
A Primer on Shooting in Manual Mode: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO [video] - artsandsci
https://petapixel.com/2019/08/14/a-primer-on-shooting-in-manual-mode-aperture-shutter-speed-and-iso/
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dev_dull
I know almost no professionals who shoot on manual mode outside of studio
settings. The computer is almost always better at guessing things like light
and temperature. The only time manual mode is used is when you're in a studio
where light, movement, etc are controlled.

Instead, shoot on aperture mode. Adjust to your desired depth of field
according to the ambient light. Use ISO setting to adjust further for light.
Finally, when you see the camera is under/over exposing, use the built in
exposure compensation slider to adjust for lighter or darker pictures. Pay
attention to and trust your exposure histogram.

Now you can very quickly (I can't stress how important quickness is) adjust
for the perfect picture. And when the action changes, you'll know quickly
which of the three knobs you need to turn.

Leave manual mode for the studio.

~~~
nerdy
Professional wildlife and product studio photographer here. We certainly do
shoot manual mode outside of the studio, just not with film.

With auto-ISO, "manual" camera mode (which refers to manually setting aperture
and shutter speed) becomes an automatic exposure mode because the camera is
metering the scene and adjusting ISO automatically. It is also possible and
practical for certain applications to use "full manual" mode which also
involves setting ISO, especially for something with a mostly-fixed scene such
as astrophotography.

While camera-adjusted ISO and post-processing lightening (moving the exposure
slider up in lightroom) are similar, the reason post-processing alone is not
enough is because of dynamic range. Each camera sensor has a certain number of
stops of light it can capture. If you're within that range, you can adjust in
post and arrive at an image similar to what you would've got had you exposed
in the camera. If you aren't within that range, you clip the highlights or
shadows.

There are a few reasons why manual mode is beneficial. They mostly relate to
speed and accuracy of control. First, aperture and shutter speed have
different effects on the result of the image (depth of field, and motion-
stopping capability respectively).

For example, I went to the shoreline on Monday and photographed birds. There
were terns flying around protecting their young, the young wandering and
gaping for food, while osprey were fishing just offshore. For terns and fast-
moving birds, shutter speeds in excess of 1/2000 sec are necessary and there
are many times when 1/3200 sec is not enough. Meanwhile, the tern chicks being
about 25ft away mean that depth of field is shallow because the subject is
near (minimum focusing distance on that lens is about 19ft). So an aperture of
F8 for chicks is helpful but F5.6 is better for the further subjects and
faster motion.

There's no good way to have a camera adjusting multiple settings (ISO and
either aperture or shutter speed) because it doesn't understand the
circumstances. In order to do this with aperture or shutter priority camera
modes, you would be constantly switching the dial between aperture and shutter
priorities which requires a button press and command dial turn, as opposed to
ONLY adjusting the desired setting using one of two command dials.

~~~
aphextim
I love being in full manual and being able to adjust the shutter speed and
aperture without taking my eye off the viewfinder. I did it more as an
enthusiast and was able to get some decent "motion" pictures at a local
racetrack.

Did a few weddings/senior pictures as side gigs but what I enjoyed the most
was the thrill of getting the 'shot' in action moments where you have a split
second and that is it. Also hiking some trail to be at the top of the summit
to get a perfect sunset is also very rewarding.

Some of my photos can be found
[https://www.timsoperphotography.com/norwayspeedway](https://www.timsoperphotography.com/norwayspeedway)

Simple website using zenfolio which has been abandoned as I now have a tech
job that is full time so I don't have as much time for my photography hobby
anymore.

~~~
nerdy
Couldn't agree more about action shots, they're my favorite!

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ereyes01
I'm a new/novice photographer... As a technically minded newbie I quickly
mastered all the technical stuff like the exposure triangle, and efficient
operation of the camera/lenses. By far the most challenging thing is being
there at the right place and at the right time to capture interesting, well-
composed images. Even subjects that never move change under different lighting
conditions, and it turns out there's near infinite possibilities to how you
can compose a shot of the same subject.

I read somewhere that a common saying in photojournalism is "f/8 and be
there", and that's really the funnest part of the hobby IMO.

~~~
KineticLensman
"f/8 and be there, for ages", would be my motto.

I've lost count of the times that I've got a great picture simply because I
stuck around for half an hour or more, especially when photographing wildlife.
Animals can exhibit some superb behaviours if you give them long enough and
don't simply walk on after you've got the first shot.

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trm42
With current digital sensors exposuring correctly doesn't even matter that
much any more because of iso-invariance when under exposing photos. There's
som uch information that wow. And yes, the auto exposure capabilities of the
camera's are awesome if you have learnt how they work in different situations
and how can you use them without fumbling.

Knowing the holy trinity (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) is still good to
know and learning to use them in manual or in priority modes makes you
understand the basic idea, how everything is related and what kind of settings
are good for different situations.

