Basics on manual photography
Quite many know the joke about a typical DSLR user, who is only using full automatic settings and is getting worse photos than he wants to get.
You don't want to be one of those. However I know learning new things is really difficult, that's why I'm trying to explain the three big things in typical manual photography: Aperture, shutter speed and ISO (light sensitivity).
To help out, I'm giving different sets of photos and explaining which settings I'm using on the photos. I've seen similar sets on websites and in books, so I'm hoping they are the absolute best method to learn!
I've learned these things in Finnish, so if anyone notices I'm using wrong terms in English, please point it out to me!
Aperture
In the photos below I'm using shutter speed of 1/100 and ISO 100.
You can see effects of different apertures, when shutter speed and iso are staying the same. The smaller the aperture number is, the brighter the image is, as the camera sensor is getting more light from the larger aperture.
Aperture: f/1.8
Aperture: f/7.1
Aperture: f/13
You can see how aperture affects the amount of lights in the photo. All lenses are not capable of having as great aperture as others, as typical lenses have maximum aperture of f/4.5 or f/3.5, meaning you can't go as far as f/1.8 or further. Some lenses can reach aperture of f/1.2 or f/1.4, which are extremely good for low light conditions (or to get a nice bokeh).
Why use small aperture, if the image gets darker?
Most importantly, because aperture affects the how shallow or deep the focus is on the photo!
Let's see below:
f/1.8 (ISO 100, shutter 1/500)
f/7.1 (ISO 100, shutter 1/25)
f/22 (ISO 100, shutter 1/5)
You can see how I had to adjust the shutter speed from 1/500 of a second to 1/5 with the smallest aperture to get the image bright. However, what's important you can see the difference in depth of view.
In first image, background is blurry but in the last one, it's sharp even to the neighbors balcony.
At worst, using a large aperture in a portrait photo can cause camera to focus on the tip of the nose, leaving rest of the face blurry.
ISO
In the photos below I'm using shutter speed of 1/100 and aperture of f/3.5.
ISO is basically light sensitivity. The higher the ISO value is, the more sensitive the camera sensor is to light. By increasing ISO value, you can get more light in dark conditions, just in case you do not want to use large aperture and/or slow shutter speed.
ISO 100
ISO 400
ISO 1600
You can see how the image is becoming brighter and brighter without adjusting other values. ISO helps especially in dark conditions and when you need to have large depth of focus and/or fast shutter speed.
However, the issue with light sensitivity is that the sensor is also getting the "bad signals" more easily, causing disturbance on the sensor. This can be seen as "noise" in the image, lowering the image quality.
The smaller the camera sensor is, the worse it can handle higher ISO values. This is one special reason for full frame cameras, as they have large sensors. Phone cameras typically have small sensors, which cause them to be terrible at photography in the dark.
ISO 25600 (Shutter speed 1/4000, f/5.6)
The photo above is with extremely high ISO value. I've cropped a small piece of the photo below:
The image on the left is ISO 25600, the image on right is ISO 100.
The quality is OK even with ISO 25600, but you should be able to see the difference. If you don't, it's fine too :)
Shutter speed
Images below are taken with f/2.5 and ISO 400.
Shutter speed reflects how fast the camera shutter is. It opens and closes, letting light in and then the image is born.
Well done.
The faster the shutter is, the less light can enter. However if the shutter speed is slow, you get more light but all movements cause the image to become blurry. The model is moving a bit, your hand is shaking, wind is making grass wave...
1/125
1/15
1/4
You can see the images are getting more and more light, but the movement is getting blurrier. Sometimes the blurriness is something we want to achieve, but not always.
To get movement really to stop, you need really fast shutter speed. I usually get disappointed when a photo seems OK on the small camera screen, but isn't sharp in the end and I've used too slow shutter speed for most of my photos.
1/1600, ISO 2500, f/2.2
3.2, ISO 50, f/20
Yes, instead of 1/something seconds I used shutter speed of 3.2 seconds. To get this photo, I used a timer and a tripod.
As you can see, I managed to get a real nice effect using a slow shutter speed, but I'm also real happy about the photo above as the movement seems truly stopped.
Conclusion
Most cameras have automatic or "semi-automatic" selections. Some allow you to pick ISO and letting the camera to calculate other values - or you can choose ISO and aperture/ISO and shutter speed, leaving the camera to calculate required value of shutter speed/aperture for the optimal photo.
That's how I started and I moved on to using manual selections. The thing is, you usually have to be changing all the values if the conditions are changing or you're taking different kinds of photos.
Be brave to push yourself onto new levels in photography, but don't take stress in going straight to the top.
Taking photos is not an easy task without the knowledge of camera you are using thanks for giving useful information.
Well that's true, you can't fully utilize the tool you have unless you know it :)
This is helpful to me. Thanks @apsu.
Just wait till you get the shipment :)
Yes, will do.
