Confused by my photography class

JWright wrote in post #9871696
Shooting in manual is a good way to learn the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO, but it isn't always the most practical way to shoot.

I shoot a lot of air shows and the light is always changing. It can even be different from one side of the field to the other. By shooting in Av or Tv, I up my keeper percentage appreciably.

Same here. Av mode works well for me with what I shoot as long as the lighting is good. When I shoot football/soccer during a nice bright sunny day I can just shoot wide open in Av and not have to worry about the shutter speeds being to low, the only thing I have to adjust is a little EC up or down depending on my position to the sun, or sometimes bump up the ISO just a tad if the sun hides behind a cloud and my SS drops. It makes things so much easier and the shots and exposures are so much more consistent. When the sun goes down, or I'm in a dimly lit area then of course it's off to manual mode.

I think you should stick with M, as long as you try to bias the reading according to what you feel is most important in the shot. Here's what I use for that: Need an exposure crutch?

Why usually that, instead of Tv & Av?
Post #47

TheMaggedy wrote in post #9871087
...Is there a "right" approach? IIRC, doesn't Scott Peterson's book say to put your camera in M and leave it there (I haven't read the whole thing so I may be wrong)....

Not sure which book you're talking about - or even if you're talking about Bryan Peterson or Scott Kelby....or maybe Scott Peterson is someone I haven't heard of.

I've read Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure and Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - and I don't recall either of them unequivocally saying in any of those books to put your camera in "M" and leave it there.

IMHO, the "right" approach is to know the advantages, disadvantages and quirks of each shooting mode - then use the one most appropriate for what you're trying to shoot, with an understanding of why you're choosing that mode.

TheMaggedy wrote in post #9871087
She also said you should use those modes to meter, then you could step back, go into Manual, and dial in the values provided to you by Av or Tv.

Why waste time switching between modes when you can just stay in M (assuming that's what you want), set the aperture or shutter speed to your liking and then adjusting the other until your EC needle is on 0. That way you end up with exactly the same values as what the Av or Tv would've given you.

Personally, I'm 90% of the time on Av and 10% on M as I'm not shooting much sports or other similar stuff where the shutter speed is the key factor. M is handy for flash (both off and on camera) or when the lightning is too tricky for the automatic metering to keep up with.

TheMaggedy wrote in post #9871087
I've been shooting fully in Manual, usually picking my f-stop, ISO, or shutter speed and then adjusting the other values to get the right exposure. Well, the instructor recommended staying in Av or Tv mode almost all of the time. She also said you should use those modes to meter, then you could step back, go into Manual, and dial in the values provided to you by Av or Tv.

Is there a "right" approach? IIRC, doesn't Scott Peterson's book say to put your camera in M and leave it there (I haven't read the whole thing so I may be wrong).

So it got me wondering ... how do most of you shoot? How do you set up your shots? I'd love to hear feedback from lots of people on this.

That's the guy that killed his pregnant wife and dumped her in a bay. You mean now he's written a book too?

DigitalSpecialist wrote in post #9871448
I must be an OLD SCHOOL shooter. I always use manual, and I carry a light meter. Most Instructors look at light meters and ask why?

One shot, one photo!!!

I work pretty much the same way. You could say that I use roughly the same methods I used to use in the days of purely manual film cameras, though the medium is digital today.

I almost always use my Sekonic L-358 in incident mode (to measure the light falling on the subject instead of measuring the light reflected from the subject and the background) to determine my exposure settings. If I have a really tricky lighting situation, I make several measurements (of different parts of the scene) and make a decision regarding how I want to expose the image. Then I set the camera's exposure settings manually and make the image.

My workflow is quite fast and efficient, and the results are far better than I can get with the camera's reflected-light meter and automation making my decisions. I do not like the idea of wasting a test shot to chimp and then tweak an exposure compensation.

Quite honestly, I cannot remember when I last had to discard an image because it wasn't exposed well enough. The exception would be when I was in an experimental mode anyhow.

started the first day i had my camera on M... 4 months i read this and now i know what the AV mode does.. you guys making me want to go test it out LOL.

Arrrrgh! Purists!

You meet your teachers expectations to get a good grade, including standing on your head while wearing a polka-dotted cape, if that's what it takes.

After that, when you want to get a satisfactory image, set the camera on P, chimp your first image and use the exposure compensation wheel to adjust to taste and fire away. You may have a bad shot now and then, but the camera is so smart that you'll have many more to enjoy and more than you can afford to print.

Use your camera in whatever way gives you the best results.

If thats manual, AV, TV or (dare i say it?) auto, then so be it.

Unless you are shooting professionally and have to make each shot count, do what you feel is right.

I use AV to meter my shoots all the time. It's a good starting point, but then I cross over to M to fine tune the exposure settings.

The reason I don't leave it there is 1) I started this practice with my XTi (I've since moved up to the the 40D and then the 7D) and it wasn't the most reliable metering system resulting in a lot of blown out shots, 2) I need the speed, so it's better for me to have *slightly* underexposed shots rather than over. I will say however that I recently shot an event in AV in it's entirety with my 7D, and I was very impressed with the results.

I've been shooting for a little over half a year so take what I have to say with a grain of salt. I spent my winter shooting my kids sport which, due to consistent lighting, I was in M mode. Since then I have played with AV for DOF. I have kids in the pictures 95% of the time causing get motion blur and I have bad technique leading to camera shake and AV wasn't always getting fast enough shutter speeds to combat these things. Now I leave my camera in TV with a shutter speed of 1/300th or faster, auto iso and a small bump up in exposure compensation. This helps with camera shake on my 70-200. Then i can adjust shutter speed with the main dial if iso goes to high or lighting is great and i need to speed the shutter up. Hopefully next time that pileated (sp?) woodpecker stops by I'll be ready for him instead of trying to set my camera up...

Veemac wrote in post #9873057
Not sure which book you're talking about - or even if you're talking about Bryan Peterson or Scott Kelby....or maybe Scott Peterson is someone I haven't heard of.

Oops! In my earlier response I meant Brian Peterson.

SnapLocally.com wrote in post #9874749
I use AV to meter my shoots all the time. It's a good starting point, but then I cross over to M to fine tune the exposure settings.

Why not use the EC adjustment instead? That's what it's for...

-js

To be honest, I've never looked into it. I suppose if it's faster than my current method I'll use it. Testing it now...

No, I take it back- I use it all the time, I just didn't recall it by name.