Learning to use your camera correctly

[keyring]

I've had a Nikon d3200 for a couple of years now, I went on a one to one photography course, but I still struggle to go get good photos from manual mode, and mostly use it on auto.

How have others on here built up their camera/photography skills, is it purely just a case of going out there and playing with settings and seeing what you get, and learning from yourself?
Did you use a good book?
Online course?

I'd be interested to hear, as I would like to be able to take a lot more photos, and not just rely on auto mode

Tah

[droopsnoot]

Practice, and having a look around photography-related forums. I use a Pentax forum, and Talk Photography. I don't think I could learn it from a book, though from time to time I take advantage of cheap deals on various magazines - those "five issues for £5" that pop up now and then.

I find that some of the advice I've had on photo forums is very helpful though, as long as I post a photo asking for advice on how to improve it, or what went wrong, or along those lines. Remember that posting a photo on somewhere like here is very different - here the viewers are usually looking at the vehicle, on a photo forum they're looking more at the quality of the image.

It's a never-ending process, though - there's still plenty of stuff I have to improve on. Just when you think you've got it covered...

[awoo]

cameras are a bit of a balancing act when in manual mode. you need to get a good understanding of what makes what do what and it will click in to place. manual is best by far though if you want to get creative.

i'll break it down for you.

you have 3 things to consider and it all comes down to light getting in to the camera.

you have; ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor. the iso usually starts at 100 and goes to around 1600. lower the better in terms of quality but the higher you go it gets more sensitive. so in basic terms, the lower the light it can be a benefit to raise the ISO. but raise it too much it gets grainy.

think of ISO as a bunch of bees, you take the photo at 100 ISO and 100 bees go out and collect the light and bring it back. make the ISO 200 and 200 bees go and get your light. make it it ISO 1600 and 1600 bees go and get your light. you cram 1600 bees in it gets grainy, its rare you need it that high. in everyday outside conditions, just stick at ISO 100, it's best quality and usually good enough.


aperture is the hole in the lens. it's usually denoted as a figure in your camera prefixed with F, so for example F2, F8, F16.

think of it as the iris of your eye and the size of your pupil, its pretty much the same thing.

to confuse it a little, the lower the F number the bigger the hole of the lens is. so F2 would be big as possible, so think of F2 as your pupil being big, F16 would be a small hole, like your pupil being really small.

so the part to understand is that when the hole in the lens is big, such as F2, it will let in lots of light. when F16 it will let in less light

to explain why you may want this to vary, F2 would let in more light, so is good when light is low but it will also make your image fuzzy and you have to focus on one spot. this can be good for creating an effect and is often used in portraits, the face is in focus and the background blurry.

F16 lets in less light, so is good when its really sunny for example, it will also make almost everything be in focus and will overall be a sharper image. this can be good in landscape photography.

this is where using manual makes the difference as you start to see where you control the effect.


Shutter speed is the last thing.

it is simply how long the shutter is held open for. these range from fractions of a second to 30 seconds or more.

again its about light in to the camera, shutter stays open for a split second, not much light gets in. stays open for a long time, lots of light gets in.

variables are there for getting the right amount of light in for a given scene, if its really bright you won't need it open long. if you're taking pictures of stars in the dark, you need it open for a long time to allow that low light in to your camera.

there are various effects this creates but you don't need to worry about this yet.


those 3 things are effectively what you need to understand, then go play with your camera. its all about light. (and most definitely NOT about buying equipment)


so as a good starting point, start with your camera at ISO 100, F8 and shutter speed of 1/250.

go outside, leave the ISO at 100 and forget about it, leave F8 alone for the moment and take some pictures only varying the shutter speed. you will see it either over expose or under expose. get the balance right and it will be a good exposure.

when you feel happy with how that works, start to play with the aperture. you will see it varies in exposure too.

this is now when you need to balance the aperture and shutter speed.

there should be a gauge inside the eye bit on your camera to help you, it will be a line at the bottom going left to right usually. when in the centre it will be set up for a good exposure.


when youre at this part, you just need to experiment with it.


so at this stage, you just need to understand ISO worry about aperture and shutter speed when using it.

when you can balance those 2 things, it should click.


the other stuff would then be focusing and composition etc, but thats separate and not so important yet.


a good way of jumping in at the deep end with this is to take your camera to a parade, busy street or race day where loads of things are passing you by and just try keep up with taking photos of everything going past. after and hour of fiddling with your shutter speed and aperture, you'll probably have it down to a fine art


my Flickr page is www.flickr.com/dogtemple if you want to take a look, happy to explain how any of it was done if anyone is interested.

[waveman1500]

Bruce wrote a guide about this:

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/106063

[keyring]

Thanks droopsnoot I'll take a look at those forums and keep an eye out for magazine offers!

