Full Manual?

lucki85 · Mar 18, 2008

Okay, so I think I have finally gotten the whole concept of Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO down (YAY!!) and have a quick question...

I am mainly interested in portrait photography. So...say you were in studio taking portraits...would you normally use full manual and set everything to use for the entire shoot? In my mind, I am thinking that the lighting would be consistent and there really wouldn't be a need to change...Right? Unless you are moving lights around or something? And do you normally shoot in full manual or something else? I am not refering to shooting outdoors at all or switching rooms etc...just in studio. Thanks! April

Dubious Drewski · Mar 18, 2008

Yeah, in my quest to become better at studio shooting, I keep hearing over and over that full manual is the way to go. Manual shutter/aperture/iso and manual flash if you can.

Big Mike · Mar 18, 2008

Yes, you could do that....and when shooting in a studio with flash/strobe lights...I certainly use manual mode (you pretty much have to with studio strobes).

However, if you are using constant lights...you could use manual mode or any of the other modes (maybe with EC)...because once you have it set, if the lights don't change, the meter reading really shouldn't change either.

That being said, your presumption is correct. Once you have your exposure set, it would be a good idea to have the camera in manual because the lighting will be the same (unless you change it).

JerryPH · Mar 18, 2008

Me too.. always full manual. But don't think that just becuase lighting stays the same that all else does. You will want to play with different angles, different DOF, different kinds of lighting.

Variety is the spice of life!

The first time with my setup, I wanted to try it all and accomplished nothing... lol

I now limit myself to no more than 3-4 distinct goals per portrait session. This may be DOF or lighting style or props or backdrops, but whatever that is, I do a couple hundred shots in that session and try to analyze as carefully as possible the effects of my changes.

lucki85 · Mar 18, 2008

only have a second (might be back in the morning for additional questions) but thanks for the replies....I just went to the library and got photography for dummies

blushing

so I NEED to go check it out!!

lucki85 · Mar 18, 2008

Forget that.....It took me a whole 4 minutes to get through that book, as it was all about shooting automatic with a point and shoot...I really should've looked at it more closely before "renting" it out. Now nothing to read tonight....I think I'll check out the strobist site...