Shooting in Manual Mode!
Welcome to Day 1 of Mastering Manual Mode!
I don’t always shoot in manual mode. When I bought my first DSLR camera, I started by learning what aperture, shutter speed, and Why not use the fancy buttons on my new camera?
When I went back to all the photos that I took with my new fancy camera, the exposure was different from what I had imagined through the viewfinder.
After these less than pleasing results, I challenged to myself to keep my DSLR in manual mode. “Force” myself to become comfortable with the “old-school” way of taking photos.
After almost 11 years, I still prefer to use manual mode.
Why use your camera in manual mode?
Why on earth would you choose manual mode when you have a camera that is state of the art?
Why shouldn’t you be able to use your expensive camera without having to do anything else?
Simple answer: “No! Cameras cannot take amazing pictures on their own all the time.
Truthfully, your camera’s high-tech formulas and your camera itself can be easily tricked. Your camera is not intelligent and will not know how to expose unless you tell them.
Manual mode allows you to control your camera’s settings including shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Manually adjusting your camera’s settings will give you more creative control and ensure you get the exact image you want.
Then WHY did I pay for all those fancy buttons?
I’m not saying that there aren’t other modes of shooting or camera settings. To get the BEST POSSIBLE PICTURES, it is important to understand how manual camera settings function and to be in CONTROL over what they do when you take photos.
I’ll put it another way. You will need to know enough about your camera and what goes into a properly exposed image in order to be able determine when you should take control of the situation yourself, or when you should let the camera do its job.
What I HOPE You Learn From Our Mastering Manual Mode Series
This series of posts on mastering manual mode is designed to help you learn how to better control that expensive piece of equipment. !