Forget MANUAL MODE, PROS do it THIS way!

This video is brought to you by Squarespace. If you need a website or domain, visit squarespace.com. Hello everyone and welcome back to a new video. Have you been told that real photographers shoot in

manual

and other

mode

s are for novices and amateurs in

this

video? I'm going to show you that that's not true and I'm going to show you two

mode

s that in many situations are better than

manual

. If you stay until the end I'll show you the mode I use to take photos like

this

. and this my name is Sim and I am a professional nature and wildlife photographer living in Eastern Canada.

I make weekly videos that give you photography tips or take you behind the scenes for wildlife and nature photography. Subscribe if you want to see more, okay let's get started. With a quick glance at the mode dial on most cameras, you can change how the camera works to change the three main settings that affect your photos, brightness, shutter speed, aperture and ISO. By turning this dial to switch between modes, most people can guess how it works automatically. works, it sets all the settings for you, this may work, but you don't know if you want the background in focus or blurred or how fast the subject is moving, as such you may make some mistakes in The Other Extreme is manual, here it is where you set the three main parameters yourself, although this provides maximum control and is great in some scenarios, that doesn't mean it's better now, why, while the manual is very accurate, it's best to use when the lighting is controlled or is it consistent in all cases? address maybe like a studio or you have a lot of time to set up your shot.

I use manual in landscape photography or Milky Way photography as I can take my time and get the settings I want and the light is very consistent as I am often pointing in the same direction for multiple photos, but these controlled lighting situations or having all the time in the world are actually a very small part of photography, the vast majority of photography is done while walking, looking for shots or moving around the subjects or the subjects around you like portraits or photography. wildlife or even your kids play sports with the sun in one direction and the shadow in the other in manual every time the light changes you need to change the settings to get the correct exposure if I shoot this camera in manual window and then indoors Using the same settings, there is a problem, the same settings will not work with the two scenes with different amounts of light as they need different settings to get the right shot, which means that in manual you are always playing with the settings while overcoming the Photography on a partly cloudy day is a great example of when the manual is a hassle.

I go out to photograph wildlife and every time the sun comes in and out I play with the settings and that takes you away from the creative process of focusing. on more important things like composition and technique and for me to find Wildlife, wouldn't it be nice if the camera took care of some of this for you, but without making the same mistakes as the automatic mode to rescue our shutter from semi-automatic modes ? and aperture priority aperture priority a or AV on your mode dial is the mode to use where setting the aperture is the most important setting for the photographer and it is okay to let the camera set the shutter speed to get the correct exposure, set the iso accordingly for lighting conditions are low in good light and higher in low light or even automatic and set the aperture to the desired F number, the camera then automatically sets the shutter speed to the speed needed to balance the exposure to get the brightness of the photo. to show up as zero on the light meter, known as medium gray or 18%, a gray that reflects 18% of the light, this is the mode chosen by those who photograph genres where aperture is the most important setting for them, like still life. portraits, street photography and people, this is because in these genres having the lens wide open to get a nice, blurry and soft background is often considered desirable and in aperture priority you can set that aperture but it doesn't really matter what the shutter speed is.

Let's look at this scene. I will choose the ISO for the light, in this case I will choose ISO 1000. Now I choose the aperture so that the background is blurred, so I use a wide aperture, a small F number like F2 and see as I change. aperture, the camera keeps the exposure constant at zero on the light meter by adjusting the shutter speed, which in this scenario is not a critical setting. I can even add or remove light as if the scenery is changing or the sun is rising behind. clouds and shutter speed are adjusted to maintain the correct exposure and can do it in fractions of a second, just keep shooting now if we are going to put in all this effort to get the best image quality from our photos, don't do it.

