Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart posted: " This e-mail is the first edition of this post. Click here to read the most current version and see my exposure settings. I have a T-shirt that says, "Everyone's a photographer until...," above a picture of a camera exposure-mode dial set to Manual. In "
I have a T-shirt that says, "Everyone's a photographer until...," above a picture of a camera exposure-mode dial set to Manual. In my mind, this is one of those declarations that's as true as it is funny (if you don't see the humor, you're probably not a photographer anyway).
I write this with no very little judgement or condescension. Photography needs to make you happy, and if having to think about shutter speeds, f-stops, and ISO saps your joy, then set your camera's dial to Auto and have a blast. And my goal isn't to shame auto-shooters, it's just to point out (again) that photography's greatest opportunity for creativity comes with mastery of your scene's "creative triad": motion, light, and depth. And you can't master the creative triad without mastering the exposure variables: shutter speed, f/stop, and ISO. Period.
Though it's quite possible to get fantastic pictures in full automatic exposure mode by simply framing up a composition and clicking, composition is just one of the variables that combine to make a successful image. And composition happens to be the variable that's easiest to master competently. So I'm afraid if you want to distinguish yourself as a photographer, you really need to bite the bullet and master exposure.
What is exposure mastery?
It's important to understand that the correct exposure for most images requires a compromise—a shutter speed, f-stop, or ISO that's less than ideal. You can reduce the need for compromise by using a tripod, but often you can't eliminate the compromise. Exposure mastery means being able to achieve your desired motion, light, and depth with the absolute minimum exposure compromise—and knowing when your creative goal isn't possible (for example, when there's no usable exposure combination that will get both a foreground and background subject sharp, or blur a water feature, while still getting the light right).
(For the record, even though I'm a fulltime Manual shooter, Aperture/Shutter Priority shooters who do it the right way qualify as Manual shooters in my book because they are making decisions about all of their exposure variables. What's the "right way"? Setting the shutter speed or f-stop based on what their creative vision calls for, and knowing how to manage exposure compensation to get the exposure right.)
The good news is, you don't need to use Manual metering (or Aperture/Shutter Priority) all the time. But you really should know how to use it, and be able to identify when it does and doesn't matter. Fortunately, it isn't as difficult as most people fear.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, here's my Photo Tips article on Digital Metering.
About this image
Exploring the bank of the Little Colorado River during this year's Grand Canyon raft trip, I hunted compositions while waiting for the late afternoon shade to arrive. I especially wanted to highlight the linear limestone shelves that formed long vertical cascades, and after a little searching found this one a just upstream from where most in the group had gathered to swim and take pictures.
Lacking an obvious foreground anchor, I settled for a small, c-shaped cascade, and lowered my tripod to within just a couple of feet to exaggerate its prominence. When the shade finally arrived, the dynamic range instantly became a non-factor, making the light part of my exposure decision straightforward.
The motion and depth part of the equation, however, were a different story. The churning cascades created random splashes that I found distracting, so I chose to eliminate them by smoothing the water with a long shutter speed. Even though I was now in full shade, there was too much light to achieve sufficient motion blur without the help of a neutral density filter, so I added my Breakthrough 6-stop dark polarizer to my Sony 24-105 f/4 G lens. This also allowed me to polarize distracting sheen on the rocks and water's surface.
I also really wanted front-to-back sharpness, no guarantee with a foreground so close and background so distant (and an f-stop decision I'd never trust to one of the auto exposure modes). After consulting my hyperfocal app, I stopped down to f/16, focused on the cascade just behind the nearby rock protrusion, pushed my shutter speed until my pre-capture histogram looked right (4 seconds), and clicked.
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