Making the jump from auto to manual?

dr gonzo

As a few of you know from my other thread im a complete beginner in many ways, i feel like i have a good eye for photography and people seem to be impressed with some of the photos ive taken in the past but im clueless about the technical aspect of it and invariably, despite my good camera, stick to the auto option (hence the title). I am however both sick of this and going away to an area with a lot of cultural and natural beauty so nows the time i would like to start making the most of my interest in photography. I'm confident enough ill come back with decent shots but i'd love to get a little advice on how to take great photos.

So any advice appreciated, what kind of things do you need to know to make the move from auto to manual, what are peoples favourite settings or techniques etc.

Obviously you can also tell me to feck off if this sounds like a lot of work.

Paulw

Try moving from Auto to Aperture Priority (Av). Look back at your previous good photos. What aperture were they taken at?

Work out the apertures to get the type of images you like - shallow depth of field (f/2.8) or wide depth of field (landscapes f/22).

That's the easiest step to progress, I found.

dazftw

Just switch it to manual and shoot shoot shoot. Only way to learn if you dont want to read a book.

Shutter speed and Aperture work together most of the time. Your ISO will affect this also but it doesn't really work together with the other two.

This is real handy for explaining how they work together:

http://www.photographyuncapped.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Ken-Storch-The-Lists--ISO-Shutter-Speeds-Fstops.gif

As for taking great photos.. It all depends on what you want to shoot.

Like paul said if you're shooting landscapes stick with a high aperture this in turn will mean you have to have a slower shutter speed (depending on how bright it is out) so a tripod is essential as well.

charybdis

There are two things you need to learn to shoot in manual exposure mode: exposure and metering.

Exposure is simple enough once you read about it specifically. Metering is also quite simple to understand, but requires that you understand slightly more abstract concepts like dynamic range.

I'm a big proponent of shooting in manual exposure mode for the purposes of learning about exposure and improving your photography. Many people advocate aperture priority, which isn't really a means of controlling exposure and isn't much different from green box or program mode when used in the same way.

I suggest you learn about manipulating exposure and the effects your decisions have on the resulting images, then switch to using manual exposure mode with spot metering and learn to makes decisions about how to expose an image based on your decisions about how you think it should be done.

dr gonzo

dazftw wrote: »

Like paul said if you're shooting landscapes stick with a high aperture this in turn will mean you have to have a slower shutter speed (depending on how bright it is out) so a tripod is essential as well.

Thanks for the link but youve mentioned something thats always confused me when tinkering with manual mode. The shutter speed controls the exposure i.e the amount of light entering the lens but does the aperture not do the same thing? In other words im confused as to what scenario would dictate the control of exposure by adjusting the aperture over the shutter speed?

dazftw

dr gonzo wrote: »

Thanks for the link but youve mentioned something thats always confused me when tinkering with manual mode. The shutter speed controls the exposure i.e the amount of light entering the lens but does the aperture not do the same thing? In other words im confused as to what scenario would dictate the control of exposure by adjusting the aperture over the shutter speed?

The aperture is the opening in the lens, so this controls the amount of light hitting the sensor. The shutter speed controls whether or not the image will be blurred or sharp. (It would control the amount of light getting in as well but we will just say the aperture controls that to keep it simple.)

You're taking a photo of a landscape, for arguments we'll say a river in a lightly covered wood.

Basically you should have an idea whether you want it to have it sharp or have the water show motion blur so it looks like liquid.

Some very rough settings could be:

If you want it sharp:

1/125th of a second and up
F/2.8 - F/8
ISO 800 - 1600


If you want it blurred:

1 second - 30seconds
F/8 - F/32
ISO 100 - 800

It probably makes zero sense. Its one of those things that 90% of new photographers have trouble learning. You just need to be shown or you just need to get out and practise practise practise.

Aperture
Shutter Speed

-Work together, if you change one you more than likely will have to change the other.

ISO

- Affects how they work together by using different settings.

Just did a wee bit of googling and turned up this:

http://silverstrandphoto.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/tuesday%E2%80%99s-tips-tricks-shutter-aperture-together/

Its got handy diagrams to explain how they work together.

CabanSail

It would probably be best to read a book like Understanding Exposure to get to a good grip on things.

There are three ways that you can control the amount of light reaching the sensor/film.

1/ Aperture
2/ Shutter Speed
3/ Filters

The Aperture does this by making a hole physically larger/smaller. The secondary effect of this is a change in the depth of field.

The Shutter will open for different lengths of time. The longer it's open the more light will get through. The secondary effect here is blur or lack of.

Filters attach to the lens and will reduce the light by attenuation. This can vary from being all light and whole frame (ND) or partial frame (NDG) or specific type of light (eg. CPL).

These factors have to be balanced to get the correct amout of light to suit the sensititivity of the film/sensor. The more sensitivity the more grain/noise will be seen.

You have to balance all these items to produce the image you are trying to achieve.

dr gonzo

Thanks for the excellent info everyone, thanks especially to Dazftw and CabanSail for clearing up that aperture/shutter confusion for me. Now i just need to start practicing. :cool: