shooting Modes: which do you find can give you better results

[poeticmic]

Hi everyone, just joined not to long ago and looking for some shooting tips. I am a big fan of lighting and the way shadows touch a particular subject. in saying that, I'm curious to find out what modes do you guys shoot in and how does it affect your light especially if converted to black and white, like Tv,Av, P or straight M.

[Moppie]

It's not so much the mode you shoot in, as your understanding of how your meter reads a scene and translates it into the exposure. Then being able to adjust accordingly, either with exposure compensation, or by shooting in manual.
Or better yet reading one of SkidD's posts and learning how to use a handheld light meter.

I shoot almost entirly manual, simply so I can have complete controll over everything to do with exposure. Then when I get it wrong, I know it was me, and not the camera. It also means I can consistantly get it wrong, and more easily learn how to get to get it right next time. That way I have something to forget the next time I start shooting.

[PhotosGuy]

Try them all. There are times that you might need them, & the more you shoot, the more you'll be better able to find what works best for you.

Having said that, I'm with Moppie on this. I prefer full M for cars & most other things, so I use this to be sure that the bright areas "at the right" are the bright areas I want to keep.
First set the f-stop & shutter speed you need. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89123)

[poeticmic]

Thanks guys for the post, do you guys find shooting in manual mode slower then in automatic because you have to adjust for various lighting conditions, say for instance you were shooting a wedding in you went indoors and outdoor. Oh yeah, Speaking of light meters, I hear a lot of people talking about them, but people fail to mention the type of meter they use and I cant seem to find a picture of the elusive creature

[Perry Ge]

Av and Tv have their uses, perhaps even P, but I shoot in M 99% of the time. Depends on what you shoot I guess, I can see sports/wildlife, maybe wedding photographers having far more use for Av and Tv than I do. It might be 'slower' in some cases, but with time, you come to develop an appreciation of light, and it's easier to understand light and adjust accordingly when you get things wrong than to try and figure out what your camera was trying to do when something goes wrong, and try to adjust to it.

I do portraits and landscapes mostly and don't pay attention to my camera's meter very often. With portraiture, balancing light sources takes a bit of chimping the histogram at times, but the camera's meter really doesn't help for the non-ambient part of the exposure. As moppie said, it's a lot easier and more helpful to understand how different settings work with light, and to know that if something gets messed up, it's your own fault, instead of trying to guess what the camera was trying to do.

As for landscapes, having shot a lot of film, I learned a bunch of exposure rules like Sunny 16 and variants in different lighting conditions, and with the high dynamic ranges you get in landscapes the camera's meter gets confused and doesn't know what you want to expose for anyway (unless you spot meter I guess). But in digital it no longer hurts to shoot and adjust accordingly.

You also get full creative control in M; after all, shutter speed and aperture affect more than just exposure.

And that's why I shoot M - because most of the time I don't want the camera's meter to decide exposure for me, it can be a useful indicator, but not the final decision-maker. Most of the time I don't want it to have any say. But again, depends what you shoot :P.

Oh and you can find plenty of pictures of light meters at sekonic.com

[poeticmic]

Av and Tv have their uses, perhaps even P, but I shoot in M 99% of the time. Depends on what you shoot I guess, I can see sports/wildlife, maybe wedding photographers having far more use for Av and Tv than I do. It might be 'slower' in some cases, but with time, you come to develop an appreciation of light, and it's easier to understand light and adjust accordingly when you get things wrong than to try and figure out what your camera was trying to do when something goes wrong, and try to adjust to it.

I do portraits and landscapes mostly and don't pay attention to my camera's meter very often. With portraiture, balancing light sources takes a bit of chimping the histogram at times, but the camera's meter really doesn't help for the non-ambient part of the exposure. As moppie said, it's a lot easier and more helpful to understand how different settings work with light, and to know that if something gets messed up, it's your own fault, instead of trying to guess what the camera was trying to do.

As for landscapes, having shot a lot of film, I learned a bunch of exposure rules like Sunny 16 and variants in different lighting conditions, and with the high dynamic ranges you get in landscapes the camera's meter gets confused and doesn't know what you want to expose for anyway (unless you spot meter I guess). But in digital it no longer hurts to shoot and adjust accordingly.

You also get full creative control in M; after all, shutter speed and aperture affect more than just exposure.

And that's why I shoot M - because most of the time I don't want the camera's meter to decide exposure for me, it can be a useful indicator, but not the final decision-maker. Most of the time I don't want it to have any say. But again, depends what you shoot :P.

