Shooting Manual
13th September 2022
In this article I’m going to break down manual photography into 3 simple steps, aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
Have you ever wondered what the M means on your camera?
The M on your camera stands for Manual. Shooting in this mode means that you have full control over how your camera takes a photo.
Aperture
Simply put, aperture is referring to the hole in your lens. Depending on the size of the hole determines how much light is let in.
The smaller the hole the darker the photo & the bigger the hole the brighter the photo.
Aperture is written in F stops as shown below
f2.8 f3.5 f5.6 f6.3 f7.1 f8 f9 f10 f11
The smaller the f stop is e.g. f2.8 the MORE light is let into the lens. The bigger the f stop is e.g. f10 the LESS light is let into the lens.
A small f stop such as f2.8
A bigger f stop such as f10
Smaller f stops are used at night time or in situations with little available light. Bigger f stops on the other hand are used on really bright days when there is too much light.
Not only does aperture control how much light is let into the lens but it also controls depth of field. Depth of field is referring to how blurred or how in focus the background of an image is.
The smaller the f stop e.g. f2.8 the more blurry the background will be, separating the subject and creating that professional/cinematic look.
Take the following photos for example…they were both shot with a small f stop…
The bigger the f stop e.g. f10 the more in focus the background will be. bigger f stops are often used by landscape photographers like myself, to ensure that a whole landscape is in focus.
The following photos were both shot with a bigger f stop…
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is referring to how long the shutter of the camera is open for. The longer the shutter is open the more light is let into the lens & the shorter the shutter is open for the less light is let into the lens. Shutter speeds are written as follows…
2” 1” 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500
The bigger the number e.g. 1/2000 the faster the shutter speed. The smaller the number e.g. 30” the slower the shutter speed.
Faster shutter speeds are used to capture action shots such as a bird in flight or a person on a bike.
slower shutter speeds are used to create motion blur, for taking photos of the stars (as lots of light is required) and for getting that streaked cloud effect.
This pigeon above was taken with a fast shutter speed e.g. 1/2000 of a sec
This pigeon above was taken with a fast shutter speed e.g. 1/2000 of a sec
This pigeon above was taken with a fast shutter speed e.g. 1/2000 of a sec
This pigeon above was taken with a fast shutter speed e.g. 1/2000 of a sec
The waterfall shot above was taken with a slow shutter speed e.g. 3” sec in order to create that motion blur of the water.
ISO
ISO controls your cameras sensitivity to light. A higher ISO e.g. 1000 means that your camera is taking in lots of light whereas a lower ISO e.g. 100 means that your camera is taking in very little light. ISO is written as follows…
50 100 20 400 80 1000
Higher ISO is used in astrophotography, as you need lots of light, and in bird photography so that you can use fast shutter speeds while still having enough light.
Although using a high ISO may seem like an easy option to brighten your photos it is best to avoid it and keep it set to 100 or lower. Higher ISO adds grain to your photos and reduces the quality.
I hope this article has been helpful and that you have a much better understanding of manual photography. Stay tuned for our next article about the exposure triangle and how to use the triangle to adjust your aperture, shutter speed and ISO to take the perfect image!
Once again a slow shutter speed was used to take this sunset photo. A slow shutter speed has given this image that streaked cloud affect and it has allowed the photographer to have enough light for the shot.
See how this image is of very poor quality and full of grain? Thats because it was shot with a high ISO which reduced the quality greatly.
Shutter Speed
Once again a slow shutter speed was used to take this sunset photo. A slow shutter speed has given this image that streaked cloud affect and it has allowed the photographer to have enough light for the shot.
