Sure, P stands for Point and Shoot, but your dSLR camera set to Auto (P) mode has a lot to show you.
In fact, your camera alone can teach you to photograph in manual.
I wish I’d realized this when I was just starting out.
If you’ve been following my site for some time, you’ll know that I’m a knowledge seeker. I’m a researcher – I love to learn. And because it’s my nature, when I got my first fancy camera, that’s exactly what I did. I read and read and studied and studied until I could tell you everything there was to know about proper exposure, how to get it and why it was so important to only shoot in manual.
But then I’d head out into the real world. And fail miserably. Dejected, I’d turn the dial back to P and snap away. I’d dabble in A/Av mode and the T/Tv modes. Because I use Canon, I’d also try out the CA mode (which I was never really a fan of).
Little did I know I had the most powerful teacher at my fingertips – if only I would have taken the time to sit and get to know it.
The best way to learn to shoot in manual is to shoot in auto and semi-auto modes on your camera.
It’s counter-intuitive but let me explain.
Your camera can be an excellent instructor – if you choose to let it help you. Like learning any new task, you are not going to learn by osmosis.
You learn by doing, taking action and most of all practicing.
Here’s how:
Start on P mode: – When you take a picture, instead of looking at the pretty LCD screen (like we all love to do!), get your screen to show you the resulting data instead. (You’ll have to dig out your camera’s manual to show you how to do that). Look at what settings the camera chose, based on the scene you asked it to photograph. And the simple truth here – repeat repeatedly.
Take a picture where your subject is sitting still. Then take another picture where your subject is running. To get the most out of this exercise, take notes. Bring a journal along and write down the settings underneath the image name and short description:
Image 1: subject sitting on log. P mode on camera.
Resulting settings: ISO 125, Shutter: 1/125, Aperture: 5.6.
Image 2: Subject moving (running through scene). P mode on camera:
Resulting settings: ISO 200, Shutter: 1/400, Aperture: 3.2.
(These are just random examples).
The point is, you can learn from what your camera is telling you.
Although we always give “P” mode a hard time, it really does a fantastic job of reading a scene, figuring out what’s happening, and determining the optimum settings for proper exposure.
So how can you apply this knowledge to help you shoot in manual?
Example 1: Low light, lots of motion
Let’s assume you’re taking pictures of your child dancing in your living room. Your camera is on P mode – some of the images are blurry, and some are sharp. Why is that? Your camera knows why – and it’s in the data. I guarantee the settings will be something like this: (I’m also assuming you’ve focused correctly)
Blurry image: ISO 640, Shutter: 1/100, Aperture: 3.5,
Sharp image: ISO 800, Shutter: 1/250, Aperture: 3.5.
What’s the difference? You know from this previous post on ISO, that ISO controls brightness and sensitivity to light, so the increased ISO isn’t a factor. It’s your shutter speed that has changed.
And now you know that you need a higher shutter speed to stop motion. Your camera told you that (but you’d never know if you weren’t listening).
Take it one step further:
You know that you need a higher shutter speed when you’re trying to stop motion (i.e., show your kid’s crazy dance moves). But if you keep your camera on P, you have no control over any of the settings and your camera may guess wrong again (and you’ll end up with blurry images).
This is where the semi-automatic modes come into play.
When you want to control time, you choose T/Tv mode (which is shutter priority mode). What this does is let YOU control what the shutter speed should be, but still leave all the other settings up to the camera.
Example 2: Blurry backgrounds
You are outside photographing your kids playing on their new playground. You are in P mode. You notice that some of your images have beautifully blurry backgrounds, but some are quite sharp – more like you’d get from your old point and shoot. Your camera knows why. Go back and look at the data. I guarantee you’ll see something like this: (again, assuming you’ve nailed your focus AND your images are almost identical).
Blurry background: ISO 200, Shutter speed. 1/500, Aperture 3.5
Sharp background: ISO 200, Shutter speed,1/125, Aperture 7.1
The key is that the aperture has changed. Now you know that aperture controls depth of field (which is the area of your picture that is sharp, compared to blurry).
When you want to control depth of field, you choose A/Av (which is aperture priority mode). And now YOU control what aperture should be, but the camera still decided everything else.
Now you have the knowledge to switch between fully automatic (P) modes and semi automatic modes (A/Av and T/Tv).
To really apply this method:
- Set aside a specific time to try this out (and you’re going to have to do it more than once).
- Don’t expect to get any “keeper” images.
- Do it purely for the practice and the knowledge. The knowledge isn’t going to absorb magically into your head. You HAVE to get out and try it.
- See what your camera produces for you under what conditions and then how you can change it.
- Practice, practice, practice.
The reason this works is because looking at what “P” mode decides for you helps you to understand proper exposure.
It helps you to realize what needs to change when the camera chose the wrong setting. Truthfully, you may not always know the answer right away. You’ll probably mis-focus. Sometimes you will be the cause of blurry photos due to your camera shaking. But eventually you’ll see a pattern, which is why it really helps to write everything down.
And once you realize what needs to change, you can more creatively use the semi-automatic modes to control what your final image looks like.
Soon you’ll have the knowledge and the confidence to photograph in manual mode, strictly from watching and analyzing what your camera does. Understanding why it chose wrong and why it chose right (because it definitely won’t be right 100% of the time) is absolute gold!
There’s nothing wrong with photographing in auto or semi-auto modes on your camera.
They are excellent learning tools, and they can save you from having to change settings on the fly. For example, if you’re chasing your kids around outside and they dip from sun to shade to sun again. Using a semi-automatic mode helps to ensure you nail exposure as they move from light to dark to light again, without needing to stop and think about it.
Understanding the concept of proper exposure is not the same as understanding it in the real world.
I know from experience (see above). It was too much information to process and too many decisions to make all at once. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t photograph in manual just yet. It’s hard. But keep practicing using the method I described above and you’ll not only be photographing in manual, you’ll understand HOW to photograph in manual to create the desired effect you want.
Photographing in manual is not indicative of how good a photographer you are.
I know lots of photographers who photograph in manual, but still don’t know what they’re doing. They know how to obtain a properly exposed image, but they can’t figure out how to make their backgrounds blurry, or how to freeze motion, or even know why they’d want to do that.
Photographing in manual is just a tool, it’s the knowledge and the understanding of why you want to photograph in manual that really gives you creative control. If you’ve been longing to photograph in manual mode, or have been frustrated by manual mode, then you should get on this list because it’ll tell you when My Wholehearted Momtog Photography Course is ready. (and yes, that course will sneakily help you master photographing in manual!)
Do you have any other suggestions for what helped you to shoot in manual? Or situations when you choose not to? Let me know in the comments and together, we’ll solve the problems!