If you have not tried shooting in manual mode before, you are limiting yourself as a photographer (IMHO). I personally do not (yet!) shoot in manual mode on a regular basis. As of this writing, I've actually only shot in manual once since I got my D40 in July. My personal goal is to be comfortable shooting in all modes. I've started with program mode, then moved to aperature priority (where I'm at now -- totally loving AP!) and will work my way through shutter priority then up to manual. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll be adventurous and daring and try manual next. Oooh!
The purpose of this post is to share with newbie photographers a great tutorial series on getting into manual mode. DPS has just recently posted a series titled "Moving Toward Manual Settings (a beginner's guide)", written by photographer, Natalie Norton. She has a great photoblog, btw!
Checkout this series at the links below:
The above photo was taken on 7/24 and was my first time ever using manual mode. Actually...it was a lot EASIER than I thought it would be! So why don't I continue using manual, you might ask?? I've read great tips from many veteran photographers who have all expressed the importance of becoming familiar with all the modes in your camera as you are starting out, primarily the semi-manual & manual modes (Program/AP/SP/Manual). This also helps you better understand the relationship with the "exposure triangle" (aperture/ss/iso) since you are able to control more of the settings yourself.
So....ENJOY moving toward manual! I'll be there alongside with ya!
2 comments:
I know what you mean. I was afraid to go into manual mode too until I took a class offered by Canon on how to use their Canon cameras - after that it has been all Manual. I never have really used AV or TV mode... I should give those a whirl sometime.
AMEN. In Manual, so much can be done so quickly and so easily. Really, it is true that you should be familiar with Av and Tv (Or A and S, for Nikon), but if you know Manual, you know A and S very thoroughly. Really, if you know Manual, you know everything else. That is how I see it. I actually have backed off of Manual some- when I first got the camera, that was all that I used. Now, thanks to good advice from a fellow Legacy Paparazzian, I use Auto for my snapshots. Anyways. Wow, that was a long comment. I guess you can tell that I like Manual.... : ) Good post.
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