Getting started in manual mode?

lynn_smith6 · May 25, 2012

OK, I know that it really matters on the location, time of the day, sunset and all of this........but can someone just let me know a good start to set my camera in manual? I usually take pics in shade and I really would love them to have that white tone to them.......kinda like HD on TV. Could anyone just suggest a good fstop and shutter speed just to get me started? I have a studio and for high key I asked once and a lady gave me an awesome answer on what to set my camera to and ever since then I've had awesome photos. So all I'm asking is if anyone could tell me a good manual settings then I can go from there! THANK you so much for any info!

Matt Laur · May 25, 2012

It's completely impossible to answer that question, Lynn, because it depends on how strong the light is. The answer could vary from ISO 1600 and 1/10th at f/1.4 to ISO 100 and 1/1000th at f/11, or even less. Are you using a digital camera, or shooting film? If digital ... then use your camera's meter to shoot an 18% gray target in the light you're expecting to use. Your camera should adjust the exposure automatically to place a spike right in the middle of your histogram, keeping that gray recorded not as white, and not as black, but as middle gray. Note the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture that gave you that exposure. Want to blow out the highlights (I think that's what you're asking for, here)? Just slow down the shutter a stop or two, or open up the lens a stop or two, or raise the ISO a stop or two. Or, save yourself a lot of grief, and shoot RAW, at a correct exposure, so that you can alter the tone curve after the fact in post production, while having the most latitude to preserve details. Then you can wash things out as you see fit, or not. It's possible you're also asking about white balance, rather than tones. You can use that same gray target as a temperature target, for use in post to get the light right. If you shoot RAW, it really doesn't matter if you have your camera's WB set correctly, as long as you have a reference shot of neutral object (like that gray card) for use afterwards. But if you're shooting to JPGs, all bets are off. You're going to have to get the WB right on the spot, get the exposure exactly as you want it, making choices about whether you want to lose details in the shadows or the highlights, etc. Because fiddling with JPGs later involves far less latitude. So: the best place to start is with your camera's meter, and by chimping the shot and its histogram. Switch to manual with the same values and tweek from there ... or, stay in shutter or aperture priority mode to allow for changing light, and just use your exposure compensation to push up a stop or two if that's the look you're after.

lex_jenkins · May 25, 2012

First thing to know is the relationship between light and how the camera reacts to light. That boils down to three factors:

<ol>

<li>Sensitivity of the recording medium (film or digital sensor) to light, usually expressed in ISO.</li>

<li>Shutter speed - how long the recording medium is exposed to light.</li>

<li>Aperture - how much light is admitted during that exposure time.</li>

</ol>

Take a peek at <a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm">Fred Parker's Ultimate Exposure Computer</a>. It's just a series of charts that clarifies how much light there is in any typical scenario (expressed in EV or Exposure Value), and how that interacts with the other three major factors.

Once you recognize how it all plays together, the rest is mostly a matter of finesse: shutter speed to control motion blur; aperture to determine depth of field.

William Michael · May 26, 2012

So all I'm asking is if anyone could tell me a good manual settings then I can go from there!

</blockquote>

No. No one can.

I only piped in to restate the previous, but with a different analogy –

“Manual” is Manual so you get to easily choose what settings are most suitable for each shooting scenario.

It is kind of like having a six speed Manual Gear change car and asking “tell me just one gear to use and let me go from there . . .”

Starting with

(a) understanding how the Light Meter in your camera works and

(b) the relationships between Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed

is where to begin . . .

What camera are you using?

WW

lynn_smith6 · May 26, 2012

I have been shooting in RAW.....I have a Canon Rebel xti and my lens is a Sigma 18-125mm.

CoryAmmerman · May 26, 2012

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I

just don't get the infatuation with

shooting manual these days. The idea

that you have to shoot manual in order

to be a good photographer is a hold-

over from a time when in-camera

meters weren't very good. They are a

lot better now. Yes, I can shoot

manual mode when I have to, but I

rarely ever do it. Aperture preferred

gets me what I want 99% of the time.

The other 1% is usually a tricky lighting

situation and I know to chimp in those

situations.

To answer your question, no one can

give you a rule that works in all

situations because when you are

outdoors the lighting varies from one

spot to the next and one minute to the

next. The closest thing you can get to a

rule is Sunny 16, but that only works in

direct lighting.

Ray House · May 26, 2012

You got some good information when you asked pretty much the same question last October, maybe review those posts.

