Beyond Auto Mode: A Guide to Taking Control of Your Photography

Chapter 9: MANUAL MODE BASICS

As the name suggests, manual mode gives you full control over all elements in the exposure triangle. You choose ISO, aperture, and shutter speed based on the scene you are trying to capture, which also affects noise, depth of field, and motion blur. The camera will then let you know, via the exposure bar, what it thinks of your decisions.

Interestingly, unless you have a fully manual camera, our modern cameras still control several elements of an image even when you are in manual mode. You do set the three exposure controls, but the camera still controls white balance and the way exposure is evaluated or metered. In fact, you can give up control of your ISO in some cameras by setting it to auto-ISO, even in manual mode.

FIGURE 9-1 When using the manual setting, you choose the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture.

For our purposes, we’re going to suggest the following: leave the camera in auto white balance (AWB) and set the metering mode to evaluative. Odds are your camera is already at these settings, but double check to be sure (Figure 9-2). There will be times when the color cast is off and will need to be corrected by a different white balance preset. You can deal with that when the situation warrants, but as you are learning to ...