I ended up being serious photography enthusiast. For me the currently most
interesting thing to learn, is to try to make good photos with all-mechanical
film Hasselblad without any automatics. That actually forces to think and plan
a lot more about what you want before taking the photo. Also, really
calculating holy trinity values in your head is fun (especially when you need
to take into account additional nd filters and polarizers etc.

So if you photograph, try to shoot with different kind of gear and ways of
photography. That teaches you a lot.

~~~
jseliger
_With current digital sensors exposuring correctly doesn 't even matter that
much any more because of iso-invariance when under exposing photos_

It still matters a lot if you're not controlling the shutter speed and want to
freeze action. Some cameras prefer 1/30 or 1/60 second exposures but faster
shutter speeds with higher ISO is an improvement, due to iso-invariance or
even just the ability to adjust RAW files.

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ben7799
It's amazing how amateur photographers seem to think there is something magic
about pros... the difference between a Pro and a Keen amateur is almost never
about the last 5% in exposure accuracy or focus accuracy. It's about getting
to the right place and shooting the right subjects.

I am not a pro photographer but have been shooting lots of photos for years
and have sold photos.

I notice most of the discussion here is argumentative and authoritative and
tries to take the form of "always do it this way". "Always do it this way" is
always dangerous and not very creative. I also notice the discussion here
mostly does not differentiate between _ambient exposure_ and _flash /strobe
exposure_. It's important to keep in mind any time you are using a flash
you're balancing two separate exposures.

I use manual exposure regularly even though I have a "Pro" camera that has
great autoexposure built in. I less often use manual focus as well even though
I've got a camera with world class focus capability.

I use Aperture priority the most. I rarely use Shutter speed priority. It
almost never does what I want any better than manual mode. I will occasionally
use it for certain types of intentionally blurred shots where P pan the
camera.

I tend to use full manual for _ambient_ in tough light situations that don't
change. I am very very likely to use full manual for _ambient_ exposure any
time I am pulling out flashes, particularly for off camera flash. Aperture-
priority mode ambient exposure + AE flash exposure is almost always a recipe
for disaster.

Another case for manual is "expose to the right" (ETTR). I am more likely to
do that with exposure compensation but it can be a good reason to use full
manual if you are using a camera where ETTR matters.

Perhaps the most impressive technical thing pros do to me is getting shots of
super fast songbirds, swifts, swallows, etc.. that takes some serious
practice. It is not just cause they have "Pro Autofocus". I've got one of
those cameras and I have a pro level super telephoto (barely big enough for an
entry point for birds) and it is still very hard to get those shots in focus.
It doesn't matter how good your camera is if you can't even point it at the
bird because the bird is that fast! Say you have (or rented) a 400mm, 600mm,
800mm super telephoto that costs as much as a car... it probably isn't a zoom.
Good luck pointing that thing at the spot of action when stuff is moving, it's
very hard.

~~~
rhodysurf
I agree so much with the first statement. I got the cheapest Nikon DSLR on
amazon and won a surf photography contest the first day I took it out to shoot
because I was in the right place at the right time with perfect lighting. The
others in the contest were pros and had way more experience and more expensive
equipment. Knowing the subject you are shooting also helps a ton.

Shutter priority mode is my go to for surf pictures because it matters a lot
to make sure you take shots at the right time during a wave.

~~~
tomatocracy
"f/8 and be there" is the somewhat hackneyed phrase which covers this in the
documentary photography space - the subject is much more important than the
technical details.

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chendragon
I usually shoot in full manual with Live Exposure Preview and Live View (I use
mirrorless so the viewfinder supports this as well). My camera (Sony A7)
supports something called zebra, which hatches in areas that are overexposed.

Generally I use manual mode because I know exactly what kind of shutter speed
I need given my motion and lighting (avoid blur), while attempting to stay
under ISO 500, as the images become poor for pixel peepers over that.

I think if I were to be forced to use an Auto mode I would probably want to be
able to specify "optimization priorities" to the camera. Maybe "Keep the ISO
low at the expense of aperture" or "Get a fast shutter speed at any cost". But
then it's hard and unnatural to set up, than to flick a few dials and see what
the screen shows.

It also helps that I shoot with post in mind, so sometimes I under or
overexpose on purpose when I know I can recover those highlights and shadows
in post. It helps to take pictures at diff exposure levels and play with
detail recovery to get a sense of how the sensor behaves with noise when
boosting shadows or recovering highlights, and correlate that to what you see
in live view.

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taylodl
I thought this was going to be about using manual mode on your smartphone
camera. Is that even possible?

~~~
mutagen
There's a variety of apps that give you manual control. Apple has provided RAW
access to sensor data for a few years now and I think some Android
manufacturers beat them to it. You're still dealing with a tiny sensor but you
can practice and get your mind around the concepts.

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jjp
Like many skills, learn to do it for yourself and then you'll be able to make
much more informed decisions about when to use the computer to automate things
for you.

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holografix
For those saying they have to use Manual because of unevenly lit subjects or
background light: I use a combo of spot metering + lock exposure toggle.

