"M" stands for My Way
Understanding the M (Manual) Mode: a basic guide

The manual mode is all about control of the different ingredients to produce a photography in a certain way. Why do Photo Aficionados make all that hassle about it? In the last few years the cameras have advanced in an impressive way, and we often forget that the ability of portraying in two dimensions the reality is nothing less than a technological miracle.

Menu vs Buffet

A good analogy about auto mode and manual mode is food:

Restaurant with Menu Everything is prepared for you with pre-made choices for the salad, soup, main course, dessert and -sometimes- even beverages. Advantages: Everything is prepared for you, it is fast and easy Disadvantages: You should eat what is served to you. You must have an excellent chef or your meal will be average.	Buffet Restaurant You can take most of the decisions for your meal: You can choose from many choices and you decide what and how much to eat. Is a Menu better than a Buffet? It depends. Sometimes you are in a hurry and you decide to order the pre-made menu, it's not incredible but is fast and convenient and it is not bad at all. The problem is that the menu may be fixed. If the restaurant is good will offer you several kinds of menus: breakfast, dinner, supper, diet, gourmet. On the other hand the buffet is much better to suit your need with precision. Advantages: You have more control over your meal Disadvantages: Not many actually, you have to stand up frequently.	Raw Ingredients: you are the Chef You have to prepare your meal. Some ingredients are still alive. You are in your kitchen with raw ingredients and, if you know your way in the kitchen you may prepare a wonderful meal... or a terrible one! Advantages: Everything is in your control. You can prepare an exquisite meal Disadvantages: You really should know how to cook and you can ruin a meal.
Auto Mode The camera takes every decision. Well, you can turn off the flash and -in some cases, adjust the exposure. Advantages: Every decision is made by the camera, it is fast and easy. Disadvantages: You can take very little decisions. If the camera is not really good you can end with dull photos. The camera will always decide based on averages, ergo your photos will be average.	Creative Zone: P, Av, Tv These modes let you take some decisions but the camera makes the adjustments automatically for most of the parameters. Advantages: You can have more control over your photos but the camera will take the decisions concerning your photograph. Disadvantages: You can only choose a limited array of options and most of the decisions are made by the camera.	Creative Zone: Manual Mode Everything is up to you, yet there are some settings that may work automatically (if you choose it that way). Advantages: Everything is in your control. You can take a wonderful photo. Disadvantages: You really should know all the parameters in your photo or you can ruin a good shot.

So, it all depends on the situation and your goals. Let's assume that you decided to go Manual...

Understanding ingredients and how to mix them

Since you are going to take all the decisions, it's a good idea to understand the different "ingredients" for a picture, how to mix them and the differences -and similarities- between them:

There was a time when the photographer had to decide every single ingredient in the photographic mix. Cameras had mechanical controls, and using an old camera today reminds us how personal and unique the photographic process used to be. The camera manufacturers have created intelligent auto focus systems, automatic ISO sensitivity detectors; the metering systems provide the necessary information for the microprocessor to decide the aperture and shutter speed. There's nothing wrong about using an automatic mode, but -as you may imagine- an artificial intelligence is limited and the creative process in the art of photography is far beyond averages and if you use artificial intelligence you will end with artificial photos. When the photographer needs to be in full command of all the variables in a photograph it is time to use the so-called "creative zone". This zone ranges from the practically full automatic P mode to the Av and Tv modes where the camera takes the decisions once you've set aperture or shutter speed. And the "M" mode, where the photographer has the total control. Even in such mode, there are parameters that may be used automatically (such as white balance or auto-focus).

Note: Many important concepts may be opened as a link in a different windows with detailed information to avoid making this article too long. A good approach is to read this entire article and then read it again opening each of the concepts and reading them all.

Although in manual mode all the photographic variables are under your control, the core of the manual mode is the exposure of the photograph.

The exposure is a combination of the length of time and the level of illumination received by the sensor. Exposure time is controlled by shutter speed, and the illumination level by the lens aperture at a given ISO sensitivity.

These are the three main ingredients to expose a photograph: ISO sensitivity, shutter speed and lens aperture. The ISO sensitivity is a numeric indication of the sensitivity to light. A higher ISO sensitivity number indicates a higher sensitivity to light. If you want to know more about ISO >> click here The shutter speed is the length of time a shutter is open; the total exposure is proportional to the duration of light reaching the sensor. It is expressed in seconds(1", 2") or fractions of second (1/2, 1/80, 1/500, 1/2000) If you want to know more about shutter speed >> click here There are three factors that affect the shutter speed: the scene luminance, the ISO sensitivity and the aperture size.

The aperture of a lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the photo's degree of exposure to light.

A diaphragm usually serves as the aperture stop, and controls the aperture. The diaphragm functions much like the iris of the eye, it controls the effective diameter of the lens opening.

The lens aperture is usually specified as an f-number. A big number (e.g. f/11 or f/16) means that there is a small aperture, there is less light entering the sensor. On the other hand smaller numbers mean wider apertures (e.g. f/1.8, f/2). The shutter speed establishes for how long light would enter into the sensor, but the aperture sets how much light is going to enter.

