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Mastering Manual Photography

02.20.2015 by Bex //

After taking the Life Captured Inc course towards the end of last year I felt really inspired to master the manual settings on my camera but to be honest it’s been a very steep learning curve.

I kept getting a lot of images that were so overexposed they were totally white, or they were underexposed and black or if I’d managed to capture any action at all, they were blurry. Sigh.

I had just about given up last month when I read this beautiful post from Jodi at Practising Simplicity. If you are struggling like me it’s well worth a read, but essentially, Jodi explains that it’s fear that hold us back when switching from automatic to manual, and it’s mainly a fear of missing the moment. But you know what, you are going to miss moments – and that’s okay. It’s such a simple idea, but I have found it really freeing and it’s made my experiments with manual much less frustrating.

There is certainly a feeling you can create when using the manual settings which you just can’t achieve with automatic or even using aperture priority. Now I’ve relaxed a bit, I’ve been really pleased with how some of my experiments have turned out – although flowers are definitely easier to capture than toddlers.

If you are keen to give manual a go, here are three pointers which have really helped me:

1. Get to know your light meter. I was completely thrown when I switched over to manual by the light meter, or what is more properly called the exposure meter, but I now realise how important it is. (It’s the little gauge which appears on the back of the camera). When I start trying taking some snaps, I sort of just point and click the camera in the right direction and see where the exposure meter is landing! I can then see if I’m massively off the charts with my exposure and adjust the aperture and shutter speed accordingly. It’s helping with those photos that are massively over or under exposed.

2. Practise on something that doesn’t move. I’ve come to the conclusion that toddlers are not the best subject for beginners. Flowers, pretty table settings, your best teapot: all much more forgiving subjects. As I get quicker at adjusting the settings and it becomes more intuitive, I think moving targets will become easier. But as Jodi says, don’t be so scared to miss the moment that you don’t try capturing all the crazy stuff going on around you too. Repeat after me: It’s okay to miss the moment.

3. Make friends with ISO. I’d never really played with my ISO before, always keeping it on auto, but it can really make a difference when shooting in low light. Have a play and see the different effects you can get by increasing and decreasing the ISO. The brilliant Lucy Heath of Capture by Lucy, has an excellent explainer and a cheat sheet for using ISO. She’s writing a whole series on the basics of photography. It’s a must read!

Happy snapping, loves! Are you using manual? Are you having any joy? I’d love to know how you are getting on and if you have any more tips for me or any good courses. You know I love an online course x

Life Captured, Inc: Memory making with my camera

11.19.2014 by Bex //

Mornings can be some of the most trying times with my little Ted.

Often I’m tired, Alex is rushing to get out the door and the babe is refusing to eat his breakfast.

These snaps probably make mornings look a lot more fun than usual. They were an assignment for a new online photography course I’ve started with Life:Captured, Inc. Billed as the modern school of memory keeping, their whole philosophy centres on the importance of documenting and, I suppose, appreciating the everyday.

So far, husband and wife team Trish Lee and Joel Chong of Sydney-based Tealily Photography have explained how to use our cameras in manual mode, the art of focusing and a little on composition. This week we’ve been asked to take a series of photographs to tell the story about some of our daily routines, and I chose to document a morning.

It took me a day, I reckon, to sort of get the hang of using the manual settings on my camera. When I say, sort of get the hang, I mean take a photo which wasn’t totally white or totally black.

I’ve binned a lot of pictures to get a handful to submit to Trish and Joel for some feedback. The focus is a bit iffy on lots of these snaps, but I love the emotions in them and Ted’s little face grinning at Alex. He is so cheeky.

If you couldn’t tell, Ted loves his Daddy and he also loves pulling all the saucepans out of the cupboards.

He could take or leave toast, however. He’s trying to give it back to me in that first picture.

Do you ever stop to take photos of the ordinary moments? And have you got any tips for me on improving my focusing in these photographs? I need to glue Ted to the sofa, I think.

(If you are a serial phototaker do sneak a peak at Life:Captured, Inc. The other half of the team Ronnie Mason, of The Shoemaker’s Daughter, is teaching classes on memory keeping and photo organisation as well as writing a wonderful blog sharing her thoughts on photography, memories and life in general. It’s a great read.)