Manual Photography in a Nutshell
written by rachel beckmann
I’ve been practicing digital photography for over eight years. Having started out with taking creative self-portraits on my iPad mini, I would put the camera on a self-timer and prop it on top of a stack of books as a make-shift tripod. After this cringey experience, you may imagine how ecstatic I was when I received my first-ever beginner camera in 2015, a Canon Rebel EOS T5. As a beginner in photography, I made a major mistake with this upgrade: I took photos in automatic mode up until three years ago because it seemed to be a daunting learning process. If you’ve made the same mistake, don’t fret-- we all begin somewhere, and I am here to help you get acclimated to your camera.
Source: Photographycourse.net
When learning to shoot in manual, there are a lot of terms to get a hold of, not to mention understanding how they work together to create one crisp image. When it comes down to it, though, manual mode boils down to three things: ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. By being able to manipulate these three variables, you will be able to drastically alter your photography.
Shutter Speed:
Source: karltayloreducation.com
First, when shooting manual, you want to check out your shutter speed. This number portrays how quickly your shutter moves when taking a photo, and will display as a fraction of a second. When looking at your manual settings on your camera, it will show as the ‘1/X’. For example, your shutter speed may appear as 1/80, 1/250, etc. This number impacts lightning, first and foremost. The bigger the fraction, the darker the image. For instance, an image shot at a shutter speed of 1/80 will be brighter than one shot at 1/250th of a second, because the image at 1/80 shutter speed had the shutter open for a longer period of time, which allowed more light to enter the lens.
Shutter speed is also important for capturing movement in an image. The bigger the fraction, the clearer that motion is captured. 1/80 will have a motion blur while 1/250 will be less blurry because the image shot at 1/250th of a second was taken quicker than one shot in 1/80th of a second. A higher shutter speed (or a larger fraction) is best for capturing sports/movement, so be sure your shutter speed is high if you hope to capture a moving subject.
Source: karltayloreducation.com
Aperture:
Aperture, also known as your f-stop, dictates how much light is let into your camera. Aperture also impacts how much of your image is in focus. On your camera, it will be showcased with a ‘f/X’. The X will be the visual change of, simply, how wide your lens is open. A large aperture is showcased with a low f-stop number, such as f/2.5. This is when your images will be focused on your subject, blurring out the background. Because of this, a large aperture (a low f-stop number) is typically utilized for portrait photography. With a large aperture your camera is also letting in more light. However, with a small aperture ( a larger f-stop number) such as ‘f/22’, your entire image will be in focus and it may appear darker.
Source: photographylife.com
ISO:
ISO is the last aspect of the exposure triangle, and this is solely focused on how sensitive the sensor of your camera is to available light. When looking at your screen, you will see ‘ISO’ with a number to the right of it. The higher the number, the brighter your image will be. Essentially, you want to adjust this when you need to make the image brighter while shooting. You do not want to make the ISO higher if not necessary, for the sole fact that a high ISO can 1) add pesky grain to your photo, and 2) potentially over-expose your image. For this reason, you may want to try first to lower your shutter speed if possible in order to add light to your image. If needed, adjusting your ISO is great for low-lit areas where you still need to capture a moving subject.
Source:photographylife.com
