Masterclass in Photography PART 1: Cameras & Manual Exposure

I'm asked which camera is best all the time. The truth is all cameras can take great quality photos, and for most photographers who shoot landscapes, family photos, street photography, still life, portraits etc for the love of it, they do a great job of capturing images.

If you want to specialise in something more complex like stadium sports photography for example, then you will need to spend money on a more expensive camera and lens.

Here's why...

1. Sports stadiums may not have much available light

2. Sports photography needs fast shutter speeds to stop fast moving action becoming a blur

3. To freeze movement you must use a fast shutter speed

4. Which means using a high ISO and very wide aperture

5. Very wide aperture lenses are more expensive

Don't panic if this thought process is a brain fry right now. You haven't completed the course yet. When you have you will be 100% confident with all these things and able to make informed choices about what you need vs what what you don't.

I run workshops worldwide and shoot for clients raging from individuals to international corporations. Most of the time I use the little camera used throughout this course...

The old time master photographers used the most basic of cameras to capture stunning images, so just imagine what you can do with your amazing digital camera once you've learned how.

Don't forget to download your support notes, take time watching and absorbing the video lessons  - and then DO the exercises. They are what will give you experience and confidence with your camera.

"Which camera's best?"

That question comes up a lot and the answer is, it depends on what you want to do with the images. And where you are on your photography journey.

A specialist advertising photographer will need equipment which produces very large files which can be heavily cropped or printer huge on a billboard.

A sports photographer will be less interested in huge files and be more interested in kit that can capture fast moving action in low light and have a super fast and accurate auto focus system.

A photojournalist will need something that's a great quality all rounder.

A hobby photographer posting on social media probably doesn't need these high end attributes.

The latest, most expensive camera will not give you great photos. That's up to you and how effective you are with whatever camera you happen to have, light and composition. Well cover the last two items in later parts of this course.

Different lenses do different jobs and that goes beyond merely making far off things come closer and we'll deep dive into that later in Masterclass In Photography PT3. For now I want you to understand the fundamentals and what different lenses are so you can make a more informed choice before buying more than you may need.

There are different types of image files such as jpegs, Tiffs and Raws so let's spend a little time looking at what they are and when you may benefit from using them.

You don't need to shoot raw to get great photos. My friend and colleague Pulitzer prize winning photojournalist Essdras Suarez (Google him) shoots jpg only, even when on assignment for National Geographic.

But I do want to clear up any confusion about RAW, what it is and why some photographers prefer it.

We are not going to cover RAW in this course. 

You don't need loads of filters. In this lesson I'm going to show you three that come in handy from time to time. To be honest, I rarely ever use them.

Picture control settings give you control over how things like how much colour saturation, contrast and colour profile your image will have. They're a way to tell the camera how you want an image to look so it does it at the time of shooting, so you don't need to do it afterwards by developing a RAW file.

Picture control settings have many different names depending on what make your camera is. There's a list of the most popular at the end of the lesson.

Shooting Modes - self timer single shot and burst are the three most useful modes and can be used in a variety of situations.

• Self Timer - There's the obvious selfie / group photo and you want to be in it. But also great when when you don't want to press the shutter and risk moving it during a slow exposure (more on this later)

• Single Shot - great for a static subject such as a landscape or still life

• Burst Mode - when you want to capture the perfect moment of a moving subject such as kids playing, sports etc

This lesson covers the theory of exposure, the three exposure controls and their relationship. You can download the presentation from this lesson as backup notes.

In photography, the amount of light displayed on the cameras light / exposure meter is referred to as 'Stops'.

One 'Stop' is a halving or doubling of light. If you hear a photographer say "you need to increase your exposure by about 1 Stop, they're saying it needs to be 2X brighter.

As you'll see in this lesson, there are various ways to do this. Later in the course you'll learn why and how to choose which way is best for the photo you're taking.

The easiest way to understand the exposure relationship is to imagine light is water, an exposure is almost always the same amount of light regardless of how bright or dark it is around you and your shutter and aperture are the equivalent of

1. Aperture = how large or small the tap is

2. Shutter = how long you turn it on for

ISO is a way to make your camera more, or less sensitive to light. It's just another exposure control which supports the shutter speed and aperture.

Why do you need it?

Because later on you'll discover that shutter speeds and apertures have creative superpowers. When you choose combinations of shutter and aperture for creative reasons it does not usually give you the correct exposure - and that's where ISO comes to the rescue.

For now, just get used to changing exposure by changing ISO.

As you'll see in this lesson, manual exposure really isn't rocket science. It's easy.

But you do need to know how it works and why so you can use those creative Superpowers I mentioned effectively in your photography. 

Sometimes it does not matter which combination of settings you use, so long as it gives you the correct exposure. If you're not using an exposure control's creative superpower (which is covered in Masterclass In Photography PT2) you only need to choose settings which will give you the correct exposure. 

Practise makes perfect - and you can practise exposure anywhere!

Well done you. Manual exposure is what most new photographers struggle with the most so well done for persevering.

If you're struggling a bit...

Remember no-one was born knowing this stuff and everyone is better at some things than others. Maybe technical things like manual mode come easy to you, but creative composition or lighting just don't make sense.

If getting your head around manual exposure is something you're avoiding because you keep getting it 'wrong'. Don't worry - you're in great company!

What's next?

Keep on shooting with manual mode so you get used to it. Don't worry about the creative uses for now, just practise. Repeat all the exercises until you no longer need to refer back to a lesson or notes, because when that happens it means you have mastered that skill forever.

Enrol in Masterclass PART 2 and you'll take exposure expertise to a whole new level and learn to use the creative superpowers hidden away inside the settings.  You can find it by...

• Searching 'Masterclass In Photography Part 2'

• Search for my name Mike Browne

• Or visit my instructor bio page to find all parts of this series of courses.

If you haven't done so already please consider leaving me a 5 star review and saying a few words about your experience of the course. It helps me and it also helps other find solutions to the same problems you were struggling with.