Manual Shooting

Okay, had my camera for about 3 weeks, loving it, taking great shots, etc. Starting to use manual mode because I both hear good things about it, and I have lost a few too many shots because of exposing for the background (usually water or sand)

So my question, how does one set the settings for exposure when on site? I have tried taking shots of things that I know I will be shooting, but checking exposure levels on the little LCD seems difficult? I understand that light wont change from location to location, so I can generally expose once for most of the day, correct?

Thanks folks

The way I do it is I stick the camera in P mode, see what exposure it selects, then copy that into manual mode. Then I take a photo, check the histogram, and tweak.

Sometimes I use a light meter too.

First set the f-stop & shutter speed you need. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch?

Thanks, great post

You might also consider using the SPOT meter function in conjunction with P Mode. Expose for your subject, lock exposure and then recompose (if desired) and shoot.

Ceyber,
My suggestion is put your 40D on spot metering and take multiple meter readings of your subject and background. Then you can choose the exposure that gets you what you want.

If the difference between your subject and background are too much, thats when a flash will come in real handy