31 Days of my XTi | Day 5 - Shooting in Manual

Yes, I was a day behind, but with this post I am caught up!! Yay me, especially with all the exciting things that have been going on around here.
Up next on the wheel, M-Manual mode! The dreaded mode to some, only mode to others. I have yet to master it's usage, but practice, practice and more practice is all I can suggest here.
Here are the basics:
You have to set your aperture and shutter speed independently here. To set the shutter speed just turn the dial. To set the aperture you have to hold down the Av button(upper right next to the screen) and turn the dial. How do you know if your shot will be exposed how you want? Press the shutter half way, and look at the exposure meter. When I first tried this I thought I could just hold down the Av button and spin the dial to change it like you can in Av/Tv mode. Well turns out in manual mode it's an indicator, and you have to change your shutter speed and aperture to get that little line to move into the correct exposure. Another option-if it is available to you- is to move into an area with more/less light.
Here's where knowing the exposure triangle comes in handy. If you have an idea of where you need to be, you don't have to keep randomly adjusting and pressing the shutter half-way to see if it's right a million times. I think this is what turned me off of manual initially, and I felt like I was hot stuff using Av instead of full auto anyway. Except there's so much more freedom! If you aren't looking for a perfectly exposed shot, or you are trying to re-create a photo you've seen and know about where the settings should be you can tweak the settings without having them changed by the camera to what it thinks is right. I'm not posting any examples on this one because every shot EVER could be an example, but do go to the link about the exposure triangle if you need to, and just experiment! Some of the shots I love most are not technically perfect, but they still capture a memory and ultimately that's why I do it.

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