Help Me Get Out of Auto!

[jennifer_gilliland]

<p>Hi All!<br>

I am a total newbie to dSLR photography. I have always loved taking pictures , but have gotten more and more interested in photography, especially now that I have a beautiful 18 month old son as my primary subject! I got so sick of missing shots due to shutter lag with my point and shoot! I did tons of research before finally deciding on the entry level Nikon d3000. I did not really have the budget for a higher end camera, and this seemed very well suited to a beginner. I also didn't want too much camera when my skills were at a novice level. I have also been reading like crazy (Understanding Exposure, The Digital Photography Book, numerous articles from this website, and the David Busch guide to my camera), and have watched the Magic Lantern dvd a couple of times. And of course taking tons of pictures! <strong>That being said, I feel like I'm on information overload, and would love some beginner "assignments" to get me out of the auto modes. Any suggestions?</strong> <strong>Here's what I have: Nikon d3000 with 18-55VR, 55-200VR, and SB 400. Also considering getting the 35mm1.8, as I heard it was great for indoor shots and portraits. Thoughts on that? </strong> Thank you in advance for your responses! One of the reasons I chose to join this forum over others, is after reading dozens of posts, I was duly impressed by the thoughtfulness put into the responses.<br>

P.S. I'm also curious what you feel a good basic editing program would be? I am not the kind of person who will spend hours on the computer, so ease of use will be important. I've heard a lot about Lightroom 2, Capture NX and Photoshop Elements 8. I can get pretty deep discounts on Elements and Lightroom 2 as I'm a teacher. Or are these too much for a beginner?? I have just been using Picasa 3 (for a frame of reference).</p>

[Leonard-just-Leonard]

<p>Pick one thing and learn it inside out. Then move to the next so you are not overwhelmed.</p>

<p>For example, start by experimenting with Shutter Speed and do a lot of test shots to see the effects. Then leave that alone and go to Aperature and see how f2.8 gives nice Depth of Field and experiment all the way up to F16 and compare the results.</p>

<p>Try using Spot metering next instead of the auto mode and see how much better you can shoot a dark subject against a brightly lit background and so on.</p>

<p>Smaller controllable and measurable tests will make it much, much easier to master all different aspects than changing many variables every time.</p>

[tommyinca]

<p>Try put away the 18-55, 55-200, SB400 and keep the on-board flash closed for a week or 2 and force yourself to use your new to be 35/1.8. This will force you to consider lighting around you. Go use ISO that you normally didn't consider. See how movement turn in to motion blur. Walk closer to your subject and see a different perspective. Explore the effect of aperture to background blur and isolation. You may even learn a new Japanese words call "Bokeh" :-)</p>

[mac_mcanirlin]

<p>There really is not that much wrong with shooting auto, I believe with most cameras you can override the in the P mode to get more flexibility, (on my D80 you rotate the command dial and it will change the shutter speed and the F stop, but keep them correct for exposure) It shows as P*on the display. That way if the camera chooses 200 F8, you can then select a faster shutter speed or a smaller F stop if you are shooting in the dimmer light, 1000 f4 for example. <br>

That is the easiest way to get more control that going completely manual. Once you do that, if you find that you need more control and are more familiar with what you want, you can select full manual mode for those situations.</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>Okay, step number one: reach up with your finger and push that mode knob from Auto to anything else. You can do it. I have confidence in you.</p>

<p>Aahhh. Doesn't that feel much better? Sure it does.</p>

<p>Now that it's off of Auto, how about some suggestions about what to pick?</p>

<ul>

<li>Auto to Program (green square-type icon). Program is <em>very close to, but not quite </em>auto. Program modes usually allow you to customize one or two aspects of the image. Like, make the picture's recording parameters in the menu set to black and white (monochrome). This way you can use the computer to act <em>like it was on auto</em>, but with a touch of customizing.</li>

