How do you shoot? your "shooting workflow"...

Lex Madera · 11-05-2011, 12:10 AM

I use mostly Manual mode.

1)White balance
2)Meter through lens
3)adjust shutter/f-stop (ISO adjust if I'm not liking what I get with those adjustments)
3)focus and
4)shoot

bossa · 11-05-2011, 12:28 AM

Yeah, I think that's the quickest in the end frankly.

wolfiegirl · 11-05-2011, 12:34 AM

I've only just started using M lenses myself after years of staying in the programmed modes.

I started off with Av, because the learning curve was smaller and I could still get lots of decent shots (I was also lucky that lighting was always good).

I have a k100d.

I stopped using Av and moved to M after some of the forum members claimed I couldn't do all I wanted to in Av mode alone.

After playing around with M mode, this is what I do when I take shots (note this is with Manual lenses, not A lenses - I haven't gotten that far yet!).

1. Switch on camera
2. Make sure lens is on MF
3. Decide what fstop to put the lens into
4. Look through viewfinder to find something to take a photo of.
5. Half press shutter button (is that the right name? Basically what you press down to take the photo), and also press the AE-L button at the same time. My understanding is that takes a reading of the available light and gives me a speed to work off.
6. Turn focus ring until subject comes into focus
7. Take photo.
8. Press the sideways triangle button to see what the shot looks like.
9. If I don't like what I see (exposure too dark/too bright) I'll adjust the shutter speed or fstop ring accordingly.

Then, I'll repeat 7-9 until I get a picture I like.

I'm not 100% sure if that's the correct way to shoot either. I'm just figuring it out as I go. But I hope that might help you some!

RioRico · 11-05-2011, 01:48 AM

Yo Wolfie, that's a good procedure if one's eyes and the light are good. With some focal+aperture combos, that's even overkill. Zone-focus: Set camera to MF, use a tight aperture, prefocus for desired DOF, and just concentrate on what's in the focus zone. Catch-in-focus: Set camera to AF.C, select aperture, and concentrate on getting the subject.

Also, Av is your friend when you're shooting in varied light. I use M mostly when the light is extreme: extremely tricky, or extremely constant. With tricky light I meter each shot. With consistent light I get a good reading and stick with it, whether the lens is MF or AF.

wolfiegirl · 11-05-2011, 02:01 AM

Yo Rico,

Hahaha, yeah that's me. overkill. *grin*

I'm still learning heaps on how all the different things affect taking a photo (just bumped up the ISO on purpose for the first time this evening! *gasp*) so I think I'll stick to M for a little while longer.

Just scared going back to Av that I'll forget things and start relying on the camera instead of getting the picture I want, and not want the camera wants to give me. I agree, M works best for tricky lighting for me. What do you mean about the extremely constant?

Usually I take pictures while moving around (taking wolfies for a walk), so I have to constantly meter the light otherwise I find pretty quickly my images get too dark/light and I've ruined a potential shot

RioRico · 11-05-2011, 02:37 AM

Originally posted by wolfiegirl

I agree, M works best for tricky lighting for me. What do you mean about the extremely constant?

Example: I'm out in the Red Rock country of Sedona Arizona in mid-afternoon in May: red-brown desert mountains, bright rocks, blue skies, white clouds, light green cacti, dark green foliage, assorted structures, and I'm using the DA18-250. In any auto-ex mode, each shot have a different exposure depending on how much sky-cloud-hill-tree were in the frame. Very constant light, but what reaches the sensor varies greatly.

So I took some manual readings and test shots, found a good exposure, and just left it there. No matter where I aimed, every shot had the same intensities of sky-cloud-hill-tree color and brightness. This is very much like using the Sunny Sixteen rule, or an incident-light meter. Meter the light that falls on subjects, not what's reflected from them. This is vital in cine shooting, where frame-to-frame exposure differences would be intolerable.

And here's a metering trick in contrasty light. I call it a mini-zone system. Spot-meter the absolute brightest point in a scene, and the absolute darkest. Set your exposure midway between those. Voila! And when in doubt, bracket Bracket BRACKET. None dare call it cheating.

