today I'm going to show you how and when I shoot in manual mode
pretty much every camera has the ability to shoot in different modes from fully
automatic right through to fully manual these modes are controlled by the mode
dial which usually looks something like this on the top of the camera I
generally stay away from fully automatic mode it doesn't give me any control and
the camera controls everything if I'm shooting sporting events I'll be in
either aperture priority or shutter priority depending on the conditions and
if I'm in a controlled environment or if I'm going for a specific shot where I
have lots of time to set the camera up or shoot in manual mode shooting in
manual mode also teaches you a lot about photography and especially how that
three principal settings all work together
these are aperture shutter speed and ISO if you're not sure about these click on
the link in the description this will take you to three quick one-minute
videos explaining each of these settings manual mode can seem quite daunting but
it's actually pretty straightforward all you need to do is go out with your
camera in a really low pressured environment where you've got lots of
time to play around with the settings you want to set your camera so you have
quick and easy access to your three principal settings I have aperture on
this front dial I have shutter speed on this back dial
and then I have ISO on this bottom back dial this means I can get to them really
quickly and make changes whenever I need to
the faster the shutter speed the less light will get into your camera and
therefore the darker the exposure will be the slower the shutter speed the more
light your camera will let in brightening up the exposure the larger
the aperture the more light will be let into your camera increasing the exposure
the smaller the aperture the less light will be let in decreasing your exposure
the higher the ISO the greater the signal from the sensor which will
increase the exposure the lower the ISO the lesser the signal from the sensor
which will decrease your exposure
changing each of these settings will also have other effects on your photos
if you're not sure about these click on the I in the corner or the link in the
description to another of my videos in manual mode your camera will give you an
indication of where it thinks the exposure needs to be with the built-in
light meter so first things first switch it to manual mode make sure you set your
camera to raw and have your white balance set to daylight if you're not
sure about shooting in RAW set it to raw plus JPEG first of all you want to get
your meter to zero this will be a good starting point and then you can play
around with your settings to get the photograph that you want also you want
to go out in the middle of the day when doing this exercise it'll mean there's
plenty of light to work with and you won't be chasing the light you'll be up
to play around with your settings and move them around however you want the
lighting conditions won't be ideal but it's not about getting a perfect shot
it's about learning manual mode if your meter is in the negative numbers you
need to increase your exposure if you're shooting mirrorless and live mode is on
see how the image looks chances are if it is in the negative numbers the image
will be dark you'll need to increase the exposure you do this by either opening
up your aperture slowing down your shutter speed or increasing your ISO
which one you choose to change is up to you and what you want the image to look
like if the meter is in positive numbers you'll have to drop the exposure the
image on the back of the camera will probably look really bright so make your
aperture smaller increase your shutter speed or drop your ISO so now you can
see I've got my light meter to zero if you're shooting with a DSLR take a photo
and look at the preview if it's too dark increase your exposure if it's too light
decrease your exposure sometimes this is down to personal preference and it is
completely subjective you might have darker or brighter parts on your image
that you want to accentuate so this is when you start experimenting with your
settings and this is why it's really important to
be in a really low pressured environment so you can do this you can also use your
histogram if you're in a pretty well lit scene
where there aren't too many really dark shadows or really bright parts to your
image it should look something like this so here's something to try out start
with the ISO on 100 I'm going for f/8 so I know wherever I focus I'll get a good
sharp image and then I'll dial in my shutter speed here I'm at one two
hundred and fiftieth of a second as I'm shooting handheld I need to follow the
shutter speed focal length rule if you're not sure what this is click on
the eye in the corner this will take you to another of my videos this is a
general rule to follow when you're shooting handheld and if you do follow
it you'll end up with more sharper images whatever focal length you're
shooting at make sure that the shutter speed fraction is at the same number as
the focal length or faster as I'm using my 25 millimeter lens I don't want my
shutter speed to drop below 125th of a second any slower and I'll increase the
risk of blurring the shot due to camera shake especially after a few coffees
when you do shoot from a tripod it limits you in certain ways but it does
open up other possibilities to keep it simple I'm just going to talk about
shooting handheld today once you have set your exposure have a walk around and
see what you can photograph it doesn't cost anything so don't be afraid of
taking bad images the more bad shots that you take the more you'll learn
about your camera and then you'll learn how to take better shots now I have my
shutter speed at one three hundred and twentieth of a second my aperture at f/8
my ISO at one hundred if I find a shot I like but it's too
dark I can slow down my shutter speed if it's too bright I'll speed up my shutter
speed if your exposure starts to drop you'll have to open up your aperture
slow down your shutter speed or increase your ISO if it's a cloudy day you're
taking photographs and the Sun comes out you'll have to close your aperture down
increase your shutter speed or lower your ISO as of
before the aim of this exercise isn't to get the perfect photograph it's just to
learn how your principle settings work in manual mode if you've set your
shutter speed as low as it can go and the image is still turning out dark you
need to open up your aperture or raise your ISO if you're at your widest
aperture and slowest shutter speed possible for handheld you have to either
increase your ISO or get your camera on a tripod
sometimes your settings can end up all over the place if this does happen and
you feel like you're getting lost stop change the ISO to 100 your aperture
to f/8 and then change the shutter speed so you get your meter on zero and then
start experimenting from there again you always know this is a good starting
point to start at and then you can change your settings to suit up until
now I've been talking about changing one setting at a time but once you get good
exposure you might want to change certain settings and certain parameters
say for instance you want a shallower depth of focus in your image basically
and narrow a plane of field in focus from front to back if you do want this
what you need to do is open up your aperture when you do change one setting
when you're already at a good exposure you need to compensate with the other
two settings on the other hand if you want to get some motion blur in your
shot if you already have a good exposure when you slow your shutter speed down
you'll over expose the shot therefore to compensate you'll have to make your
aperture smaller or lower your ISO in this example I increase the shutter
speed by about 6 stops of light therefore I reduced the aperture by
three stops and reduce the ISO by three stops to give the same exposure so
basically changing the aperture compensates changing the shutter speed
so when you change one you have to change the other with ISO it's always
advisable to shoot at the lowest number possible if I haven't been taking any
photos for a while I'll take a walk around the location that I'm at what
I'll do is I'll set it to manual mode get the aperture to f8 ISO to 100 and
then set the shutter speed accordingly so my meter is on zero this is always my
start point and then I'll work from there if you get lost in your settings
or something quickly unfolds in front of you that you want to photograph you can
always switch it back to Auto this is a bit of a safety net that you know that
will always be there so knowing that you've got this safety net gives you
more of a reason to try manual mode just go out in a low pressured environment
where you've got all the time in the world to play around with the settings
as I said before I shoot sports in either aperture or shutter priority and
then if I'm in a really controlled environment with a lot of time to play
around with the settings I'll shoot in manual the main one I'm always in manual
mode for is for astrophotography and this is one of those settings where
you'll really need to be in manual mode so it's worth learning about to start
getting some amazing nightscape photos and that's about it
I don't always shoot in manual mode but when I can control the conditions or I
have a lot of time to play around with the settings or all the conditions are
very constant this is when I will shoot in manual mode it then gives me all of
the control so I can get the photo that I want just remember when you first
shoot in manual mode to go out in a really low pressured environment have a
walk around and play around with the settings if you lose where you are just
change the settings to f8 iso 100 and a shutter speed to get your meter on zero
and then experiment from there as always if you like what you see give me a
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see you in the next one