SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

You were almost. Yes, there three settings that control exposure, shutter, aperature and ISO. There is no fourth. Intended exposure level is NOT a setting. It’s what you are trying to achieve by adjusting those three, based on the illumination of the scene. And true, 18% gray is not correct for every scene. Nobody said the correct exposure was 18% gray.

clickety

Post Deleted

😵

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

And that would be correct. Your brain tells you "This aperture" followed by your looking at the metering. Based on curves or EVF along with your experience, you decide if the meter is correct for the shutter and ISO. If the meter is correct and the shutter and ISO will not give you what you want you change both to what you need. If the meter is not correct, you ignore the meter's "correct" exposure, and change either or both the shutter and ISO to what you need. How you change the shutter and ISO depends on what controls one has on one's camera. EC is an easy way to let the camera optimize the exposure for the camera even if it is under or over what the meter says. Or it can be changed to total manual by controlling the shutter and ISO individually. Choosing the "A" is exactly the same first manual mode step of choosing what is the most inportant factor of what one is shooting. Obviously, for you, aperture is the most important factor for what you shoot.

From a techincal point of view, all photographers eventually set the aperture, shutter, and ISO at some value based off a light value, based off of one's eye experience or metered value, and one of the camera modes. Which mode - Ai, P, A, S or T, M, C1, C2, C3, etc. - is best for the photographer and the situation, is best determined by one's experience and no one else's. It is always what works the quickest for one to capture the moment.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Shooting manual puts you in charge of your image making. This will slow you down and it allows you to think about what you are doing.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

But that can also make one miss the moment which may never occur again. One must be smart enough to know when manual mode will not succeed in capturing the moment.

BlackRipleyDog

When shooting a series of shots to merge into a panoramic, I lock the exposure manually so each frame is identical by first metering on the brightest part of the scene. I also disable the AF and the Auto-ISO. I also use a prime lens as I could accidentally tweak the zoom ring. So nothing changes when I make my sweep as you would see the gradient shift from one frame to next otherwise. I extensively refer to the Histogram during post.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

Manual allows you to control the look of the photographic.
Live View is great in previewing what you shot will look like.
For me their is no right exposure. It is what I choose it to be.

Years ago with film I never thought we would ever able to
view what our final shot would look like after processing.
I match the needle on aperture and maybe over or under
expose for the look I wanted knowing the Nikon look.

I am shooting a promotion documentary for a upscale ballet
school. This shot was video and frames exstracted for PR. If I followed
the camera's settings I could never achieve this washed out
look which the client loves. Shoot for the look you like.
Good luck.

(Download)


(Download)

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Going back to my film days, when my lenses had aperture rings, I shot aperture priority even if I wanted a particular shutter speed for a shot. Since the film speed was constant for any one roll I could control everything with my left hand and not have to fiddle with any other controls.

Stephan G

Allow me to amend your contention. "One must be smart enough knowing how to use their equipment to succeed in capturing the moment."

Shooting in Auto modes does not guarantee success on its own. It depends greatly on the photographer understanding the various modes. More critical to the equation is when to shoot. That requires experience. Many of us older guys started shooting with purely manual cameras.

There is a distinction that needs to be made. We use the equipment based on our need and desired results. We know when to use the jeweler's hammer, when to use the sledge, and when to use the power pile driver. To demand that the power pile driver is the only equipment that will allow us to get that little rock smashed is erroneous. The same thing with photography. It is based on the experience and knowledge of the operator. There are results from pinhole cameras that provide a wide range of captures without the benefit of automation.

The success of getting "the moment" is to know when to push the shutter button. You can miss the moment very well with any auto setting just as you can with manual mode. If you want to capture "the moment", you should work with a video camera (Or Video mode). You may have a chance then.

srt101fan

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

You understand the point I was making. Knowledge / experience and understanding your camera's abilities / limitations is vital to one's successful photography.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yeah, thanks. Often, people get so caught up in the process of balancing ISO against exposure time and aperture that they forget it's all about the volume and qualities of the LIGHT they're working with.

Mastery of the photographic process is complex. It is a helluva lot deeper than many people realize, or can grasp. That's one of the principal reasons why automation is so popular. It provides an illusion of relieving ourselves from responsibility for the outcome.

ialvarez50

Hello Jim1938,

If you don’t mind I would like to explain to you how people that shoot in manual mode do it or at least, this is how they should do it. First of all back when I use to do everything with film I used Canon F1 cameras with a motor drive attached to it because I use to do a lot sports, later I change that for the Canon EOS 1V, exceptional cameras. The F1 has been my favorite camera to use because of the simplicity that now is lost in cameras. Back then whatever film I used in the camera I would always cut the ASA in half for better exposure. My prefer film was Tri-X Pro which had an ASA of 320 and I use it at 160. This of course would allow me to have every negative overexposed by one stop. The F1 had several features but I use it all in manual mode this way.

1. Set the ASA in half of the normal ASA.
2. Set the shutter speed to 1/1000 of a second (My preferred shutter speed whenever possible)
3. Used all prime lenses with maximum apertures of f/2.8 or faster. By the way, back then, I use fixed focus length lenses and no zoom, they are always faster.
4. Always make sure to follow the light meter by changing the apertures of the lens only.
5. Focus and shoot. Very simple!

Of course things have change now with these digital wonders that they make now days. So now shooting in manual mode it means to use everything in manual and not in auto anything. It means that you know enough of photography to create the images with the knowledge you have in photography and not the people that programmed the camera for the user. It’s just a matter of pride by doing everything yourself. So, my camera of choice nowadays is Canon 5D Mark III, I set it up this way.

1. Mode, Manual or shutter speed priority.
2. ISO never higher than 400, if you know what you are doing there is no need, even at night.
3. White balance, Daylight to capture the color of light the way it really is. This allows me to get a cinematic look in my photos.
4. Focusing in AI Servo, my eyes are not what they use to be.
5. Picture styles, Landscape for better contrast.
6. File type, always RAW

As you can see, in digital cameras is a bit more to set up but no one has to do this every time. To take the pictures all I have to do is to set an aperture or shutter speed, depending on the situation, and use the other to set the correct setting in the light meter. Taking pictures in manual mode is very easy for anyone if the person takes the time to learn it. Again, decide what is important for a particular shot, aperture or shutter speed, set it in the camera and just use the other to control the light meter. No big deal.
Again, some people just want to have total control. In my case I take a lot of photos in the studio and out of the studio and I like to teach all of it to my students.

Cheers Jim.

LMurray Loc: North Orange County, CA

Of course all of those examples were true in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's when most of us were shooting manual cameras ie focus manually, set aperature and speed manually. I started shooting auto in the 90's. Auto cameras have only been around for what 20 years or so?

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

SLRs with aperture and shutter priority showed up in the late '70s.