Thank you so much to Mike Gifford @mikegifford for hosting the CSC-34 challenge and thank you to all the voters who made their selection. While it is always thrilling to be nominated, being told you are the winner has a certain exhilarating quality to it. Here is my winning HIGH ISO shot, taken at ISO 25,600, of me scaring my 10 year old daughter by candlelight. Thank you for looking.
The honor of winning means that I get to host the next challenge.
Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
This week’s challenge is: Get Off Auto
Explanation: People always say that it's not the camera that takes the picture, it's the photographer. You are probably nodding your head, but go get your camera. Go ahead, I'll wait. Seriously. Come back with your camera in your hand.
Camera in hand? Good. Take a look at your settings. The little dials at the top of your camera. What is it set to? Perhaps it's the little green box? Or, one of those tiny little icons? These dials are there to help you take better pictures and boy do they ever, but when you use them, you are releasing some of the control of your shot to the camera. The shot is partially out of out of your hands. If it's the green box, the shot is completely in the hands of the camera.
Next, take a look at your lens. Is it set to Auto Focus or Manual Focus? Odds are it's auto focus. Take a look at your ISO setting...is it set to Auto? White balance? Set to Auto?
Now, I'm going to stop right there and say that all of these settings are fantastic tools to help you take better pictures. The leading camera manufacturers constantly strive to improve all of these settings to help you create a better photograph. But, this is a challenge isn't it! As a photographer, how much control are you willing to release to the camera?
My friends, I am asking you to get out of your comfort zone and kill the auto settings on your camera.
1) Change the dial to M - this is Manual - CONGRATULATIONS! You now have absolute control over the exposure of your image. You have taken control.
2) Turn on Manual Focus (MF) on your lens - CONGRATULATIONS! You now have absolute control over the focus of your lens
3) Turn off Auto White Balance - Remember to turn it to your shooting environment - cloudy, sunny, flash etc.
4) Finally, turn off Auto ISO - you now have absolute control over your Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO pyramid
Now that you totally hate me, I want you ignore your on-camera metering and take a shot using the Sunny 16 Rule. The Sunny 16 Rule is a way to meter for correct exposure during daylight without using the camera’s meter.
The basic rule of thumb states that if you have a clear, sunny day and your aperture is at f/16, whatever ISO you are using, your shutter speed will be the reciprocal value of that ISO value (ISO X = 1/X seconds shutter speed)
So for example, if your ISO is 200 at f/16, then your shutter speed will be 1/200 seconds. If your ISO is 100, then your shutter speed will be 1/100 seconds.
Simple, right?
Now, go take that Sunny 16 shot with all manual controls. Play with the metering method of your choice and compare to the rule. Is the shot underexposed? Over exposed? How would you change it to make it look better to you? Then make that change. Think about it! Shooting in Manual means that if you don't like the shot that appears on your view-screen, you can tweak exposure, reshoot and make it look great! It's a tremendous burden to put onto your shoulders, especially if you are a new shooter, but imagine how freeing it will be to be knowing you can control every aspect of your shot!!!
Additional Tips: Please don't think for one second that I am one of those M mode shooters that moves the dial there and doesn't touch it again. Please don't think that if you are not shooting in M mode, that you are not a "good" shooter or that photogs who shoot in M are somehow better than everyone else. That is not true at all. However, shooting in M gives you control of everything your camera is capable of doing. You may hate it at first, but please play with the Sunny 16 Rule in M as a nice start.
And break out your camera's manual and read up about the M setting.
Experienced photographers who are knowledgeable about shooting in Manual are encouraged to offer “kind and constructive” suggestions on the posted entries. Those entering this challenge want to learn and improve. Please put a lot of emphasis on KIND. This can be very scary stuff for some shooters.
This challenge starts today, Monday October 28th and continues through to Wednesday, November 6th. All photos must be taken during these dates to be considered. Enter as many as you would like- the idea is to practice & learn. TAG YOUR PHOTO CSC-35 AND post your picture in this thread to receive feedback from other experienced photographers specific to this challenge.
