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Basics  /  Learning
The Mystical Histogram
December 30, 2024

The histogram on your camera is a visual representation of the exposure levels in a photo. It helps you understand how light or dark different parts of your image are, so you can adjust your settings for a better exposure. Here’s a breakdown of the basics:

  1. What the Histogram Looks Like
  • The histogram is a graph with a horizontal axis and a vertical axis.
  • Horizontal Axis: Represents the brightness levels in your photo, from dark to light:
    • Left Side: Shadows (blacks).
    • Middle: Midtones (grays).
    • Right Side: Highlights (whites).
  • Vertical Axis: Shows how many pixels in your photo are at each brightness level. Higher peaks mean more pixels at that level.

 

  1. What a “Good” Histogram Looks Like

There’s no one-size-fits-all perfect histogram because it depends on the scene you’re photographing. However:

  • Balanced Histogram: Often peaks are spread evenly, with no extreme spikes at the edges. This works well for most situations.
  • High Key (Bright Image): Peaks shift toward the right, indicating more highlights.
  • Low Key (Dark Image): Peaks shift toward the left, indicating more shadows.

 

  1. Common Issues to Look For
  • Clipping:
    • Highlights Clipping: If the graph touches or spikes on the far right, you’re losing detail in the brightest areas, which turn pure white.
    • Shadows Clipping: If the graph touches or spikes on the far left, you’re losing detail in the darkest areas, which turn pure black.
  • To avoid clipping, adjust your exposure by tweaking shutter speed, aperture, or ISO.

 

  1. Using the Histogram
  • Review Exposure: After taking a shot, check the histogram to see if it matches your intent. For example, if you’re shooting a bright, snowy scene, expect the histogram to lean toward the right.
  • Adjust Settings:
    • If the histogram is too far left (underexposed), increase exposure by:
      • Slowing the shutter speed.
      • Widening the aperture (lower f-number).
      • Raising the ISO.
    • If the histogram is too far right (overexposed), decrease exposure by:
      • Speeding up the shutter.
      • Narrowing the aperture (higher f-number).
      • Lowering the ISO.

 

  1. Practice Makes Perfect
  • Use your histogram to fine-tune exposures until it becomes second nature. Compare how the histogram changes with different lighting and settings to see how it aligns with creative goals.

A good, balanced histogram typically looks like a smooth, bell-shaped curve that doesn’t have spikes touching the far left (shadows) or far right (highlights). Here’s what it usually indicates:

Balanced Histogram

Key Features of a Balanced Histogram:

  1. Shadows (Left Side):
    • The graph tapers off as it approaches the far left.
    • There are no big spikes touching the left edge, meaning you’re not losing detail in the darkest areas (no blocked shadows).
  2. Midtones (Center):
    • The peak of the curve is often in the middle, representing a lot of detail in the midtones (the “average” brightness of the image).
  3. Highlights (Right Side):
    • The graph tapers off as it approaches the far right.
    • There are no big spikes touching the right edge, meaning you’re not losing detail in the brightest areas (no blown highlights).

What a Balanced Histogram Means

  • Proper Exposure: Your image has a good range of tones, from shadows to highlights, without clipping.
  • Detail Preservation: Most areas of your photo retain their texture and details, making the image more visually pleasing.
  • Neutral Composition: Works well for general scenes like landscapes or portraits under normal lighting.

 

Example Scenarios for a Balanced Histogram:

  • A landscape photo with a bright sky, dark shadows in trees, and plenty of midtones in grass or water.
  • A portrait lit with soft, even lighting, where skin tones are nicely exposed.

 

Important Notes:

  • Scene Dependent: A balanced histogram is ideal for evenly lit scenes, but some situations, like high-contrast scenes or creative choices, will lead to unbalanced histograms. For example:
    • Dark, Moody Images: The histogram might lean left.
    • Bright, Airy Images: The histogram might lean right.
  • Not a Rule: Use it as a guide rather than a strict rule. The look of the histogram depends on your artistic intent.

Histograms can vary significantly depending on the scene and the style of photography. Below are examples of how histograms look in different scenarios and what they mean.

  1. High Contrast Scene

Example: A bright sunset with dark shadows in the foreground.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • Peaks at both the left (shadows) and right (highlights), with a dip in the middle (midtones).
    • Looks like a “camel’s hump” with two peaks.
  • What It Means:
    • The image has very bright areas and very dark areas with minimal midtones.
    • This is common in high-dynamic-range (HDR) scenes where you might need to use bracketing or post-processing to recover detail.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Use exposure compensation or bracket your shots to capture shadow and highlight details.
  1. Low-Key Image

Example: A moody portrait with deep shadows and minimal bright areas.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • Peaks concentrated toward the left (shadows).
    • Few, if any, pixels in the highlights or bright midtones.
  • What It Means:
    • The image is intentionally dark, with shadow details dominating.
  • How to Adjust:
    • This is often intentional, so as long as your shadows aren’t clipped (spike at the far left), you’re good.
  1. High-Key Image

Example: A bright and airy photo of a snowy landscape or a white background.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • Peaks concentrated toward the right (highlights).
    • Few pixels in the shadows or dark midtones.
  • What It Means:
    • The image is predominantly bright, which can create a soft, clean look.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Ensure highlights aren’t clipped (spike at the far right), especially for subjects like snow or white clothing.
  1. Underexposed Image

Example: A night shot or an incorrectly set exposure for a darker scene.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • The graph is bunched up on the left with minimal midtones or highlights.
  • What It Means:
    • The image is too dark, and you’re losing detail in the shadows.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Increase exposure using a slower shutter speed, wider aperture, or higher ISO.
  1. Overexposed Image

Example: A brightly lit scene with blown-out skies.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • The graph is bunched up on the right with minimal shadows or midtones.
    • Highlights may clip (spike at the far right).
  • What It Means:
    • The image is too bright, and you’re losing detail in the highlights.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Decrease exposure by using a faster shutter speed, narrower aperture, or lower ISO.
  1. Flat/Low-Contrast Image

Example: A foggy day or evenly lit, low-contrast portrait.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • Peaks are concentrated in the middle, with little data on the far left or right.
  • What It Means:
    • The image has limited contrast, and most tones fall in the midtone range.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Add contrast in post-processing to stretch the histogram and enhance detail.
  1. Clipped Shadows and Highlights

Example: A poorly exposed image with both dark and bright areas losing detail.

  • Histogram Shape:
    • Spikes at both the far left and far right edges.
  • What It Means:
    • The image has lost detail in both the darkest and brightest areas.
  • How to Adjust:
    • Reduce contrast by adjusting exposure or dynamic range settings (if your camera has them).

Summary of Histogram Use:

  • Balanced Scenes: Aim for a smooth, spread-out histogram without spikes at the edges.
  • Creative Choices: For low-key or high-key images, the histogram will naturally lean left or right—just avoid excessive clipping unless it’s intentional.
  • High Contrast: Consider techniques like bracketing or post-processing to manage extreme histograms.
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Basics  /  Creative  /  Learning  /  Photography
The Exposure Scale
December 30, 2024

The f-stop scale is a sequence of numbers that represents the aperture settings of a camera lens. Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens that allows light to pass through to the camera sensor or film. The f-stop scale helps photographers control how much light enters the camera and also influences depth of field (how much of the image is in focus from front to back).

Understanding the f-stop numbers:

The f-stop values are written as f/n, where n is a number like 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. These numbers represent the ratio of the lens’s focal length to the diameter of the aperture opening. Here’s a breakdown:

  1. Larger f-stop numbers (e.g., f/16, f/22):
    • Smaller aperture opening.
    • Less light enters the camera.
    • Greater depth of field (more of the scene is in focus, good for landscapes).
  2. Smaller f-stop numbers (e.g., f/1.4, f/2.8):
    • Larger aperture opening.
    • More light enters the camera.
    • Shallower depth of field (less of the scene is in focus, good for portraits or isolating a subject).

How the f-stop scale works:

Each step in the f-stop scale either doubles or halves the amount of light entering the camera. For example:

  • Moving from f/2.8 to f/4 reduces the light by half (because the aperture is smaller).
  • Moving from f/8 to f/5.6 doubles the light (because the aperture is larger).

Why it matters:

  1. Exposure: The f-stop is one part of the exposure triangle, along with shutter speed and ISO. Changing the f-stop affects the overall brightness of your image.
  2. Creative control: You can use the f-stop to achieve specific visual effects, like blurring the background in portraits or keeping everything sharp in a landscape.

A quick tip:

If you’re struggling to remember the sequence, here’s a simple guide:

  • The scale progresses in powers of √2 (about 1.4), so each f-stop multiplies or divides the area of the aperture by 2.
  • Common full stops are: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22.

Interacting with the Exposure Triangle

Let’s dive into how the f-stop interacts with the exposure triangle, which includes aperture (f-stop), shutter speed, and ISO. Together, these settings control the brightness of an image (exposure) and influence its creative look.

