although i have been taking pics with my d40x for over a year now, i have yet to figure out all the manual settings. they scare the crap outta me! does this stuff ever get easier?! i've been reading digital slr's and photography for dummies and another photography book and i've been avoiding the sections that tell you about all the settings! is it really as hard as it sounds?!
Well that's the problem... After a year I would think you should pretty much have all the settings down. From now on do all of your shooting in manual, shutter priority, or aperture priority and you'll learn it pretty fast. And read those sections of the books that you've been skipping over. If you don't like reading manuals, just get out and play with the settings - find out what works. Aperture and Shutter priority are pretty easy to use. You just tell it which aperture or shutter speed to use and it figures everything else out. Once you're comfortable with those, manual shouldn't be hard to learn.
Josh, I don't think I could have put it better. Look, luvtkngpics, if you can't jump in the pool, dip you toe in by doing what Josh says and try the aperture and shutter priority modes first. But then, start reading the sections because you will not get what you are after by shooting in automatic or program. Not even in aperture or shutter priority mode. Once you start using manual, your picture will dramatically improve and you will never look back. It becomes second nature to make adjustments on-the-fly. -Nick
It looks and sounds intimidating, but it really isn't. You have shutter, aperture, and ISO which when put all together, results in exposure. Read something about them, it really is pretty simple. I only have a superzoom and I've also been using it for the past year. I shoot mainly in manual mode and occasionally in aperture priority. My camera has never been in auto mode and has only been in program mode for the first 2 months I had it.
Here is how I learnt to get out of the auto modes - First - the most important part - don't get hooked in the idea that you can only get good photos with full manual mode because its just not true. The same settings as selected in any mode on the camera will produce the same results ISO 100, f5, 1/200sec in aperture priority mode will give exactly the same photo as ISO 100, f5, 1/200sec in manual mode. The difference is that in aperture priority mode you do not directly control the shutter speed, the camera does that for you. In many cases the camera can also make a good job of choosing the right shutter speed, but note that its only going by the camera meter for a correct exposure - sometimes you might want to under or over expose a photo - you can do this to a limited extend by using exposure compensation which tells the camera to aim the exposure to be under or over the ideal. However there are times when you want to go more than this - especially if you start using flash - or where you want to be creative and that is where manual mode comes in. Manual mode allows you to control all the settings to get the effect you want in the camera - experience is a big part of this and its not till you have some time with the camera and in different environments that you will be fully able to set manual settings and get the effect you want. 1) Start off in aperture priority mode. Most people find this the easiest mode to start to understand as aperture directly affects the depth of field in a photo (area of a photo in focus) and thus it is easier to visualise what a given aperture will give you (note that focal length and distance also play a part in this as well though). 2) Post your photos on a forum or in a blog - but post them and then as you post each photo note down the aperture, shutter speed and ISO used in the photo (you can find this info in the EXIF data of a photo accessable by going to the propertise of a photo file and selecting the details tab and scrolling down). This works for any shooting mode and will start to make you consider how the settings have affected your photo. 3) Experiment - with digital you can shoot 1000s of shots and it won't cost you a thing so experiment around and see what different settings can give you 4) Get yourself a few photo books - not technical books by nessessity, but ones which show photos of things that you are interested in photographing and which also display the settings and kit used - that will help start to give you an idea of how others are viewing and shooting their shots
Pick up a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. He explains the the concepts in a straight forward, easy to understand manner.
You can try this. Do it outdoor where there are plenty of light. Maybe take a photo of a leaf. 1. Take the photo in AUTO mode. 2. After that, note down the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings. 3. Go to manual mode. 4. Set the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings according to step number 2. 5. With that settings, take a picture of the same scene. 6. Is there any difference? 7. Now, while you are still in manual mode, increase the Aperture number by turning the dial once (that is making the aperture smaller). 8. Keep the shutter speed and ISO the same and take another picture. 9. Any difference? 10. Now, keep the everything the same except decrease the shutter speed number by turning the dial once and take another picture. 11. Any difference? 12. Now, keep the settings in step 10 and increase the ISO setting by turn the dial once and take another picture. 13. Any difference? You may notice that, if you increase one setting by one UNIT while decrease the other setting by one UNIT, the expose are basically the same. Don't be afraid to try, it will not hurt anything and once you play around with the above test more, you will know more about their relationship.
