For Beginners: Photography Tips Part 2
Since it's been a while since I shared a post in my Taking Care of Business series, and because I learned a few things over the weekend, I thought a post on this subject was overdue.This past weekend I spent the majority of my time working on travel-related posts for the two weeks I'll be away. I was working on a recipe and photographing some of what I'm packing to Morocco and Paris to share the post next month with you. Anyway, I switched my camera to manual mode as my photos in the AV setting were just not the quality I was hoping for. To my surprise the manual mode was easier than I thought after reading this post {thank you for sharing Jennifer}, and the results were astonishingly amazing. {I have been highly intimated by manual mode.} After I saw the results, I was excited to finally make the move from AV to manual for good. It took me about 7 months since getting my camera to make the switch, but once I went manual I knew I would never go back to any other setting. Now I'm even more excited to get my camera out and learn more. The tips below are just a few tips I learned over the weekend, but as I learn more, I promise to share more tips.FYI: I use a DSLR camera, Canon EOS Rebel T3i {shown in the photo above} with the lens it came with and I also bought the 50mm lens.For Beginners: Photography Tips for Shooting Indoors in Manual Mode1. Natural light is best. I have my designated spots around our home for shooting indoors and they all involve a big window nearby. I completely rollup the blinds to let the most natural light in. Sometimes a bit of moving around furniture is involved to stage a vignette properly.2. Turn on your camera and set it to manual mode.3. Adjust your ISO in accordance with this cheat sheet from the mini book of Kristin Dukes “Say No to Auto”.4. Then adjust your Aperture {F} and Shutter Speed accordingly. To learn about ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed I found this simple cheat sheet and this other one. If you are unsure where your camera settings are, refer to your camera manual.5. Then take a few test shots and if your light doesn't appear right when you review them, adjust the setting{s} as needed. For example, on an overcast day indoors near a large window, I got great results using my 50mm lens in manual mode at an Aperture setting of 3.5, Shutter Speed of 1/125, and ISO of 800.6. Edit your photos in Photoshop. Photoshop Elements works great too. I edit my photos and may adjust the brightness slightly, if needed. I also save the photos "for web" and save them all the same width with the "constrain proportions" checked. I like all of my photos to appear uniform in width.7. Lastly, print the cheat sheets I linked above and keep them in your camera bag for reference. As a beginner in manual mode, I'll be referring to the cheat sheets often I'm sure.I'll have another post soon in this series and it's a good one so stay tuned for that.Read about my photography tips part 1.Read about my styling tips.Disclaimer: I'm not a photography expert. I'm just sharing what I have learned. Image by Sara Mueller