  1. Aperture (f-stop)
  • What it does:
    • Controls the size of the lens opening, which determines how much light reaches the sensor.
    • Affects depth of field (area in focus in front of and behind your subject).
  • Interaction with the triangle:
    • If you use a wide aperture (e.g., f/2.8), more light enters, so you might need a faster shutter speed or lower ISO to avoid overexposing the image.
    • Conversely, a small aperture (e.g., f/16) lets in less light, so you may need a slower shutter speed or higher ISO to compensate.
  1. Shutter Speed
  • What it does:
    • Determines how long the camera’s sensor is exposed to light.
    • Measured in seconds or fractions of a second (e.g., 1/1000, 1/250, 1/60, etc.).
    • Affects motion blur—faster shutter speeds freeze action, while slower speeds blur motion.
  • Interaction with aperture:
    • If you use a small f-stop number (wide aperture, e.g., f/2.8) and let in a lot of light, you’ll often need a fast shutter speed to avoid overexposure.
    • If you use a large f-stop number (small aperture, e.g., f/16), you may need a slower shutter speed to let in enough light for proper exposure.
  1. ISO
  • What it does:
    • Determines how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light.
    • Low ISO (e.g., 100): Less sensitive to light, produces cleaner images with less noise.
    • High ISO (e.g., 1600 or more): More sensitive to light, useful in low-light conditions but increases noise (graininess).
  • Interaction with aperture:
    • If you’re shooting with a small aperture (e.g., f/16) in dim light, you might need to increase ISO to achieve a good exposure without using an extremely slow shutter speed.
    • Wide apertures (e.g., f/2.8) often allow you to use lower ISO settings, reducing noise.

Balancing the Triangle

Here’s how changes to one setting affect the others:

Scenario 1: Bright environment (e.g., sunny day)

  • You might use:
    • A smaller aperture (e.g., f/11) to avoid too much light.
    • A faster shutter speed (e.g., 1/1000) to freeze motion.
    • A low ISO (e.g., 100) to maintain image quality.

Scenario 2: Low light (e.g., indoors or at dusk)

  • You might use:
    • A wide aperture (e.g., f/2.8) to let in more light.
    • A slower shutter speed (e.g., 1/60) to allow more light onto the sensor (but beware of motion blur).
    • A higher ISO (e.g., 800 or 1600) to brighten the image, accepting some noise as a trade-off.

Creative Control

  • Portraits: Use a wide aperture (e.g., f/1.8 or f/2.8) to isolate your subject with a blurry background (shallow depth of field).
  • Landscapes: Use a small aperture (e.g., f/11 or f/16) to keep everything in focus, from foreground to background (deep depth of field).
  • Action shots: Use a fast shutter speed (e.g., 1/1000) to freeze movement, paired with a wider aperture if light is limited.
  • Night photography: Use a slower shutter speed (e.g., 10 seconds), a wide aperture (e.g., f/2.8), and possibly a tripod to stabilize the camera.

Putting it All Together

Let’s say you want to take a portrait with a blurry background:

  1. Set aperture first: Choose a wide aperture, e.g., f/2.8.
  2. Adjust shutter speed: Use a fast enough speed to avoid motion blur but still expose the subject properly (e.g., 1/200).
  3. Adjust ISO if needed: If the image is too dark, raise the ISO to brighten it (e.g., ISO 400 or 800).

Would you like specific examples, or maybe tips for practicing with these settings?

Example Using the Exposure Scale

Here are some specific examples and practice tips to help you understand how to balance the exposure triangle while taking creative control of your photos.

Example Scenarios

  1. Portrait with a Blurry Background (Shallow Depth of Field)
  • Goal: Isolate the subject with a blurry background.
  • Settings:
    • Aperture (f-stop): Set to a wide aperture like f/1.8 or f/2.8.
    • Shutter Speed: Adjust to around 1/200 or faster to avoid motion blur.
    • ISO: Start with a low ISO (100-400) for better image quality. If it’s too dark, increase ISO.
  • Why it works: A wide aperture creates a shallow depth of field, making the subject pop while blurring the background.
  1. Landscape with Everything in Focus (Deep Depth of Field)
  • Goal: Capture a sharp foreground and background.
  • Settings:
    • Aperture (f-stop): Set to a small aperture like f/11 or f/16.
    • Shutter Speed: Use a slower speed like 1/30 or even longer if on a tripod.
    • ISO: Keep ISO low (e.g., 100) to maintain quality.
  • Why it works: A small aperture increases depth of field, ensuring the entire scene is in focus. A tripod is helpful for longer exposures to avoid blur.
  1. Action Shot (Freezing Motion)
  • Goal: Freeze a fast-moving subject (e.g., sports or wildlife).
  • Settings:
    • Aperture (f-stop): Use a moderately wide aperture like f/4 or f/5.6 to let in more light.
    • Shutter Speed: Set a fast speed, e.g., 1/1000 or faster.
    • ISO: Increase ISO if needed to maintain brightness (e.g., ISO 800 or higher).
  • Why it works: A fast shutter speed prevents motion blur, while a moderate aperture and higher ISO ensure enough light.
  1. Night Photography (Low Light)
  • Goal: Capture a bright image without using flash.
  • Settings:
    • Aperture (f-stop): Use a wide aperture like f/2.8.
    • Shutter Speed: Use a long exposure, e.g., 10-30 seconds (requires a tripod).
    • ISO: Start with ISO 800 and increase only if necessary to minimize noise.
  • Why it works: A wide aperture and long shutter speed maximize light, while a tripod keeps the camera steady during the long exposure.

Tips for Practicing the Exposure Triangle

  1. Start in Aperture Priority Mode:
    • Set your camera to Aperture Priority (A or Av) mode.
    • Adjust the aperture, and the camera will automatically set the shutter speed.
    • Practice with different f-stops to observe how they affect light and depth of field.
  2. Experiment with Manual Mode:
    • In Manual (M) mode, choose a starting aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, then adjust based on your results.
    • Example practice settings:
      • Bright Day: Start with f/8, 1/250, ISO 100.
      • Low Light Indoors: Start with f/2.8, 1/60, ISO 800.
  3. Use Exposure Compensation (+/-):
    • If your image looks too dark or bright in semi-automatic modes, use the exposure compensation dial to adjust.
  4. Shoot the Same Scene with Different Settings:
    • Pick a subject (e.g., a flower, building, or person).
    • Shoot it with multiple aperture settings (e.g., f/2.8, f/8, f/16).
    • Compare how depth of field and brightness change.
  5. Play with Motion:
    • Photograph moving water (e.g., a waterfall or fountain).
    • Use a fast shutter speed (e.g., 1/1000) to freeze the water.
    • Use a slow shutter speed (e.g., 1 second) to create a silky effect. Use a tripod for slower speeds.
  6. Low-Light Challenge:
    • Try shooting indoors or at night without a flash.
    • Practice balancing wide apertures, higher ISOs, and slower shutter speeds to get a well-exposed shot.

Apps and Tools to Help

  • Photography Cheat Sheets: Download printable guides or apps like “PhotoPills” or “Exposure Calculator” for on-the-go help.
  • Histogram Use: Enable the histogram on your camera to check exposure. Aim for an even spread, avoiding peaks on the far left (underexposed) or far right (overexposed).
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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Exposure Triangle
November 2, 2024

Perhaps the most basic concept in photography is “THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLE” – this is a concept that helps balance three core elements—aperture, shutter speed, and ISO—to achieve a well-exposed photo. Each one affects the brightness of a photo and how it looks in terms of depth, motion, and graininess. Here’s how each part of the triangle works:

1. Aperture (measured in f-stops, like f/2.8, f/4, etc.):

  • This is the size of the lens opening. Think of it like the pupil of an eye—the larger it is, the more light it lets in.
  • Lower f-numbers (like f/1.8 or f/2.8) mean a wider aperture, letting in more light and creating a shallow depth of field. This makes backgrounds blurry, which is great for portraits.
  • Higher f-numbers (like f/16) mean a smaller aperture, letting in less light but giving you a larger depth of field. This keeps more of the scene in focus, ideal for landscapes.

2. Shutter Speed (measured in seconds or fractions, like 1/1000, 1/250, etc.):

  • This controls how long your camera’s sensor is exposed to light. Think of it as how fast your camera’s “eye” blinks.
  • Faster shutter speeds (like 1/1000) freeze motion, so they’re great for action shots or if you’re shooting handheld.
  • Slower shutter speeds (like 1/30 or even 1 second) let in more light but can cause motion blur. They’re useful in low-light conditions or if you want to create a motion effect, like with flowing water.

3. ISO (often between 100 and 6400 on most cameras):

  • ISO measures the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to light.
  • A low ISO (like 100 or 200) keeps your image crisp and clean, but requires more light—perfect for sunny days.
  • A high ISO (like 1600 or 3200) makes your sensor more sensitive to light, so it’s good for darker settings. However, higher ISO levels can introduce “noise” (graininess) in your photos.

How They Work Together

If one of these settings changes, the others need adjusting to maintain the same brightness. Here’s an example:

Scenario: Let’s say you’re shooting a portrait and want a blurry background.

You might start by selecting a wide aperture, like f/2.8. This lets in a lot of light, so to prevent overexposure, you might use a faster shutter speed or lower ISO.

Balance: By balancing aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, you control exposure while also deciding on the visual effects, like motion blur or sharpness across a scene.

If you think of each element as one side of a triangle, adjusting one side always affects the others. The goal is to keep the “exposure balance” by adjusting the others in tandem, depending on the look and feel you want.