Thanks for all of that awoo I'll take a look through your page, I appreciate you writing all of that out! It's a massive help, and explains why a large amount of photos I took last year at a show seemed a bit grainy! I was trying to compensate for it being inside of a dark(ish) show hall!

I'll take a read through that tonight waveman1500 thankyou!

[slater]

What are you trying to photograph? Most of the time you may as well be in auto tbh. It's only when you start playing with deapth of field and shooting moving targets you need to think about apertures and what not. Even that you get best results in one of the semi auto modes. I never use manual really unless it's film.

[ChasR]

May 21, 2018 7:13:22 GMT slater said:

What are you trying to photograph? Most of the time you may as well be in auto tbh. It's only when you start playing with deapth of field and shooting moving targets you need to think about apertures and what not. Even that you get best results in one of the semi auto modes. I never use manual really unless it's film.

This. Most of the time I do shoot in P or Aperture Priority (A for Nikons). The triangle talked about for photos is very true however, and it's pivotal to exposure, which can make or break the picture. Bruce & Keyring have discussed this but it's always handy showing another take, or a different way of putting it. So, exposure comes down to different things.

That is:

Shutter Speed= This is one I often forget believe it or not. Normally I'll let the camera decide. A low shutter speed is how people end up with those 'rail light' shots of car headlamps at night time. During the day as show if can give the look of action happening as shown with Bruce's dog. But for most shows practically it's something which IMHO is trickier to get right, especially at busier shows with people moving, which is probably why I haven't bothered with it so much these days.if I am in a stand then I'll give it go. Mainly because lower shutter speeds can give blur even on bright days like today. Tripods of course can can help massively reduce that as can vibration reduction technologies, albeit to less of a degree.
ISO=Film Speed. On a DSLR a higher ISO will let you shoot with 'easier' settings in the dark. So it would be a higher shutter speed. and a lower aperture if things got dark. This does of course reduce how much things can shake. Unfortunately the photos can show 'grains' in them. On actual film cameras this can improve the shot in some ways, but not always. I've yet to see that happen on DSLR stuff. Generally, the pricier DSLRs show less grain for a higher ISO number. My D70S had terrible grain at ISO1600; my D7000 is significantly more bearable in this instance.
Aperture= Opening of camera. Smaller number=bigger aperture. Great for getting the foreground pinsharp but the other stuff blurry like Bruce's battery shot in his page.

But as always, practice makes perfect. Shooting at the same medium will get you the result that you want. The rule of two thirds really helps. Bruce show that with his Smart Car shot; where he includes the window the shot makes the car look very different. As he points out it looks better to some and not to others, as well as sometimes not being great to a shot.

Speaking of which, I have many photos from the weekend. So it's time for me to upload them. But here's my thread from JapFest. I still have a way to go but they are a big improvement from where I was year ago. They employ the above methods, mainly exposure itself and aperture. Admittedly I have dabble with Lightroom for those shots.

[keyring]

Thanks slater and ChasR

It is mostly parked cars I'd be taking photos of, so I guess auto does make sense as the camera will make a good job of deciding on the settings to use....
I always just thought that manual was the route to better photos, but as you've said, it will take a lot of practise, I'll take a look through your thread, thanks!

[keyring]

Thanks slater and ChasR

It is mostly parked cars I'd be taking photos of, so I guess auto does make sense as the camera will make a good job of deciding on the settings to use....
I always just thought that manual was the route to better photos, but as you've said, it will take a lot of practise, I'll take a look through your thread, thanks!

[droopsnoot]

Certainly for mainly parked subjects it's not going to make a lot of difference, especially in normal daylight conditions. Manual allows you to take control when you need to.

[awoo]

I wouldn't stick to auto modes personally, if you want to learn more about the camera and ultimately take better photos, getting to grips with manual then using an auto setting when you feel you need, then it makes more sense.

Auto modes certainly work but it is limiting and it doesn't open much up. It just makes it easier to get, what usually turns out to be, a plain shot.

[MkX]

I'm not setting myself up as any sort of expert here, I too have a Nikon D3200. I researched carefully before I bought it and, (for an entry level DSLR), it was getting stellar reviews particularly in terms of value for money and features vs. cost and I've been very pleased with it. The photos aren't up there with the very best in terms of dynamism and depth but obviously Nikon wouldn't sell any of their £3K or £5K cameras if you could get exactly the same results on a £300 model. Interestingly I note that this camera in rare 'new & unused' condition is selling at nearly twice the price that I paid for mine.

