1: consistence
2: I don't like the camera/lights guessing at what I'm trying do
Just been fooling around in the kitchen and took two quick snaps
One in Manual
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| f/5.6 @ 1/50 sec iso 800 |
I wanted it dark, I wanted the light to be subdued & Kinda cinematic. I wanted just enough depth of field to leave some detail for the living room. I could have increased the ISO by a stop which would have allowed me to stop down to f/8.0 for more DOF while keeping the same exposure. But it's only a test (shots are unedited)
Auto
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| F/2.0 @ 1/60 sec iso 800 |
Well you can see what the camera's thinking, expose for the door frame. It sure as hell wasn't what I was thinking. Trouble is it has no idea what I want to do, only I know that. TV & AV mode didn't fair any better. Shutter priority (1/50 sec) gave me F/1.4!
Lets say though I'd have been happy with that but changed the focus to the cups. Well you'd have had a different exposure entirely
You don't have those issues shooting manual. Once you know the exposure you can balance it out anyway you want to, you have full control, the exposure will be consistent from shot to shot.
Same with lighting. When I took that shot of me reading the Book that Ken bought me (fine book) I tried the lights in E-TTL and it was so inconsistent. It's easily tricked by changing focus. There are times when it's handy but seldom have I found it to be much use in tough lighting
I think shooting manual is part of the craft to, it's just good practice. Even if you prefer to shoot in TV AV or full auto dipping your toes in manual will be a good exercise
Back in the day :) I used to judge exposure by an instinct, always on manual. It takes a lot of practice and you do get there.
ReplyDeleteOn the 'Big Event' I was surprised that when I picked up Sean's camera he had set it on manual. I shot a few and they came out crap!
Since digital I have become so lazy with exposure control. I know you can go to spot metering, but how do you do that in a fast moving environment?
Like Sean says, manual is the way to get what you want and not "Fuzzy Logic" (big thing in the 90's).
I've lost my eye for exposure control, but this has got me thinking again . . . . hmmm.
Kras
I was in a pub with Niall showing him my camera when I first bought it and he took a shot of me and told me it was under exposing. I told him he was under exposing
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