WARNING = LONG BORING photo talk post. So if you are not a newbie photographer or photographer wannabe, skip it! {Unless you just want to look at my big eyeball – LOL!}
OK, I want to start out this post by saying I’m the very FIRST to admit I do NOT know it all about photography! I’m still learning as I go along here! So if I have something WRONG, please let me know – but please no hate mail! Just trying to help other photogs! 
But I will pass along some little tidbits that helped me wrap my mind around how to shoot in manual with natural light. {keep in mind we are talking about natural light – i.e. no flash! } I know a TON of people recommend THIS BOOK by Bryan Peterson - haven’t read it personally because I’m not a big book person, but I’ve heard it’s excellent. However, I’ve done the majority of my learning with trial and error…and observation.
I do want to give some shout outs to two of my friends – Shelley and Melissa! They were both very helpful – Shelley for pushing me to shoot more in manual with natural light, and Melissa for a little trick she taught me (and I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing!) Thanks ladies!
So here is how I now look at things in very simple terms = WWMED = What Would My Eye Do?
I’m talking about your EYES here. Clueless about where to even START with shooting in manual? Think WWMED! Your eye is the most sophisticated lens there is, and you understand how that works, right?? So think of it in terms of What Would My Eye Do? And to simplify things, think:
- PUPIL = aperture/f-stop
- EYELIDS = shutter speed
Let’s start with your pupil. Think of it in terms of size and how BIG your pupil is as the APERTURE/f-stop.
- Is it really BRIGHT outside? Your pupils would do what? Constrict!
- If it’s really DARK in the room, your pupils would do what? Dilate!
Make sense? That is exactly what your camera lens does when reacting to light…and it’s what it does automatically when you are in “program” mode!
- The SMALLER the opening (f-stop/aperture/ your PUPIL), the LESS light is allowed into the camera
- The LARGER the opening (f-stop/aperture/your PUPIL), the MORE light is allowed into the camera.
F-stop/aperture is hard to understand at first – but the SMALLER the number, the MORE light; the LARGER the number, the LESS light. It’s an inverse thing. So an f-stop of 2.8 would let in MORE light than an f-stop of 4. If you are in the medical field as I am, think of it in terms of needle gauge! What would you rather be stuck with, a 16 gauge or a 31 gauge? That’s right - a 31! (which is what the ultra-fine insulin needles are). The larger the number, the smaller the bore/hole.
{There is obviously a LOT more aperture & f-stop and it gets VERY complicated. It’s not my intent to go into that here…}
I’ll say IN GENERAL when I’m shooting with natural light, I stay right in a range of 2.0 and 4.0 for the f-stop. If it’s SUPER bright out or if I’m shooting a large group of people, obviously I’d go up to like 5.6 or 6.3 or 7.1, etc. but then I don’t get the nice bokeh or “blur” in the background, so I try to stay right around 2.8-3.2 or so.
So now let’s think of your eyelids as the SHUTTER SPEED.
- The longer your eyelids are OPEN, the MORE light comes in, right? So that would be a SLOW shutter speed.
- If you blink a lot or squint, you are letting LESS light in – so that would be a FAST shutter speed.
Shutter speed is how LONG the shutter stays open and it’s usually shown in fractions of a second – because that’s how fast the shutter shuts! Of course you can set your shutter speed to be actual SECONDS too – especially useful for things like night-time shooting of fireworks and time-lapse photography.
Anyway….something you have keep in mind with shutter speed is what lens you are using. If I’m using my trusty old 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and if I am hand-holding (no tri-pod), I really should NOT shoot below 1/70th of a second – or 1 over the longest length of your lens. Otherwise my photo will probably be BLURRY! Also, the f/2.8 refers to the WIDEST APERTURE my lens can possibly go – so with this lens it would be f/2.8. If I use my other favorite lens – the 50mm f/1.4 – that means I can hand-hold as low as 1/50th of a second – and I can go all the way down to an aperture/f-stop of 1.4.
I really hope I’m making sense!
OK, so I was shooting a wedding with Melissa in 2007 and I noticed how she kept going right up to people and putting her camera just inches from their faces. I asked what she was doing and she said “metering the light”. What she was doing was metering the light directly off someone’s FACE. This is the best way to meter your light unless you want to carry around a light meter all the time (see this post for that!) So put your camera in “pattern” or “evaluative” metering mode and get right up to your subject so their face fills the frame.
Of course BEFORE you get into someone’s face, you should have your camera in manual and you should have already decided what you want your APERTURE/f-stop to be. What you are trying to find out is what your SHUTTER speed and possibly ISO should be. If you go and fill your camera frame with someone’s face, then push the shutter down 1/2 way and it will meter the light with your in-camera light meter. You should see some numbers inside your viewfinder – your goal is to get right in the middle — to the 0! If you are over-exposed, you need to increase your shutter speed or increase your aperture number to let in less light, if you are under-exposed, you need to decrease your shutter speed or decrease your aperture number to let in more light.
Let’s say you are in a LOW LIGHT situation and you are using your 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. You’re probably at f/2.8 and let’s say you are STILL under-exposed at a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second. That’s when you would want to INCREASE your ISO (think of it as film speed). But keep in mind the HIGHER the ISO – the more GRAIN you introduce to your image.
Another thing you could do in a LOW LIGHT situation is switch to a 50mm f/1.4 lens, then you can go all the way down to an aperture of 1.4 and a shutter speed of 1/50th – and adjust your ISO if needed. That’s why this particular lens is an excellent lens for low light situations! And that’s why if you have a “kit lens”, you will probably be very, very frustrated since the lowest you can probably go is f/3.5 or so, of course depending on the lens and focal distance you choose.
If you are totally overwhelmed and I’ve totally confused you, an easy way to learn is to go into aperture mode. Pick your lowest aperture number your lens will go – let’s say f/2.8. Set your ISO to oh, 400…less like 200 or even 100 if you are in a good lighting situation. Take a shot. Then look at the data on the photo you took and see what the CAMERA set as the shutter speed. If you are happy with how the shot looks on your screen, then simply go into manual and put those SAME SETTINGS in there and start shooting! If you don’t like what you see, then make the necessary adjustments once you flip into manual.
Anyway, that a lot of information I know. There are TONS of online tutorials and info too so feel free to look those up! And most of all, have fun practicing! Hope that helps someone out there!
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