I can then recompose and keep shooting. No need to dial my SS or ISO manually.

The only time I play with shutter speed is if I want to introduce motion blur
or freeze action.

Or when doing night photography on a tripod, I don’t want the camera raising
the ISO because it’s trying to compensate for motion blur that doesn’t exist.

~~~
megaman2
Spot metering is one way to do it, but you might find it's actually slower
than using full manual once you get enough experience in a particular area
(for example backlit stage shows). In full manual, you'll set your exposure
and adjust on the fly in a single click as the light changes. Spot metering is
slower because you have to find a decent spot to meter, then lock exposure,
then go on to actually focus, frame, etc. It takes an extra few seconds and 2+
movements just to spot meter where adjusting your ISO is a single movement is
much quicker (and can be done while you are framing for example).

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grawprog
We actually had to learn about and do a small manual photography project for
my wildlife biology class in school. The idea was that we needed to learn to
take proper pictures for samples and other things under different conditions.
It actually ended up being pretty fun and made me appreciate more the work
that goes into taking really nice pictures.

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syntaxing
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good (affordable?) camera? I was
thinking about the BlackMagic camera but I am not sure if it's worth the $2K
for it's amazing video functionality since I rarely take videos. A budget
intro camera would be awesome!

~~~
chendragon
Blackmagic has 4K and 6K cameras now, which in my opinion is close enough to
megapixel counts sufficient for stills. One of the main reasons I love the
design of them (disclaimer I do not have one, opinion from web only) is

1) Touch screen UI that doesn't seem that bad 2) Power over USB-C and charge
at the same time 3) Record to external SSD. I don't like trusting SD cards so
this is a huge one.

With this said, if these features aren't important to you and you're just
starting out, a Sony NEX can usually be had for like 150 CAD $ or so, and will
produce quite good shots and can shoot RAW.

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chachachoney
>> I know almost no professionals who shoot on manual mode outside of studio
settings.

Small sample size. Also greatly varies depending on the particular gear, shot,
genre, etc...

Completely agree that aperture mode is an amazing and effective tool/method.

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nickgrosvenor
I only use manual mode. Would never shoot in anything else.

You have complete control.

Iso, shuttered speed, and aputure need to be adjusted according to the
situation.

All profession photographers I know shoot manual exclusively.

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thecleaner
Is it just me or now everytime the word shooting is mentioned I always think a
mass shooting and more bad news ?

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205guy
I'm not a professional by a long shot, but I agree with the other commenters
who say that half-manual modes (A and S) are very useful in all situations.
The video was good, but I don't think he went into enough detail how the 3
settings are related. But first some history...

I took photography in high school when we had Pentax K-1000 manual film SLRs.
The ISO was fixed at whatever film you put in, usually 100 or 400. Then you
had to set your aperture and shutter speed for the correct exposure. There was
a needle (essentially a volt-meter hooked to a photo-diode) in the viewfinder
that indicated when the exposure was correct for the film ISO. Typically you
would choose a speed or aperture for the scene you wanted, and adjust the
other to get the exposure needle correct. To be honest, it was annoying and
fiddly, because if you chose the speed wrong, you'd have to take your eyes off
the viewfinder to set the dial. But it was really good for understanding how
the 3 settings were related.

What I found much more convenient were cameras that had the half-auto
aperture-priority mode where you manually set the aperture, and the camera
sets the speed. As explained in the video, having aperture-priority means you
are actively choosing the depth-of-field and you can change it for each shot
if you want. You can increase the depth of field to make everything sharp, or
you can reduce the depth of field to put bokeh in the foreground or
background. For example, if I'm in the mountains and see pretty flowers in the
foreground, I can quickly take 3 shots, one with the mountains in focus, one
with the flowers in focus, and one with both--to see which is the best.

Shutter-priority is similar, where the shutter speed you choose determines the
motion blur. For example, if you're shooting your kid on a bike, you can
choose a high speed to make everything frozen, or you could choose a low speed
and follow the subject to give a background motion blur--and you can take both
shots within a second of each other.

As the other commenters say, this is what has carried over into DSLRs and can
be really useful. Once you learn the trade-offs and choose A or S mode, you
have a lot of control over the image. The inner ring of the lens usually
controls the aperture in aperture-priority mode, so you have exposure control
on your left hand holding the barrel of the lens. And with auto-ISO, the
camera will increase the ISO so you can still shoot at 1/60 indoors to avoid
motion blur. You never have to take your eyes off the viewfinder while
adjusting the exposure and you have a lot of control over the outcome of the
photo. With practice, the hand motions become automatic, and you can make
split-second changes to capture a beautiful shot of that fleeting moment.

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WrightRocket
Did anyone else disagree with his explanation that ISO was like " camera
generated light"?

~~~
jacobush
It's actually very clever I think. I know exactly what it does, but I have had
a hard time explaining it to people who don't know about analog gain, noise
floor and such things.

I usually resort to "high ISO makes your camera more sensitive in low light,
but the images get smudgy if on too high an ISO".

