Faking it in Manual Mode

[tevo]

i have made the choice to buy a full manual film camera, and start learning on that. i want to have 100% solid knowledge of what my camera is doing, and still be able to produce good photos. with that knowledge, i can put my DSLR (nikon d7000) to better use. not to say i will never use my d7000, for every practical photography application i will obviously using that. for artistic purposes, i am 70/30 my nikon full manual.

as for you, what i tried doing was using shutter priority and aperture priority, to just get a general idea of what to use in certain situations, then when i had general knowledge i (and am stilll currently) fine tuning my brain to properly set my aperture and ISO

 

[CapturingLight]

Well I am a fan of #1. And I am a habitual underexposer too. Do you shoot RAW or jpeg?

Primarily jpeg, but some RAW. I use Picasa for software and it doesn't offer many options for editing, so I don't edit much at all. Thanks for liking #1, I dig it too!

 

[tevo]

Well I am a fan of #1. And I am a habitual underexposer too. Do you shoot RAW or jpeg?

Primarily jpeg, but some RAW. I use Picasa for software and it doesn't offer many options for editing, so I don't edit much at all. Thanks for liking #1, I dig it too!

Photoshop
Lightroom

obtain them.

 

[CapturingLight]

Photoshop
Lightroom

obtain them.

I know, I know. One of the reasons for joining this forum was to investigate the software matter.

 

[clanthar]

I swore I wasn't going to do this with that earlier idiotic thread about M mode, but now I've had a couple beers. Someone get me a wooden stake!!

First: You blew the sky (highlights) in #1.

#2 is a nice shot -- I like it. Here it is tone and WB corrected:

As for shooting in M mode -- If you're doing that in order to help yourself learn how your camera works that's fine. If you're doing it out of old habit that's fine too -- I like habits. Otherwise, M mode is essential for these cases: 1. You're using external flash and/or 2. You're creating special effects.

Once you understand how your camera works you should take advantage of the tool. For maximum creative control over your camera you need to learn to use the Tv, Av (Canon) S, A (everyone else) modes. These modes offer superior creative control over shooting in M mode. Manual mode hinders your ability to exercise maximum creative control in non-external flash/special effects conditions. Maximum creative control should be your goal so get off the M mode as soon as you can.

Picasa trashes every photo it touches. Stop using it immediately. If you can't manage Photoshop there's always GIMP (GIMP.ORG). Unlike Picasa GIMP is at least non-destructive.

Joe

 

[CapturingLight]

@Joe, great feedback, thank you. I will prioritize my departure from Picasa! On pic#1, what could I have done differently to keep the sky from getting blown out? I was thinking if I underexposed it any more, I'd lose the textures of the stones.

 

[clanthar]

Photo #1 is side to backlit. That makes the sky a backlight. That then guarantees that you will either blow out the highlights or underexpose the foreground. Both conditions are bad. Pick a bad condition. OR do something else...

A single capture camera JPEG could not succeed under any circumstance given the lighting in photo #1. You then had three options that are all processing intensive: 1. Shoot multiple frames to produce an HDR photo (tripod required). or 2. Shoot a 14 bit RAW capture and make sure the highlights weren't blown. Then try and recover the foreground from the RAW file or finally 3. Fake in a sky.

Joe

 

[CapturingLight]

This was from the same shoot as #1, but from a different perspective. I can now see the error in my decision to shoot #1 in the first place.

HDR is in my future.

~Jesse

 

[clanthar]

This was from the same shoot as #1, but from a different perspective. I can now see the error in my decision to shoot #1 in the first place.

HDR is in my future.

~Jesse

HDR wouldn't work with the moving water which you see in this photo. 14 bit RAW capture (in TV, AV mode) should be your future.

Joe

 

[480sparky68 67]

HDR wouldn't work with the moving water which you see in this photo. 14 bit RAW capture (in TV, AV mode) should be your future.

Joe

Moving water isn't automatically a death sentence for HDR. Create a long enough set of exposures, and an HDR version with cream-looking water would be smashing!

 

[clanthar]

Moving water forces you into an HDR set with slow shutter speeds. Granted that will work. But a single exposure 14 bit RAW capture is less effort and more likely successful (no tripod required, unless you wanted it and it's still less work).

Joe

 

[CapturingLight]

I was not implying that this particular shot would be good for HDR, I was merely saying I am interested in moving in that direction. Short term, I WILL be switching to RAW and Photoshop, perhaps Element to get started.

 

[GeorgieGirl]

Starting with Elements is not a bad idea...I have not used it in a while since I changed to LR and CS5. There is a really nice messgage board called Elements Village that I was able to get very specific questions answered, and at least once a year it seems that Adobe sends out emails their Elements users to upgrade. You can usually get get the CS5 for about half price if you are ever ready to upgrade.

 

[CrM45]

I have to agree with most that learning to shoot in manual is important to understand the exposure triangle as well as understand why your camera makes the choices it does. When I recently bought my D7000 I was shooting in manual right from the start from habit of shooting 25 years ago with my Nikon 35mm. However I discovered mostly from reading this Forum that why not use what you paid for in your camera. I am now using AP / SP most of the time. It just allows me to think more about composition, which is my main goal while I'm trying to improve. For me thinking about too many things at one time derails my brain and steals some creativity. When I feel like my eye is getting better then I may use manual more.

After a few weeks of struggling with Picasa, I got LR3 and love what it will do for post processing. I know that it should be in concert with PS5, so that is the next purchase. I really like what you have posted so far and think you are off to a great start. Enjoy your new camera and have fun!

 

[KmH]

To paraphrase Devo:

Just flip it, flip it good.