<li>Auto to Shutter Priority (Tv; sometimes marked or called "Tv" because you are selecting "Time Value" of the exposure function). This lets you pick what shutter speed you want for certain situations, but will cause the computer to use its understanding of what's going on to balance out the rest of the exposure. Shutter priority is great for beginners as a step up to full manual control because it's relatively easy for us to look at a situation and understand: fast, medium or slow moving action (and therefore, shutter speed choices).</li>

<li>Auto to Aperture Priority (Av; aperture value); this is the other main third of things. With this one, <em>you decide</em> how intense the light recorded will be, by selecting the aperture. The computer will pick the shutter speed you need to make the picture.</li>

<li>There are some other functions, like Sensitivity priority, but they are variations of the above two.</li>

<li>Full manual. If you understand how to calculate exposure, first, before you understand the buttons on the camera, then full manual is a good starting point. This was how I learned, and lots of other people have, too. Yet, I think that it's best as a starting point for folks who have had lots of classroom instruction on exposure before they picked up their first camera. Back when, I was put in a class that required us to do several weeks of book learnin' before we got to use a camera. If that's the situation you are in, it's easier to start from full manual and then learn about the other modes when the computer is going to cover down and choose part of the answer for you.</li>

</ul>

<p><strong>+1 for "limiting exercises."</strong> Any kind of exercise that involves not using everything (only this one lens, only this mode, etc.) are great teaching tools. Yet, I think, it's best to put a time limit (a week or two) on how long you would continue to impose a restrictive rule on yourself. This time limit (keep it short, but strong enough to build up some understanding) can help keep your learning about photography fresh.</p>

<p>Probably the one last point about learning and coaching yourself: <strong>give yourself a break.</strong> Cut yourself some slack. Nobody scores the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the first year. It doesn't happen. So, you will not achieve the greatest heights in photo work today. Therefore, you deserve a chance to have some breathing room. Your pictures do not have to be the greatest ever. In practice, expect lots and lots of really bad photos for a while. This is totally normal.</p>

<p>So, if you can accept that the photos won't be super-great, then doesn't it make sense to plink around a little? To this day, I've sat on couches, chairs, watched TV shows, done just whatever while being lazy: <em>and also sighted whatever's in front of me through the viewfinder.</em> Measure the light wherever. <strong>Compose a fake picture.</strong> [You don't have to spend a frame on it. In digital, it may not matter as you can delete generously anyway].</p>

<p>Plinking around and composing fake pictures wherever as I'm daydreaming about photos is something that I have done on and off since I was a youngster. It's part of visualizing success, without the stress. If you were to make a picture right here and now, what would it be a picture of? What kind of light meter reading would you expect to be returned from the camera? Could you guess it? How would you select from what you see before you, to make an interesting picture?</p>

<p>If your eye comes to rest on it naturally, it may be photogenic. What was it about the place around you that your eye and imagination found interesting. [it's okay if it's interesting to no one else. You're not shooting the cover of a magazine.]</p>

<p><strong>Plink around some</strong>. It helps.</p>

<p>And, that's your camera. There's no reason why you can't use it on a setting other than auto if you want. Learn about exposure and plink around some.</p>

<p><strong>Right now, the room I'm in:</strong> <em>I think it's about 100ASA, f/4 with maybe 2 to 4 seconds on the shutter speed.</em></p>

<p>I guess I could check that with the camera's light meter. Maybe I'd be right. I bet I'm close. Close enough to have a good starting guess. Maybe I might have to go to 8 or 15 seconds at 32ASA; depends. Yet, I mention this because I want to show you: you can learn to evaluate exposure in your head, by experience, if you gain enough time light metering things.</p>

<p>So, <strong>what's a good, average exposure for the room you are in right now?</strong> Can you guess it close? Understanding <em>about what</em> the light is doing will really help you learn to set up the camera for what you want.</p>

<p>Plink around and have some fun with exposure. Doing nothing with the camera while doing something about learning what the light meter will say about stuff you see is a good experience builder that will help you with the other manual setting parts of photography. And there are no pass or fail grades to fuss about. Everybody who participates eventually gets some improvement.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Going all manual, to me, must be the most dreadful way of learning. It's like driving a car by starting to drive it on the highway without anybody explaining what the brakes are, what the clutch does and when to shift. LJ's advice to take it one by one is, to me, far more useful.</p>