Oh and you can find plenty of pictures of light meters at sekonic.com
Thanks perryge, you gave me a lot of interesting information, During your landscape shooting, do you use a lot of flash or do you use more natural light?

[Perry Ge]

No flash in landscapes, though I have a sweet new set of GNDs I can't wait to try out!

The light changes so quickly during the short period of sweet light, and to be honest, I suppose the camera's meter is more useful than I give it credit for. I like consistency in my exposures, so when I make a few tweaks in manual, the changes are predictable and consistent, which is why I have my camera's meter always set to center-weighted average, but the camera's meter jumps around a bit too much for my liking too, so I still stick to M.

The process goes a bit like this (because you have so much time when doing a landscape anyway):
- Set up shot/composition. Wait for light.
- Start at an initial exposure setting; aperture set for maximum depth of field but minimum diffraction, so f/11-16. ISO100, remote shutter release, mirror-lockup, set the shutter speed accordingly. This decision initially is instinctive or sometimes aided by the camera's meter (spot/partial meter off the highlights, then dial in an extra stop or two).
- Shoot repeat the mantra 'expose for the highlights, but expose to the right). Check histogram, get it as far to the right as possible without clipping any highlights (this is with an intention to post-process quite heavily and recover shadow details - you can't recover blown highlights really...), though there are exceptions to this depending on the type of feel you want the final shot to have.
- Make little adjustments to the shutter speed to tweak exposure as the light changes, keep shooting.
- Go home, eat. Post-process.

This way, you don't have to spend time worrying about your settings getting changed by the camera, or how it's metering the scene.

Bear in mind I'm not claiming to be a landscape guru by any stretch of the imagination, strictly amateur :P.

[Flick]

I can't remember the last time I DIDN'T shoot in full manual.

[wasabean]

when shooting in M mode, do you guys use the little metering needle inside to determine your exposure? or is it all by experience/guesstamation?

[mai_lin]

when shooting in M mode, do you guys use the little metering needle inside to determine your exposure? or is it all by experience/guesstamation?

Funny I should read this today. I've taken thousands of pictures and seriously can't remember the last time I took it out of M mode and most of my exposure is done 'in camera' using that exact method...

Can't complain - it's working for me so far. With the new lens, even more so!


Jen

[Moppie]

when shooting in M mode, do you guys use the little metering needle inside to determine your exposure? or is it all by experience/guesstamation?

I currently Spot meter using the in camera meter, and use that as a guide for the right exposure.

Just note that if your shooting M but centering the needle in the meter for every shot then you are setting the same exposure as the camera would in any of the Auto modes.

[wasabean]

I currently Spot meter using the in camera meter, and use that as a guide for the right exposure.

Just note that if your shooting M but centering the needle in the meter for every shot then you are setting the same exposure as the camera would in any of the Auto modes.

yes i was afraid of that, but when i allow the needle to center itself, i usually start with ISO of 200 then adjust av, then tv, then if needed, ISO to compensate for low light

does my method work? or is there a flaw in it?

[neil85]

i prefer to shoot ALL my pictures with it on the green square. i mean then i dont have to do anything and the camera figures everything out for me. Who needs to know what the hell AV and TV stand for, plus why does a camera have television mode on it? what does it even use as an antenna?


:D


on a serious side, it all depends on what im shooting. Usually im in AV but if its just at the house and just goofing off as i have friends over ive put it on P a time or two due to laziness and only caring if i get focused/clear shots

[PhotosGuy]

do you guys find shooting in manual mode slower then in automatic because you have to adjust for various lighting conditions, The guys who shoot Av & Tv usually adjust EC, so for me, M is as fast, or faster, even with changing exposure. For instance, I usually know what to change to when a cloud comes over, without re-reading for the new exposure. Check histogram, get it as far to the right as possible without clipping any highlights (this is with an intention to post-process quite heavily and recover shadow details - you can't recover blown highlights really...), though there are exceptions to this depending on the type of feel you want the final shot to have. Some highlights, like in chrome, can be safely ignored. I let them blow out. when shooting in M mode, do you guys use the little metering needle inside to determine your exposure? or is it all by experience/guesstamation? Read, or at least re-read the link I gave you.

[Perry Ge]

Some highlights, like in chrome, can be safely ignored. I let them blow out.

Very true, every piece of advice is of course a guide, not a 'rule'. I was referring to landscapes - and I don't get much chrome in most landscape shots :lol:.