My first venture into manual mode..... C&C welcomed!

[R99]

Hi Guys,

Well I've had the 450d for a couple of weeks now, I left it in full auto on my holidays but was a little disappointed with the pictures I took. So, spurred on by boredom I decided to have a go with manual mode this evening.

View is from my apartment so I had plenty of time to try various combinations, this is the one that I think came out best. Any hints and tips because I still don't know what I'm doing!

Edited by R99 on Tuesday 25th August 22:56

[DIW35]

The secret of manual mode is deciding what you are hoping to achieve with the photo you are about to take. Is there movement in the scene that you want to freeze - use a fast shutter speed. Is there movement that you want to emphasise with a bit of blur - use a slower shutter speed.

Is depth of field an important factor, rather than giving any consideration to movement - set the aperture to achieve the result you are looking for.

It's this sort of flexibility that allows you to take photos that achieve results that you may only stumble upon with luck if you use auto mode. It also means that you should be thinking about why you are taking the photo and what you want the end result to look like, which should make you a better photographer, rather than jsut pointing the camera at something you like the look of and just pressing a button.