraction", or a softening of the entire image, no matter how much is technically in focus due to high depth of field.

For every scene, you need to adjust the aperture and shutter to balance the light level to the camera or film's sensitivity (ISO). EXPOSURE is controlled by three things:

How much light falls on your subject
Aperture
Shutter Speed

Sensitivity to light (ISO) can be a balancing factor, but technically does not affect EXPOSURE.

Your meter is stupid. It sees the world as GRAY, not black or white, so it will make coal medium gray, and snow medium gray, unless you meter a suitable reference target.

A close reading of your camera manual (20-30 minutes of study per page, the first time!) will give you a DEEP understanding of its controls and their capabilities. Practice will commit this understanding to memory. Go to the camera manufacturer's web site and download it to your computer and/or smartphone.