...always wanted to learn but it was always to much....it still is a bit too much lol....so im resteeming this to have it stashed for future read...ty :3
It's a bit much, that's why I start with less - like adjusting only the shutter speed and letting automation think of the rest :)
Hey @apsu,
these will come in handy for the pepper updates! :) At the moment I am a total fotography noob, which hopefully will change led by your article!
I'll need a macro lens before starting to get photos for such close-ups :)
Being a noob is great, you can get only upwards from there!
Now you can finally get a better bread pic for your profile pic :P
Got a mate here who just got a camera; its fun to watch the rest of the guys use the auto settings to take pics...they make good photos go bad, its hilarious!
Hey, my bread is the best!
The auto settings work to a certain point, but when you want a specific kind of photo - it won't help :D
This is why some people assume awesome photos are because of photo editing, even bokeh (the blurriness in the background of photos) is thought to come from photo editing, while it's actually a aperture trick.
I look forward to the next in this series, the acids of photography.
Good guide. Covered all the bases.
We'll have to ask @acidyo if he wants to become photographed.
I'll always handle all the bases.
This is a great overview. It seems complicated, but it makes sense when you think about how much light is getting to the sensor (aperture/shutter speed) and how sensitive the sensor is (ISO).
It's weird to me that modern DSLRs make the ISO setting so much harder to access than shutter/aperture. I'm always going out in the morning to grab a picture and forgetting that I upped my ISO the night before for something in the dark, and then ending up with unnecessarily grainy shots.
If I designed a camera, it would just have three sliders next to each other. "Full auto" mode would take its best guess, "semi-auto" would let you adjust one of the sliders (if you wanted fast shutter speed or better depth of field) and then move the others to compensate, and "manual" would let you put them where you like and let you deal with the consequences.
I mean, I know that's what cameras do now, but the controls are so esoteric and complicated, it's no wonder newcomers just leave them on automatic.
@winstonalden what camera are you using?
I can see your point and I owned my last DSLR for years without getting deep into the details of the camera as everything just felt so.. complicated. It's rarely a joy if you need to practice a long time to learn how to do the basics with the camera, as ISO, shutter speed and aperture are not high level stuff.
I bought a full frame mostly to have far more flexibility with the ISO, as I will not get a big loss if I accidentally use a higher ISO. I'm an image quality wanker (or I'm trying to be) so I could complain, but I'm also lazy to find optimal photo settings so I will rather keep quiet with small issues with the end quality and just try to get better.
And about ISO, I'm already quite used with my 6D to change the ISO quickly. However I think it's pointless to have 4 buttons on the top and one of them activates the ISO setting. I pushed the wrong button so many times in the past.
I have a Nikon D3200 SLR - literally the cheapest SLR you could buy two years ago. $500, came with two zoom lenses and a case. But it's been a trooper.
I also use the wife's Nikon Coolpix S9900 - a (barely) portable with a telescoping lens long enough to make you blush. It actually takes better photos on full automatic, but the zoom mechanism has already started to fail.
Those full frame cameras look amazing, but $$$! The entry level models cost more than we spent on the wife's car! Since most of what I post just gets cropped down for the web, I'm fine with the quick and dirty. I'm hoping my new smartphone will take some decent shots. It has two forward facing lenses for some reason. I need to research why that's such a special feature.
Sometimes I wish I had started off with Nikon, I have heard so many good things of Nikon cameras as Canon is not the brightest camera brand in all senses. But they are real good too.
Nikon Coolpix S9900 would seem a perfect choice for every peeper in the town. I'm not saying you are one, but zooms like that can do truly amazing feats.
I'm lazy reading my earlier comments, but I bought an used 6D so I got it a reasonable price. I couldn't use all the lenses I had, but it's fine as I found some good replacement lenses used too. I got the 6D with as little as 700€, most likely because there were some "hot pixels" and I'm not sure if the last owner had the required skill to clean them off. He had proposed that I'd clean the sensor (not required for that) because he said he hadn't done it as long as he had owned it. I think he knew about the hot pixels and didn't want to pay for the cleaning, while I actually managed to get them off myself.
What smartphone do you have?
The phone is an Honor 7x. I grabbed one when they dropped to $200 on Amazon, then got a SIM card from Net10 for a prepaid plan $40/mo. It's the nicest phone I've ever had and amazing for the money.
I've never heard of hot pixels before, but that's great that you could make the repair yourself.
APSU I LOVE YOUR INFORMATIVE POST!!!
I'm actually going to be getting into Photography, so knowing about manual settings and how they affect the image are extremely useful for me. I can adjust ISO on my phone, but the condition settings are otherwise automatic.
Do you have any suggestions on cameras? I am going to be purchasing one soon, but would love suggestions c: <3
Love,
shello
That's one of the reasons why I'm having difficulties with phone photography. I can't control it like I would want it to be!
I'm going all mysterious and ask - what do you want to take photos with? How much are you willing to invest?
DSLR's are awesome, but they need a lot of investments to give the full flexibility they deserve. However, pocket cameras can be great or disappointments. I'll try to look for decent options depending on the price you are willing to pay :)
Great manual i sure will try those tips