However, if you can imagine different types of triangles, its is possible to adjust these settings – in relation to each other – to form similar looking image. That is,  you can achieve a similar-looking photo with different combinations of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, and this is one of the powerful aspects of understanding the exposure triangle. Adjusting each element affects not only the exposure but also the artistic style of the photo, like depth of field, motion blur, or noise. This is called an “EXPOSURE EQUIVALENT” – different settings that give the same overall exposure level.

Let’s go through an example:

Example Scenario
Imagine you’re photographing a landscape on a sunny day, and you want the entire scene to be in focus (sharp from front to back) with minimal noise.

1. Settings Option 1:

  • Aperture: f/16 (narrow, for deep depth of field)
  • Shutter Speed: 1/100 (lets in enough light with a stable exposure time)
  • ISO: 100 (keeps noise low)

This combination would give you a well-exposed photo with everything in focus and low noise.

2. Settings Option 2:

  • Aperture: f/8 (wider than f/16, lets in more light)
  • Shutter Speed: 1/400 (faster, to compensate for more light entering at f/8)
  • ISO: 100 (same, to maintain low noise)

With this set of settings, you’d still get a well-exposed shot, but the depth of field is slightly shallower. This might mean the extreme edges of your focus range are softer, but for many landscapes, this can still give a similar result.

3. Settings Option 3:

  • Aperture: f/11 (medium depth of field, still covers much of the scene)
  • Shutter Speed: 1/200
  • ISO: 200 (a little more sensitive to help balance out any exposure loss)

This setup again allows for a similar exposure level, but with slight compromises in depth of field and a tiny bit more noise due to the increased ISO. Still, the photo would look very similar in terms of overall brightness and clarity.

In each option, the “exposure stays balanced”, but the choice of settings subtly changes how the final photo looks.

Why Choose One Over the Other?

The choice between these settings often depends on your creative intent:

If you want maximum sharpness and are okay with a narrow aperture, Option 1 might be best.

If you want more flexibility in shutter speed (to avoid camera shake, for instance), you could go with Option 2.

If you’re in low light and need a higher ISO, Option 3 offers a compromise.

The more you experiment, the more you’ll see how these settings impact the style and feel of your photos.

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Basics  /  Creative
Overcome Creative Block
July 16, 2024

Are you stuck in a photographic rut? Not sure where to go and what to shoot? Hopefully this article will help get you out and about shooting again.

There are plenty of times when I get creative block. I sit staring at my camera and I really struggle to think of what to photograph next. For me, photography is a release, something to turn to to relieve some of the stresses of our busy lives. I love being out in the open, warm or cold with my camera or drone and just having the freedom to look and when I can actually SEE too that’s a bonus. At times, I take lots of pictures and don’t appreciate at the time their quality. I can come home from a shoot and feel disheartened at what I think I’ve taken only to find that actually there are some great shots mixed in with the rubbish, I just didn’t realise at the time.

So you can see that the block can sit in there (especially if it digs itself wedged in!) right from home, out to the shoot and back again. What can we do to break it?

These images (from a much wider set) came as a result of being stuck on where to fly/capture my drone. Quite a few times this year I’ve driven along the Woodhead Pass from Barnsley to Manchester and noticed how low the levels in the reservoirs are. It came to me suddenly that I ought to capture just how low they were!

Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir
Woodhead Reservoir

Perhaps it isn’t a lack of inspiration that’s driving the brain block but something external to photography. Take a break from whatever you are doing and stop trying so hard. Listen to some music. Read a book. Cook. Bake. I do all of these to relax. Try it and the old creative juices might just start to flow again.

But, what if it’s not that and you need some inspiration on subjects?

The first and most obvious thing to do is just to pick up your camera and start shooting. Indoors or outdoors. Do you have a partner or children? Take them as they go about their business in the house, at work or play. Do you have a car? Go take some shots of that. Up close, far away, get up high (from an upstairs window perhaps?), get down low. Wait until its dark and switch your headlights on. Throw a star filter into the mix too (not sure what they are … look it up!!). Out in the garden I have found no end of interesting subjects to photograph, especially through the great lock down of 2020! Flowers, insects, birds, local cats.

I love long exposures, especially at night. The first time I stood above a motorway on a bridge (in safety of course), took my camera off auto and did some 5-10 second exposures to capture the light trails I was amazed!

Do you normally take pictures of similar things? Are you a landscape person – if so, try people. Or pets. Put yourself outside your comfort zone.

Go for a walk – either in your local area of take the car out – but no pictures whilst driving! If you are going out in the car, have a think about what is in the local area before you set off so you aren’t just driving aimlessly. Google Maps is great for scouting areas before you visit and it has perhaps the most comprehensive database of places and websites (as you would expect!) along with pictures posted from other previous visitors. Look up street photography – a massive subject but immensely popular.

Something else? What about a photo challenge? Do an online search and any number of suggestions will pop up, running for (normally) a week or a month or if you feel exceptionally challenged you can sign up to a 365 day challenge. I have another post about this.

Pick something in your house and challenge yourself to find as many ways as possible to take different images of it.

Perhaps you need to study some of our peers. There are countless photography websites out there waiting to impart their experience and knowledge. Do some searching. Find an amazing photographer and study their work. What makes their images stand out? What styles were successful for them?

Nip to the newsagents and pick up a copy of a great photography magazine – or not; get an online copy and you don’t even have to move.

I think you can see that there is (just about) a limitless amount of inspiration around us in the modern world. If none of the above is working out for you, just search for ‘photo inspiration’.

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Basics  /  Creative  /  Gear  /  Learning
Handheld Shutter Speed
July 13, 2024

Minimum Shutter Speed for Handheld Photography

Photography is a fascinating blend of art and science, where understanding technical details can significantly enhance the creative process. One of these crucial technical aspects is shutter speed, particularly when shooting handheld. Let’s dive into what shutter speed is, why it matters, and how to determine the minimum shutter speed for handheld photography.

Understanding Shutter Speed

Shutter speed, one of the three pillars of photography (alongside aperture and ISO), refers to the duration the camera’s shutter remains open to let light hit the sensor. It is measured in seconds or fractions of a second. A fast shutter speed (e.g., 1/1000s) means the shutter opens and closes quickly, capturing a brief moment in time, while a slow shutter speed (e.g., 1/10s) keeps the shutter open longer, allowing more light to hit the sensor but also capturing more movement.

Why Shutter Speed Matters

Shutter speed affects both exposure and motion blur. A faster shutter speed reduces motion blur and is essential for freezing fast-moving subjects, whereas a slower shutter speed can introduce motion blur, which can either be a creative effect or an unwanted artifact. When shooting handheld, maintaining an appropriate shutter speed is crucial to avoid camera shake, which can result in blurry photos.

The Reciprocal Rule

A widely accepted guideline for determining the minimum shutter speed for handheld photography is the Reciprocal Rule. This rule suggests that the shutter speed should be at least the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens. For example, if you are shooting with a 50mm lens, your shutter speed should be at least 1/50s. If you’re using a 200mm lens, aim for a shutter speed of at least 1/200s. This rule helps counteract the natural hand movements that can cause camera shake.

Crop Factor Consideration

If you are using a crop sensor camera, such as APS-C or Micro Four Thirds, you need to account for the crop factor. The crop factor is a multiplier that effectively increases the focal length of your lens. For instance, an APS-C sensor typically has a crop factor of 1.5x. So, a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera would act like a 75mm lens (50mm x 1.5), and you should use a minimum shutter speed of 1/75s.

Image Stabilization

Modern cameras and lenses often come equipped with image stabilization (IS) technology, which can significantly reduce the effects of camera shake. Image stabilization can allow you to use slower shutter speeds than the Reciprocal Rule suggests, sometimes by several stops. For example, with effective image stabilization, you might be able to shoot at 1/25s with a 50mm lens instead of the recommended 1/50s. However, the effectiveness of IS varies between systems and even between different models, so it’s always good to test your specific equipment.

Factors Affecting Minimum Shutter Speed

Several factors influence the minimum shutter speed required for handheld photography:

  1. Focal Length: Longer focal lengths magnify not only the subject but also any camera movement, requiring faster shutter speeds.
  2. Camera Resolution: Higher resolution sensors capture more detail, including any blurriness from camera shake. With high megapixel cameras, you may need to use faster shutter speeds.
  3. Handheld Technique: Your ability to hold the camera steady impacts the minimum shutter speed. Bracing yourself, using proper hand placement, and controlling your breathing can help reduce camera shake.
  4. Lighting Conditions: In low light, achieving faster shutter speeds can be challenging without increasing ISO or using a wider aperture, both of which have their trade-offs.
  5. Subject Movement: If your subject is moving, you’ll need to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action, regardless of whether you’re shooting handheld or using a tripod.

Practical Tips for Handheld Photography

  1. Use a Fast Shutter Speed: Always aim for a shutter speed faster than the reciprocal of your lens’s focal length. Err on the side of caution, especially in challenging conditions.
  2. Enable Image Stabilization: If your camera or lens has IS, turn it on. It can provide significant benefits in terms of reducing camera shake.
  3. Improve Your Technique: Hold your camera close to your body, use both hands, and keep your elbows tucked in. Lean against a stable object if possible.
  4. Adjust ISO and Aperture: In low light, increase your ISO or open up your aperture to allow for faster shutter speeds. Be mindful of the trade-offs: higher ISO can introduce noise, and a wider aperture reduces depth of field.
  5. Take Multiple Shots: When in doubt, take several shots in quick succession. The chances of getting a sharp image increase with multiple attempts.

