Went to the zoo and disapointed myself.

[Ratman667]

Today I went to the zoo just to get out of the house. Like always, I took my camera just in case. Normally, I am one of the first people through the gates and get my photos and get out.

Today was a horrible day for lighting. We had storms early this morning and large clouds all day. It would be really bright one minute and overcast the next. Needless to say, it was nearly impossible for a beginner like me to use manual mode. So, what did I do? I kicked it over to auto just so I would stand a chance of taking a decent photo.

Yes, there is a point to this. Out of 162 pictures, I had two "keepers".

This first photo I am fairly pleased with minus what appears to be dust, but is pollen floating on the pond.

I cropped and adjusted levels in Photoshop 7, but cannot for the life of my figure out how to get it to "look right".

This second photo is O.K. at best. It is overexposed, but I tried to tweak it to look better... This one is just for fun, I liked the expression and wanted to share.

Please, no poking fun at my PS 7. If I could afford something newer, I would buy it.

 

[RobNZ]

I had a play with the first one to see what I could recover. I think you missed the focus slighlty, ended up in between somewhere.

original

my quick and dirty

 

[Forest Power Ranger]

Why are you shooting in Manual mode??

So he could learn how.

And ratman, don't let it get you down. Everyone has a bad day.

And if you want to learn to use manual mode, just keep playing with it and make sure to the check the exposure bar (or whatever it's called) before taking a picture. That's what I did and now that's all I use!

Practice makes perfect.

 

[Robin Usagani]

You dont need ps7 to do the adjustment. Your camera should come with a software to edit the raw file adjusment. Overcast is the best day to take pictures IMO.

 

[mdith4him]

I love the water lilies picture--it almost looks like a painting with the way the water ripples. The second one is a little overexposed, but I like your composition.

Graystar: What do you mean using manual mode "doesn't teach you anything?" It teaches you how the exposure triangle works and what type of settings will work in what types of lighting...I'm sure more, but I'm just a beginner myself (using manual). Are you suggesting the OP (and all beginners) should use auto? I don't see what that would teach you about photography.

 

[Forest Power Ranger]

Learn how to what? Manual mode doesn't teach you anything.

Doesn't teach you anything??? It teaches you to learn and understand the balance of aperture, shutter speed, ISO and just how to use light!

Doesn't teach you anything, pshh. It's the fundamentals of photography.

 

[Ratman667]

I had a play with the first one to see what I could recover. I think you missed the focus slighlty, ended up in between somewhere.

my quick and dirty

I like how you saved some of the detail in the white lily. I must have spent an hour trying to do that before writing it off as a loss. How did you do it?

Needless to say, it was nearly impossible for a beginner like me to use manual mode.

Why are you shooting in Manual mode??

To learn my camera. To learn what works best in which light.

Why are you shooting in Manual mode??

So he could learn how.

And ratman, don't let it get you down. Everyone has a bad day.

And if you want to learn to use manual mode, just keep playing with it and make sure to the check the exposure bar (or whatever it's called) before taking a picture. That's what I did and now that's all I use!

Practice makes perfect.

My thoughts exactly.

You dont need ps7 to do the adjustment. Your camera should come with a software to edit the raw file adjusment. Overcast is the best day to take pictures IMO.

One of the features I still have not learned.

I love the water lilies picture--it almost looks like a painting with the way the water ripples. The second one is a little overexposed, but I like your composition.

Graystar: What do you mean using manual mode "doesn't teach you anything?" It teaches you how the exposure triangle works and what type of settings will work in what types of lighting...I'm sure more, but I'm just a beginner myself (using manual). Are you suggesting the OP (and all beginners) should use auto? I don't see what that would teach you about photography.

The second one is way over exposed. The original is nearly white.

Learn how to what? Manual mode doesn't teach you anything.

Doesn't teach you anything??? It teaches you to learn and understand the balance of aperture, shutter speed, ISO and just how to use light!

