Green Box Mode.

After reading a recent thread, I thought it would be useful for people new to photography to see the differences between Green Box mode and using more controlled camera settings.

So please post images that have a "green box" mode and a "selected" Camera mode, preferably Manual mode.

I personally am interested to see the differences in results.

Mark

I will be really interested to see the results.
I have had my digital camera for about 7 weeks and at first was less than impressed with the results. Pictures lacked clarity, detail and punch, so I tried shooting in Green Box and the results were better, not a lot but better. So I figured it was user error, I used to shoot in film years ago and underexposed everything either a little or a lot to get the effect I was after. It worked very well in those days.
After talking to a friend who is a top UK Advertising Photographer and he mentioned that digital is almost the exact opposite way of thinking to film, he urged me to try and overexpose. At the moment I am experimenting with exposing to the right, something you can't really do unless the camera in in M mode. And then of course you have to mess around in acr for 20 minutes to bring the exposure back, but in the old days of film you had to mess around in the darkroom for days.
So anyway, I would love to see comparisons without any processing, or at least minimal processing.

I would be surprised if there was a big difference until you get into situations where things get tricky or you are taking a shot that is not in the normal range. After all, all the green box is chooses settings for you. For most instances those setting would be what you would choose anyway.

Hmm, it's hard to respond to this -- I don't have samples to post because I never shoot in Green Box mode. I shoot either in Manual or Av.

But, it sounds like you need to take some time reading up on your digital photography -- there are good books and websites that cover a lot of ground both on digital photography in general and also on the specifics of using your camera (go to Amazon.com and search for your camera and you will find books by, for example, David Busch and Magic Lantern).

And, there is a wealth of info here on POTN! In fact, one of the "stickies" at the top of this page is a favorite for people new to photography:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=414088

In general, the Green Box Mode is, simply, Full Auto, meaning that you are letting the camera make all the exposure choices for you as well as processing choices (such as setting a Picture Style). So, if you are totally inexperienced with getting a desired result from your camera, then sure, the Green Box mode can take a shot for you. That's how many people go!

But, people who want to "get serious" about photography will take the time to learn about how to do more with their cameras. Of course you can go from Green Box to other Auto modes like Portrait, Landscape, Action, etc, and, if you read your camera manual or one of the books I mentioned there are some "clues" about those modes, and they can actually "get you started" in learning how to work with your camera.

Then, it just keeps on getting more involved and interesting. Learning how to work with Picture Styles is something you can get started on as soon as you make the move out of the Auto modes -- the Picture Style determines the overall "look" of the jpeg the camera produces in terms of Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness, things which tend to mean a lot to people. And, out of the Auto modes, you are also making choices about how you want the aspects of your photo to come across -- how fast do you want your shutter speed to be, for example? In the Auto modes you switch between different modes, but the camera makes the actual choices, whether you want things that way or not.

Finally, comparing images between a Green Box image and something like a shot done in Manual will be pretty meaningless simply because it will largely depend on the individual photographer and his/her skill with the camera and with any needed post-processing. Many photogs take control of those things and produce amazing images. Many are just fiddling around and learning and their images will tend to show that and be "so-so".

I'd say, go out and shoot and learn as you go, do some of the research I suggested, then go out and shoot some more. If you go to an Auto mode and get a shot you like, study it -- look at the aperture, shutter speed and ISO that the camera used, and you can learn from that and use that knowledge for when you want to try Manual or one of the semi-auto modes like P, Av or Tv. Experiment, but make sure you do your "homework", reading your manual to understand how to do specific things and reading more of the broad resources that will help you understand digital photography in a broader way.

^^I understand all of that Tony.

This thread is so that people can take a shot in Manual and then take the same shot in Green Box purely as an exercise to show the difference.

So same subject, one in Manual shooting mode, one in Green Box.

If I get the chance I will take one later.

On Canon DSLR's, the functional equivalent of the full-auto "green box" mode is Program AE, which differs from full auto only in allowing some minor exposure adjustments with a turn of the control wheel. These images used Program AE:

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Subbing. I'll take some in a little bit

Subscribed. Ill take some and post later!

If the green box chooses 1/200 at f/5.6 at ISO 400 and I choose the same exact settings in Av or Tv or M, the photo would look identical.

bior wrote in post #12978346
If the green box chooses 1/200 at f/5.6 at ISO 400 and I choose the same exact settings in Av or Tv or M, the photo would look identical.