NOTE: There is no way for me to really KNOW that you turned off all the auto settings on your camera. The Exif information does not tell us your dial settings. However, because we are using Sunny 16 as our rule, I'll be looking for aperture settings of f/16 and ISO and Shutter Speeds to match up according to the rule.
Voting will take place on Thursday - Saturday, November 7th - 9th and the winner will be announced Sunday November 10th. The winner of the challenge will select an experienced photographer to host a new challenge. It is the winner’s option on who they want to host the next challenge; it may be someone they follow whose work they admire, or someone who is active offering suggestions on previous CSC challenges.
Expect to receive constructive suggests on how to improve your skills.
How to post your photo on this link:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Copy the “share” code in the bottom right section of that page.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments
I keep saying I'm going to go "full manual" but haven't done it yet!! This might just be the kick in the butt I need!!! Lol!!! We'll see how this goes!!!
I never, ever, use full-auto, in fact my camera doesn't have the "green blob" mode nor a mode selector dial for that matter. I also have auto-iso disabled, never use auto-WB and usually shoot in aperture-priority. I'll admit to commonly using auto-focus but I do also own lenses with instant manual override and others which are manual focus. For the first 30+ years of my owning cameras they were all manual focus and usually fully manual exposure too, these days most people only ever come across encounter fully auto cameras and my experience of consumer dSLRs is that whilst they usually can be operated fully manually it's often difficult to actually do so.
@froggie0628 You can do it. You really begin to understand the potential of your camera when you start relying on your judgement!
@dtigani The Sunny 16 is really designed for bright sun and clear skys. However, when it is overcast, you might want to start with the Sunny 16 rules, take a shot, and then make the necessary adjustments to your camera in order to get an exposure you are happy with. For example, if I'm outside, I'm shooting at ISO 100. It's a given. 1st part is done.
Sunny 16 says to set your aperture at f/16. 2nd variable set. So let's think about where shutter speed should be at. Sunny 16 says it should be at 1/100 but its overcast and darker than it would be on a sunny day. So, we would need a slower shutter speed to let in a little more light. I'd go down to 1/60 and see what kind of shot I'd get there. For me, if I'm hand held, I never go below 1/60, so if I'm still too dark, I'd start playing with the aperture until I got the right look.
@smalbon I completely agree with you Stephen - back in the days of film, it was hard to get a perfectly exposed shot. Now, you can simply aim and fire and you get something that looks pretty good. When you start shooting in M, A (Av), T (Tv), you really start controlling how your shots look.
I hope that folks with consumer dSLRs do take a stab at this challenge. Even on the consumer cameras, if you have a dial that takes you to M, odds are you can get off Auto ISO and Auto WB. If they have a detachable lens, then they have the AF/MF option. For this challenge, I thought that these four options would be enough to get people excited about the opportunity without scaring them away! :)
I have the camera almost always in Aperture priority and find that is most flexible for me. As for focus, there is AUTO and then there is Auto. Let the camera choose your subject and main focus, usually the closest contrasty thing it sees, or perhaps a face with face detection, and then there is using the AF system to select your prime focus point and then reframe and shoot. Or lately I've been using "back button" focus (front Fn button for me!) and that has worked beautifully for static shots so I don't have to hold the shutter half down for extended lengths of time. And I can actually also lock the exposure asynchronously to the focus. Very useful in high contrast frames. In conjunction with a good understanding of DoF, those procedures work well for me in almost all situations.
Just a caution about f/16. On many "average" lenses, the 18-250/270/300 general purpose zooms on APS-C cameras especially, f/16 is considerably beyond the sweet spot, and even with the best of focus can make your images undesirably soft. Don't necessarily blame your focus skills or camera movement if your initial shots turn out soft. It might just be the lens. Try the exercise with a prime.
As for fast motion the AF tracking technology in modern cameras is perfect. Don't know how the old time sports photographers got along without it. ;)
Hey, I plan on giving it a go if I can find the time! I am happy to say that these days I'm in M mode most of the time (unless I've got a bird moving, then I'm in Tv mode a lot of times). I rarely, rarely use full auto.
