DSLR: How To Shoot Manually

            Many people buy descent DSLR cameras only to shoot in automatic because they don't understand how to shoot manually. When you shoot in automatic, the camera selects the settings. The shot may be underexposed or overexposed. Usually the camera doesn't give a proper reading in automatic. To correct this problem, you need to be able to take control over your photos. This means shooting in manual. Shooting in manual mode isn't as complicated as one would think. I am going to explain how to do this in a simple manner.

            There are three aspects to shooting manually; ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

ISO:  Is the setting that sets the sensitivity of your sensor to light and the amount of light needed to get a good exposure. The lower the ISO the less sensitive the sensor is to light allowing more light to hit the sensor. For instance on a bright sunny day you want a lower ISO. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor is allowing you to shoot in low light conditions. Keep in mind that the higher the ISO the more noise will show up in your photos. Noise is the grainy, pixilated red and blue dots you see in the shadows of the photo. They ruin your shot.

            On your camera your ISO scale would look something similar to this.

50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400

            You will notice that as the number increases or decreases, it doubles or "halves." The numbers are called "stops." Increasing the ISO by one stop means that you have doubled the sensitivity of the sensor as well as the amount of light the sensor can capture. For example, let's say you make the jump from ISO 200 to ISO 400. You have doubled the sensitivity of the sensor giving it double the amount of light it can capture.

            On the other hand, if you decrease the ISO by one stop, the ISO is cut in half. You have decreased the amount of light and desensitized your sensor by half the amount. So if you are at ISO 400 and have dropped down a stop to ISO 200, you have decreased the sensitivity of your sensor and the amount of light in half. That being said, as you increase or decrease the ISO, you will have to increase or decrease the aperture and shutter speed by the same amount. I will explain more on this later on.

Shutter Speed:  Shutter speed is the speed is the amount of time the shutter opens and closes to allow the light to hit the sensor.  The longer it stays open, the more light is allowed to hit the sensor. The quicker it opens and shuts, the less light is allowed to hit the sensor.  Shutter speed is not only a part of getting a good exposure or photo. It's also a part of getting creative control over your photos. As you begin to understand the element of shutter speed and how it relates to getting an exposure, you can move from a simple snapshot into a creative photograph.

            Shutter speeds are measured in both fractions of a second and in full seconds. Depending on the kind of camera you have, speeds can range from 1/8000 of a second to a full 30 second exposure. The shutter speeds are-as follows. On your camera these numbers will be shown as a single number. Instead of showing 1/250, it will just show 250.

1/8000, 1/4000, 1/2000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 30

            Just like your ISO, you will notice that as you increase the speed of the shutter by one stop, the time is cut in half. As you move one stop slower, the shutter speed doubles. For instance the shutter speeds on the left are faster than the shutter speeds on the right. Let's say you start with a shutter speed of 1/125 and you move the shutter speed to 1/250, you have caused the shutter to move twice as fast. If you start at 1/250 and you drop down to 1/125 the time will be twice as slow.

            So how do you put this into practice? For example, you are shooting your child's soccer game, or you are shooting your two year old running around and having fun. You need to freeze the action. You will have to choose a faster shutter speed on the left of the scale. The faster the shutter speed the easier it is to freeze the action.

            You are on vacation in Hawaii. You come to a beautiful waterfall and you want one of those shots that have the motion of the falling water blurred. You have to slow down your shutter speed and keep everything in focus.  Choose a speed on the left of the scale. Keep in mind that anything slower than 1/60, you need a tripod to get the shot.

Aperture:  The final element in getting a good exposure is your aperture. What is the aperture? Your aperture is also called your "f-stop." It is the hole in your lens that determines how far your shutter opens.  The larger the aperture, the more light is allowed to hit the sensor o your camera, and the smaller the aperture, the less the light will hit the sensor.

            Aperture is measured in f-stops.  Like in your ISO and your shutter speed, increasing or making your aperture bigger by one stop doubles the amount of light hitting the sensor. If you decrease the aperture by one stop, you are cutting your current amount of light in half.

 Putting it simply,

Larger the number =  the smaller the aperture = less light = decreased exposure

Smaller the number = the larger the aperture = more light = increased exposure

                Your aperture scale is as follows.

 f/1.4   …   f/2   …   f/2.8   …   f/4   …   f/5.6   …   f/8   …   f/11   …   f/16   …   f/22   …   f/32

            Another thing that comes with selecting an aperture is depth of field. Ever see one of those photos where you have your subject in focus and the background blown out? This is called a shallow depth of field. The bigger the aperture (the numbers on the left of the scale), the more of a shallow depth of field you will have. If you are shooting a landscape or you are taking a shot where you want the background in focus you want a deeper depth of field. To get this, select an f-stop on the right.

Putting It All Together

            So now you know about the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture of your camera. How do you take all of this and come out with a good photograph? Let's quickly review.