**Schraubstock** · 11-06-2011, 04:05 AM

Originally posted by Northern Soul

You mean Tv mode? Otherwise you are in Av mode with no way of controlling the aperture - not got my camera with me to check, but surely that's not an option?

I tend to keep mine in P, with front dial for exposure compensation and the rear dial for program shift because that is they way I got used to things on my K10. The k-7 having a dedicated ISO button is useful. I guess I've spent enough time with a camera to my eye to know roughly what the meter will say, and I also have a rough idea of whether or not the meter is going to be after the same effect as I am.

I do use Av sometimes, just because I grew up with it on my Prakticas and I'm used to it. I suppose if the first SLR I had was a shutter priority model I'd use that instead.

Very, very occasionally I use TAv. I was at a bird show recently and the cloud cover was skidding all over, creating shadows. I wanted a fast shutter speed and a small aperture, so I dialled that in in TAv and gave the camera free reign with the ISO, but I don't often find a use for it. In less changeable conditions I don't think it would have occurred to me; I might have used M mode to fix an exposure that gave me detail in the birds regardless of how much sky was in the shot I suppose.

I don't really see the fascination with using M though, particularly if you're using it with the green button - you might as well be in P mode and just use the program shift / exposure compensation dials to get what you want. It seems to be quicker that way to me.

As for the 'woods' scenario of high dynamic range and meter confusion - time was I would have pondered about the exposure (when I was paying for film) or checked the screen. Now I don't have time - I have a little Northern Soul to keep an eye on, so I have User mode set up to be 3 shots with a 2 stop bracket between them. When I get home, I process the 'best' one - or if there is no single best one I combine two. This was taken in this way. It's not art, but the exposure is pretty good - you can see the shaft of light, you can see detail in the darker parts of the wood, there is some movement in the water, but not in the child (not much, anyway!)

Hi
It's a lovely shot!! Well framed, exposed and interesting to look at. I bet looking at it on screen full size feels just like being there, even the smaller size already gives me this feeling. Only one thing is wrong it is too yellow. I apologize in advance if you feel offended.

Greetings

Last edited by Schraubstock; 03-07-2012 at 09:38 PM.

Northern Soul · 11-06-2011, 07:46 AM

Originally posted by Schraubstock

Hi
It's a lovely shot!! Well framed, exposed and interesting to look at. I bet looking at it on screen full size feels just like being there, even the smaller size already gives me this feeling. Only one thing is wrong it is too yellow. I apologize in advance if you feel offended.

Greetings

Thnak you - it was my desktop image for ages

I'm not offended at all - I've not calibrated my laptop an it looks fine to me, but I'm sure it looks odd on other screens. The beauty of having the original RAW of course, is that I can change the colour temperature really easily!

**Spodeworld** · 11-08-2011, 03:02 PM

Do you have an equivalent method for when you use manual lenses and spot metering is not available in the camera?

Originally posted by RioRico

And here's a metering trick in contrasty light. I call it a mini-zone system. Spot-meter the absolute brightest point in a scene, and the absolute darkest. Set your exposure midway between those. Voila! And when in doubt, bracket Bracket BRACKET. None dare call it cheating.

bossa · 11-08-2011, 03:48 PM

In the end Manual Mode seems the quickest and the most reliable for me. Unlike the Auto Modes, it doesn't need constant overriding due to new exposures being calculated on per shot basis. Once you find the mid tone in the scene, set the exposure and make a compensation for the brightest object in the scene and most shots tend to be close to the mark without much else needing to change after that. I set my e-dial up for Manual Mode to get the GREEN BUTTON to do a ONE-SHOT-AUTO exposure and then adjust things from there.

RioRico · 11-08-2011, 04:30 PM

Originally posted by Spodeworld

Do you have an equivalent method for when you use manual lenses and spot metering is not available in the camera?

Foot-zooming. Walk up to the brightest and darkest spots and meter there.

Another trick when only center-weighted metering is available is to look at the subject, judge its brightness, then meter off something closer that's about the same brightness. That might be your hand or sleeve or the ground around you. I used that method extensively when shooting B&W film in old rangefinders.

