Hello Ladies and Germs,

I have Been taking photos using manual for a short period of time. I guess a couple months now. I went to a wedding this Sat. with our camera. I had a little hope that the skills I have been studying might show up in the photos I captured. Sadly it was an unhappy result. I was not doing this for anyone but my experience. Nobody was counting on me but me. Most all photos taken in auto were satisfactory to Good. Most of the manual focus photos I took were out of focus blurred or otherwise virtually unusable. When in live view the screen looked acceptable for taking but end result was not. I did not use a tripod at all as I did not want to interfere with the real photographer. I believe there was vibration or movement showing in some of the photos but not all and none when in auto. Needless to say I am disappointed that even a modicum of competence was not displayed in my endeavor. Lighting was horrible but not an excuse. Just venting frustration.
Have a good day

From a standpoint of EXPRESSION, your instincts were spot-on. In candid or causal portraiture, when you see the "look" and the expression you want to capture you shoot and ask questions later. Once you have that expression under you belt, there MAY be time to refine the lighting, pose or whatever else you want to improve upon. Some folks are camera shy or do not easily relax in front of a camera so too much fussing and re-adjusting may never replace a totally natural and lovely expression- like the one you have captured.

It is entirely possible to create classic and extremely elegant portrait with simple light sources- North skylight from a window is one of my favorites. Since we can't move the light source around the subject, we need to move the subject into the desired lighting pattern and create the lighting style that we want. This may entail moving the subject closer or further from the source- closer is softer and further will bring on more contrast. You may have to seat the subject or get them standing in order to control the vertical orientation, that is, like in a studio situation you would be able to move you main light up or does tho control the direction of the shadows. There of course, the lateral potion and the angle at which the light strikes the subject is controlled by turning the subject toward or away form the light source. When you make theses changes, however, the camera position has to be shifted to accommodate the view of the face that you wish photograph- full face,2/3 or profile. You must also coordinate all of this with the background.

Tutorial is being prepared.