ISO: Your sensor's sensitivity to light.

Shutter Speed: How quick your shutter opens and closes to allow more light or less light.

Aperture: The maximum size of the opening in the lens.

            These three elements of exposure are not separate. To maintain the same exposure in a photograph, any change in one of the elements (ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture,) must be met or compensated for in an opposite change in any one of the two other elements. For example, let's say you are shooting a subject outdoors. You have a correct exposure that has your ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture, in sync. You decide to move the shoot indoors. Your ISO is going to change as well as the Shutter Speed and possibly the Aperture. Here are six points to remember when shooting manually.

1. With each full stop increase in the ISO (Doubles the amount of light) Increase the shutter speed by one full stop or decrease the aperture one full stop.

2. With a decrease in ISO for a full stop (Halves the amount of light) Decrease the shutter speed a full stop or increase the Aperture one full stop.

3.  With a full stop increase in shutter speed, increase the aperture one full stop or increase the ISO one full stop.

4.  With a full stop decrease in shutter speed, decrease the aperture one full stop or decrease the ISO one full stop.

5. With a full stop increase in aperture, increase the shutter speed or the ISO one full stop.

6. With a full stop decrease in aperture, decrease the shutter speed or the ISO one full stop.

            Okay I'm going to show you a different way of seeing this. Keep in mind that as the numbers in on the ISO scale go to the right, the more sensitive the sensor is allowing less light. When they go to the left of the ISO scale the sensor is less sensitive. When we look at the shutter speed, the numbers to the left are the faster speeds and the numbers on the right, the slower ones. As for the apertures, the numbers on the left are the bigger apertures and the smaller ones are to the right.

ISO Scale

50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400

Shutter Speed

1/8000, 1/4000, 1/2000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16,

Aperture Scale

f/1.4   …   f/2   …   f/2.8   …   f/4   …   f/5.6   …   f/8   …   f/11   …   f/16   …   f/22   …   f/32

            Let's say we have an ISO of 200 with a shutter speed of 1/125 and an f-stop of f/5.6. (ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/5.6) and you want to isolate the background. So you decide to drop your f-stop to 2.8, which would be a two stop increase in the size of your aperture. Since you are not moving your ISO, you will move your shutter speed two stops faster. So you are starting at 1/125. You will move your shutter speed to 1/500.

            Now let's go a different setting of ISO 400, 1/250@ f/4. You want a deeper depth of field showing more detail in the background.  In this case you will decrease your f-stop. So, we are going to move from f/4 to f/11. That is a three stop difference. Your shutter speed will change too. Move the shutter speed down to 1/30.

            The point is no matter how many stops you move your shutter speed; you have to move your f-stop the same amount to compensate for the shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed, the bigger the aperture needs to be to get a clean shot. The opposite is the same. The smaller the aperture, the slower the shutter speed needs to be.

            As far as ISO is concerned here are some general guidelines. When shooting on a bright sunny day, you want your ISO between 100-400. If you are shooting indoors you want to have the ISO at 800. In low light conditions shoot between 1600-3200. One way to make sure you have the right ISO is to do some bracketing. What you do is take a few shots going above your current ISO and then take a few shots going below it. Then review the shots to see which one is the best. Only shoot 2-3 stops above or below your current ISO.

            One last way to make manual shooting easier is your light meter in your viewfinder. Every DSLR has a light meter in the viewfinder. It looks something similar to this.

-2..1..0..1..+2

            The numbers on the left part of the 0 is underexposure. The right part of the 0 is overexposure. Let's say you have a good exposure at ISO 100, 1/60 @f/8.

100 1/60 f/8

-2..1..0..1..+2

            Now we are in a darker area and ISO 100 is not going to work so we up our ISO to 400. Now that we are capturing more light, the light meter has changed and we are now overexposed by two stops.

400 160 f/8

-2..1..0..1..+2

            To compensate for this, we need to increase the shutter speed. So we move the shutter speed to 1/250.

400 250 f/8

-2..1..0..1..+2

            BAM!! There it is. We have a correct exposure for the shot at hand. The light is registering in the middle right on the 0. But wait. We want a deeper depth of field and bring in the back ground. So what we do is we take the f/8 and move it to f/16. This underexposes our shot.

400 250 f/16

-2..1..0..1..+2

            The aperture and shutter speed are good. The speed is enough to allow enough light in and the aperture gives the detail we want in the image. The problem is the ISO. So what we do is we bump up the ISO two stops since it is underexposed by that amount. The new ISO is now 1600.

1600 250 f/16

-2..1..0..1..+2

            There she is, a beautiful exposure shooting manually. So now you know how to shoot manually and how to take creative control over your photographs.  You see how the ISO, shutter speed, and the aperture work together to give you the best photo possible. You wanted to be a photographer, so you spent your money on getting a DSLR. Make the most out of every shot you take! GOOD LUCK!!!