Shooting Manual. Set your shooting mode to M

Shooting Manual WHY

Shooting Manual Set your shooting mode to M

Shooting Manual 3 variables that determine your exposure: 1. ISO 2. Aperture 3. Shutter Speed

Shooting Manual 1. ISO The camera s general sensitivity to light First thing to set when you go into a new environment

Shooting Manual 1. ISO 100 Outdoor bright light 200 Outdoor overcast 400 Indoor window light 800 Indoor 1600+ Low light

Shooting Manual 1. ISO The better the camera, the higher quality photos it will shoot at higher ISOs and the higher ISOs it will have available.

Shooting Manual 1. ISO Find & set 100 Outdoor bright light 200 Outdoor overcast 400 Indoor window light 800 Indoor 1600+ Low light

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop Opening in the lens for light to come through Restricted by lens, not camera

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop Impacts 2 things: -Amount of light let into camera -Depth of field

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop -Amount of light let into camera The lower the aperture (wider opening), the more light is let into the camera. *Important for shooting in low light situations.

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop -Depth of field Distance within the image that is in focus

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop -Depth of field The smaller the aperture (larger the opening), the shorter the depth-offield and the LESS in focus.

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop The better/more expensive the lens, the lower the possible aperture. Thus, better lenses allow for lowlight shooting and more shallow depth-of field

Shooting Manual 2. Aperture or f-stop Find & Practice changing Typically changed by the wheel on the back of your camera. Look for the decimal point number, i.e. 4.5, 5.6, 8.0

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed How fast the shutter opens and closes Usually a fraction: 1/80 1/1000 But on the camera display, it just shows the denominator: 80, 1000

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed Impacts 2 things: -Amount of light let into camera -Sharpness of image or subject

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed -Amount of light let into camera The slower the shutter speed (lower number) the more light comes in. So a slow shutter speed is helpful in low-light situations.

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed -Sharpness of image or subject The faster the shutter speed the more the subject is frozen.

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed -Sharpness of image or subject If your shutter speed is too low, the whole image will be blurry unless you are using a tripod.

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed -Sharpness of image or subject My rule-of-thumb: never go below 1/80 of a sec. when shooting handheld.

Shooting Manual 3. Shutter Speed Find & Practice changing Typically changed by the wheel on the top of your camera. Look for the whole numbers i.e. 80, 100, 320, 1000, 2000

Shooting Manual 3 variables that determine your exposure: 1. ISO 2. Aperture 3. Shutter Speed These work together like an equation (all three have to be set properly) to get a properly exposed image.

How I set them: 1. ISO set whenever I enter a new location or lighting situation. Best estimated guess. 2. Aperture set depending on what I want my depth of field to be. 3. Shutter Speed set while looking through viewfinder at internal meter

What is your shutter speed when you zero out your in-camera meter?

Shooting Manual If you end up with a shutter speed below 1/80 in order to zero-out your camera meter, that means you need more light through your ISO setting or aperture setting in order to be able to increase your shutter speed to 1/80. How can you accomplish this?

Shooting Manual Two options: 1. Increase your ISO (making the camera more sensitive to light). 2. Lower your aperture (letting more light in through the opening in the lens).

Shooting Manual PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Shooting Manual Exceptions to zeroing out incamera meter: 1. Window or bright light in the background = overexpose by 1 stop

Shooting Manual Exceptions to zeroing out incamera meter: 2. Backlighting my favorite lighting = overexpose by 1/3 or 2/3 stop

Shooting Manual Exceptions to zeroing out incamera meter: 3. Predominately white composition = overexpose by 1 stop 4. Predominately black composition = underexpose by 1 stop

Lighting Situations Light = single biggest factor that impacts a photograph Try to train your eye to see how light is affecting the shot

Lighting Situations full shade: place subject near full light i.e. under overhang to create directional light

Lighting Situations back lighting: look for the end of a shady area-- where the shade ends and light begins

Lighting Situations back lighting: place subjects between you and the sun in the spot where the sun is still hitting their heads but the bulk of the background is shaded

Lighting Situations back lighting: light on subjects face = background

Lighting Situations back lighting: move around subject if necessary to get shade behind them and make sure sun isn t coming into your lens

Lighting Situations back lighting: sun should be slightly outside the frame

Compositional Elements Rule of thirds

Compositional Elements Sandwiching Include foreground elements in composition and sandwich the subject between foreground & background. This adds depth & interest to the image.

Compositional Elements Perspective

Compositional Elements Rule of Thirds Sandwiching Perspective

Website/blog: melissajill.com Advanced topics (use search box on the blog to find): Back-button focus Photographing Group Portraits that are in focus Instagram: @melissajill