Samantha Alday

Another great question regarding this week’s lesson…(thanks, John).

John asked, “When shooting in manual mode, how do you know where to start?”

Look at your subject, look at the light.

Look at your subject and set your aperture according to the light. Remember when we talked in a previous lesson on aperture?  Your aperture controls the exposure or how much light reaches your subject, so the first thing you’ll do is set your aperture in relation to how much light you need.

Simply, dial your aperture up or down according to the light.

Once that is set, adjust your SS dial also dependent on your light needs.  Do you need a faster SS or is it okay if it’s a little slower?

If light is not an issue, but your priority is your SS, then set your SS first before adjusting your aperture.

Remember, it’s all about balance and compensation…all according to your light needs.

Also remember, this is not a quickie lesson to learn.  This is more for the advanced readers, but you can get there.

Keep practicing, keep reading the previous lessons, and keep shooting!

I’m so proud of you all!

Happy Thursday!

And just because a post is better with a picture……

Whoaaaaa!!  Wuh!?

Because of Brenda’s question last week, I thought it best to go ahead and address this.  Thanks Brenda for pushing yourself and thinking ahead…for thinking outside the box.

Stay with me.  You can do this!  You’re ready!  Hopefully you’re already adjusting your shutter speed, aperture and ISO accordingly, so it’s time to take the plunge and put it all together.

I know right now you’re asking me “why do I need to shoot in manual mode”.

Well, the one thing we’ve talked about for all these weeks is creating a well exposed image that you control….taking control away from your camera and putting it totally in your hands.

Your camera does not see what you see.  Your camera is not near as smart as you are.  Your camera can only read shades of light…light…gray…dark…and tries to expose the best mid-tone image it can.

When you shoot in manual mode, you control your exposure, your image….you create an image more true to what your own eyes are seeing.

So, without further ado, turn that dial to M, get your subject ready and look thru that viewfinder.  If you have an SLR, you should see a bar-looking graph somewhere along your internal screen.  It will probably be on your external LCD screen as well.

It looks like this:  2…-1…0…+1…2

We’ve talked about this graph before for controlling your flash output…this works the same way.

Set your aperture and shutter speed for your ambient light and image needs.

Roll your dial to the minus side and you’re underexposing.  Roll your dial to the plus side and you’re overexposing. Move it to the 0 and you’re image should be correctly exposed.  It’s not everytime, you’ll always be on “0″; sometimes you’ll intentionally underexpose and other times overexpose….based on your needs for you image.

Not only simply roll your dial to the left and right, but watch your numbers (shutter speed and aperture) are doing.  That’s what’s changing, not just a line on a graph.  Before you know it, you’re thinking will move from adjusting the graph to adjusting your numbers.  Go you!

On my camera, I have a dial that controls my shutter speed and a dial that controls my aperture.  I roll each one accordingly based on my needs for the shot.

I know this is a major move; conquering this does not happen overnight.  It took me years to master this.  And not all professional photographers shoot manual and that’s okay.  I don’t shoot manual 100% of the time; sometimes I’ll shoot in aperture priority.  I try not to have rules when it comes to my photography.  My goal is to create a great image regardless of how I get there.  And we’ve talked about that-shooting in aperture priority is still a great way to learn exposure and your camera.  But when you’re ready, give it a try and see what happens.  One thing I do know is that shooting in P mode will always keep you in the box and limit you and your potential.

That’s it for today!  Now go out and shoot someone!

Shortly after posting this weeks Lesson, I received this question from Brenda. She had several great questions to ask, I wanted to post it here hoping it may help anyone else with the same thoughts.

I just want to thank you for taking the time to teach all of us about photography. I have learned a great deal and it is so much fun! I always look forward to Mondays.

I do have a question for you. When I turn my dial to TV mode I can change the shutter speed, but I think my f/stop is automatic in this mode. I can’t figure out how to change it and I have read the book. Does this happen on some cameras? I have a canon rebel xs.

One more question…I take a lot of sports pictures and the one place I have trouble with is our basketball and volleyball gym. The walls are brown so pictures tend to have a yellow tent. How do I get rid of the yellow tent? I probably need the flash you were talking about in one of your lessons. Also would the 50 mil. lens work in a sporting event..the only thing you can’t zoom. I know I have lots of questions..I’m sorry..but thanks so much for your input!

Brenda

First of all…THANK YOU Brenda.  Thank you for your kind words and I’m thrilled that you are benefiting and learning from these lessons!

Now…on to your questions.

When I turn my dial to TV mode I can change the shutter speed, but I think my f/stop is automatic in this mode.

Yes, this is totally possible and I’ll actually be posting a lesson on this soon.  If you turn your dial to M or Manual Mode you control both your shutter speed and your aperture to whatever settings you need dependent on your situation and image you’re needing.  Your camera should have the option to shoot in Manual Mode.  Manual Mode is a great way to have total control of your image to create the exact look you’re wanting to achieve.

While shooting in Tv or Shutter Priority, you set the shutter speed and your camera determines your aperture accordingly.

I take a lot of sports pictures and the one place I have trouble with is our basketball and volleyball gym. The walls are brown so pictures tend to have a yellow tent. How do I get rid of the yellow tent?

Another great question and also another lesson I’ll be addressing.   What is actually happening here is due to your White Balance.  The yellow tint you’re referring to is caused by the warm temperature of the tungsten lighting in the gym.  (Notice the same yellow glow given off by the typical household light bulbs).

To correct this in camera, turn your White Balance dial (which is set on auto right now) to the tungsten setting which is probably represented by the light bulb symbol on that particular setting.  You’ll need to check your instruction manual for the specifics of your camera but changing this setting should balance out that warm, yellow color to a nicer, cooler, bluer temperature/color.

Also would the 50 mil. lens work in a sporting event..the only thing you can’t zoom.

While the 50mm is a great all purpose lens and is a great faster lens with a lower aperture; therefore letting lots of light in your darker gym, you’re just not going to get those close action shots you’re going for….because it’s only a 50mm.  You’ll need a longer focal length lens (to pull them in closer) plus the speed of the lower aperture.  A great lens to start out with is the 100mm f/2.8 lens.  It sells for around $400.  If you’re not able to go that route, you can use flash, but you’ll definitely need to go with an on camera strobe as your pop up is not going to give you the range you’ll be needing to light up those players at that distance.

I hope that helps!  Keep ‘em coming and I’ll post answers as I can.

Thanks again and keep shooting.