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11-05-2011, 12:10 AM	#16
Lex Madera Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Virginia, Austria, Ukraine Photos: Gallery Posts: 188	I use mostly Manual mode. 1)White balance 2)Meter through lens 3)adjust shutter/f-stop (ISO adjust if I'm not liking what I get with those adjustments) 3)focus and 4)shoot

11-05-2011, 12:28 AM	#17
bossa Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Adelaide Posts: 4,546	Yeah, I think that's the quickest in the end frankly.

11-05-2011, 12:34 AM	#18
wolfiegirl Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Mystery Bay, NSW Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,111	I've only just started using M lenses myself after years of staying in the programmed modes. I started off with Av, because the learning curve was smaller and I could still get lots of decent shots (I was also lucky that lighting was always good). I have a k100d. I stopped using Av and moved to M after some of the forum members claimed I couldn't do all I wanted to in Av mode alone. After playing around with M mode, this is what I do when I take shots (note this is with Manual lenses, not A lenses - I haven't gotten that far yet!). 1. Switch on camera 2. Make sure lens is on MF 3. Decide what fstop to put the lens into 4. Look through viewfinder to find something to take a photo of. 5. Half press shutter button (is that the right name? Basically what you press down to take the photo), and also press the AE-L button at the same time. My understanding is that takes a reading of the available light and gives me a speed to work off. 6. Turn focus ring until subject comes into focus 7. Take photo. 8. Press the sideways triangle button to see what the shot looks like. 9. If I don't like what I see (exposure too dark/too bright) I'll adjust the shutter speed or fstop ring accordingly. Then, I'll repeat 7-9 until I get a picture I like. I'm not 100% sure if that's the correct way to shoot either. I'm just figuring it out as I go. But I hope that might help you some!

11-05-2011, 01:48 AM	#19
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	Yo Wolfie, that's a good procedure if one's eyes and the light are good. With some focal+aperture combos, that's even overkill. Zone-focus: Set camera to MF, use a tight aperture, prefocus for desired DOF, and just concentrate on what's in the focus zone. Catch-in-focus: Set camera to AF.C, select aperture, and concentrate on getting the subject. Also, Av is your friend when you're shooting in varied light. I use M mostly when the light is extreme: extremely tricky, or extremely constant. With tricky light I meter each shot. With consistent light I get a good reading and stick with it, whether the lens is MF or AF.

11-05-2011, 02:01 AM	#20
wolfiegirl Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Mystery Bay, NSW Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,111	Yo Rico, Hahaha, yeah that's me. overkill. grin I'm still learning heaps on how all the different things affect taking a photo (just bumped up the ISO on purpose for the first time this evening! gasp) so I think I'll stick to M for a little while longer. Just scared going back to Av that I'll forget things and start relying on the camera instead of getting the picture I want, and not want the camera wants to give me. I agree, M works best for tricky lighting for me. What do you mean about the extremely constant? Usually I take pictures while moving around (taking wolfies for a walk), so I have to constantly meter the light otherwise I find pretty quickly my images get too dark/light and I've ruined a potential shot

11-05-2011, 02:37 AM	#21
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	Originally posted by wolfiegirl I agree, M works best for tricky lighting for me. What do you mean about the extremely constant? Example: I'm out in the Red Rock country of Sedona Arizona in mid-afternoon in May: red-brown desert mountains, bright rocks, blue skies, white clouds, light green cacti, dark green foliage, assorted structures, and I'm using the DA18-250. In any auto-ex mode, each shot have a different exposure depending on how much sky-cloud-hill-tree were in the frame. Very constant light, but what reaches the sensor varies greatly. So I took some manual readings and test shots, found a good exposure, and just left it there. No matter where I aimed, every shot had the same intensities of sky-cloud-hill-tree color and brightness. This is very much like using the Sunny Sixteen rule, or an incident-light meter. Meter the light that falls on subjects, not what's reflected from them. This is vital in cine shooting, where frame-to-frame exposure differences would be intolerable. And here's a metering trick in contrasty light. I call it a mini-zone system. Spot-meter the absolute brightest point in a scene, and the absolute darkest. Set your exposure midway between those. Voila! And when in doubt, bracket Bracket BRACKET. None dare call it cheating.