But I also rarely, rarely use f16 because I have to have a very bright day to work it, unless I'm just not really figuring things out right. Will hopefully have time to read up before experimenting with this challenge. I love CSC. It's probably been the best challenge for me in my first year!
@thomastoth the consumer dSLR I had was a Pentax K100D. It was actually easy to turn off auto-WB and auto-ISO on that, and I used it that way as soon as I figured out how to do it. However, it only had one control wheel which changed the aperture in Av or the shutter speed in Tv modes. In M the wheel changed BOTH by virtue of having to use a three-fingered Vulcan nerve pinch to hold the shutter button halfway down, roll the wheel *and* press the exposure compensation button down, or not, to toggle between the wheel operating aperture or shutter. That and the fact that you had to go trawling through the menus every time to switch metering and focussing modes is what eventually prompted me to upgrade to a Pentax K10D. About 18 months ago I used a Nikon D300 for the first time and sold every last bit of Pentax kit I owned to buy one of my own.
Oh well done for admitting to f8! That's all my camera has as well and I've been sitting here wondering whether to say!
Thomas, I've been using p&s cameras for 10 years (and getting some great shots) but this summer bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ62 and joined a photography workshop. When I started reading your post I hoped you would also hep me as I'm currently getting in all sorts of muddles using settings but don't really want to give up. So some tips like f16 for 'lesser cameras' would be really good.
Part of understanding the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed is how they all play together. If ISO stays constant, you can mimic the Sunny 16 Rule, maybe call it the Amazing 8 Rule, by making the necessary adjustment to your shutter speed. The difference between f/8 and f/16 is exactly two full stops. To use f/8, you would have to adjust the shutter speed two full stops faster.
In my first link in the body of the challenge message, there is a handy chart that explains your manual settings at ISO 200 and where your shutter speed should be at for f/2.8 to f/16! :)
@bill_fe Bill...this is a great start. That f/16 is awesome for shots like this...the rail stays in focus all the way down the line.
Did you notice your ISO setting was 100, but your shutter speed was only 1/50th? Did you slow down the shutter speed because of the light? Not bright enough outside? Overcast? I may have taken a second at 1/40th and a third at 1/30th to see which one resulted in a shot that is a little lighter.
How did it feel to be in Manual and have complete control? :)
Mine only goes to f8 and I tried at 1/100 but unless I was shooting at the sky all I got was black - nothing appeared so there would be little point shooting at 1/400 - except at the sky and even then it could be too dark.
@thomastoth Thanks Thomas. I was in a bit of a hurry when I shot this, I was on lunch break at the time and had to get back to work, so Only grabbed a few shots, didn't repeat any with different settings. I usually shoot in Aperture priority, but it's not uncommon for me to go to manual mode, but I do usually use auto WB. It was overcast and I set the WB to cloudy. I set the shutter speed to be just over the reciprocal for my 35mm lens.
Shot out of the camera. No editing. Look at the EXIF - ISO 100, SS 100 and f/16. Perfect balance.
To be honest, my metering told me that I was UNDEREXPOSED by 1 full stop! But, if you look at the full image, it appears well exposed throughout. Look at the sky - nicely exposed. Look at the trees - nicely exposed minus the shadowy spots. Even the ground/grasses are nicely exposed.
What would I do next? Maybe a color punch? Maybe 1 or 2 levels of sharpening. Play with levels just a little? Maybe straighten just a little? But overall exposure is BEAUTIFUL in my opinion. What do you think?
I didn't tag this because it is cropped and edited. It was way too dark despite the slow shutter speed. I suppose I could have upped the ISO. I tend to set it and forget to play with it. Question: When shooting in RAW does a manual white balance setting matter? I've shot all manual before, but this is the first time I've tried a Sunny 16. Anyway, here's my first try:
@aecasey when shooting in RAW white balance doesn't matter as much because you can easily fix it in the editing room. I still like to set it because it forces me to slow down, take in my scene, and get the best shot in the camera. I love my editing tools though! The rule of thumb is to always edit lightly, but sometime I really like to let er rip! With RAW, white balance is one of those things you can tweak very easily.
