Manual vs. Aperture Priority vs. Program

How many of you shoot manual all the time, especially at weddings?

I find it rather difficult to use manual in a fast past situation

like a wedding as I'm constantly trying to make my exposure correct

which seems to cause me to "miss the moment" and I still have to

make corrections in Photoshop.

 

I'm not asking what type camera you use, just want to know what you

setting you shoot a wedding on.

I only whoot manual when I'm using flash. Typically I'll shoot 1/30th at 5.6 with TTL flash. The flash will give me the correct exposure and the slower shutter speed will let a little more ambient light in. If I'm shooting formals in a church with a tripod, I will cut down my shutter speed even more so I'm relying more on the ambient light than my flash. It looks more natural. When I'm not using flash I always shoot in Aperture mode. I never shoot Shutter or Program mode.

With flash or without, depending on the situation, I shoot either Aperture Priority or Manual.

Setting it on "P" and going has burned me by wrecking the highlights. fortunately, I learned this NOT at a wedding. :)

90% Aperture mode. I only use Manual for posed shots when they are not moving around on me!

Church or reception where the light is consistant - Manual

 

Fast pace working with Inside Inconsistant light (Venue with seveal rooms etc...) - Aperature AV

 

Outside - Aperature AV

 

I work with 10D's and have found that when working with the 550 flash system, the exposures are alomst always better when in Manual, therefore i try to meter the light correctly and stay in Manual inside as much as i can.

 

P - never - i do not think auto can match my vision.

I sometimes will use my Vivitar 283 or 2500 flashes on auto but the cameras are full manual. The flash can be set to give a bit of underexposure so it really IS just fill. I use the Sto-Fen Omni Bounce or a small bounce card on the flash head and rarely ever use direct flash. The idea is to get to the point where your eyes, hands, and brain are your "automatic mode" and you are past the point of having to think about every move you make. You just do it.

I'm learning wedding photography, but I've found my best results come from using manual mode with flash indoors (and understanding how the flash/ambient balance thing works), and aperture priority outside, varying exposure compensation or flash exposure compensation as necessary.

 

Using manual inside is pretty straightforward and you should not need to alter your settings much unless you've got strong contrasts in lighting situations (spotlights or direct window light). Remember your camera's meter is not the same as a proper light meter - so if you point it at the back of a tuxedoed man it'll tell you to change settings significantly from when you had it zoomed out and taking in the scenery a few moments ago. Chances are that the correct exposure is the same, however.

 

Apologies if you already knew this.

 

Since starting to learn photography seriously 2 years ago, I have never used program mode, even to pass the camera to others to take photos.

I should Aperture Priority most of the time unless I know there is a scene the camera will no interpret correctly; then I go manual or do an EV adjustment.

After reading the notes that people posted from the WPPI convention, I did my last two weddings mostly in manual. I found I got more predictable results, and I was more conscience about letting in the ambient light. I find on available light shots if I shoot in P or A, my camera gives me shutterspeeds that I can't hand hold. When shooting in manual, I was much more aware of this and made sure watched for it.<div></div>

Indoors, my camera is usually in manual mode, with the flash on TTL or auto-f/stop exposure mode. Outdoors, in manual or aperture priority mode.

 

Russ<div></div>

With flash indoors I mostly use manual, as others have mentioned. When outdoors I sometimes switch to shutter priority to get higher sync speed and smaller depth of field.

 

When not using flash I use mostly aperture-priority. Except in complicated lighting situations and when I have time I again use manual.

 

But this seems too simple of an answer. Because you also have to factor in what metering modes one uses, what ISO, tripod or not, additional flashes, and on and on.

Indoors - Manual w/flash, usually 1/30 @f4. Flash compensation for white dress/black tux. Formals sometimes to get more ambient light as slow as 1/10 on a tripod. F5.6 ~ f8 for large group formals.

 

Outdoors - Av w/fill flash, camera and/or flash compensation for scene.

 

P mode - never.

 

What Todd & Nancy said!

 

Cliff

Manual }}}} ALWAYS

Most of the time I photograph in manual. I take a few incident meter readings before hand and set the SB800 to TTL-BL. I adjust the camera based around the incident reading in the spot that I am shooting in. The flash in TTL-BL is accurate enough to make up for any small exposure variations.

Always in manual when using medium format for posed shots - there's no substitute for the box between your ears - and a mix of manual and AP when shooting with 35mm on the hoof.

All manual set with a hand meter, including flash. Unfortuantely, most are scanned from a 4X6 or 2X3 photo > since we include all of our negs/prints in the service.

www.cjogo.com

98 percent manual. 2 percent AV.

For 10 years I shot with a Canon F-1.. Manual Meter, focus, flash! It really became second nature. Now I shoot with Canon 1V's - believe it or not I do shoot outdoors on P with flash comp for fill. In low light outdoors I shoot manual and in church and low light receptions I often shoot manual.

Very interesting. Do most of you take a reading from a light meter and go from there? I use my camera metering to tell me what to shoot on.

Mark, good to see another North Carolina resident on this forum! I'm in Winston-Salem.

When I try to shoot on manual my camera meters all over the place telling me to change my settings constantly and I feel like my setting buttons are going to fall off because I'm trying to make everything center up correctly constantly. I should probably just purchase a light meter and take a reading from that to get my exposure instead of relying on my camera to do it for me, huh?

Sandra, I make several incident readings in various areas around a location when I first get there. I like to use a Weston Master V because there's no battery to worry about but it won't read in very low light. I also have a Gossen Luna Pro and a Minolta Autometer, but that thing is HUGE, better suited to the studio. Essentially what I'm trying to do is measure the LIGHT, not how bright the scene is. That can vary from lights or windows in the picture, or how much bridal gown or tuxedo is in the frame. On the rare occasion I do use a behind the lens meter I mostly try to get readings off the palm of my hand in the same light as the subject. If you're shooting film fudge in the direction of slight over exposure, perhaps half to a full stop.

I use an incident handheld meter. You can use the in-camera meter if you know what it is doing and why. Pick a method and study.

P mode always, thats why my finger lives on the shift wheel. I can always adjust the shutter speed/aperture to what I want. AV mode with flash so I can control of fill. I find it the fastest way to operate with my equipment

You don't have to shoot in manual mode all the time. For example outside in you would constantly have to keep adjusting things as your subects would often be in different light some in shadow some in sun. I use Apeture Priority most of the time outside. And set the flash if needed to the correct setting. Inside manual works better for me when the light levels are low. I may set something like 1/30sec F5.6 and the flash to what I want. I use an auto apeture flash a Metz 45 CL1 I find that often I have to set the flash to f8 as white objects, furnishing, glass and just about everything else bright will cause it to underexpose.