Jeff Lear · May 26, 2012

Shooting in manual is a great way to learn what it all means. It's not always the most efficient for every person but it gives you the most control over what you are exposing. However, that only works if you know what you're doing. Lynn, the best way to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish would be to photograph the scene in program mode and then document the settings of your favorite exposure, then switch over to manual, input those settings, and adjust as necessary. I've been a photographer for 20 years, I've shot thousands of sunsets and I couldn't answer your question even if it were me asking it. I may travel to a location with a composition in mind, I may even have a specific shot in mind but I never go there with settings in mind because I know that settings will depend on light and the only way to know what the light will be is to be standing there, looking at it.

dhbebb · May 26, 2012

I would start by trying to understand how your camera meter works. You will undoubtedly have various modes, such as P (automatic program), Tv (shutter priority), Av (aperture priority) and manual (where you match up two display indicators yourself). You will also have several metering patterns, such as matrix, center-weighted and spot. For a given metering pattern, ALL the modes will give the same exposure results, the only difference being that P will always give you a shutter speed high enough to avoid camera shake and manual requires you to do little more work. The TV and AV modes are essentially cosmetic – you can get the same effect by selecting your preferred shutter speed/ aperture combination within the P mode – and manual only really comes into its own with spot metering. P mode will give you good (not necessarily perfect) settings 98% of the time or more.

In your case, you say you want better results with pictures taken in shade. Shady lighting is inherently low contrast, which makes metering easy but will probably mean you will need to tweak the image post-exposure to boost contrast. If you post an example of the kind of shot you would like to improve, it will be easier for us to advise you further.

lex_jenkins · May 26, 2012

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. I just don't get the infatuation with shooting manual these days."

</blockquote>

Generally I'd agree. Nikon's Flexible Program mode works so well that's what I use most of the time to bias the shutter speed or aperture as desired.

My old Olympus P&S digicam's ESP metering (just their term for smart, evaluative or matrix metering) and program mode consistently deliver great results. I rarely use manual mode and spot metering. Same with a Ricoh digicam - the auto features work so well most of the time, trying to override it sometimes just creates other difficulties. And with tiny sensor digicams, the aperture doesn't matter much other than for macro shots or to avoid diffraction.

But if folks want to learn manual exposure, more power to 'em. Helps to better grasp the concepts of how light, sensitivity, shutter speed and aperture all work together.

Wouter Willemse · May 26, 2012

But if folks want to learn manual exposure, more power to 'em. Helps to better grasp the concepts of how light, sensitivity, shutter speed and aperture all work together.

</blockquote>

Fully agree, but it's not only grasping those concepts, I think. It's also getting a "fluent" control of your camera, to be able to react quickly, to set your exposure easily. I see quite a lot of people battling their camera because they want to work in M but don't yet know how to set shutterspeed or aperture... My advice is often to go with S/Tv for a while to fully understand what the shutterspeed does and get a good feel for how to set it, and when/how much/etc. Then go to A/Av to grasp aperture, see what it does and how to set it. Only once you get that, go to manual. By then, you will at least know much better how to set the various exposure variables on your camera - making it much easier to work in manual.

In the previous thread the OP started I recommended Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure. I get the idea it is still worth recommending.

dbcooper · May 26, 2012

I just don't get the infatuation with shooting manual these days.

</blockquote>

I do...it isn't about convenience or how good modern light meters are or DSLR automation at all. It's about learning how to expose and then using that knowledge for your advantage with your creative intent. The meter will give you just one answer (or one part of the answer) for exposure in any auto-exposure mode (I usually use aperture-preferred myself). The handiest example I can think of is shooting a sunset - do you want foreground objects silhouetted or not? Or how intense do you want the clouds to look? Knowing how to expose will allow you the creative freedom to get the image to look how you intended it to look. No matter how good it is, a camera's meter can't read your mind. To me, the ability to manipulate the exposure is freeing. I rely on on-board metering for a lot of things, but I'm not limited by it. The OP obviously feels differently.

I started out taking pics in 1966 with a hand-me-down 35mm Kodak folder with no meter or focus confirmation, graduating to a hand-me-down 35mm rangefinder and an old hand-held meter. The experience was invaluable.

The closest thing you can get to a rule is Sunny 16, but that only works in direct lighting.

</blockquote>

Well, the little paper that used to come with 35mm film gave 2-3 scenarios besides 'Sunny 16'...like opening up one stop for open shade or two stops for overcast conditions. I'm talking B&W film here...open-shade blue cast with daylight color film is another matter (solution: A1 skylight filter kills the blue cast in open shade in broad daylight...need something stronger early in the morning, specially early with snow about). That's all don with white balance now.