Just found this challenge and think it's got to be the most useful challenge on here, especially for a novice like me.
I use either shutter or aperture priority as I vowed I would never go on the auto mode when I bought my camera in May this year. Why use it like a point and shoot when it costs so much more and has more capabilities? However, I have had a stab at going all M mode but not really successful. I think it is because I didn't have a starting point like you have just described. I was going all over the place trying to get that damn needle to stay in the middle! I can't wait for a clear day to get out there and get stuck into this challenge.
I stumbled on this in the midst of it, and in the midst of grey rainy weather, so unless it gets sunny next week I'll have to try it on my own later. But for some of us, manual FOCUS is a desperate last resort. Even when my eyes were better, In the days of film, I had a manual-everything Minolta SLR, and my shots were most often ruined not by exposure problems but by my inability to tell when they were in focus.
@happysnapper65 I found when using Manual, I set ISO first. Then, I think about depth of field. Do I want everything in focus? Do I want lots of pretty bokeh? So I set Aperture second. Finally, i play with shutter speed. I like to over and underexpose based on shutter speed. If I'm somewhere where I can't get the shutter speed to at least 1/60th handheld, I'll fiddle with ISO again. But generally, my order is ISO, Aperture and then SS.
@therubysusan Manual focus is the KILLER! It's hard to find and maintain - I have bad eyes too. Luckily, the cameras I shoot with have the ability to adjust the eye piece so that I can get that in focus. I can't read the back of the camera without my reading glasses, but when I look through the eye piece, its in focus. Thank you CANON!
For this exercise, an appreciation of auto-focus is expected! :) Same thing with Auto WB. However, I'm hoping that people see the control they have when switching off auto ISO and switching to M.
Please ignore composition, but I'd like feedback on exposure, please. The day was hazy but the exposure looks OK to me. Thoughts?
Also, @thomastoth, you've opened a whole can of hyperfocal worms. I thought I was focusing 1/3 into the shot but it appears that the near trees are more in focus than the rock and buildings far away. Sigh! Maybe hyperfocal distance will be the next challenge ... or it might have already been one. I'll go check.
In any event, thanks for this challenge. I'm going to practice more over the next few days and then will tag a shot for the contest.
@pcarlaw Look at Peggy's settings. It's a PERFECT Sunny-16. But more importantly, look at the shot. Is the sky blown out? Nope? The dirt too dark? Nope, The colors washed out? Nope. At f/16 and landscapes, focus can be tricky...nothing that can't be tweaked in LR or PS! Nice job!
@pcarlaw Well done! @thomastoth both White balance and manual focus are in the instructions, so I appreciate the permission to leave them on auto! Now all I need is a sunny day!
Well, the weather is not cooperating, so here is an example again of the settings but I was pointing in the sky, which did have the strength of sun behind the clouds. It's working in the end. and yes, manual focus too. Although I do have the same "vision" problems as many folks as I'm getting older.
Thomas, the sun finally came out today, and since you are a gentleman and a scholar, and always a pleasure to run across on 365, I set my white balance, selected my ISO, and went out to do some shooting, in the course of which I even took the lens off autofocus.
You may ignore the rest of this rant. I will post two photos below it, because I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to focus manually.
I have suspected for some time that the D40 was designed by the Devil. The menus are hard to navigate, and most buttons do at least two things, But at least this challenge has forced me to get into the menus and figure out more details of its diabolical nature.
For instance, in Program, it will cling to ISO 200 for dear life, and let you decide if you like it or not when you look in the LCD display. But in MANUAL? No, in manual it will accept your aperture and shutter settings and CHANGE THE ISO on you, blinking an "ISO-auto" light that makes no sense because it plainly says "ISO 200" on the edge of the screen. Sometimes I miss the "good old days" of my manual everything Minolta!
