6. Using your camera in Manual mode
Now that you understand the fundamental concepts of shutter speed, aperture and exposure, you’re ready to start using your camera in Manual mode!
The best thing about working in Manual mode is that you have full control. By simply adjusting shutter speed or aperture, you’ll be able to fine-tune each little detail of your image.
If you want to achieve beautiful images with soft bokeh backgrounds, blur motion to get silky smooth water shots, or get crisp, sharp action images, all you need to do is adjust your settings.
How to shoot in manual mode
All you need to do is switch to ‘M’ on your camera dial. Now, you have full control. But with great power comes great responsibility! Your camera will no longer automatically adjust anything for you.
The first step is to think about what you’re shooting. Are you photographing a landscape where you want a large depth of field? Or are you photographing motorbikes, where you need a fast shutter speed to freeze the action?
In the landscape image above (which you can see me shoot in the video), I decided to use a shutter speed of four seconds. This allowed me to capture some motion blur in the waves. As the light decreased with the setting sun, I had to adjust my aperture in order to maintain the four- second exposure. While I could have adjusted the shutter speed, I knew that if I slowed it any further I would get too much motion blur.
You can clearly see the effect of that four-second exposure in the cropped image. The slower shutter allowed me to capture some of the movement in the water, creating a smooth, silky effect. This was a creative decision that I could only have achieved by shooting in manual.
The two examples above show the difference between a shallow depth of field, which is a common choice for portrait photography, and a greater depth of field for a more fashion-style image.
The advantage of shooting in manual is that it gives you precise control over your images. You can select the exact exposure, depth of field, or amount of motion blur, without leaving anything to chance.
But by making these decisions yourself, it’s important that you understand how to compensate for any adjustments you make. Any change in exposure – whether achieved by adjusting shutter speed or aperture – will need to be balanced with an equal change in the other setting.
To begin with, while you’re still getting to grips with shooting in manual mode, you may need to check your images to see that you’re achieving the correct exposure. This you can check using the methods discussed in Class 2.
Now you understand how to control the different settings on your camera and shoot in Manual, the next step is to take a look at how different lenses can influence your shot.
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