Doesn't teach you anything, pshh. It's the fundamentals of photography.

Well said.

 

[pmsnel]

I agree. Try to learn one thing at a time. Just focus on aperture. Or only on shutter speed. Or composition and keep everything else simple by using the most simplest settings on your camera. If you have mastered the separate components, then combine them in manual mode.

 

[Markw]

The best way, Ive found, to learn is through trial and error. Shooting in manual teaches you TONS. Shoot as much as you can in manual, make mistakes, then make more mistakes. This is how you learn. If you can recognise what youre doing wrong, this teaches you how to correct it and how to learn from there. Exposure Compensation is good, for what its worth, but Manual mode is much more useful and customizeable. You will use the little M space on the Command Dial way more than compensation, trust me. EC is almost lazy in some ways if thats all you use. Many, many different things can be achieved through using manual over EC.

In conclusion, Shoot manual. As much as possible until you feel you have it down. Shoot manual and shoot manual well. It makes you all the better and you will benefit greatly from it. Especially when you get into the world of off-camera flash and such. It helps. It helps with almost everything if you can shoot well in Manual mode and know how to control the light to get the exposure you want.

Shoot, Learn, youre doing well.

Mark

 

[Markw]

I dont mean to hijack, and Im not trying to say these are the best photos in the world, but try shooting these with only EC:

Shoot Manual. As much as possible.

Mark

 

[KmH]

You dont need ps7 to do the adjustment. Your camera should come with a software to edit the raw file adjusment. Overcast is the best day to take pictures IMO.

The light on overcast days gets really flat and a lot on the dimensionality shadows contributes is lost, but what shadows there are, are nice and soft. An overcast day also desaturates a lot of colors which adds to the flat look.

An overcast day is tailor made for using strobed light though.

Using strobed light lets you separate your subject from the background easier and the added light makes the subject shadows and colors 'pop' relative to the much more muted overcast background.

 

[YoMoe]

The simple idea behind exposure is to make everything middle gray.

I have this problem all the time. The photos look fine in the viewfinder but when I get them home I have to adjust the black point in PP all the time. The blacks and colors are just not vibrant enough. It is like a think gray film is all over everything. It is easy enough to correct in PP but it is a pain. I want them to do as little PP as possible.

Now, a word must be said about metering modes. Everything above applies to Center Weighted and Spot metering modes. It does not apply to Matrix metering mode. The whole idea behind the 3D Color Matrix metering mode is to recognize the scene type and apply a form of auto-exposure compensation that compensates for the scene and for the colors. So when using Matrix metering, you never use EC. Also, you don't use Manual mode either, because matrix metering is unpredictable. If you want to practice exposure, then set the camera to Center-Weighted.

hmmmm.... I did not know this. I use matrix metering all the time. I'll play around with center point. Thanks for the tip.

 

[benlonghair]

Manual mode will absolutely teach you something. It teaches you to look at the scene and recognize that 18% gray is not what you're shooting at.

Take, for example, Markw's shots above. Those are several stops darker than 18% gray. You'd have to EV down 3+ stops. Why do that when you can look at the desired image in front of you and just drop your shutter speed by 3 stops?

It also forces you to pay attention to numbers and learn exactly what they mean. Knowing that 1/50th at f/8 is the same exposure as 1/100 at f/5.6 isn't a bad thing. EV can teach you that, but manual will teach it more thoroughly.

 

[benlonghair]

Personally, Graystar, I think you're being (pardon the pun) a little too black and white on this issue.

99% of my stuff is shot in AP, yet I understand why a person might want to learn to shoot manual.

 

[Markw]

Nikon thinks EC is so important

I shoot Nikon. I think having the understanding enough to shoot well in Manual is more important than EC.

99% of my stuff is shot in AP, yet I understand why a person might want to learn to shoot manual.

Agreed. Same here, for the most part.

Mark