We owe it to them to show them the best of them, that's where our website comes in and it's a good time to thank the sponsor of this video, Squarespace, as many social media platforms are increasingly moving towards video as a trend rather than the photograph. A website is more important than ever, we need a place where we can display our work in great detail instead of small thumbnails that don't show all the work included in one photo or prefer video to photos. I built my own website using Squarespace and it was very easy, they have many templates to choose from and even templates designed for certain genres like photography, if you want to be even more creative you can leave the templates and design your own pages from scratch. tools to add text, video clips, photos and links to other parts of your website, this is not only a great way to showcase your work, you can even monetize it with your own online store and can accept payments via credit card or PayPal from all over the world. world, head over to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch head over to squarespace.com Simon to save 10% on your first website or domain purchase, but let's say you film in a genre or situation where Since shutter speed is the most important setting, that's where shutter priority comes in or TV for the time value on your action sports camera Motorsports and wildlife are genres, as having enough shutter speed to freeze the movement of the subject is essential or perhaps you want a slow shutter speed on purpose for artistic movement in the shot, such as water in a waterfall, for these, the shutter speed is critical, but perhaps the aperture is not in these scenarios, set the iso to what you want and then you will only have to worry about one setting shutter speed go up when you need more less when you need less and TAA the camera will adjust the aperture to get the correct exposure.

Please note that on some cameras the buttons that are controlled may change in different modes on my Canon camera. The dial next to the shutter button is the main dial for both modes. When I use shutter priority it controls the shutter speed, but when in aperture priority it controls the aperture. You can customize this differently if you wish. In my case, I like the same dials to control. the same settings regardless of which mode I am using in these modes, if you notice a flickering setting on the rear LCD it means that the camera cannot continue to adjust the settings to balance the exposure, for example the lenses have a minimum and maximum aperture, so once you reach them, your camera can't go any further on some brands of cameras, it won't let you change the settings any further on others, it may allow you to continue changing the settings, but it will leave you under or overexposed.

I once had a student. from a wildlife photography course, email me in a panic. I think it was Panama, as his camera wasn't obeying the setup commands and he would soon head into the jungle with no way to get in touch. We talk on the phone. phone and found out that this was the problem in these scenarios. See if you can change the ISO or one of the other settings to allow the camera to get the exposure at this time. What do you do in these modes if the image is still too bright? or too dark, remember the camera is trying to get the exposure to be a medium gray and while it usually does a very good job it doesn't always get it right, that's where exposure compensation comes into play in semi-auto modes, you adjusts the exposure. brighter by moving the light meter indicator to the right darker to the left use this to get the correct exposure in case the camera choice is not perfect remember that the parameter that will change the exposure compensation to change the exposure is the one you We are letting the camera manage so that exposure compensation sets the aperture in shutter priority but sets the shutter speed in aperture priority.

See here under aperture priority, the exposure compensation dial changes the shutter speed to make the image brighter or darker, so make sure you have exposure compensation turned on. a useful dial if you have a spare dial on your camera, whether it's a top dial or the thumb dial on many cameras, you can customize it to your liking if you don't have any spare dial look for this icon next to a light meter on your LCD rear or even on the top LCD screen, now an extra trick from the

pros

when using aperture and shutter priority, there may be minimum and maximum settings that you don't want to exceed, for example in aperture priority, it may be okay to leave let the camera choose the shutter speed, except you never want it to go below a certain threshold to make sure your handheld photos are sharp in a dark place, your shutter speed can go down to 1/10 or even 1 second, that's not a good handheld, what do many cameras do? you should set minimums and maximums for your settings so that the camera doesn't choose something that doesn't work for you, so you can set the minimum shutter speed to 1100 of a second or maybe the maximum aperture to F16 or the maximum ISO to 6,400 know your limits based on your style and tastes and program them and finally, what the hell do I do if both shutter speed and aperture are essential for the shot and you don't want to leave them to chance, but you are shooting?

Busy action and manual light switching with auto ISO to the rescue. You set the shutter speed to freeze or blur the action as needed. You set the aperture to make the background blurry or in focus and simply let the camera choose the ISO to balance the exposure set. the maximum ISO that you're comfortable with and you're ready to race and you know what I shoot in this mode all the time. I like fast shutter speeds to freeze wildlife movement and I like a blurry background. These two settings control the creative elements. of my photo and they are the critical ones that I want to control but I don't care what the iso is on my photos ISO 100 400 800600 I don't care that the quality of my image may be affected, but not the creative aspects of my photography and the camera you can change these settings much faster than I can in the field and with excellent light changes and remember there is no real or correct mode on a camera.

Use the one that is right for you. Let me know in the comments below what your choice is if you would like to know more about how to shoot in manual with auto ISO. I have a full video right here. If this video is worth it, please like it and YouTube will share it with other aspiring photographers, helping them get to the next level in their photography. I hope you can use these tips to go out and shoot in a new way and get your own unique and amazing photos. I know you can do it.