I sort of suspected it was changing the ISO on me but I couldn't be sure. Apparently after you push it up to 1600 you have to go back into the menu to get it to go up to its highest rating, and it must not have been as sunny as I thought it was because I DID push it up to 1600.
Taken today at Coal Hollow Park, Chillicothe, IL. Manual focus on the leaves, manual white balance, manual ISO (or so I thought - see rant above if you care for an explanation), manual shutter and aperture settings.
Taken today at Coal Hollow Park, Chillicothe, IL. Manual focus on the tree trunk, manual white balance, manual ISO (or so I thought), manual shutter and aperture settings.
@thomastoth And Thomas, if I sound peeved, it is not directed at you. This was an excellent challenge and it motivated me to get into menus I've been meaning to find literally for 4 years. It's just so frustrating that FINDING the controls was so easy in the old days, and so tortuous now. I am not a "First press this button, and then rotate this dial while holding down this other button" sort of gal. Although I have to become one if I'm going to get where I want to go photographically.
@thomastoth Thanks! I've been working up to it, and I try to make sense of the manual, but still, I learned more about that camera in half an hour this afternoon than I have in the last four years!
I'm pretty sure my photo does not qualify under the sunny 16 rule and I also processed the image before uploading (with lightroom, which I am also learning to use), so I'm sure I'm doing this all wrong, but I wanted to say this article is what got me to turn all the settings on my camera to M - and I'm very glad I did, I'm learning lots.
I started out at f/16 and iso 100 but it looked quite dark and even when I upped the iso to 400 I still had to lower the shutter speed to 1/60.
Oh no! Too late for the competition but I took this today and wanted to post it anyway. Thanks for this challenge @thomastoth. I'm a comfortable Sunny 16 girl now and will be using it for those sunny day shots in the future.
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Are there variations on the Sunny 16 rule in times when it's overcast?
@dtigani The Sunny 16 is really designed for bright sun and clear skys. However, when it is overcast, you might want to start with the Sunny 16 rules, take a shot, and then make the necessary adjustments to your camera in order to get an exposure you are happy with. For example, if I'm outside, I'm shooting at ISO 100. It's a given. 1st part is done.
Sunny 16 says to set your aperture at f/16. 2nd variable set. So let's think about where shutter speed should be at. Sunny 16 says it should be at 1/100 but its overcast and darker than it would be on a sunny day. So, we would need a slower shutter speed to let in a little more light. I'd go down to 1/60 and see what kind of shot I'd get there. For me, if I'm hand held, I never go below 1/60, so if I'm still too dark, I'd start playing with the aperture until I got the right look.
I hope that folks with consumer dSLRs do take a stab at this challenge. Even on the consumer cameras, if you have a dial that takes you to M, odds are you can get off Auto ISO and Auto WB. If they have a detachable lens, then they have the AF/MF option. For this challenge, I thought that these four options would be enough to get people excited about the opportunity without scaring them away! :)
I have the camera almost always in Aperture priority and find that is most flexible for me. As for focus, there is AUTO and then there is Auto. Let the camera choose your subject and main focus, usually the closest contrasty thing it sees, or perhaps a face with face detection, and then there is using the AF system to select your prime focus point and then reframe and shoot. Or lately I've been using "back button" focus (front Fn button for me!) and that has worked beautifully for static shots so I don't have to hold the shutter half down for extended lengths of time. And I can actually also lock the exposure asynchronously to the focus. Very useful in high contrast frames. In conjunction with a good understanding of DoF, those procedures work well for me in almost all situations.
Just a caution about f/16. On many "average" lenses, the 18-250/270/300 general purpose zooms on APS-C cameras especially, f/16 is considerably beyond the sweet spot, and even with the best of focus can make your images undesirably soft. Don't necessarily blame your focus skills or camera movement if your initial shots turn out soft. It might just be the lens. Try the exercise with a prime.