Advanced Considerations

  1. Shutter Speed and Stabilization Systems: Different systems like Canon’s IS, Nikon’s VR, Sony’s OSS, and in-body stabilization (IBIS) have varying degrees of effectiveness. Familiarize yourself with your specific system’s capabilities.
  2. Telephoto Lenses: When using telephoto lenses, the need for faster shutter speeds becomes more critical due to the magnification of camera shake. Consider using monopods or tripods for additional stability.
  3. Environmental Factors: Wind, unstable surfaces, or moving platforms (like boats or vehicles) can all necessitate faster shutter speeds to maintain image sharpness.
  4. Creative Effects: Sometimes, a bit of motion blur can enhance the artistic quality of your photo. In such cases, experimenting with slower shutter speeds can yield interesting results, but this often requires a steady hand or intentional movement.

Real-World Examples

Imagine you are photographing a street scene with a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. According to the Reciprocal Rule, your minimum shutter speed should be 1/35s. However, you notice some motion blur at that speed, so you increase it to 1/60s to get sharper images. If you switch to a 70-200mm lens, at 200mm, your minimum shutter speed should be at least 1/200s, but considering practical experience, you might opt for 1/320s to ensure clarity, especially if shooting moving subjects or if you’ve had a bit too much coffee that morning.

In low-light scenarios, such as a dimly lit room, using a fast lens (e.g., f/1.8) and increasing ISO can help you maintain a faster shutter speed, but be mindful of the noise that higher ISO settings can introduce. Experiment with your camera’s capabilities to find the best balance.

Understanding and applying the concept of minimum shutter speed for handheld photography is fundamental for achieving sharp, high-quality images. While the Reciprocal Rule provides a solid starting point, factors like crop factor, image stabilization, personal technique, and environmental conditions also play significant roles. By practicing and experimenting with your equipment, you can find the optimal settings that suit your style and conditions, ensuring your handheld shots are as sharp and clear as possible. Happy shooting!

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Basics  /  Creative  /  Learning
Long Exposure Photography
July 10, 2024

Taking long exposure photographs can result in stunning and unique images, whether you’re shooting at night or during the day. This technique captures the passage of time within a single frame, leading to smooth, flowing water, light trails, star trails, or a sense of motion and dynamic energy. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to take the best long exposure photographs both at night and during the day.

Understanding Long Exposure Photography

Long exposure photography involves using a slow shutter speed to capture stationary elements of a scene sharply while blurring or smearing the moving elements. This can create surreal, dreamlike images that show the effect of time on a scene.

Essential Equipment

To get started with long exposure photography, you’ll need the following gear:

  1. Camera: A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manual mode capabilities.
  2. Tripod: Essential for keeping the camera steady during long exposures.
  3. Remote Shutter Release: Helps to avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button.
  4. Neutral Density (ND) Filters: These reduce the amount of light entering the lens, allowing for longer exposures during the day.
  5. Wide-Angle Lens: Often preferred for capturing more of the scene.
  6. Extra Batteries and Memory Cards: Long exposure shots can drain your battery quickly and use up significant memory space.

Basic Camera Settings for Long Exposure

  1. Shutter Speed: The defining factor for long exposure photography. For daytime shots, you might need ND filters to achieve longer shutter speeds. At night, the absence of light allows naturally longer exposures.
  2. Aperture: A smaller aperture (higher f-number like f/11 or f/16) helps increase the depth of field and reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor, essential for longer exposures.
  3. ISO: Keep ISO as low as possible (100 or 200) to minimize noise in the images.
  4. Focus: Manual focus is often more reliable in low-light conditions. Focus on a subject before switching to manual to lock it in.

Long Exposure Photography at Night

Nighttime long exposures are particularly rewarding, as they can capture elements invisible to the naked eye, such as star trails, light trails, or the Milky Way.

Steps for Nighttime Long Exposure Photography

  1. Scout Your Location: Find a spot with minimal light pollution for star photography or a busy urban area for light trails.
  2. Set Up Your Tripod: Ensure it is stable and secure.
  3. Compose Your Shot: Use live view to help with composition. Include interesting foreground elements to add depth to your image.
  4. Set Your Camera to Manual Mode: Control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO manually.
  5. Start with Basic Settings: Begin with a shutter speed of 15-30 seconds, an aperture of f/2.8 to f/4, and an ISO of 1600-3200. Adjust based on the available light.
  6. Use a Remote Shutter Release: To start the exposure without causing camera shake.
  7. Check Your Histogram: Ensure the highlights are not blown out and adjust settings accordingly.
  8. Experiment: Adjust your shutter speed to see the effect on light trails or star trails. Longer exposures result in longer trails.

Tips for Specific Nighttime Long Exposure Scenarios

Star Trails:

  • Use the longest possible shutter speed. In some cases, bulb mode might be necessary.
  • Combine multiple shorter exposures in post-processing to reduce noise.
  • An intervalometer can automate the process of taking continuous shots.

Light Trails:

  • Position yourself at a busy intersection or road.
  • Use a shutter speed between 10 and 30 seconds to capture the movement of headlights and taillights.
  • Experiment with different angles and compositions to create dynamic images.

Milky Way:

  • Use a wide-angle lens with a large aperture (f/2.8 or wider).
  • Start with a shutter speed of 20-30 seconds and an ISO of 3200.
  • Use a star tracker for longer exposures without star trails.

Long Exposure Photography During the Day

Daytime long exposures can be challenging due to the abundance of light. However, with the use of ND filters, it is possible to capture stunning images of flowing water, moving clouds, or bustling cityscapes with smooth, blurred motion.

Steps for Daytime Long Exposure Photography

  1. Find a Good Location: Waterfalls, rivers, coastal scenes, or urban environments are ideal for daytime long exposures.
  2. Set Up Your Tripod: As with nighttime photography, stability is key.
  3. Attach an ND Filter: Choose the strength based on the desired effect. ND filters range from 3 stops (ND8) to 10 stops (ND1000) or more.
  4. Compose Your Shot: Use live view and compose the shot before attaching the ND filter if it’s very dark.
  5. Set Your Camera to Manual Mode: Control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO manually.
  6. Start with Basic Settings: Begin with a shutter speed of 1-2 seconds, an aperture of f/11, and an ISO of 100. Adjust according to the light and effect you want.
  7. Use a Remote Shutter Release: To avoid camera shake.
  8. Check Your Histogram and Adjust: Make sure the exposure is balanced and adjust the settings as needed.

Tips for Specific Daytime Long Exposure Scenarios

Waterfalls and Rivers:

  • Use a slower shutter speed (1-4 seconds) to capture smooth, flowing water.
  • Experiment with different ND filter strengths to achieve the desired effect.
  • Keep an eye on the light, as changes in brightness can affect your exposure.

Clouds:

  • Use a strong ND filter (10 stops or more) to allow for longer exposures, capturing the movement of clouds across the sky.
  • A shutter speed of several minutes can create a dreamy, streaky effect in the clouds.

Urban Scenes:

  • Use ND filters to blur the movement of people and traffic, creating a sense of motion and energy.
  • A shutter speed of 10-30 seconds can smooth out crowds and traffic, making them appear almost ghostly.

Post-Processing Long Exposure Images

Post-processing is an essential part of long exposure photography. Here are some tips to enhance your images:

  1. RAW Files: Always shoot in RAW to retain the most detail and flexibility in editing.
  2. Adjust Exposure and Contrast: Fine-tune the exposure, contrast, and white balance to bring out details.
  3. Reduce Noise: Use noise reduction techniques, especially for nighttime shots with high ISO settings.
  4. Sharpening: Apply selective sharpening to enhance details while avoiding noise amplification.
  5. Blending Multiple Exposures: For star trails or scenes with high dynamic range, blend multiple exposures to achieve the best results.

Advanced Techniques and Tips

Using the Bulb Mode

Bulb mode allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you press the shutter button. This is useful for extremely long exposures (minutes to hours). Combine bulb mode with a remote shutter release or intervalometer for best results.

Calculating Exposure with ND Filters

Using an ND filter requires adjusting your exposure settings. Here’s a quick method:

  1. Determine the base exposure: Without the ND filter, set your desired aperture and ISO, then adjust the shutter speed to get a correct exposure.
  2. Apply the ND filter: Note the filter strength in stops.
  3. Adjust the shutter speed: For example, if your base exposure is 1/60 second and you’re using a 10-stop ND filter, the new shutter speed would be approximately 16 minutes.

Combining Long Exposures with Other Techniques

  • HDR Long Exposure: Capture multiple long exposures at different exposures and blend them to increase dynamic range.
  • Light Painting: During a long exposure, use a light source (torch, sparkler) to add creative light trails or illuminate parts of the scene.
  • Intentional Camera Movement (ICM): Move the camera during the exposure to create abstract patterns and effects.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Camera Shake:

  • Use a sturdy tripod and a remote shutter release.
  • Enable mirror lock-up if your camera has this feature.

Overexposed Images:

  • Use stronger ND filters.
  • Adjust your aperture and ISO settings.

Focus Issues:

  • Focus manually and use live view to ensure sharpness.
  • Consider focus stacking for increased depth of field.

Battery Life:

  • Long exposures can drain batteries quickly. Carry spares and consider using a battery grip.

