Manual Mode? Are you crazy?
I can remember in the early days of my photography work thinking how difficult it must be to totally control the camera using manual mode. To me that M was designated for the high end professional.
I shot in Aperture Priority. That M was a scary thought best pushed out of my mind.
Now, if someone asks me to help them learn to use their camera, I teach them Manual. Even if they have never used a camera before.
Having control over what your camera is doing is critical for getting the best possible image. You will set your camera for the situation in the field as well as the composition you wish to create.
A very accomplished professional photographer named Jim Block said this when I took a course from him. I will never forget it and neither should you.
Regarding Auto and the other modes that may be on your camera like the sport mode Jim said:
"The algorithms in your camera were written by some engineer in Japan who sits in an office with no windows... he has no idea what you are looking at or the conditions you face".
In other words, you need to take control of your camera to best capture the scene in front of you.
Sure, you can get a picture that is not terrible with Auto, but you are not going to get the best possible image. Occasionally you can get a great shot because all the conditions lined up... but thats just luck.
In this series of posts I am going to teach you how I shoot. You can adopt all or part of my method, or tell me I'm nuts and go back to whatever you were doing before.
But give it a try... you just might find that Manual is not so scary after all.
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Light is the essence of all we do in photography. How we collect the light will determine how our photograph will look. Light is your friend and light is your enemy. You need to learn to harness light to work for you and not against.
A camera controls light in many ways. We are going to be talking about the 3 main settings you will use in manual. ISO, f/stop and shutter speed. I call them the triad because when you adjust one, it affects the others; they are interconnected.
Before I begin discussing the triad in the next post, I'd like to run a few basic settings by you. Again, this is how I set my cameras... use this, or experiment and come up with settings you like better. It's how I came to use the settings I now shoot with.
METERING MODE
I at first shot almost everything at 'Evaluative Metering'. This takes into consideration the metering of the target subject, and the surrounding area equally. After testing with a friend, we determined the best image was achieved by using 'Partial Metering'. Partial Metering uses the metering of your target subject, and then adjusts a bit due to the surrounding area, but more of the metering of the subject, less of the surrounding area is used.
WHITE BALANCE
This has a great deal to do with the quality of color your image will have. It has to do with the 'type' of light. We will only concern ourselves with 4 of the available settings. Daylight (Sunny), Shade (Sunny, but your subject is in the shade) and Cloudy (Overcast). The fourth setting is AWB, or Auto White Balance. I have found that you loose a bit of the color, but not all that much when in AWB. It is wonderful for days when it is partly cloudy, and the sun is constantly going behind clouds then coming back out... an outdoor photographers nightmare. I used to try and change the setting each time... it drove me nuts... so I adapted to the AWB setting. If the day does not have a cloud in the sky, then it makes sense to set for Daylight. If your subject moves into the shade, you need to remember to change the WB to Shade. I can't tell you how many times I ruined a great shot because I failed to change the WB. Too many times... now I keep AWB on all my cameras all the time. I suggest you do the same.
AUTO FOCUS MODE (In Camera)
The various modes available here could make for a separate blog post. For now however, I'll simply tell you I keep my cameras on AI Focus.
I also have my cameras set to not fire unless focus lock is achieved. This is a great feature to have and is a menu option. You can overrule this by setting one of the 'back buttons' to fire on command as if you were in manual focus. What I really love about this is that when shooting say a Raptor up above on a day without a lot of clouds... hand holding my 500mm can get a bit unstable. This way, I simply hold down the trigger... and let my camera move a bit. When the targeting box hits the bird, the camera locks focus and fires until it comes off the bird. Go back to the bird, and it will fire again.
There are also 6 pre-set 'Case Settings' (Canon). Best to leave them as is. If you can remember to set these to the type of photography you are doing, your AF will function better. I leave my cameras on Case 2, 'Continue to track subjects ignoring possible obstacles'. A discussion on this area alone would require another separate blog post. (And me learning the major differences between them beyond the descriptions). Maybe some day. Case 2 works well for me for now.
THE BLINKIES (Highlight Alert)
Most mid-range cameras and now some of the lower end bodies have a menu setting that turns on the Highlight Alert, This is Canon's term. I am not sure of Nikon or other product lines.
When you take a shot and there are parts of the frame that were over exposed, when you look at the LED screen at the image, the over exposed parts will flash black and white (thus the name, Blinkies). If you see this while shooting, you need to make a change that will reduce the amount of light coming into the camera by changing one of the Triad settings. Make an adjustment, and take another shot. Keep doing this until the image no longer flashes. If you have the luxury to creep up on this point, you will achieve optimum lighting.
As bird photographers however, rarely is time a luxury with our subjects. This is why when I arrive on scene on a shoot, I always take a few test shots in the direction I am hoping to photograph my intended subjects. This way, when that Black-backed Woodpecker flies from it's nest hole, you have everything set so that your first images will be excellent.
RELEASE SHUTTER WITHOUT CARD??
Cards & Batteries
One other setting I believe very important, is 'Release shutter without card'. Make sure this is OFF.
Nothing worse than going thru a days shooting, coming home to download your awesome captures only to find out you shot but there were no cards in the camera to record the image. Thankfully this has not happened to me. Came close once, but the notification saved me. When you turn the camera on, a notice that takes up 3/4 of the LCD pops up and says 'No Card In Camera'.
The night before I head out for a days shoot, I check to make sure there is a card in both slots of my cameras. I make sure that if there are images on those cards, that they are downloaded to my computer. I then, after confirming the images were all transferred, format the cards so they are ready for the days shoot. I check the batteries and make sure I have already charged them. I have battery grips on all my cameras. Many benefits to these, but the largest one is that I have two batteries installed in my cameras that should last me an entire day of heavy firing.
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