I think people that grew up with camera automation realize at some point that the camera's meter won't always yield the image they want...hence the fascination with manual exposure.

I know that it really matters on the location, time of the day, sunset and all of this........but can someone just let me know a good start to set my camera in manual?

</blockquote>

Since you already know the time of day/location/sun position really matters to how a photo looks, the second part of the question is not reasonable. The second best suggestion I can make is for you to read the part in the camera's manual about how to set the exposure in manual mode using the camera's meter (in other words, matching the meter). The best suggestion I can make is to read 'Understanding Exposure' by Brian Peterson.

Could anyone just suggest a good fstop and shutter speed just to get me started?

</blockquote>

Not really, since no one here knows what your subject is (you didn't say), how intense the light is (you didn't say), or most importantly, what your creative intent is. You could try 1/250 sec. @ f/8. That's as good a starting place as any, and you can always adjust from there.

I usually take pics in shade and I really would love them to have that white tone to them.......kinda like HD on TV.

</blockquote>

I recommend that you read the part in your camera's manual about white balance, and maybe read up on white balance online as well. After that, perhaps you might investigate post-processing your digital images...maybe start with a free program like Google's Picasa.

Just shoot, but shoot and analyze wht happened and you'll see patterns of camera behavior. Put that to work then. Right off ya go then.

</blockquote>

Alan Marcus · May 26, 2012

Getting the exposure correct is the key to this kingdom. Mostly we wish to reproduce nature and this requires a system that delivers maximum dynamic range. The effect of under or over exposure is loss of dynamic range. That being said, best you learn to use an exposure meter. The ultimate is a hand-held device with lots of bells and whistles. One of my favorite saying is "a photographer without a meter is like a ship without a compass".

However, it is possible to determine exposure without a meter. For many years, the f/16 rule has delivered a starting point.

We write the ISO speed as a reciprocal by affixing a 1/. Example the ISO is 125 we write 1/125. This will be the shutter speed. The aperture is set to f/16. This works in bright sunlight so it is called the "sunny 16 rule".

Using this as a staring point, we adjust for conditions:

Hazy sunlight, we open the aperture one f/stop setting the aperture to f/11.

Cloudy bright we open two f/stops setting the aperture to f/8.

Bright sun, with the subject in the shade, open three f/stops to f/5.6.

Vigilant photographers will bracket, making a series of exposures centered on their estimate. My advice is two full stops under and over. The smart photographer will procure a good meter and learn to use it.

qalam · May 26, 2012

Shooting manual requires an understanding of shutter speed, aperture, and sensor sensitivity (ISO),which all interact with each other.

Here's a link to get you started: http://cameradojo.com/2011/06/13/shooting-in-manual-mode/

Two suggestions: get a good book on manual photography and sign up for a 10-hour or so digital photography course offered by your city

recreation department or a local community college.

Also, take lots of photos by "playing" with all sorts of combinations of the three settings to see what happens in different light condition

and subject movement conditions.

Try this outside on a bright sunny day: set your camera to F/16, 1/100 second, ISO 100 and take a picture. Then take several photos but

change the aperture (F stop) each time. Now, go back to your initial settings and change only the shutter speed. Finally, start again and

change only the ISO.

James G. Dainis · May 26, 2012

If in Av mode with the aperture set to f/16 the camera may call for a shutter speed of 1/125 which it sets.

In M mode with f/16 the meter may call for a shutter speed of 1/125 which I have to set.

Just what have I learned by setting the speed to 1/125 myself instead of letting the camera do it? (Aside from missing that great shot because I was fiddling with the camera.)

walter_degroot · May 26, 2012

you must start seeing not just looking.

and understand the light, the contrast of the scene

and the way the camera and film responds to different situations.

it is called experience.

and you need to look at the finished photos and recall your thought processes at that moment of time.

It is something that real professions and experienced photographers seem to instictively know.

it can only come by taking photos and remembering the final results.

it is not something you can read in a book.

it is "sort of" likel playing the piano. you actually have to do it. a lot.

My son is a good shot because he reloaded to save money and practiced practiced and practiced.

anything like this helps one learn how to do things like playing a musical instrument.

or leaning to cook a food a certain way.

or

johnw63 · May 26, 2012

Just what have I learned by setting the speed to 1/125 myself instead of letting the camera do it? (Aside from missing that great shot because I was fiddling with the camera.)