Safety and Etiquette

  • Stay Safe: When shooting at night or in remote locations, be aware of your surroundings and take safety precautions.
  • Respect the Environment: Leave no trace and be mindful of wildlife and natural settings.
  • Be Considerate: If shooting in urban environments, be considerate of others and avoid obstructing pathways.

Conclusion

Long exposure photography opens up a world of creative possibilities, allowing you to capture the passage of time in a single frame. Whether you’re shooting at night or during the day, understanding the technical aspects, using the right equipment, and applying post-processing techniques will help you achieve stunning results. Practice and experimentation are key, so get out there and start capturing the world in a way that only long exposure photography can reveal.

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Basics  /  Gear  /  Photography
Camera Gear On The Go
November 15, 2023

I carry around all sorts of non-camera or photography specific equipment when I go out on a shoot. There’s allsorts of stuff lying around our homes that can be useful to ensure that you are well prepared or have whatever tool, gadget or random bit of stuff on hand when you need it. Here are some of my ideas…

  • Cloths / towel(s) – depending on the weather you might get a little (or a lot) wet. But that’s ok, your camera gear is much more important. Keep it dry at all costs! Also, a good supply of lens cloths coz we hate that dust (and smears!)
  • Extra batteries – make sure all your camera, drone, phone and tablets are all fully charged before you leave home; sounds obvious right! Easily overlooked, believe me! I’ve done it. Take spare batteries for torches, flash units – whatever needs them.
  • Battery pack – I have a rechargeable battery pack that I take just as a back up as I’ve known my phone to rapidly lose charge sometimes and it can be used to top up most devices with the right cable; which brings me to the next item…
  • Charging cables – no good having a battery pack and a flat device without the right cable to join them together is it?
  • Memory cards – take plenty! Don’t run out.
  • Notebook / pens – taking notes while out is something that I’ve got into a good habit with; locations, image settings, random thoughts, etc. It all goes into the book for future reference
  • Head torch – you always need both hands, right? A head torch for low light / night shoots allows you to see well without having to juggle (and potentially drop) your expensive gear
  • Screwdriver – my tripod has a clamp that screws into the bottom of the camera and is held into the top of the tripod which needs one of these. Also, you just never know
  • String / grips / clips – very useful for holding twigs and small branches out of the way when shooting flora and fauna; cliping stuff to your tripod to avoid a wet floor
  • Snacks / drinks – those long walks need energy! It can be a long way till the next brew!
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Basics
Manual Focus Control
October 6, 2022

Almost every modern DSLR camera and lens will have an auto focus mode which allows you to half press the shutter button to allow the camera to select the focus itself. How much of the image is in pin-sharp focus is up to you depending on a number of settings and other factors (like using a tripod).

When you half press the shutter button you will hear the motor in the lens shifting backwards / forwards as it seeks out that sweet point to give the best focus on the chosen part of the image. What the camera actually puts into focus in the final image is under your control even with auto-focus selected.

Your camera should have something like the following modes for focus:

  • AF-A = the camera will have one pass at focussing if the image is stationary or will track a moving image and continually re-focus until the image is recorded
  • AF-S = this is a single pass at focussing and the focal point is locked when the shutter button is pressed half-way
  • AF-C = used for moving subjects the camera will continually refocus the image while the shutter button is pressed half-way as it tracks the object

Many cameras will also have a combination of the number of points of focus they use to determine the perfect focus for an image. This is known as SINGLE POINT (one point, normally the centre of the image) or MULTI-POINT (many points arranged in a pattern across the image). See the image below as an illustration:

Focus points (active in red)

You can see here that there are many points of focus available but the camera is in SINGLE point mode as only the middle focal point is active, indicated by it turning red. As you press the shutter button half-way to lock in the focus and exposure, etc. the set number of focal points will light up (normally red) to show they are active.

When there are this many possible focal points available there is normally a varying number of points that can be set from SINGLE to all of them and a number of combinations in between.

As an advanced technique some photographs will benefit from the focal point not being at the centre of the image. This can be achieved by putting the main element in the centre of the image, pressing the shutter button half-way to lock in the focus (with a SINGLE point of focus) and then reframing the image before pressing the shutter button all the way to capture the image.

Autofocus is great and makes a brilliant job of finding the right level of focus for the chosen focal points. However, it does have its restrictions:

  • In images with little variation in colour (i.e. snow) the autofocus system will struggle to find the right focus and you will hear the motor searching backwards / forwards as it tries to hone in on the correct focus
  • When there is a strong element near the front of the image but the desired focal point is deeper in the focus system can focus on the wrong point – for example taking a picture through a window can cause the camera to focus on the window rather than the object on the other side of the glass
  • In low light or at night time the camera can often become confused and unable to focus effectively

The alternative to AUTO FOCUS (AF) is MANUAL FOCUS (MF) where you have complete control over the focus of the image. This is achieved by twisting a slider control around the lens and by looking through the viewfinder you can see when the image comes into focus. There is often also a visual indicator of when the camera judges the images focal point to be in clear focus, normally shown as a circle that lights up when in focus.

However, sometimes a perfectly focussed image is not the intention! Consider the following image:

f4 1/60s ISO640

This night time street scene was deliberately taken out of focus to capture dots and circles of light. The subjects here are either street lights or car headlights and you can just about make out the edges of the road and a couple of the vehicles.

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Basics  /  Gear
Gear To Consider
October 6, 2022

I have all sorts of gear and accessories that I have collected over the years along with allsorts of useful bits and pieces in my camera back. Browsing Amazon and other camera websites, spotting stuff in sales, seeing what other photographers use and recommend has resulted in all manner of things I have tried – some I use all the time whereas others I bring out when I have a particular idea or need or am taking a particular type of picture. In fact, I’ve just downsized my camera bag as I was carrying too much around with me all the time and moved most of my gear to another carry box that’s also easy to throw into the car boot when I go out and about.

In my camera bag now I just keep the essentials:

  • My camera and a few lenses
  • Spare camera batteries
  • Spare memory cards – you can never have too many!
  • My drone – for another perspective (up above) I fly a DJI Mini 2
  • The controller, spare batteries and spare propellers, etc. for the drone

And that’s about it! I have deliberately cut that down to the absolute essentials to make sure that I am focussed and don’t spend too much time overthinking what I else I could be using and I’m certainly no longer carrying gear around for the sake of it. Often now this makes me think about what I’m intending to go out and shoot and it makes me plan better. There are times when I get out and find I’ve left something at home but that’s where the ‘spare box’ comes in:

My next most important stuff is kept in a big plastic container that, having said that above, tends to find its way into the car most times! There is all manner of things in there:

  • My DSLR tripod – I used to have a cheap £20-£30 tripod when I got started until I invested in a 3 Legged Thing tripod a couple of years ago which I love. Very compact (but not the lightest) it is certainly sturdy and extends to a great height
  • A cheap mobile phone tripod
  • An ‘octopus’ camera tripod where the legs bend and grip around stuff
  • A Go-Pro camera and box of attachments – you never know when you might need to capture some action video!
  • Binoculars
  • A selection of coloured and special effects filters and adaptors for the various size lenses I carry
  • Remote triggers – some link to apps on my mobile phone, some are wired remotes and some are wireless (including the standard Nikon one)
  • A programmable, wired remote for taking timelapse photos
  • A flashgun
  • Cleaning cloths, pens, batteries, a torch, leaflets from the front of camera mags, etc.

At some point or another all of this comes in handy and gear comes / goes into this box over time.

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Basics  /  Creative  /  Learning
Mastering Shutter Speeds
October 6, 2022

The next element that can control the exposure of an image is SHUTTER SPEED. This is an easy one – it means how fast or slow the shutter in the camera opens and closes again and is a measure of time – seconds, fractions of seconds or sometimes minutes when taking some pictures at night and for astrophotography (forget that for now!).

Light enters the camera lens, comes down the tube of the lens, through the aperture (big or small hole depending on the aperture setting) and then the shutter has to open / close again to expose the camera sensor to the light to form the image. Think of the shutter as a curtain or a set of blinds over the sensor that has to be opened for a specified period of time to get the image (light)  to the sensor to record it on your memory card.

Some images don’t need a long time – fractions of a second – to capture enough light to record the image, for example a stationary object during the day; a small amount of light is needed with a quick shutter speed. Others might need several seconds or longer – images taken at night, especially those that capture movement (day or night); lots of light is needed with a longer shutter speed.

Controlling how fast or slow that shutter opens / closes is the shutter speed. On the display of your camera you would see seconds noted as 1″ (1 second), 5″ (5 seconds), etc. Fractions of a second are shown as fractions – 1/2 is half a second, 1/125 is a hundred and twenty fifth of a second, etc. You get the idea.

Easy.

Let’s link this to the aperture though … think of that aperture hole in the lens – if the aperture is wide (small f-stop) it will let in loads of light anyway so you can have a faster shutter speed. But, there is a correlation between the two settings. You can adjust the aperture and the shutter speed in conjunction to achieve the same exposure with different settings…open the aperture and speed up the shutter speed to get the same exposure.

Now, let’s add a third setting into the mix…

ISO
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Basics  /  Learning
ISO
October 6, 2022

This is a bit trickier as when I was learning it didn’t make much sense to me and I couldn’t make head nor tail of what difference changing ISO would make. Essentially, ISO is a measure of how sensitive a camera is to light. So what? I hear you say.