<p>But maybe start somewhere else first. It sounds like <em>'Understanding Exposure'</em> by Bryan Peterson might help you a lot. It handles the main 'variables' in exposure one by one, and when practising, you will soon enough pick up on the "what does what" part. Learning by doing will work too, but a clear explanation (and this book is clear, in my opinion) will accelerate it a lot.<br>

Another thing that can be very helpful is checking back EXIF data on your own photos: what shutter speeds, aperture did the camera select, and what were the results?<br>

Either way, you need to learn and understand what shutterspeed can do and what aperture can do, and how it relates to each other. So, the above book is a useful reference on that.</p>

<p>As a good basic editing program, I rate Photoshop Elements very high as an allrounder, though you won't go wrong with Lightroom either. However, for free, Nikon ViewNX can do the elementary basics on RAW images. Capture NX2 is, to me, a great tool but it needs a fast PC and I doubt you could get an education discount on that one.<br>

Best advice here: try the trial versions of each for 30 days, and see for yourself what makes sense to you, and what not.</p>

[ben_goren]

<p>Jennifer,</p>

 

<p>It’s quite simple, really — though, to be sure, as

with all such things, it can take a lifetime to master.</p>

 

<p>The first key to understanding is that all any automatic

metering mode does is set the aperture, shutter speed, and

(perhaps) ISO. That’s it. No matter how many autofocus

points or what sorts of fancy artificially intelligent metering

mode or whatever, it always boils down to setting those three

values.</p>

 

<p>And it’s easy to make an informed decision for yourself

for what to set them.</p>

 

<p>Pick an aperture for your desired depth of field. A smaller

aperture (bigger f/ number) will have more things in focus; a

bigger aperture (smaller f/ number) will have fewer things in

focus. You might want everything in a sweeping landscape in focus,

in which case you’d pick a smaller aperture. Or, you might

want a person’s face in focus but the background a dreamy

blur, in which case you’d pick a bigger aperture.</p>

 

<p>You should use the image review feature of your camera to

determine if you need more or less depth of field for the

particular picture. Even better, if your camera has it, use live

view. Some purists call this cheating, but they’re arrogant

fools who feel threatened by new technologies.</p>

 

<p>When in doubt, pick f/8 for most scenes, and the widest

aperture your lens supports for dark scenes. Avoid extreme

settings unless you have good reason to do otherwise. Under

certain circumstances, a picture with the aperture wide open can

cause the pupil to be in focus but the eyelashes to be blurry.

The smallest possible aperture will cause blurring across the

entire frame due to diffraction. Yet both settings are there for a

reason and serve a purpose.</p>

 

<p>Pick a shutter speed for your desired amount of motion blur.

Most of the time, you don’t want any motion blur at all and

so you should pick the fastest shutter speed that lets you get the

exposure you desire. However, motion blur often gives a dynamic

feeling to a scene. A cyclist rounding a turn will look unnatural

when shot with a fast shutter speed, but can look quite exciting

with a shutter just slow enough to show slightly blurry spokes.

Photographing star trails requires an exposure measured in minutes

if not hours. Again, check the preview image to determine if you

need a faster or slower shutter speed.</p>

 

<p>As a general guideline, keeping in mind that not everybody is

as steady as everybody else (and that things like coffee can have

an adverse effect), most people can hold a camera at a shutter

speed 1 ½ times the focal length. If you use a 35mm lens,

you can probably get a good shot at 1/50 second. If you’re

holding the camera and the image is blurry and the shutter speed

is less than twice the focal length, your technique is almost

certain to blame. A tripod will (almost) always (virtually)

eliminate motion blur due to shaky hands, and is essential for

high-quality still-life photography.</p>

 

<p>Lastly, pick the lowest ISO value that lets you get a proper

exposure with the shutter and aperture values you’ve

selected. Higher ISO values gather more light, but they also read

more of the electronic noise and thus degrade image quality. Use

ISO 400 without a second thought, and don’t be afraid of ISO

800. More than that depends on the particular camera model.

Experiment by making actual prints to determine your own personal

preference. Also be aware that there is software which can help

greatly reduce the distracting qualities of noise.</p>

 

<p>If you can’t get a proper exposure just by adjusting the

ISO, make compromises with the shutter and aperture as necessary,

and then start altering the light (usually by using flash, but

reflectors and other techniques are also very helpful).

