[geekkt]

Hi all, newbie here, don't eat me alive. I promise to attempt to sound like I have a clue what I'm talking about, but I've got really beginner questions.

I'm trying, hard, to learn manual mode on my camera as fast as I can. I've got a recently turned 6 month old son as my not-so-willing subject, with a K110D, and have been doing a ton of reading but am having some trouble turning theory into application.

I took him outside on this very overcast day to play around. My ISO was set to 200, aperature as open as I could go (around 4) and then adjusted my shutter speed until I got a meter reading of 0, and snapped away. No flash for the most part, I didn't particularly like how it looked and shadowed him. Some of the pics are okay, lots seem fairly cool/underexposed to me. How do I adjust this, am I doing something wrong?

I'm finding it hard to get everything set up and adjusted, focused, get my meter to read 0, and get a picture before he has moved again.

So if you were shooting a baby, how would you do it? Just use Av mode? What suggestions do you have for a total beginner?

[fewayne]

I heartily applaud your efforts to "go manual". You will be a better photographer for it, not least because you'll have learned to carefully watch what's happening in the finder and think about how that might affect exposure.

But a six-month-old...man, them critters can scoot! So it may be a case of applying the wrong tool to the job -- just keeping him framed might be hard enough without also having to fiddle with exposure. (And I got my chops in the match-needle days, so I'm allowed to extol automation.)

I think Av would be one fine selection; think about what you're trying to achieve in the image. Narrow depth of field to blur out distracting background? Freezing him in the act of...well, of being a six-month-old? I don't think the 110D has a TAv mode, but that would be perfect for this -- pick an aperture for DOF considerations and a shutter speed to capture the degree of motion blur you want, and let the camera choose the ISO for you.

Yet another approach, if you're really determined to be in the loop, is to just mash the green button and fiddle from there. After all, that's what us old-eBay-glass guys have to do all the time!

Finally, again if the 110D supports it, consider changing the metering mode itself -- center-weighted or even spot. The latter is useful if you can get a reading off the subject, whose lighting doesn't subsequently change much while everything else around him goes cattywampus.

Enjoy. Six months. What a great age.

[JeffJS]

I don't want to compare your 6 month old to my dog but in terms of being an unwilling subject, it applies. Something to keep in mind when you are taking photos, is it is not really necessary to constantly readjust exposure. That is, once you have it dialed in, you should be good to go for the most part. If your photos are looking cool and underexposed, try setting a warmer white balance (daylight opposed to shade for instance). I would also shoot RAW+ so I can adjust things later if need be. You'd be surprised how an apparently bad exposure or photo can be improved with some fiddling around with the color settings. Even in terms of sharpness of the photo.

I imagine at 6mo, junior isn't walking yet but crawls at a pretty surprisingly fast clip. Try to anticipate where he/she is going and sort of prefocus on that spot. If your camera does Catch In Focus (don't know if the 110d does or not) and you are using a manual lens, this can be a saving grace for your photos. That is, unless junior is similar to my dog and heads for the hills when I get the camera out.

[legacyb4]

Two things you don't indicate are whether you are using spot or matrix metering as well as what color clothes your child is wearing which can also have a big impact on over/under-exposure.

[geekkt]

Thanks all, for the replies.

What's this green button I have heard much of? I have no green button, unless it resides under another color on my camera.

I understand that the K110D is entry level, my husband got it in a trade but he also never leaves auto or portrait mode, so I may be slightly more limited in features. However, I'm currently in what it calls "multi-segment metering" mode and can switch to spot with no problem.

Luckily for me and much to his great dismay, the little one isn't crawling yet, so he stays in one spot but fidgets quite a bit. Today he was wearing a brown fleece suit, which I suspect against his skin tone with his head whipping back and forth might have been causing some of my problems.

I do have Av mode, and have used it, but am trying to step out of it. I do not have TAv mode but do have Tv, which I admit I haven't played fully with. My main consideration in just about any picture with him at this point is a shallow DOF, especially indoors as my living room is littered with toys, but there my lighting is less than ideal so I've been playing outside first.

I've been shooting in JPEG as I wanted to improve my technique before I started delving into post processing, but I think I'll switch to RAW. At least then I can save my mistakes. My white balance is currently set to auto, only because it's one more thing I'm just not experienced with yet.

Here's 2 pictures from this morning. I camera cropped a hair too close in the first, but the color is more accurate to me whereas the 2nd looks underexposed, at least on my screen.

[fewayne]

Sorry, my bad on assuming your camera had the green button -- thought it was universal across Pentax DSLRs, turns out it's only nearly so. Said button is a shortcut to "back to what the camera recommends" when you've been playing about with the settings it gave you.

I second the suggestion that unless the lighting is changing up a lot, or is so high-key that the metering changes just as he turns in and out of the light, you should be able to pretty much set and forget your aperture and shutter speed.

Here's a thought. Concentrating on one subject can be a big advantage here, you can develop a working method especially for his skin tone. Take a spot meter reading of his face, and record it. Now bracket that setting -- for example, if the camera recommended f/4 at 1/100, try one at 1/60 and one at 1/200 (you can put as many steps as you wish in here; if you've the patience, try five images at say 1/2 E.V. increment each.) Now look at your pictures and pick the best-exposed one. Compare that to the spot-metered recommendation.

For example, the spot reading might have been f/4 at 1/100, but you really like f/4 at 1/160. So now you know that whatever the spot reading of his face is, you'll need about half an E.V. of extra exposure. So on subsequent shoots, get the spot reading, apply the correction, dial that in on manual, and you should be good to go until the light changes.

Or he learns to crawl. :-)

Showed my wife the pictures. "Oh, wow, yeah, six to ten months, that's the perfect time", she reminisced. "Then they learn to say 'NO!'"