Light comes into the camera down the lens, through the aperture, the shutter opens / closes and light hits the camera sensor. By changing the ISO setting you can change how sensitive the sensor is to light – not very much or quite a lot.

Small ISO numbers mean the sensor is not very sensitive to light and higher numbers mean the inverse (obviously) – more sensitive to light. This has the effect of changing the brightness or darkness of your image. Low ISO = less light so darker, high ISO = more light so brighter image. But, there is a trade off … higher ISO can make images look grainy and lose some quality…what’s known as ‘noise’ can creep into it. Think of old TV’s when they are not tuned into a TV channel and that speckly stuff shows…nothing that severe appears on images but something very faintly like that. Generally, low ISO gives sharper images.

ISO is written as a number – so ISO100, ISO 200, ISO 6,400 etc. Think of it as the number of receptors on the camera sensor that are waiting to receive light to form the image. ISO100 has 100 of them ready (and all the rest turned off – sort off); change the ISO to ISO6,400 and there are 6,400 of them capturing the same light so the sensor gathers more and the image is brighter. It’s not quite that but it’s something along the way to illustrate the purpose.

So that’s it – there are the three things that can effect an images exposure and hopefully you can start to see how changing one can affect the other… this is known as the EXPOSURE TRIANGLE.

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Basics  /  Learning
Exposure Triangle
October 6, 2022

At the outset this might seem as unfathomable as the Bermuda Triangle…and to some it always will be but let me try and break it down so that it might make a little sense.

We’ve already mentioned that aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all linked. They are all methods of changing the amount of light that the camera sensor records to form the image. Changing one often means that you have to adjust one or both of the others – they are inextricably linked and are often noted together in a triangle.

Consider the following image and think about the three elements linked together to change to quality of the final image required.

Getting the right exposure – or the desired exposure – for an image is at times an art – but it is taking all these three elements and blending them together, adjusting one to offset one of the others that is the key to a great looking image.

Why bother though when you can make the camera do all the decision making for you? Well, if you want to make your images pop and raise their quality significantly you should understand all this and know how to change these together. The difference in quality will astound you and you will be well on your way to more professional looking images.

Your camera can only do so much with the data it reads about the scene and sometimes it just gets it wrong. Some elements (such as a bright source of light) can confuse it and as a result it makes the wrong decision on where to set exposure within the triangle.

Let’s take a moment to consider an example. Imagine you have the perfect exposure of an image and it really pops but the subject of the image is a fast moving car and it looks a little blurry. You can fix this by increasing the shutter speed to capture the image more quickly. But, without adjusting ISO and / or aperture the exposure of the image has now changed (less light from the faster shutter speed) and it will be underexposed. You can therefore increase the shutter speed to capture the fast moving object more static (without a motion blur) and then change the aperture to let more light in to increase the exposure at the same time. Achieve that balance again for the perfectly exposed image that captures the object in a perfect moment of time. The triangle works!

The exposure triangle is a clever little thing and is at the heart of all great images. Manual mode makes all the decisions for you and gets the correct exposure for any given image but I’ve already mentioned that changing the settings of the triangle elements can really make your images pop.

What’s the difference?

Well, the three elements of the exposure triangle have some other impacts on the final recorded image:

  1. Aperture also controls something called the depth of field. Have you ever seen an amazing portrait image of someone where the background is all blurry so that your eye is drawn to the person (subject) in the image? Aperture controls how much of the image is in focus…from the foreground, through to the subject and beyond to the background.
  2. Shutter speed helps us to control how we capture motion in an image. A fast shutter speed and even something moving at speed will be captured still (more or less if you have a fast enough shutter speed) whereas if you use a longer shutter speed objects can be shown to have movement. Combine some still and moving elements into a single image and you’ve cracked it!
  3. ISO can effect the quality of the final image. High ISO can introduce some grain and make your image look a little aged or worn.

So you can see that controlling these three elements can have a massive impact on the look and quality of the final image. Control these and you control your camera. Well, not really. There’s still a lot more to go but you get the idea.

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Basics  /  Creative
Introduction To Composition
October 6, 2022

I find that I can take lots of shots of the same scene or subject and just be reframing and taking the object from a slightly (or completely!) different angle can give a vastly different effect or final image. Zoom in a little, move slightly to one side or up / down and your image can (and likely will) change a lot.

Purists of photography will tell you that there are all sorts of methods of deciding how to compose an image. The rule of thirds. Minimalism. Fill the frame. Diagonal lines. Leading lines. Scale. Look up. Look behind. Reflections. And plenty more. Then some would say you should go out an break them all! Of course, every one of these is useful to learn and consider and you should be aware of as many of these as possible so you have a good choice when considering the desired image. Personally, I don’t see these as rules but more as guidelines. Have them in your toolbox and pull them out when you need them. Or don’t and break them all.

Let’s look at some of them.

The Rule of Thirds

When you look through the viewfinder consider that the image is made of up a 3×3 grid of rectangles rather like a tic-tac-toe grid. The main theory of this is that you should place the main element of your image at one of the four intersecting points of these lines. You should never stick the main element right in the exact middle of your viewfinder. Unless you’re breaking this rule and you do it on a purpose! When deciding sky and land elements for a landscape image, place the horizon at one of the two horizontal lines so the either is either one third or two thirds ratio of sky to land. Most cameras will have some method of allowing you to see this grid either through the viewfinder or on the image preview screen at the rear of the camera.

Kao Lack Beach
f3.5 1/3200s ISO100

The image above from the coast of Kao Lack in Thailand uses the rule of thirds to position the subject – the washed up bottle (perhaps with a missing message?) lying on the shore – at exactly where two of the lines converge. This forms the main focal point for the image and good depth of field gives the huge monument / lighthouse in the background lesser importance and blurs it out. This image also works well as it’s shot directly into the setting sun which gives strong black and white tones especially with the reflection of the water.

Now let’s break that rule. This image shows the aforementioned lighthouse as the focal point of the image but right in the middle and not where any of the lines converge. The late afternoon tones from the setting sun provide a stark silhouette highlighting the monument from behind to make the eye drop straight onto it.

The village of Khao Lak in Thailand is where the tsunami hit in 2004, now physically recovered the tourist industry is once again thriving.

Frames

Using a frame within an image can help to isolate the main element or draw the eyes into it. When you are composing your image, is there something that you can use to frame the subject within the viewable angle. The simplest example of this is a window – what about taking an image of the outside from inside? The window will frame the subject (no pun intended) to draw the eye in and through the image to the subject.

Leading Lines

In an element utilising this concept there will be some physical form of line or edge that guides the eyes through the image to the main element. Consider the image below capturing a moment of toddler trauma. The bars of the cot bed lead the eye straight to the toddler and ensure that you are guided to him first before taking in the rest of the image.

f1.8 1/50s ISO400

There are plenty of other photography rules that people say shouldn’t be broken, and there’s the same rules that others say you should go out and deliberately break. At the end of the day (or whatever time it actually is) the photograph you are taking is yours, the creative decisions are yours and what the final outcome is, is…you’ve guessed it…yours too.

Rules are there to be broken. Or not. It all depends really.

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Basics  /  Gear  /  Photography
New Camera Startup
October 6, 2022

So you’re shiny new camera has arrived. You’ve unpacked everything, charged and inserted the battery and memory card and attached the lens (hopefully to the front!). So what now? But maybe not. This is an expensive piece of kit and you want to make sure you’re doing everything right. If you’re struggling with these starter tasks then the absolute first thing you should be doing is reading the camera manual to at least get this far.

It sounds like an absolute obvious thing (and I admit that I hate reading manuals and intructions) but camera manuals are an absolute goldmine of information. How do I actually take my first picture? How do I view it when I’ve taken it? What do all the buttons mean? What do SOME of the buttons mean?

The first pass through the manual will be and absolute mind-mash and there will be plenty of (if not most) terms, processes and functions that you will have no clue about, even with the camera in your hands. You might be able to change the settings as the manual describes but you certainly won’t understand why you would need to and what effect they will all have on your finished picture.

Don’t worry. You are at the start of a very long journey of learning…perhaps one that won’t ever finish! Skim read it the first time perhaps. Make notes in it, highlight stuff, put some markers in there for quick reference. Make a list of things you want to understand first. Have some easy goals in mind though so here’s a starter checklist:

  1. Find your way around the basic controls of your camera
  2. Make sure you know how to make sure the camera is on (or off) fully auto mode
  3. Charging and inserting the battery
  4. Connecting the lens
  5. Inserting and formatting a memory card
  6. Turning it on!
  7. Make sure auto-focus is turned on
  8. How to focus using the shutter button (hint: half press it!)
  9. Take your first picture
  10. Working out how to review your first image

Sounds like a bit of an epic? Don’t worry it’s all totally achievable and fairly easy to get through with the help of the manual. For now, forget about everything else and get through that list. At that point, give yourself a pat on the back and take plenty more pictures to get the feel of the camera, how to hold it and get used to using it. Practice for a bit. You are well on the way of the start of your journey!

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Basics  /  Photography
First Settings To Change
October 6, 2022

What next? Hopefully you’ve read my post on the first 10 things to do when you open the brand new box containing your camera. If not, go and give it a scan and make sure that you’ve done those starter tasks. But what next? There are some other things you can do to make your camera work better for you and to customise it to your personal tastes. These are in no particular order but will hopefully help.