 

<p>And what is a proper exposure? On digital, it’s easy.

Your histogram tells you.</p>

 

<p>To understand the histogram, find an evenly-lit blank wall.

Take a picture and look at the histogram. Adjust the exposure,

take a picture, and see how the histogram changes. Do this for the

entire range, up and down, of the histogram. And beyond a bit as

well. Now, keep the exposure the same but alter the light by

turning the lights on and off. Bonus points if you can set more

than one light level, such as by using a three-way bulb.</p>

 

<p>A few minutes of experimentation will teach you far more than

anybody could explain in words.</p>

 

<p>Next, find a window with a clear view of the sky. Take a

picture of the wall alone, of the sky alone, and of the two

together (an even split). Examine the histogram each time, and

again adjust the exposure to see what happens to the

histogram.</p>

 

<p>After you’ve done those experiments, you will understand

my following words: a proper exposure is one in which all tonal

values in the picture lie within the bounds of the histogram (and

not beyond either edge).</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Good advice above, especially from John O'Keefe-Odum.</p>

<p>Most important is not to try everything all at once. Take baby steps and play around with one thing at a time.</p>

[jennifer_gilliland]

<p>WOW! I can't believe how quickly I got responses! Thanks so much to you all for your great suggestions! I think I have my homework for the next year or so! It sounds like the best place to start is in shutter priority and aperture priority and go from there. I actually hadn't intended to try FULL manual, but maybe after I do lots and lots of PLINKING around (thank you John!) I will feel braver and can try manual mode. You all have helped me consolidate all the information I've been learning and given me very specific exercises to apply it. Hooray! Any other tips you might have are most welcome!</p>

[ben_goren]

<p>Jennifer,</p>

 

<p>Just one other piece of advice. You bought a lifetime supply of

“film” with your camera. Be sure to get your

money’s worth.</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

[johnw63]

<p>Jennifer,</p>

<p>" Understanding Exposure " is a good place to start.</p>

<p>In a nut shell, to learn how to get off the full auto setting, you need to learn how the other settings work. Go on a move the setting and fire away. Taking control of one thing at a time is probably the easiest thing to do. The basics of Aperture Priority is controlling how much is in focus from front to back in your shot. Do you want it ALL in focus or a very thin slice ? ( That 35mm f1.8 will open up that sort of thing. The kit lenses stop at f3.5 or there about. Check out the thread in the Nikon section about f1.2 vs f1.8 to see some stuff ) In Shutter priority, you are determining how much movement blur you want. If you want none, and the subject is moving, you need more shutter speed. if they aren't ,you don't. If you want a nice blurring water fall, you need slower shutter speed.</p>

<p>As a list of projects, find subjects that changing these things matter. Take shots of things that are outside your normal list. How does that flower in the back yard look with the lens wide open, vs closed down ? Can you get a picture of that guy riding his bike past your house ? Would he look better with a blurred background or everything sharp ? How do you get a sunset shot ? How about pointing that garden hose in the air ? Can you make it look blurred or can you freeze the water in mid air ? How about close up shots vs the normal subjects being 6 feet away ? </p>

<p>Now, one thing you will run into is no matter what you do, those two lenses will change their max aperture as you zoom them. So, zoomed out, neither will give a good out of focus background, like a f2.8 of f2 or f1.8 lens. That something you will need to work around. Yes, there are way to still get it, but that's for another show.</p>

<p> </p>

[elnoralouisa]

<p>Also, if you liked Understanding Exposure, he has his own online school at <a href="http://www.ppsop.com">www.ppsop.com</a> where you could learn the stuff, and get feedback right away on your pictures.</p>