As for fast motion the AF tracking technology in modern cameras is perfect. Don't know how the old time sports photographers got along without it. ;)
But I also rarely, rarely use f16 because I have to have a very bright day to work it, unless I'm just not really figuring things out right. Will hopefully have time to read up before experimenting with this challenge. I love CSC. It's probably been the best challenge for me in my first year!
Oh well done for admitting to f8! That's all my camera has as well and I've been sitting here wondering whether to say!
Thomas, I've been using p&s cameras for 10 years (and getting some great shots) but this summer bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ62 and joined a photography workshop. When I started reading your post I hoped you would also hep me as I'm currently getting in all sorts of muddles using settings but don't really want to give up. So some tips like f16 for 'lesser cameras' would be really good.
In my first link in the body of the challenge message, there is a handy chart that explains your manual settings at ISO 200 and where your shutter speed should be at for f/2.8 to f/16! :)
Did you notice your ISO setting was 100, but your shutter speed was only 1/50th? Did you slow down the shutter speed because of the light? Not bright enough outside? Overcast? I may have taken a second at 1/40th and a third at 1/30th to see which one resulted in a shot that is a little lighter.
How did it feel to be in Manual and have complete control? :)
Shot out of the camera. No editing. Look at the EXIF - ISO 100, SS 100 and f/16. Perfect balance.
To be honest, my metering told me that I was UNDEREXPOSED by 1 full stop! But, if you look at the full image, it appears well exposed throughout. Look at the sky - nicely exposed. Look at the trees - nicely exposed minus the shadowy spots. Even the ground/grasses are nicely exposed.
What would I do next? Maybe a color punch? Maybe 1 or 2 levels of sharpening. Play with levels just a little? Maybe straighten just a little? But overall exposure is BEAUTIFUL in my opinion. What do you think?
I use either shutter or aperture priority as I vowed I would never go on the auto mode when I bought my camera in May this year. Why use it like a point and shoot when it costs so much more and has more capabilities? However, I have had a stab at going all M mode but not really successful. I think it is because I didn't have a starting point like you have just described. I was going all over the place trying to get that damn needle to stay in the middle! I can't wait for a clear day to get out there and get stuck into this challenge.
For this exercise, an appreciation of auto-focus is expected! :) Same thing with Auto WB. However, I'm hoping that people see the control they have when switching off auto ISO and switching to M.
Please ignore composition, but I'd like feedback on exposure, please. The day was hazy but the exposure looks OK to me. Thoughts?
Also, @thomastoth, you've opened a whole can of hyperfocal worms. I thought I was focusing 1/3 into the shot but it appears that the near trees are more in focus than the rock and buildings far away. Sigh! Maybe hyperfocal distance will be the next challenge ... or it might have already been one. I'll go check.
In any event, thanks for this challenge. I'm going to practice more over the next few days and then will tag a shot for the contest.
@thomastoth both White balance and manual focus are in the instructions, so I appreciate the permission to leave them on auto! Now all I need is a sunny day!
You may ignore the rest of this rant. I will post two photos below it, because I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to focus manually.
I have suspected for some time that the D40 was designed by the Devil. The menus are hard to navigate, and most buttons do at least two things, But at least this challenge has forced me to get into the menus and figure out more details of its diabolical nature.
For instance, in Program, it will cling to ISO 200 for dear life, and let you decide if you like it or not when you look in the LCD display. But in MANUAL? No, in manual it will accept your aperture and shutter settings and CHANGE THE ISO on you, blinking an "ISO-auto" light that makes no sense because it plainly says "ISO 200" on the edge of the screen. Sometimes I miss the "good old days" of my manual everything Minolta!
I sort of suspected it was changing the ISO on me but I couldn't be sure. Apparently after you push it up to 1600 you have to go back into the menu to get it to go up to its highest rating, and it must not have been as sunny as I thought it was because I DID push it up to 1600.
I started out at f/16 and iso 100 but it looked quite dark and even when I upped the iso to 400 I still had to lower the shutter speed to 1/60.