</blockquote>

If you always set your camera to the same settings that the camera TELLS you to use, you have gained nothing. If , on the other hand, you learn to NOT use the settings the light meter and auto settings want you to use, you gain control over the exposure of the shot. This is the main point of going to manual mode. Doing what you want to get the exposure YOU want, rather than accepting the cameras efforts to take a neutral shot. Camera meters can often get fooled by the scene. They try to make over all dark shots medium tones and over all bright shots medium toned.

Another point to consider is just what shutter speed and aperture will give you the look you want vs what the camera guesses as the "right" combination.

Ex: Picture of a water fall. The camera may select a shutter speed and aperture that freezes the water. Did you want that or did you want some blue to imply motion ? It may select an aperture that makes the WHOLE scene appear in focus, when you wanted to only have the portion of the shot that that caught your eye in focus.

Overriding the camera is a very important thing to be able to understand how to do and when you need to do it.

I second the recommendation of "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.

jcuknz · May 26, 2012

I think you should learn about the relationship between aperture/shutter/ISO [ it is simple maths ] even if you rarely use Manual but rather one of the semi- or part-automatic modes. What you need to learn in addition to the relationship is how to spot situations where you will need to go to manual to get the result you want becuase the camera meter doesn't read the scene like you do. You start to do this when you work in A or S mode and pick the appropriate aperture or shutter speed for the subject.

So rather than going to M you should first get the hang of what A and S mode can do for you.

I am sure your camera, which currently must surely know more about it than yourself, displays the settings it is proposing to use when you press half-trigger ... or else in editing you can read the EXIF data.

As an starting experiment I suggest that you remember a reading the camera showed you, say 1/250 shutter and f/8, and then turn to manual and arrange those setting yourself.

This is similar to the way photographers used a separate meter in the old days and then set up their camera accordingly.

But they would have the opportunity to choose the combination for the subject, a landscape with minimal subject movement could be 1/60 f/16 for maximum depth of field or an action shot where one needs a fast shutter say 1/1000 f/4

If you work in [A]perture mode and adjust the aperture the read-out will change to demonstrate the relationship between aperture and shutter ... vice versa in hutter priority mode. It may be a little confusing becuase the camera works to parts of a stop whereas here I am using 'standard' stop values.

The other approach is to again remember the camera settings and adjust away from them while in manual. This will show you what happens when you change things from what the camera picked ... it probably will be worse but it could be better depending on subject matter. It is desirable that one keeps a record of what you did to relate to the result but these days with digital we have this information recorded automatically as EXIF data to be available at any time in the future.

So you could learn quite a lot by going back through your old files and reading the EXIF.

bebu_lamar · May 26, 2012

Your question is one of the greatest questions I have encountered. Of course I don't know the answer but if you ever get the answer I sure would like to know. Would you pass the answer on once you have found it?

But may be for now you can share with us what the awesome answer that the lady gave you that helped you took so many awesome photos?

Thanks.

James G. Dainis · May 26, 2012

"If you always set your camera to the same settings that the camera TELLS you to use, you have gained nothing. If , on the other hand, you learn to NOT use the settings the light meter and auto settings want you to use, you gain control over the exposure of the shot. This is the main point of going to manual mode. "

You learn to not trust what the camera meter or a hand held meter is telling you from experience, not from using manual exposure. A novice can get just as many snow scenes underexposed using manual exposure as he can using aperture priority until someone tells him or he figures out himself that snow scenes will 'fool" the meter and he has to open up one or more stops to compensate.

Picture this - two photographers are shooting a snow scene. One is using aperture priority; one is using manual. The meter calls for f/8 at 1/1000 sec. Both know they need one more stop to compensate for the meter error. The aperture priority user sets the camera compensation to +1 EV. His shots are now taken at f/8 at 1/500 sec. The manual shooter sets his camera manually to f/8 at 1/500 seconds. Both take well exposed photos. Suddenly, Santa appears on the scene with arms spread to welcome the children. He is in a shaded area with two stops less light than in the open scenes. The aperture priority camera is swung to Santa, The camera automatically sets the exposure to f/8 at 1/125 sec.(The +1 EV is still set). He quickly gets the well exposed shot. The manual camera is swung to Santa. It still is set to f/8 at 1/500 sec. The manual photographer has to

take the new exposure reading and set the shutter speed and compensation himself. By the time he does that and goes to compose the shot, Santa no longer has his arms spread in greeting, and the look of surprise is gone from the children's faces. A great photo op missed while fooling around with manual settings.

johnw63 · May 27, 2012

You learn to not trust what the camera meter or a hand held meter is telling you from experience,

</blockquote>

What experience do you gain by not doing anything beyond what the meter tells you ?

