Working with Manual Mode. Photography Post #2

Owen Paznokas
The Beginner's Photography Guide
By Chris Gactum

It's time to take control of the camera. Working with aperture priority mode can alter depth of field and allow more light into the by width. Shutter priority mode is great for capturing motion, or blurring it for that matter and allows light in by rate. However, the next step is to combine these in manual mode to create more controlled pictures. Manual mode puts the photographer closer to the picture than the camera, you are pushing all the buttons, taking over auto focus points and altering aspects of the image that cannot be done with more basic renditions. 

"What it does...is allow yo to set the aperture and shutter speed yourself (as well as the ISO), and no matter where you point the camera it won't change the settings" (Gactum 74). No camera override can be daunting at first, but it can help in particular situations like low lighting. One thing to take into account when shooting in Manual mode is the Camera's metering system. Metering is a camera device that is designed to measure the light in the scene to create an accurate exposure (Gactum 76). Most camera's meter off the center of the scene and this can result to be problematic if there are different light levels in the whole frame. To combat this you can meter off multiple parts of the shot you want to take and determine what settings to shoot off then. 

I took my camera into my backyard a few days ago and worked with manual mode around sunset to create some vastly different shots. 

ISO: 400 135mm f:5.6 1/125 Sec

ISO 800 113mm f:5.6 1/1000 Sec

 The first picture had more light touching my subject, allowing me to use a lower ISO, my zoom lens put out it's full force to capture the plant, the shallow temperature blurred the background and the shutter speed fell into place to allow just the right amount of time in. This photo in other modes would probably not have had the same blurred background affect and would have washed out an image in that lighting. 

The second picture was being shadowed by my deck and created more of an orange light, it was slightly darker which made me bring the ISO up a little more. I got really close to my subject and only had to zoom my lens into 113mm. I used the same aperture to create the blurred background and allowed a very small amount of light in by a time of 1/1000 of a second. 

My question is, what cool affects would you try to create by taking manual control of your camera? How would you create it?

Recources
Gactum, Chris. Beginner's Photography Guide. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2016.

ART- Drawing, Painting, and Photography - The Artist's Handbook

For my final post I wanted to focus on lighting. Lighting is very important for a picture as it gives the photo certain emotion and feeling towards it, and besides what is a picture if you cant even see what the photo is of.

IOS 800

For a Canon EOS Rebel T5 I found that when working with lighting the aperture comes in to play (in which was discussed in my last post). Although this does affect the picture  the IOS of your manual setting does as well. Your camera's IOS scale goes from auto to 6400. As you go higher up the scale the pictures become a lot brighter so when in certain situations, adjusting this to your setting is fairly helpful. Especially when you have a specific layout for what you what that photo to look like. Like Smith says "the type of lighting in which a photo is viewed has a great influence on its appearance."



IOS 1600



For this photo taken I had used it for my last post to show how aperture can effect physical appearance of the photo. With this post I hope to show the IOS and lighting of a camera, with an everyday object because "all good art prompts the viewers to look again at everyday objects and event with a new focus and a new perception" (Smith 322)

To me having the ability to control the way your viewers see things is a game changer. To be able to tell a story with a single picture or even artwork coming from your own perspective. Not only does this help me grow as an artist but as a person when learning new skills that can later benefit me. 

What has helped you grow with new skills and knowledge?

In what ways do you think lighting can affect the "backstory/deeper meaning" of the picture?