Shooting in Manual

[Michelle (KK)]

Been shooting in manual for a while but am still having a hard time hitting the exposure correctly. This is the area I feel most stuck at and am trying to move past. I always seem to be underexposed, but then if I bump it my display makes it seem over expose so I always tend to keep it under for the fear of completely ruining the shot. Getting everyone in focus is also a hard point for me, as well as chasing a mobile toddler and managing to still keep it all in focus. I am trying really hard to shoot only with my prime and learn that lens the most. I know that where I shot, the lighting, etc plays into all of this but if there is any general terms that would apply that would make all the numbers finally click in my head....those tips would greatly be appreciated!!

Also...do you prefer to shoot in RAW or not? When I attempt and get home, I cannot get the image to open up. I have PSP10. In camera the colors appear great. Even in thumbnail on the computer I can see the RAW image and the JPEG the upload transfered to side by side. The RAW deft. has more color. BUT when I open it up using PSP10 the image always has a green, yellow, red hue to it.

[MRCPix]

a suggestion about the exposure don't trust your display look at the histogram. If you don't know much about that look at this.
http://luminous-landscape.com/tutori...stograms.shtml

Using a custom white balance also helps. the more you get right inside the camera the better the end result will be.

[Michelle (KK)]

TY for that link. I forgot to add that in, that I was wanting to understand more on how to rely on that!

White balance...Yikes that one scares me. I haven't even attempted to play with that yet. I've left that on Auto.

Some more I forgot to ask.

When metering, or however you do it...do you spot, ?? I've had a hard time understanding what is exactly meant by this. Do I pick the brightest spot in the frame and base it on that? What if you are shooting and moving toddler so the lighting is always changing..how do you handle that situation..do you just become quicker and dialing and changing everything up...or am I missing something?

[Michelle (KK)]

Here is a few shots. This is my nephew. His face seemed a little cool, and off color, but then there was hot spots on his arms and legs. This was a very over cast day when we were down visiting them, parts of Hurricane Erin moving through, as you can see in his wind blown hair *L*

Sorry need to figure out how to put a copyright on them first. Will get back to this later.

I didn't have my speedlight on, would this have helped? Catchlights in the eyes is another thing I have not yet mastered.

[Michelle (KK)]

Sorry I need to figure out how to put a copyright on them first I think?

[Bruce M. Morris]

Michelle,
The spot meter is used to select a specific area to meter as opposed to using the whole viewfinder area. you would need to read the manual for the camera to see how big an area is included in the spot meter.
When using the meter, consider that they are supposed to measure and give a correct exposure to neutral (18%) Gray. If you aim the meter at a white subject, the meter will give you an exposure that results in the white being that 18%gray. to get the correct exposure, you would either meter a neutral colored subject in the scene, or meter the white and then adjust the meter to overexpose by 2 stops. To get blacks in a scene, Meter and then underexpose by 2 stops.
This and lots more is available in any number of books that deal with manual exposure. I have always enjoyed the National Geographic Photographers Field Guide in the information it provides.
Hope this helps some in getting you on your way.

[LadyShutterBug]

Michelle... don't be afraid of white balance!

It's fairly simple to switch it to tungsten (the light bulb), sunlight (the sun), flourescent (the bar looking thing), cloudy day, etc.

the white balance helps the camera to understand what temperature of light you are working with... meaning that your colors will be much better than if you leave it on auto all the time.

"auto" is okay, but you will always get better colors by using a more specific white balance.

you can read in your manual about presetting a white balance if you'd like.. but i'd advise starting out just by working with the options on the dial and seeing what a difference it can make :)

set the camera to "auto" White balance, take a pic indoors w/ a lamp on... then set it to tungsten (the light bulb) and take the same picture. you'll be overjoyed to see how much better the second pic is. it will probably be less yellow.

just be sure to set the WB back to auto before you turn off the camera. it's a huge pain to be shooting in the wrong white balance (like if you have set it to tungsten and are shootingin daylight, every pic will have a blue hue).

[MRCPix]

if you shoot auto WB shoot RAW so you can adjust it in post processing, but I only do that if I have lighting that is constantly changing I think you get better images if you have the correct WB to start with. and expodish is a great thing for setting custom WB.

[Michelle (KK)]

Mike, Kasey and Bruce. Thank you all so much!! WOW I am so glad that I finally came over here. I have learned so much today. I've posted at other forums but was often not answered. This is such a nice change of pace.

I love shooting outdoors and do pretty ok there I think, but I'm for sure going to try putting the white balance on sun tomorrow and see how that makes a change! Thank you again so much for taking the time!

Going to go fix up a couple of pics so that maybe you can tell me if that was the main issue on a few.

[Ahh!]

As for the RAW conversion, you may need to load the PC software provided with your camera to do the conversion. RAW will then allow you to make adjustments afterwards beyond the manipulations in your regular software alone.

[Michelle (KK)]

Peter...Thank you for that. I would really like to learn how to shoot in RAW. I've just been so scared the times I have tried and not got them to transfer to the editing right. I will try as you suggested and see how that goes!!! TY!!

Okay here is some shots. Now I will take some CC I have never opened myself up to that. So be gentle ..haha. But at least it will give me a sense of where I'm at. I thank you for taking the time to look and respond!





Indoors is where my most trouble lies a lot of the time



On these next few the issue for me was I was feeling the face cool and a little off in color, but then hotspots on the arms/legs. Both days there was very cloudy, overcast days.

[Michael Lyons]

like they said, dont trust your screen(turn it off). And I prefer RAW

[wtexasgal]

Wow, you did a great job...these are nice shots.

I have the same questions you do - I have a nikon (d80) and use PSPX and have wondered how much better I can edit if I shoot RAW but I couldn't get them off the camera.

Have you found documentation on how to create layers and masks, and how to edit using levels, etc. in Paint shop pro? I am trying to figure out if I should upgrade or cut my losses now and move to Adobe.

[Bruce M. Morris]

Okay, in the outside photos, when it is overcast, the color temp goes down and they might look a little blue.. in the past there were specific warming filters that you could put on the lens to warm up a scene.. now it is a matter or adding yellow and red in the right proportions to create the feel you want. I personally am not bothered by any colorshift in those photos.. the ones of the girl look great.

[MRCPix]

Sonya I use to have the D80 and only shoot in RAW and yes you get much better pics, but you have to have a program to convert the raw files. You should be able to use the software that came with your camera. I use lightroom so never had a problem. I also use PSP XI and really do like it and yes I have used photoshop for years.