I have often been in the company of other photographers and hear the phrase "I always use manual exposure". Good for them, but personally, I tend to use whatever is appropriate for the circumstances The Camera is pretty good at sorting out the exposure 90% (ishh) of the time, so why not let it do what it is good at. So I will often use Tv and Av when appropriate and wouldn't be that averse the little green P. It's all about getting the exposure right for the image and recognising when the camera won't necessarily get it right, then you need to take some control.
The exposure meter doesn't read in colour ( I believe one or two may now ) and it has been programmed on the auto settings to reduce the scene , whatever it is, to an 18% grey. Experience has shown that this will be the correct exposure for around 90% of images. Snow scenes may come out a little grey instead of white and night scenes may come out a little too light, but generally the system works and as experienced photographers, we know when to apply a little exposure compensation to put things right.
Where I use manual exposure is:
So, back to manual exposure. We have already established that 18% grey is what we aim for and to nail the exposure, this is what we want for our subject. We are not too bothered if the foreground or sky isn't quite correct, it is our subject we need to nail. I have in the past had an 18% grey card in my bag, as we all do , but caucasian skin tones and grass, whether green or dry, does just as well. Ideally, the prevailing light is over your shoulder so there are no harsh shadows. Point the lens at the subject, with the lens focus on manual, defocus so the image is a little blurred (not strictly necessary, but good practice), take a meter reading and use those settings on manual. You can do this by setting your Tv to your chosen speed and then altering the ISO until you get your chosen aperture and then use those three as your manual exposure, or you can go straight to Manual and as you take your reading, play with speed, aperture and ISO to get what you want. With a little experience, you will already be on manual setting and have chosen your shutter speed and prefers aperture and then adjust the ISO until the "needle" in the viewfinder is central. With this set-up, your subject will always be correctly exposed, regardless of the background. Turn the lens focus back to Auto.
Two proviso's:
Final thought: whatever I am shooting, I don't know what I will be shooting on my next outing. I may have an opportunity to grab a shot quickly as soon as I take the camera out of the bag, so on that basis, I always return my camera to my "standard" settings before putting it away. Usually Tv 1/1,600sec, 800ISO. That way it is ready for most action subjects and at least I have a shot in the bag, before I dial in more appropriate settings.
The exposure meter doesn't read in colour ( I believe one or two may now ) and it has been programmed on the auto settings to reduce the scene , whatever it is, to an 18% grey. Experience has shown that this will be the correct exposure for around 90% of images. Snow scenes may come out a little grey instead of white and night scenes may come out a little too light, but generally the system works and as experienced photographers, we know when to apply a little exposure compensation to put things right.
Where I use manual exposure is:
- In the studio, where I am using a flash set-up and have used a flash meter to set the lights for the exposure I want. So I have control of the shutter speed flash synch, the aperture I choose for the depth of field I want and an IS0 of around 200 for maximum quality. As long as I don't move the subject or the lights, I can shoot at these settings all day.
- Where the background changes, such as birds in flight, where the subject maybe against foreground one minute and sky the next, constantly changing from minute to minute. On any of the automatic settings, you will still get good exposure against foreground, but the subject will normally be underexposed when against the sky. In saying that, very light birds such as Egrets, Herons and even Barn Owls will probably be OK, unless it is really bright sunshine, when you will need to underexpose to protect the whites. You can still use the automatic settings and dial in some exposure compensation when the bird has sky as the background, then dial it out again when it returns to foreground. Takes a while to get used to and I didn't get on with that method too well.
So, back to manual exposure. We have already established that 18% grey is what we aim for and to nail the exposure, this is what we want for our subject. We are not too bothered if the foreground or sky isn't quite correct, it is our subject we need to nail. I have in the past had an 18% grey card in my bag, as we all do , but caucasian skin tones and grass, whether green or dry, does just as well. Ideally, the prevailing light is over your shoulder so there are no harsh shadows. Point the lens at the subject, with the lens focus on manual, defocus so the image is a little blurred (not strictly necessary, but good practice), take a meter reading and use those settings on manual. You can do this by setting your Tv to your chosen speed and then altering the ISO until you get your chosen aperture and then use those three as your manual exposure, or you can go straight to Manual and as you take your reading, play with speed, aperture and ISO to get what you want. With a little experience, you will already be on manual setting and have chosen your shutter speed and prefers aperture and then adjust the ISO until the "needle" in the viewfinder is central. With this set-up, your subject will always be correctly exposed, regardless of the background. Turn the lens focus back to Auto.
Two proviso's:
- Very light, or very dark birds will still need some exposure compensation.
- This will work perfectly .................. as long as the light doesn't change. You need to be "Light Aware" and re-set your manual exposure when the light changes. Once you are in the groove, you recognise the light change and flip one of the settings up or down a stop without thinking, for me this is generally the ISO. If in any doubt, it only takes seconds to do another "Grass Exposure" to keep the exposure nailed. This works well for me and I hope it works for you when you get those tricky situations.
Final thought: whatever I am shooting, I don't know what I will be shooting on my next outing. I may have an opportunity to grab a shot quickly as soon as I take the camera out of the bag, so on that basis, I always return my camera to my "standard" settings before putting it away. Usually Tv 1/1,600sec, 800ISO. That way it is ready for most action subjects and at least I have a shot in the bag, before I dial in more appropriate settings.
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