Attach The Camera Strap

I got myself a lovely cotton one from Amazon and it didn’t cost the earth but there are loads out there if you don’t want to use the one that comes out of the box. Some clip on, some are on all the time, some have a quick release to a belt holder…there are loads and you can end up spending quite a bit of money on them. They are down to personal preference BUT I would recommend having some sort of strap on your camera. Remember that first time when you dropped your phone and the screen shattered? The same applies to a camera and when you factor in the cost of replacing the camera AND the lens if you should drop it, you will regret not having one from the start.

Change The Image Review Settings

Personally I don’t have this switched on at all but my camera allows me to see every image I take on the LCD screen on the rear of the camera automatically as I take them – by default it will show for 5 seconds before it switches back off again. I have it switched off as I find it an irritant and I would rather decide myself when to preview images. If you do want preview switched on there are usually other things you can have displayed at the same time as the image – focus points, highlights, the histogram, shooting data, etc.

Set The Image Size And Quality

There will be another post into the infinite debate about RAW vs. JPG (type that into Google and see what others think!) but for now make a decision as to how your camera will record images onto your memory card(s). You can pick (obviously) RAW or JPG  and the basic difference is that RAW will store the image and a lot of extra information about it (metadata) to give the most control should you edit the image in post processing. JPG doesn’t store as much and takes less space. Or if you’re camera takes 2 memory cards (my Nikon D7200 does) you could have RAW stored on the card in slot 1 and the JPG equivalent stored on the card in slot 2. Also, with JPG you can decide what quality to store / resolution to store (high, medium or low) and this will dictate how much space on your memory card is taken with each image and as a result the total number of images you can take without downloading them to your computer / storage system.

Set The Diopter

Set the what? When you look through the viewfinder and you are framing the image, does it look sharp and clear after you have done a half press on the shutter button? At the side of the viewfinder window there should be a little dial that turns rather tightly. This is the diopter. While you are looking through the viewfinder turn that dial and the image you are looking at will blur / soften and then come back into sharpness as you turn it. All this affects is the image you are looking at and NOT the image that the camera takes – that’s down to the camera and the lens focus. Think of this like twisting the view piece on binoculars. It might make a difference for you – especially if you wear glasses.

So, you’ve done all that, what should you do next?

Learn about exposure and how the exposure triangle affects the finished image. There’s webpage after webpage and book after book on this single subject alone so getting it right in your mind from the start is really important. The exposure triangle links three key things together – aperture, shutter speed and ISO – that are the absolute foundation of a great image. Learn this early on and you will be off to the best start. Check out my introductory post here.

What about finding some resources out on the internet? There are some great websites packed with ideas for knowledge, pictures and creativity; tutorials and countless videos. Whenever you are stuck or want to know more, remember that Google is your friend and you will soon find some great websites you can trust and can keep going back to. Most will also allow you to subscribe to their mailing list and will send regular eMails with even more great content to keep the creative juices flowing. There are also some amazing courses online and there will be some in your local area too, either at college or perhaps run by a local camera club. Some courses will have a formal qualification at the end (for example a diploma) but others might just be totally educational without assessment. Watch out for special offers around the normal sale times as many educational and training websites will have their own courses too.

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Controlling Light With Aperture
October 6, 2022

How do we see? Admittedly some are better than others (without my glasses I’m as blind as a bat!). But, in order to see our eyes need light. It enters through the pupil, is focussed by the lens (or the other way around with glasses!) then hits the optic nerve where it goes off to be processed by the brain.

Camera’s work on exactly the same principle. It needs light (sometimes not very much) to be able to see the area in front of it to record the image. It is focussed by the glass in the lens, then goes through a hole in the lens (like the pupil), before passing into the camera sensor (optic nerve if you like) to record the scene. There’s a little more to it but that’s the basic.

Grab too much light in the recording and the image will be OVER EXPOSED. Don’t get enough light and the image will be UNDER EXPOSED. Mostly these are bad as you’re looking for a sweet spot somewhere along the line between the two that give a good balance of a few things (bear with me), but sometimes over or under exposing an image is what we want. The important thing is we need to manage and control the exposure and make sure it’s not down to guess work. On auto mode the camera does a lot of work for you and tries its best with the information it reads from the scene to take the most appropriately exposed picture – or so it thinks.

But, three things can be adjusted to control exposure – aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Getting all this right for the type of image you are trying to achieve is what we’re all about over the next few posts. Get them right in connection with each other and you’ll instantly make a massive jump forwards in the quality of your images from ‘point and shoot’ to something more refined, balanced and looking much more professional.

Let’s start with APERTURE.

This refers to a hole or a gap in the camera’s lens – the word simply means ‘opening, hole or gap’. It is closed by default and how wide it opens can be controlled in manual mode to determine how much light enters the lens and the camera sensor is exposed to. Open the hole really wide and a lot of light comes in, open it only a little bit and not so much. Change the aperture setting and you control the size of the hole.

The size of the hole is referred to as the ‘f stop’ and if you’ve seen ‘f2’ or ‘f13’ or similar then this is what it is referring to. There will be more on f-stops and how they relate to lenses in a later section.

What I find really confusing is that smaller f-numbers give a bigger hole. See the following image:

Different aperture settings and relative hole size for light

F2.8 gives a massive (relative) hole to let in lots of light, often used in low light situations, and f11is a much smaller hole that lets in hardly any light at all – much less than f1.4 and there is a sliding scale in between.

This is just an introduction to the concepts of aperture and I’ll write more on it in a separate post. This simple understanding should suffice for now. Hopefully.

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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Shutter Mode
October 6, 2022

In shutter mode you have total control over the speed of the shutter. You set the speed depending on what you are trying to achieve and the camera makes decisions for the other parts of the exposure triangle – ISO and APERTURE.

If you want to capture something static select a fast shutter speed and the moving object should be caught nice and still – if you’ve set it fast enough.

If you want to portray movement then slow the shutter speed down and you get motion blur of moving objects in the image.

Depending on what you select the camera will choose the aperture and ISO to suit the available light in order to attempt to capture a balanced, well-lit image. It can’t always do it right but it tries to do a good job using the information it has by sampling the scene.

Other factors will come in to play too and if you’re looking for a pin sharp image you should always be using a tripod and perhaps a remote to minimise camera shake. But that’s for another day.

To use this setting, turn the mode wheel of your camera to ‘S’ and then there is another wheel (usually near the picture trigger) to rotate to change the speed of the shutter. Remember it is shown on the camera display as either a number in seconds – 1″ is 1 second, 5″ is 5 seconds, etc. Alternatively for speeds of less than a second it is shown as a fraction – 1/2 is half a second, 1/8 is an eighth of a second, etc.

f6.3 2s ISO400

This image from the centre of Bangkok, Thailand had the shutter speed dialled in (2 seconds) and the camera decided that the aperture should be f6.3.

Depending on the camera make and model you can range from something like 1/10,000 of a second right up to 30 seconds. Beyond that there is something called ‘BULB’ mode where the shutter stays open for as long as you keep the picture trigger button pressed.

More on that in a separate section but essentially BULB mode takes exposures and shutter lengths to extreme times – above 30 seconds into minutes and in some cases hours. In this mode the shutter stays open for as long as the shutter button (or remote release) is depressed but be wary – this can dramatically drain the camera’s battery as these long exposures can demand a lot of juice!

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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Manual Mode
October 6, 2022

Your road to professional quality pictures starts here! MANUAL mode is where all the big guns live – you have complete control over every setting of your camera and can use them all independently of each other to produce exactly the image you were intending.

Set the aperture and shutter speed and as you become more confident in your craft this will start to become easier and easier. It’s not like the old days when you had to wait for film to be processed to see the results! Check your image in the preview window and if you don’t like it, change those settings and try again!

Normally, as you look through the viewfinder you will see somewhere (normally at the bottom) some indication of whether the current settings will result in a good or bad exposure, displayed as a scale of exposure (under or over). Change the settings whilst you look through this and you can see this slide-scale change to what the camera thinks is the correct setting. But remember – this is your image and you are attempting to create a particular look so don’t always rely on this in just the same manner as you don’t always trust the settings on the full AUTO mode. This is your image after all!

Manual mode gives access to super-long exposures for night time photography (or astro photography). The image below was taken in Bangkok using fully Manual mode. Note how most of the image is static (buildings, road, etc.) but the moving traffic is caught as a blur with their lights being the predominant element captured but you can see some ‘ghost’ parts of the car bodies. This type of night image is known as a ‘light trail’ image:

f5.6 2s ISO100
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Auto (A) & Programmed Auto Mode (P)
September 22, 2022

When most people purchase their first DSLR camera they may feel overwhelmed with all the buttons, dials and settings so most will start on the AUTO mode – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I still use it – sometimes I want to see what settings the camera will use for an image. Other times something might be happening really fast and I want to make sure I capture a half decent image before the moment passes. This stops me messing up and losing the opportunity for ever.

I might say that this way, effects that are created using other modes might possibly be created afterwards using software such as LIGHTROOM, LUMINAR or PHOTOSHOP… but I’ll never admit it …

With this mode the camera takes care of everything. All you have to do is point and press – well press half-way to allow the camera to focus and then all the way to take the image. The image below was captured on full AUTO mode (camera derived settings shown underneath:

The village of Khao Lak in Thailand is where the tsunami hit in 2004, now physically recovered the tourist industry is once again thriving.