Lots of good advice above, there is a lot of trial and error involved before you start to get a feel for it. If I'm taking photos where it's important that I get some decent ones, (e.g. family gatherings), I always get some using my settings and some with the cameras own settings. I've got quite good at this as many photos on my settings are a lot better than the auto settings. Investing in a few additional lenses helps expands what you can do, I use a Tamron 70-300mm zoom / macro lens and have a doubler, (teleconverter), for best magnification as well as a super-fisheye. These lenses would all transfer across to another Nikon if I ever upgraded my camera.

Tips:
Do a trial focus whilst in 'Auto' settings and check what shutter speed / iris settings the automating algorithm has generated then going to 'Manual' mode, generally speaking, don't stray too far from these when you estimate your own settings. Check on your screen to see how your photos look and adjust settings accordingly. Obviously make sure that everything else is properly adjusted, e.g. appropriate ISO settings and white balance for the conditions.
What are you photographing? If you want to capture a clear image freezing an item in motion you want the fastest shutter speed you can get away with which will mean blowing the iris and perhaps selecting a higher ISO number, etc. If you want to show the blur of movement then stick with slower settings. If you want the best photo of a static object with good depth of image & good definition, use a tripod, a longer exposure, (slower shutter speed), which will mean narrowing the iris and perhaps selecting a lower ISO number.
If you want to photograph a particular subject, (e.g. moon), search on Flickr for 'd3200 moon' select a few of the better photos and you can usually check what settings the photographer used. If you go into EXIF, in amongst the bumf you can glean in detail what settings were used.

Cheat:
. . . and Photoshop always helps!

This is a random selection of D3200 photos I've taken using my settings:-
Summer idyll by Chris, on Flickr

Gilbern Genie Interior by Chris, on Flickr

Jaguar F-Type by Chris, on Flickr

Little Red Corvette by Chris, on Flickr

[ChasR]

I've been reading a book about Photography lately. It's the first photography book I've bought in 10 years. So far, some of it seems to be conflicting; i.e they say ignore the rules, but then follow some. I think I get their drift.

This however is the best way I've seen of how to use a camera. I've been thinking a little more about shutter speed since my last post and am glad that I have. This however really explains it well IMHO.

Camera shots by Charlieboy, on Flickr

As for the book, it's this:

Camera shots by Charlieboy, on Flickr

I'll let you know how the rest of the book goes. So far while not agreeing with everything he is saying there are certainly good pointers. Every day is a school day after all .

[misteralz]

That looks like a cool book - and that page backs up my gut feeling about leaving the ISO on my SLR on 400 All The Time.

[awoo]

I would say understanding how to do it is what you should learn.... then not do it. Know how the camera works and do your own thing. There's definitely no correct way. A camera is just a tool at the end of the day.


People always say you shouldn't shoot in to the sun but some of the most stunning shots I've got have been drenched in head on sunlight.

Also don't get caught up in buying expensive kit. I've had loads of published photos in well known publications and most of those were taken on the cheapest canon 50mm lens and old £1 lenses found at a bootfair.

Keep it rough and dirty

[ChasR]

While I agree with you awoo, especially regarding equipment it can take ages to learn how to do this. At least with some pointers you can make your own mind up and head in the right direction.

This sounds crazy now, but I only learned the other about 1/60th Shutter speed being the lowest you could go to, which the book mentioned as a rule of thumb. It's probably one reason I've shied away from using shutter priority for years. But seeing it mentioned again via Bruce's posts I've started playing about again. I found it surprising the book mentioned what Bruce was saying before. I knew about shutter speeds and getting the light rail effect but sometimes things aren't obvious to us all; I am the worst culprit here at times.

Nothing really needs a rule book truly. But it does provide a base for us to go on and even deviate from .

[keyring]

Thanks for the replies guys, if you’ve found that book a good read, I’ll maybe give it a buy ChasR

[voodoo57]

I went onto a camera course, but wandered over to a grassy area, and fell 35 feet! it turned out i didn't realise the Depth of field!

[voodoo57]

Sorry! couldn't resist!

[mrbounce]

Jun 4, 2018 22:10:44 GMT awoo said:

Also don't get caught up in buying expensive kit. I've had loads of published photos in well known publications and most of those were taken on the cheapest canon 50mm lens and old £1 lenses found at a bootfair.

Keep it rough and dirty

It's worth knowing that any Nikon F mount lens will fit your DSLR and work in MANUAL mode. Shops like Jessops will try and convince you otherwise, simply because they want to sell you a new lens. I once had a long discussion with a young lad in a camera shop who was convinced it wouldn't work. Taking an old lens in and connecting it to his brand new SLR proved otherwise.

My Dad and I have used 50-year old scalloped Nikon lenses on my D40x and Dad's D700 with no issues and got fantastic results. They're available on eBay for really reasonable money and the glass tends to be much better quality than what's made today, mainly from a cost-cutting and maximum profit point of view. Also, because they're "old technology" not as many people want them, so this drives the price south a bit more. Well worth a look.