11-06-2011, 04:05 AM	#22
Schraubstock Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Melbourne Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,386	Originally posted by Northern Soul You mean Tv mode? Otherwise you are in Av mode with no way of controlling the aperture - not got my camera with me to check, but surely that's not an option? I tend to keep mine in P, with front dial for exposure compensation and the rear dial for program shift because that is they way I got used to things on my K10. The k-7 having a dedicated ISO button is useful. I guess I've spent enough time with a camera to my eye to know roughly what the meter will say, and I also have a rough idea of whether or not the meter is going to be after the same effect as I am. I do use Av sometimes, just because I grew up with it on my Prakticas and I'm used to it. I suppose if the first SLR I had was a shutter priority model I'd use that instead. Very, very occasionally I use TAv. I was at a bird show recently and the cloud cover was skidding all over, creating shadows. I wanted a fast shutter speed and a small aperture, so I dialled that in in TAv and gave the camera free reign with the ISO, but I don't often find a use for it. In less changeable conditions I don't think it would have occurred to me; I might have used M mode to fix an exposure that gave me detail in the birds regardless of how much sky was in the shot I suppose. I don't really see the fascination with using M though, particularly if you're using it with the green button - you might as well be in P mode and just use the program shift / exposure compensation dials to get what you want. It seems to be quicker that way to me. As for the 'woods' scenario of high dynamic range and meter confusion - time was I would have pondered about the exposure (when I was paying for film) or checked the screen. Now I don't have time - I have a little Northern Soul to keep an eye on, so I have User mode set up to be 3 shots with a 2 stop bracket between them. When I get home, I process the 'best' one - or if there is no single best one I combine two. This was taken in this way. It's not art, but the exposure is pretty good - you can see the shaft of light, you can see detail in the darker parts of the wood, there is some movement in the water, but not in the child (not much, anyway!) Hi It's a lovely shot!! Well framed, exposed and interesting to look at. I bet looking at it on screen full size feels just like being there, even the smaller size already gives me this feeling. Only one thing is wrong it is too yellow. I apologize in advance if you feel offended. Greetings Last edited by Schraubstock; 03-07-2012 at 09:38 PM.

11-06-2011, 07:46 AM	#23
Northern Soul Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: The North of England Photos: Albums Posts: 494	Originally posted by Schraubstock Hi It's a lovely shot!! Well framed, exposed and interesting to look at. I bet looking at it on screen full size feels just like being there, even the smaller size already gives me this feeling. Only one thing is wrong it is too yellow. I apologize in advance if you feel offended. Greetings Thnak you - it was my desktop image for ages I'm not offended at all - I've not calibrated my laptop an it looks fine to me, but I'm sure it looks odd on other screens. The beauty of having the original RAW of course, is that I can change the colour temperature really easily!

11-08-2011, 03:02 PM	#24
Spodeworld Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: New Joisey Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,370	Do you have an equivalent method for when you use manual lenses and spot metering is not available in the camera? Originally posted by RioRico And here's a metering trick in contrasty light. I call it a mini-zone system. Spot-meter the absolute brightest point in a scene, and the absolute darkest. Set your exposure midway between those. Voila! And when in doubt, bracket Bracket BRACKET. None dare call it cheating.

11-08-2011, 03:48 PM	#25
bossa Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Adelaide Posts: 4,546	In the end Manual Mode seems the quickest and the most reliable for me. Unlike the Auto Modes, it doesn't need constant overriding due to new exposures being calculated on per shot basis. Once you find the mid tone in the scene, set the exposure and make a compensation for the brightest object in the scene and most shots tend to be close to the mark without much else needing to change after that. I set my e-dial up for Manual Mode to get the GREEN BUTTON to do a ONE-SHOT-AUTO exposure and then adjust things from there.

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11-08-2011, 04:30 PM	#26
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	Originally posted by Spodeworld Do you have an equivalent method for when you use manual lenses and spot metering is not available in the camera? Foot-zooming. Walk up to the brightest and darkest spots and meter there. Another trick when only center-weighted metering is available is to look at the subject, judge its brightness, then meter off something closer that's about the same brightness. That might be your hand or sleeve or the ground around you. I used that method extensively when shooting B&W film in old rangefinders.