Aperture and shutter speed are calculated and depending on the focus mode the camera will work out some depth of field details.

With PROGRAMMED AUTO (P) mode the camera will work in exactly the same manner and choose (what it thinks is) the best aperture and shutter settings. However, different combinations of these can be selected to give a different effect to the final image – alter the depth of field for example and all combinations will produce the same exposure.

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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Aperture Mode
September 22, 2022

This mode is the opposite of shutter mode (S). Here you select an aperture (the size of the hole in the lens when taking the image and the camera determines and appropriate shutter speed by sampling the light available in the scene.

The most important effect that changing the aperture can have on an image is to vary the DEPTH OF FIELD. This is the amount of the image that is in focus from the nearest element in the image right through to that part that is furthest away. Landscape and portrait images demonstrate this the most by having the main subject of an image in pin-sharp focus whilst anything in front or behind blurs as they are not the main element.

In fact, this mode is most used by these two types of photographers as it gives them excellent control of how their images are represented.

Consider the image below:

Your eye should be drawn to the centre of the main flower with the stamen (the bits that have the pollen) in good, clear focus – the focal point – and as you move outwards towards the edge of the image it blurs, with those elements farthest away from the focal point subject to the most blur. To make more of the image in pin-sharp focus, change the aperture so that the hole is smaller – i.e. step up and increase the f-number.

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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Camera Modes
September 22, 2022

Modern cameras have plenty of modes that you can use to try and get the best shot for any given situation. They range from fully automatic where the camera makes all the decisions for you and guesses at the type of shot you are wanting to achieve, right through to fully manual where all the decisions are down to you. There are of course, combinations of modes in between where you make some decisions and the camera does the rest depending on your choices.

This section will describe the most common modes – note that some of these might have slightly different names depending on the camera make and model.

Shutter Mode

In shutter mode you have total control over the speed of the shutter. You set the speed depending on what you are trying to achieve and the camera makes decisions for the other parts of the exposure triangle – ISO and APERTURE.

If you want to capture something static select a fast shutter speed and the moving object should be caught nice and still – if you’ve set it fast enough.

If you want to portray movement then slow the shutter speed down and you get motion blur of moving objects in the image.

Depending on what you select the camera will choose the aperture and ISO to suit the available light in order to attempt to capture a balanced, well-lit image. It can’t always do it right but it tries to do a good job using the information it has by sampling the scene.

Other factors will come in to play too and if you’re looking for a pin sharp image you should always be using a tripod and perhaps a remote to minimise camera shake. But that’s for another day.

To use this setting, turn the mode wheel of your camera to ‘S’ and then there is another wheel (usually near the picture trigger) to rotate to change the speed of the shutter. Remember it is shown on the camera display as either a number in seconds – 1″ is 1 second, 5″ is 5 seconds, etc. Alternatively for speeds of less than a second it is shown as a fraction – 1/2 is half a second, 1/8 is an eighth of a second, etc.

One Night in Bangkok

This image from the centre of Bangkok, Thailand had the shutter speed dialled in (2 seconds) and the camera decided that the aperture should be f6.3.

Depending on the camera make and model you can range from something like 1/10,000 of a second right up to 30 seconds. Beyond that there is something called ‘BULB’ mode where the shutter stays open for as long as you keep the picture trigger button pressed.

More on that in a separate section but essentially BULB mode takes exposures and shutter lengths to extreme times – above 30 seconds into minutes and in some cases hours. In this mode the shutter stays open for as long as the shutter button (or remote release) is depressed but be wary – this can dramatically drain the camera’s battery as these long exposures can demand a lot of juice!

Aperture Mode

This mode is the opposite of shutter mode (S). Here you select an aperture (the size of the hole in the lens when taking the image and the camera determines and appropriate shutter speed by sampling the light available in the scene.

The most important effect that changing the aperture can have on an image is to vary the DEPTH OF FIELD. This is the amount of the image that is in focus from the nearest element in the image right through to that part that is furthest away. Landscape and portrait images demonstrate this the most by having the main subject of an image in pin-sharp focus whilst anything in front or behind blurs as they are not the main element.

In fact, this mode is most used by these two types of photographers as it gives them excellent control of how their images are represented.

Consider the image below:

f2.8 1s ISO100

Your eye should be drawn to the centre of the main flower with the stamen (the bits that have the pollen) in good, clear focus – the focal point – and as you move outwards towards the edge of the image it blurs, with those elements farthest away from the focal point subject to the most blur. To make more of the image in pin-sharp focus, change the aperture so that the hole is smaller – i.e. step up and increase the f-number.

Auto Mode (A) and Programmed Auto Mode (P)

When most people purchase their first DSLR camera they may feel overwhelmed with all the buttons, dials and settings so most will start on the AUTO mode – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I still use it – sometimes I want to see what settings the camera will use for an image. Other times something might be happening really fast and I want to make sure I capture a half decent image before the moment passes. This stops me messing up and losing the opportunity for ever.

I might say that this way, effects that are created using other modes might possibly be created afterwards using software such as LIGHTROOM, LUMINAR or PHOTOSHOP… but I’ll never admit it …

With this mode the camera takes care of everything. All you have to do is point and press – well press half-way to allow the camera to focus and then all the way to take the image. The image below was captured on full AUTO mode (camera derived settings shown underneath:

f4 2.5s ISO100

Aperture and shutter speed are calculated and depending on the focus mode the camera will work out some depth of field details.

With PROGRAMMED AUTO (P) mode the camera will work in exactly the same manner and choose (what it thinks is) the best aperture and shutter settings. However, different combinations of these can be selected to give a different effect to the final image – alter the depth of field for example and all combinations will produce the same exposure.

Manual Mode

Your road to professional quality pictures starts here! MANUAL mode is where all the big guns live – you have complete control over every setting of your camera and can use them all independently of each other to produce exactly the image you were intending.

Set the aperture and shutter speed and as you become more confident in your craft this will start to become easier and easier. It’s not like the old days when you had to wait for film to be processed to see the results! Check your image in the preview window and if you don’t like it, change those settings and try again!

Normally, as you look through the viewfinder you will see somewhere (normally at the bottom) some indication of whether the current settings will result in a good or bad exposure, displayed as a scale of exposure (under or over). Change the settings whilst you look through this and you can see this slide-scale change to what the camera thinks is the correct setting. But remember – this is your image and you are attempting to create a particular look so don’t always rely on this in just the same manner as you don’t always trust the settings on the full AUTO mode. This is your image after all!

Manual mode gives access to super-long exposures for night time photography (or astro photography). The image below was taken in Bangkok using fully Manual mode. Note how most of the image is static (buildings, road, etc.) but the moving traffic is caught as a blur with their lights being the predominant element captured but you can see some ‘ghost’ parts of the car bodies. This type of night image is known as a ‘light trail’ image:

f5.6 2s ISO100

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Basics  /  Learning  /  Photography
Where To Start Learning?
September 22, 2022

I have been mad keen on photography now for most of my life. as a kid we had a cheap analogue point and click camera that took a roll of film that had 24 exposures and no manual adjustments other than flash on/ off – so you had to be pretty sure of a shot when you were taking it. Then there was the weeks wait while the films were sent off for processing only to find that half of them were blurred or had fingers in the way! I still have a lot of those old photographs as prize possessions of youth and there are many memories contained within them.

As an adult I’ve been lucky enough to progress from analogue to digital and seen plenty of innovations and upgrades along the way. I’ve had Olympus (previous) and a few Nikon (current) cameras and am currently shooting with a D7200. I’m a gadget person so I’ve got allsorts of tools, add-ons, gizmo’s to help me get that perfect picture.

But what makes that perfect picture? I often look at others work and am amazed by the composition, subject matter, colours (or tones of a black and white image), technical ability and often wish that I was as accomplished as that person. But, if I’m being honest with myself, I might not be as accomplished or had pictures published or as recognised as others but some of my images (I think) are pretty good. I wonder how much of success is down to opportunity presenting itself (or being self-made)?
Looking back, if you are serious (or semi-serious) about your photography there are some basics that you need to get your head around to get you on the right road to success. Some of these might seem impossible to master or seem like a nonsense but give them a go, they might not be as tough as they appear at first.
Just for a while, forget all those text books on Amazon and all those other blogs that go into so much detail, forget YouTube for now, (sorry guys, you can still be there waiting but just hang on for a while). Let’s start with something straight-forwards.

Basics to start with are the exposure triangle, aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

All of these go together to form EXPOSURE – without the right exposure your image is going to be too bright and blown out with too much white or on the flip side it will be dark, dingy and with too much black and shadow. You’ve got to try and get the exposure (using the three things above) just right – or as right as you want them to be for the image you are trying to achieve.

Beginners start with their camera on auto mode – which I was stuck on for a long time where the camera makes all the critical decisions on these three for you. But beware! It’s not perfect and sometimes (often?) it just doesn’t do what you want it to do and the final image isn’t what you were trying to achieve. So, if a job needs doing, you have to do it yourself!

Getting off auto and onto manual mode can seem scary and an impossible barrier to achieving great shots. But, with practice you can get there. Heck, if I can do it then anyone can! Getting these three things right (or at least understanding them) will get you starting to use that mystical manual mode more and more…auto is always there as a safety net!

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