[teresa_atkinson]

<p>The Photo Workshop books are great. I've gotten several from the library that help me with many aspects of photography.<br>

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=photo+workshop">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=photo+workshop</a></p>

[garydem]

<p>jennifer g- it is not that you have to GET OUT OF AUTO MODE. it is more that you have to recognize which modes are appropiate for which shots/scenes. i have been shooting with a slr/dslr for 40 yrs, probably a very high % of all my shots are done in Auto mode or program. the catch to what i just said is that i KNOW when to override the auto or program settings to get the effect i want. i have at one time or another used every mode that the dslr has.<br>

to say that a user does not use auto or program mode ever is just as wrong as someone saying that they user aperture priority or manual all the time. the correct statement is to use the shooting mode that is appropiate for the subject scene lignting situation and the wishes of the photographer. and the only way you know which settings to use is with experience.<br>

a simple rule of thumb is as follows: use the lowest iso you can and still get reasonable settings in shutter speed and fstop. use a shutter speed of 1/125 or faster(you might get away with 1/60 depending on subject). use a fstop in the range of f5.6 to f11.0(you might be able to use f4.0 depending on subject, but do not go over f11.0 or you will have diffraction distorsion).</p>

[mark_loader]

<p>Hi, Jen...you gotta love it when you get great responses like these eh? JOKO's answer is a beauty ( wonder what coffee he drinks? ) and I can only add this...get yourself a teacher/mentor and watch what happens to your progress. It's the best thing I did, and you also get to meet other folks treading the same path as you. You'll no doubt make new friends and help and inspire one another. In the meantime, your mission (should you decide to accept it) is to photograph anything red for the next seven (7) days. Good luck...love from Downunder, Mark</p>

[michael_young3]

<p>Maybe this will be too simplistic, and probably lost behind all the good advice you already have.</p>

<p>There was a time when full time manual was all that anyone had. My suggestion is to start there, in full manual. Every viewfinder nowadays has a metering strip right next the shutter speed and aperture display. Roll one or the other knob or dial until the meter is centered. Do this for a day or two, or however long it takes to be fully comfortable with that display and how the controls interact. All the problems of information overload disappears. You will have developed the eye habit of checking the settings and how the scene metered. You will eventually start thinking about which aperture to choose, or consciously decide what shutter speed or ISO might suit the shot better.</p>

<p>My recommendation is to keep on shooting in full manual until you find chasing the meter with the shutter speed is too repetitive, and think to yourself too often that the camera can do that for you just as easily and just as well. At that point, you're done. Your eyes are looking where they need to look, and your fingers know what the controls do to the meter. When you later turn over control to the camera, you will do so with a clear understanding of what it's doing.</p>

<p>This is subtly different from coming from the other direction. Coming from full manual, you are saying to the camera, "You can help by setting the shutter speed, but I'm watching you closely." Coming from the other direction, you have to first think, "OK, now I want full time control of the aperture. I set it to Av mode to do that." It's a subtle but important difference.</p>

<p>With that said, don't fall into the trap of avoiding the auto modes. Full manual is the beginner's learning crutch. Use it until you understand what the auto modes are doing, and understand where its weaknesses are. You paid a lot of money for the automation, and the auto modes work very well. Your eventual goal is to selectively turn over the unimportant aspects back to the camera to free up your mind for other things.</p>

[agirnaes]

<p>Jennifer, I didn't read any of the replies, but my suggestion for editing software would be Photoshop Elements 8. I am relatively new to digital photography, and for the money I don't think that PE 8 can be beat. It has most of the features or elements of Photoshop, which for a beginner is enough. Once you become proficient enough and more advanced in your photography then you might want to invest in some higher end software (i.e. Photoshop).</p>

[jennifer_gilliland]

<p>Thanks so much to all of you who took the time out to respond to my questions! I really feel like I have a good place to start now thanks to all of your great advice - there were lots of different strategies recommended and I plan on trying many to see what works best for me! I don't feel quite so overwhelmed anymore! Many many thanks!</p>