Tips For Shooting in Manual Mode

Today’s Photo Tip - Part 1: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Learn the Basics. If you really want to improve your picture taking skills, one must force themself into shooting in the manual mode. I know what you’re saying, “but I never took a photography class”, “I have no idea what settings to use”, “I would just end up taking bad pictures anyway.” I’ve also had all these thoughts, and while they may be true, learning to take pictures in [P] manual mode will make you a better photographer. For starters, here is what I suggest. Using books or the Internet, start learning the effects of changing [S] shutter speed, [A] aperture (f-stop), [M] manual, exposure compensation, and ISO settings. Study the various focus modes and settings your camera has to offer, e,g, [AFS] Auto Focus Single, [AFC] Auto Focus Continuous, [M] Manual, [1-Area] focusing, [23-Area] focusing, [AF] Auto Focus Tracking, [Face] Face Detection. Having a basic understanding of these element will go a long way towards learning to shoot pictures in the Manual Mode.

Today’s Photo Tip – Part 2: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Take Your Time. Once you have a general understanding of the basic settings available to you, you need to put them into practice. There are many ways to approach this, however, I feel that the key thing to remember is this, “Take your Time!”. Make a concerted effort to ignore your surroundings and those around you and concentrate on taking the picture. Though you could start right off by switching to Manual mode, allow me to make this suggestion. Take the 1st picture using the [iA] auto mode. Then take the time to read and study the camera’s LCD display. With the shutter pressed halfway, it will display the F-Stop(Aperture), Shutter Speed and any specific Scene Settings selected by the auto mode. After taking the shot, press the green Playback button to view the stored image. Once you have the picture on the LCD screen, press the DISPLAY button on the rear of the camera until you see the view on the right. You can now see all of the settings used by the [iA] auto setting when the image was captured. Study them in relation to the picture taken and determine if changing any of them using the [P] manual mode would improve the picture. The key, slow down and take the time to learn and understand what is happening when you take a picture in auto mode.

 
Today’s Tip – Part 3: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Establish A Shooting Procedure. Establishing and maintaining a consistent procedure to be used when taking your pictures will make the editing and ‘cleanup’ process go much faster after you have transferred the negatives to your computer. Until I become more proficient, here is the process I will be using. For single shots, I have decided to take four identical pictures. The (1st) using the [iA] Auto mode; the (2nd) using a specific scene mode such as [Portrait][Scenery][Landscape][Sports][Close-Up][Night]; the (3rd using the [P] manual mode; and (4th) use a specialty film mode such Dynamic, Nature, Vibrant, Black & White, etc. Hopefully, doing this will force you into thinking about the various options available for creating a better picture. During the review and editing process, you will more easily see what settings worked best and understand why.