This past Saturday, a new found camera buddy and I were shooting our favorite band, Amnesia, at the local American Legion and during our conversation I was asked about shooting "manual". Well for most folks who just got a "glitzy" new digital single lens reflex camera, your shooting "automatic" days are over. How does one begin to shoot "manual"? Your looking at other photographers photos and they have all of these real stunning photos, and you think, how can I do that? Well it is easier than you think, but of course, I know there will be a lot of you taking digital photo classes and seminars, spending a lot of unnecessary money and time. My basic photography rule is and you've heard me say it time and time again, shoot and keep on shooting. It is the only way you will learn. So how does one "wean" off of the "automatic" setting and switch to "manual" shooting. Start by looking at your cameras settings inside the view finder (while on automatic) to see what the settings are for the photo you are about to shoot. Now, remembering the settings, switch your camera over to "Manual" (M) and set your aperture and shutter speed to what the automatic settings were and begin shooting, but this time change the aperture setting one stop or the shutter speed higher or lower and look at your photos. You will see darkening or a lighter looking photo depending on your settings or maybe you stopped action or some other effect. By playing with the setting you will learn to get different effects. I started out by writing shutter and aperture settings down and then looked at the photos and analyzed them for the effects I was trying to create. In time I learned what it would take to get what effect and soon my photos were taking on what I was trying to create. Do not think that this will be something that will happen overnight, it is going to take a lot of time, not only do you have aperture and shutter speeds to deal with, you have other settings such as ISO, filters, lens type, camera type, white balance, on and on the list goes. So take your time and enjoy the art of photography, always talk to anyone who is holding a camera, you will be surprised at what you learn and they may even become a "photo buddy" you take on photo safari's. Remember, keep shooting, keep shooting!! Todays digital camera's allow you to see what you've taken and if you don't like it you can erase it, unlike the old film days, where you had to wait till the film was developed before you could see your results, and you had to pay for it just to see a photo that wasn't right. So save your money and experiment yourself with your digital camera and who knows maybe you will have a photo that is something worth hanging in the living room or maybe it will be a Pulitzer prize winner!!
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