[twitch]

Here's 2 pictures from this morning. I camera cropped a hair too close in the first, but the color is more accurate to me whereas the 2nd looks underexposed, at least on my screen.

It looks like you've missed the focus with both pictures, both seem back focused a few inches. How are you focusing; center point only, or are you using all auto multi point?

[geekkt]

It looks like you've missed the focus with both pictures, both seem back focused a few inches. How are you focusing; center point only, or are you using all auto multi point?

Heh...yes, true point on the focus. I was set to multipoint when these pictures were taken but have since switched to center point, and also to spot metering.

Thanks all, I'll head outside to play some more later this morning.

[Ash]

Good going. Take a number of photos at each pose, trying to get the little one's attention for the most flattering results. Try different perspectives, camera above, head level, etc. and keep exposure setting simple - Av and boost the exposure compensation to the point where you're happy with the exposure without blowing out essential highlight detail, then do your magic in post-processing for the shadow details. Get the right lighting and see how you go.

[Northern Soul]

Six months is about when it starts getting tricky because they move so much, and if you are taking pictures indoors at this time of year chances are there isn't too much light, so the AF can't keep up so well.

I found it much, much easier to get pictures of my little girl (15 months now) once I got a flash. You need to experiment a bit if like me you have a non PTTL one, but you get the exposure right in the end.

These might not be to everyone's taste (blown highlights and all - but it's fashionable to do babies high key, isn't it?) but I like them.

I would say the key is to always have the camera around, take lots of pictures and try and work out what has gone wrong with the ones you don't like.


The other tactic is to take pictures when they are distracted by something else as they tend to be less wriggly. Meal times are good, even if you do get tutted at for being distracting!

I tend to do all of my baby pictures either with flash if it is indoors, which for me means Manual mode, but with AF on. It's a bit of trial and error to get the exposure right at first, but once you do you're ok - in our house the amount of light in the room is fairly constant.

Outdoors I now use P, with the front dial of exposure compensation and the back dial for program shift. I've set it to use any ISO between 100 and 800, and to prioritise speed (menu / custom settings / program line / hi-speed on the k10) which works quite well for grab shots. I tend to use the centre AF point only as the auto select is easily confused when a baby is waving around a brightly coloured toy.

Exposure readings will vary more outdoors because sun and shade are more of an issue - you can get huge variation from one side of the garden to the other, especially at this time of year. For that reason I don't use manual outdoors (unless I'm using my non-dedicated flash) - it saves time. Don't get hung up on manual mode - I know some people seem to think that it's not a proper photo unless you shot it manual, but your camera has a very sophisticated metering system that you worked to pay for, and it will get it right almost all the time. It's silly not to use it.

Here's an outdoor one to illustrate what I mean - either side of the sun she is in is a good 2 stops darker. My fingers aren't quick enough to adjust the exposure for her moving around in that!

I don't think your camera has two dials (not sure?) but if not, and if you can, I'd recommend having the dial set to exposure compensation - I use that much more than the program shift dial.

EDIT to add - I try to avoid any post-processing with everyday baby shots because I take so many. Every now and again I try and take some better than normal ones and then I shoot RAW, but I don't think I've actually got around to processing any of them yet. Since she was born I'm very much in the 'get the best JPG you can straight from the camera' camp. I find the standard JPGs a bit flat though, so I have mine set to image tone natural, saturation +1, sharpness +1 and contrast +1. I used to use the other image tone setting (vibrant?) with +2 saturation, but with all the colourful toys and clothes it was a bit too much. As ever, experiment and see what *you* like - they're you're pictures of your baby after all!

[Northern Soul]

I'd also suggest getting a clear filter for your lens if you haven't already. Once that little chap gets mobile you'll spend a lot of time cleaning finger prints off your lens - and it's better they touch a replaceable filter than the lens itself!

[geekkt]

Just wanted to post a thanks to you all!

I'm getting better, slowly but surely. I've been going back and forth between manual and Av and all the tips are really helping.

Good call on the clear filter too, I have one but didn't think to put it on until yesterday after I took some close photos and ended up with grubby little prints all over. Lesson learned.

[wtf_cowboy]

Hi geekt,

I'm also a K110d owner and a proud new father. I had much difficulty taking pictures of my newborn daughter. That was, until I got an M42 adapter and screwed on a "faster" lens.

Let me explain...

Lenses can be expensive. A simple solution for me was the above mentioned screw mount adapter and some vintage lenses. (Right now I'm in love with my Mamiya/Sekor f=55/1.4.) The "1.4" is the important bit. The lower the number the more light it lets in i.e. the less dependent you are on existing light. The down side is a loss of depth of field meaning you will have to constantly pay attention to focus. In my opinion, a short "dof" can further emphasize a subject. Sometimes to very poignant results.

With a fidgety subject such as a child (or a dog) I have found that a lens that goes down to 2 or lower helps tremendously to freeze the action. Also setting your ISO to 400 or even 800 will help with your exposure too. Depending on your focal length you are going to wanna keep your shutter speed high enough to prevent camera shake but slow enough to properly expose your shot.

You may have discovered this but shooting at f4 is next to impossible in tungsten(incandescent) lighting. I know you're talking about outdoor shots, but let me propose an indoor scenario as an example. However, if you were to have a "fast" lens that goes to f2 or lower you can nail down a nice shot with a shutter speed of 1/50 or 1/60 of a second. Be sure to set the white balance to tungsten on the Fn menu on the back of the camera.

Check out that M42 adapter too. It retails for 9.99 on Amazon.com and opens you up to a wide (and I mean WIDE) variety of old school lenses that are very affordable. My lens goes for 20 bucks. The downside of the adapter is that it kills all auto functions, but if you're shooting manual that doesn't matter anyhoo!