Break Out of Automatic Mode

This series will have a new article posted every week on Wednesday and will cover a range of topics to make you a better photographer. If there is a topic you would enjoy reading about, or possibly a question you have, feel free to drop us a line at info@shutterspire.com

Break Out of Automatic Mode

I know it is a scary idea to switch out of your Automatic mode, but that is the only way you are going to learn. You learned to ride a bicycle as a child and eventually took off the training wheels. Now you can ride a bicycle with comfort and ease. These articles will hopefully train you in the same way. You will be taking the pictures that you envisioned in no time.

Our first step is to put on the training wheels. Switch your camera out of its automatic function, and into the programmable function (P-mode). P-Mode works similar to Auto in that it will make sure that you get a properly exposed picture, but it allows you to add in some of your own creativity. You are able to adjust your ISO, exposure, aperture, and flash functions.
ISO, Exposure, and Aperture

These three things together are the recipe the camera uses to create a picture. Changing one (or all three) of these elements gives you all the creative control to create the images that are in your mind. Let me start off with a few definitions.

ISO – This is the same as ‘film speed’. The lower ISO numbers can be taken when you have plenty of light (outside during the day). The higher ISO numbers are more sensitive to light and allow you to take pictures when not much light is present. When you take pictures with this speed, you will also have more grain that appears in the image and many photographers use this to their advantage. Why would someone want grain? It can make the picture feel warm and fuzzy, or aged and delicate. It can add to the mood of the image. I prefer to stay at ISO 100 – 200, and rarely ever go slower than a 400.

Shutter Speed – Your camera’s shutter speed is measured in seconds and you will nearly always see a fraction of a second. This is how long the shutter stays open to take in the image. Again, this has to do with lighting, as well as what effect you are attempting to achieve. If there is a lot of light, you do not want your shutter open very long. A shutter speed of 1/250 of a second would work well here. That shutter speed will also stop nearly all movement in the image. This is an excellent speed to use if you want to take a picture of your child kicking a soccer ball or your dog running across the yard. If you are inside, or the light is dimmer, you should go to a slower speed such as 1/60 of a second. This shutter speed will stop camera shake (the natural shake of your hands), but if the subject is moving, you will see some blur. This is an excellent speed for the photographer to show movement (like at a party).

Aperture – Aperture is very detailed. Think about your eyes for a minute. When you walk into a dark room, you initially can’t see anything until your eyes adjust (iris gets larger to take in more light); then you are able to look around. Now, step outside from that dark room and your eyes start to hurt. It is too bright and your eyes need to readjust (iris gets smaller to restrict the amount of light). This is the same way the aperture works on a camera. The more wide open it is, the more light gets let in, allowing you to take pictures in lower lighting conditions. Now that you get the general idea, we need to move onto the technical information. Aperture is measured in f-stops. The smaller the aperture opening, the larger the f-stop. For instance, when you walked outside, if you were going to take a picture, you may use an f/16. And, you walk back inside with low lighting conditions, you may change your camera to an f/2.8. There are other effects aperture has as well. Most people like close-up pictures with a great deal of bokeh, or blurry background behind them. You can achieve this with lower f-stop numbers (my favorite is a f/2.8 or f/5.6) This is also referred to as “Depth of Field”. A narrow or shallow depth of field has only a few select items in focus, whereas a wide or deep depth of field has nearly everything in focus.

I want to SEE what you are talking about

I took a variety of pictures using different ISO, shutter speeds and apertures so you can see the different combinations that they have.

ISO 100 1/1000 f/2.8
This first image is done outside in the morning on a bright sunny day. My dog was being good, so I took his picture. I am on ISO 100 because it is bright outside and I want the clearest picture possible (very little grain). I also like bokeh, so I put my aperture down to a f/2.8 and in order to get proper exposure with these settings, I need to use 1/1000 of a second shutter speed (I will explain how to determine this in the next article.)

ISO 1600 1/800 f/16
I wanted to change things up a bit to give you a variety. I bumped my ISO as high as it would go. When zoomed in, there is noticeable grain in the picture. I wanted to see if I can make the background come in pretty clear, so I set my aperture to f/16, and to get a decent exposure, my shutter speed is 1/800 of a second. I ended up slightly underexposing this picture, so I probably should have gone to a 1/640 instead to allow just a little more light in.

ISO 100 1/30 f/2.8
I decided to move inside and take a few pictures of my fairies. Again, I wanted to show a shallow depth of field and get a crisp looking picture without much grain. As you can see, only the center figure is in focus, whereas everything else is blurry. This too is a little underexposed, but if I would have gone to a slower shutter speed, I would have had to use a tripod to avoid too much camera shake.

ISO 800 1/30 f/8
This is the midpoint with a much faster film speed, same shutter speed and a smaller aperture. As you can see, the figures on the left and right are coming into focus more.






ISO 1600 1/20 f/16
These are the maximum settings I could use before having to bring in a tripod and flash or additional lighting. As you can see, the figures are mostly in focus (and so is the background). This is due to the aperture giving us a wide depth of field. The ISO is giving us grain. Look at the two images below. They are enlarged sections of two of these images.

ISO 100























ISO 1600

























Your Assignment
For this week, I want you to put your camera in “P” mode and scroll through the different settings that your camera has for the correct exposure. Take pictures using these settings:
ISO 100
ISO 1600
f/2.8 (or as low as your camera will go)
f/22 (or as high as your camera will go)
1/30 second
1/800 second

Submit your images to me to post on our blog. Have a great rest of your week and enjoy our holiday weekend!