In your Santa example, was the Jolly Old Elf standing still or moving ? While Aperture Priority shooter gets a closer exposure, he misses the shot because the sleigh is a blur, if he is not standing still. Manual shooter can spin the shutter speed and get a better result. If you've the experience with adjusting both aperture and shutter speed, making changes on the fly is not that hard.

dhbebb · May 27, 2012

Tales of manual exposure I and II

I. In the good old days of photojournalism, with all-manual cameras, it was common practice to walk around with your Leica set to 1/125 at f5.6 and focus 15 feet. This is what you would shoot at if you needed to be REALLY fast – of course you would attempt to optimize the settings if you had time (2 or 3 seconds in this context).

II. In the really good old days, the wet-plate era, roughly the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, popular mythology states that because there were no exposure meters, photographers really knew their craft and could gauge exposures highly accurately. As someone who has had to print many of this type of negative, I laugh till I cry when I hear this. Most of the wet-plate negs I handled at the V&A Museum in the 1970s were so dense that even in front of a 2 kW floodlight you couldn’t tell what the subject was and the only answer was to expose them on the contact box for 10 minutes or so (normal printing exposure 5 secs or so).

Coming from this background, I was truly amazed at the results I saw from my first matrix metering camera (Pentax MZ-5n), even more so with my EOS 5D Mk II. I own numerous exposure meters, including a Pentax spot meter, which I use with non-metered cameras. I can do as well as in-camera matrix metering with a lot more effort, but seldom better, and I use the P setting all the time on cameras that have it – if I want 1/1000 at f4 instead of 1/125 at f11, the P mode is the easiest way to get it, applying a correction for exceptional subjects like snow/sand on the one hand or a black cat in a coal hole on the other is easy, as are ISO modifications (standard plus ½ stop for b+w film, minus 1/3 stop for color transparency or digital).

None of which impinges in any way on anyone’s right to spend their life searching for the perfect exposure – but I choose to take the easy way out!

dan_south · May 27, 2012

Your film or sensor needs a specific amount of light to capture an image. We call the amount of light that we give to the sensor an

exposure. If the images meets our expectations we call the the correct exposure. If the image is too dark we say that it is underexposed,

or overexposed if it's too light or washed out.

Exposure depends first on the amount of light that's available. This amount of light is what we measure with a light meter.

Exoosure also depends on the amounts of light that we let into the camera. This is controlled by two factors: shutter speed and aperture.

The shutter speed - the longer the shutter is open, the more light is allowed into the camera. Shutter speeds are expressed in units of

time (1/30 of a second).

The aperture (opening) of the lens - the larger the diameter of the circular opening, the more light is allowed into the camera. The

aperture size is expressed in fractions of the focal length. These fractions are called f-stops. For example f/4 is a larger opening than f/8

because of the way that fractions work, therefore f/4 let's more light in, and f/8 let's less light in.

Finally, exposure depends on the sensitivity of the film or the sensor - does it need a lot of light or only a little bit of light? This is expressed by the ISO number. When the ISO number is high (1600, 3200), that indicates high sensitivity, and the camera can make an exposure with very little light. Then the ISO number is lower (100, 200) the camera needs more light.

Manual exposure mode lets you combing these three exposure-controlling factors - shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity - in any combination. When you understand what each of the three factors does you'll be able to combine them in meaningful ways and make the necessary adjustments to render your images brighter or darker to match your vision.

You have the basic information, so now it's alll a matter of practice.

James G. Dainis · May 27, 2012

"What experience do you gain by not doing anything beyond what the meter tells you ? "

None. That holds true whether shooting in aperture priority or manual.

If there is movement in the scene, the aperture priority user can just spin the aperture from f/8 to f/4 and see the shutter speed go from 1/125 sec to 1/500 sec. That is still faster than manually changing the aperture to f/4 and the shutter speed to 1/500 sec.

My first real camera was a Minolta XG-1. The shutter speeds were listed vertically from 1 to 1000 off to the side of the viewfinder with a red dot to show the selected shutter speed. I quickly learned the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. Turning the aperture to one stop open would move the dot one shutter speed up. Turning the aperture to one stop closed would move the dot one shutter speed down.

If I wanted a faster or slower shutter speed I would just set the speed by turning the aperture. I could have had the same result by using a light meter, seeing what aperture corresponded to the shutter speed that I wanted and then manually setting both. That would have just taken longer with the same result.

bebu_lamar · May 27, 2012

Getting started in manual mode?

Hmm! Think about it I started photography in manual mode before I learned how to use auto modes.

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