Yes, but with the green box, imagine the humiliation if someone looked at your EXIF data!

bior wrote in post #12978346
If the green box chooses 1/200 at f/5.6 at ISO 400 and I choose the same exact settings in Av or Tv or M, the photo would look identical.

Yes, but I thought this thread was more of the "creativity" side of the image GreenBox vs. You controlling the camera

mtimber wrote in post #12977024
..it would be useful for people new to photography to see the differences between Green Box mode and using more controlled camera settings.

So please post images that have a "green box" mode and a "selected" Camera mode, preferably Manual mode.

This is going to be tough because most people here do not take shots in green box and other settings. I am (as far as I know) one of the very few people on this board that publicly acknowledge that there is a time for using green box; but only when there is not time to get your settings right. (that is, when something is happening right now, and if I don't take the shot this instant, I will miss it, I turn to greenbox -- happens about once or twice a year.) So, in those cases, I would not have another shot to compare it against.

So, a better question would be, when will green box fail (which is probably less than most people here will acknowledge). But here are some things right off of the top of my head:

1. Difficult lighting. Whenever the primary subject is brighter or darker than much of the frame.
1a. When you want explicit control of the flash.
For example:

At my kids' swim meets, flash is not allowed at the start because they use a strobe to indicate the start. So I need to take control of the camera and set it for low light. I could not have taken this in green box: http://www.flickr.com …/44350103@N05/5​346893301/ Not a great shot by any means, but you get the point.

When most of the frame is bright, but I want to light up the subject with flash. I meter the background and set the camera accordingly, then flash the subject. Here is an example of a shot I took on a motor boat with my old 300D and popup flash (I didn't want to carry my 7D and flash through the water to the moored boat and climb in). I metered the background so it was about -1/3 and used the flash to light the kids. This could not have been done in green box: http://www.flickr.com …/44350103@N05/5​973855949/ Well, it could have been done, but the background would likely have been black.

2. When you want to control the Depth of Filed by setting the aperture, to either: isolate the subject and let everything else blur or to make sure that everything is in focus.

3. When you want control of the shutter speed to make sure is freezes the action or let's it blur.

4. When you want to control focus. Green box usually makes an attempt to get the closest thing in the frame in focus and will sometime try to get a few other points and set the aperture appropriately. The manual modes give you much more control. And, depending on your camera and the mode you choose, this can get pretty sophisticated (e.g., the tracking feature on the 7D).

5. If you want the ability to post process the image (maybe to adjust the color) by capturing raw images. Many of the Canon cameras will not capture raw in green box.

There are probably dozens of other reasons, but these are the basics.

EDIT: Seeing the original question, without paying attention to who made the request, I assumed the original post was written by a novice -- I answered accordingly. (Sorry).

mtimber wrote in post #12978085
^^I understand all of that Tony.

This thread is so that people can take a shot in Manual and then take the same shot in Green Box purely as an exercise to show the difference.

So same subject, one in Manual shooting mode, one in Green Box.

If I get the chance I will take one later.

Well, typically someone shoots in Manual because they want the shot to be different from an Auto shot in very specific ways.

So, I'd say you might want to clarify what you are looking for. If I shoot in Manual I will have made choices of an aperture and shutter speed for definite reasons. The outcome will show those choices, whereas in Auto who knows what the camera will choose?

The issues with the Picture Style are also significant. I shoot in Raw with my Picture Style set to Neutral and Contrast and Saturation set all the way down but I'd imagine to really compare with Auto I'd need to shoot a jpeg with the Picture Style set to Standard to give the image the same type of look/feel that an Auto shot would.

Hmm, these things to me would ask for some kind of guidelines for what you are after. I could throw together a shot in Manual that had the subject in focus but with a very narrow depth of field so a very soft background that I'm quite sure would differ from the Green Box output, but would that be fair?

Camera used 5d Mark II with Sigma 85mm 1.4.

Focus point on the small white flower in the middle.

Mid evening light with a slight breeze moving the flowers.


First shot taken at f1.4, ISO 400, shutter speed 1/1250 sec.

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tonylong wrote in post #12978842
I could throw together a shot in Manual that had the subject in focus but with a very narrow depth of field so a very soft background that I'm quite sure would differ from the Green Box output, but would that be fair?

I think that would be fair.

After all, we are discussing "intentionality" versus "point and shoot" techniques.


Try this Tony:

Take "YOUR" picture.

Then let the camera take "ITS" picture.


Just be careful that the camera does not take a better picture...