CASTLEFORD CAMERA CLUB DSLR Manual Mode

MANUAL It is easy to get a shot wrong while controlling both aperture and shutter, however it is fundamental to developing good photography technique and skills. You may find that manual mode gives you the best control for most situations

In some cases, you may actually want to create slight under or over exposure to create the desired effect.

The first thing you need to determine is the type of effect you want from your image: – Depth of field – Frozen action shot – Motion blur Once this has been determined you can either set your Aperture or Shutter speed and then adjust the other to produce the intended exposure.

When the indicator is in the centre, this signals a correctly exposed image. This is a good starting point. From here you can adjust your shutter speed or your aperture to under or over expose. Your camera will have a light meter scale

The three major factors in each shot are: aperture value; shutter speed; and ISO “the exposure triangle” If you adjust one, the others will no doubt need adjusting.

THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLE

The aperture is made up of a number of interlocking diaphragm blades that open to allow the light into the camera. The size of the hole in the lens is measured by the f-stop or f-number. The smaller the number (e.g. f2.8) the shallower DOF, the bigger the hole in the middle and therefore the more light is allowed into the camera.

Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of seconds e.g. 1/60 of a second or 1/2500 of a second.

By adjusting ISO we can make the sensor more sensitive to light. The downside to having a high ISO is that we lose clarity in our images. Increasing the ISO tends to mean the resulting photographs get more grain/noise. ISO

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER Aperture: Small F number = big hole in lens = more light into the camera Shutter Speed: Slower shutter speed = more light into the camera ISO: Higher number = more sensitivity = more light into the camera (but may be grainy)