The aperture also determines how sharp or soft is an image, or what is going to look sharply focus in a scene. This is called "depth of field". At smaller apertures everything looks sharp, but at wide apertures only a part of the scene will be sharp and the rest will look blurred. That effect has a Japanese name: "Bokeh". This effect is more obvious in dSLR cameras; compact cameras have a very wide depth of field and the differences using a wide aperture may not be obvious.

If you want to know more about aperture >> click here

Combining the three main ingredients: ISO, shutter speed & aperture

A scene can be exposed in many ways, it all depends on the photographer's goals. There is no such thing as a "correct" exposure.

Under exposed 2 steps	Under exposed 1 step	Exposed correctly	Over exposed 1 step	Over exposed 2 steps
ISO 400 Aperture: /14 Shutter speed: 1/1600	ISO 400 Aperture: f/13 Shutter speed: 1/125	ISO 400 Aperture: f/10 Shutter speed: 1/800	ISO 400 Aperture: f/9 Shutter Speed: 1/640	ISO 400 Aperture: f/7.1 Shutter speed: 1/400
Here the aperture and ISO sensitivity remain constant and the changes on the exposure have been determined by the shutter speed			Here the ISO sensitivity was constant but the aperture was wider -from f/10 to f/9- and the shutter speed was slower	Here ISO remained constant but with an even wider aperture and even faster shutter speed.

4 easy steps to expose your photographs:

Step 1: Set the ISO speed

Start exposing your photo with a standard ISO setting (ISO 400 for dSLR, ISO 100 for compact cameras). If there is a very sunny day you can use lower ISO settings, if you are in the dark use higher ISO settings, but remember that at higher ISO numbers there will be image noise (click the link for more info about image noise).

Step 2: Set the aperture

Now choose the aperture. Do you want that everything looks sharp? Use a higher f/number (f/8 or f/11). Do you want the background blurred? Use the widest aperture (e.g. f/2.8, f/3.5). Remember that if you choose small aperture you'll need slower shutter speed and the possibilities of hand shake will increase.

Step 3: Set the shutter speed

It's time to choose the shutter speed. Check the exposure: If you have an high end Canon camera (e.g. G7, G9, S3, S5) you'll have this display that helps you to expose the scene: If you have a digital Single Reflex Lens camera (dSLR) you'll have an LCD like this: If you use a compact Canon camera then you'll see an indication of over or under exposure expressed like this: +1/3 means that the scene is over exposed one third of step. +1 2/3 means it is over exposed one stop and two thirds. If the number is negative (-2/3) means that it is under exposed. If the number is in red, it means that you are under or over exposing over two whole stops. If you camera has a live histogram check that the bars appear mostly at the center.

Step 4: Check your photo

A great thing of digital photography is that you don't need to wait to develop the photos: you can check them right away and correct them if anything went wrong. All the cameras have detailed information about exposure and a histogram that tells you the kind of exposure of the scene. In the PLAY mode, you can see the full information of your photo (press DISP. if you don't see a screen like this). There is a lot of information there but don't worry. By now you will identify the shutter speed (1"), the aperture (f/2.8) and the ISO (ISO 200). You'll find two very important clues to check if your photo is properly exposed: 1. Highlight clipping. The blue zones indicate where the image was over exposed to the point that every detail was lost (this is known as "clipping"), the display will flash to show you such pixels. In this case the image is badly over exposed. 2. Histogram. The graph below the photo is a representation of the pixels. The dark pixels are at the left and the bright pixels at the right. Each bar is one of the zones of the sensor and indicates the number of pixels with a particular amount of light. The histogram may be live (you can check it on shooting mode on high-end compact cameras and with the 40D) but most Canon cameras show the histogram only in the play mode. The following histogram tell different stories: Badly under exposed. There are five zones and most pixels are in the first one at the left. There are no pixels at the right. Correctly exposed. This was a somewhat dark scene; although you may see many dark pixels there is detail at the right. You should check for totally empty zones (no dark pixels at all or no light pixels at all are a clear indication of sub exposure or over exposure). Badly over exposed. There are no pixels at the left and everything is at the right, the scene is over exposed two whole stops.

Different combinations of ISO, shutter speed and aperture for diverse lighting situations

The following diagram shows the interaction between ISO, shutter speed and aperture in three different kinds of light for a given scene.

	Good light	Medium light	Low light
	Compact Cameras dSLR Cameras ISO 80-100 ISO 50-100	Compact Cameras dSLR Cameras ISO 80-200 ISO 50-200	Compact Cameras dSLR Cameras ISO 400-800 ISO 1600-3200
	Since there is good light, it is possible to use a reduced aperture (high f number).	The aperture may be medium. The main subject will be sharp but near and far subjects may be blurred.	The aperture may be wide open but even the main subject may be slightly blurred depending on the lens.
	Compact Cameras dSLR Cameras Up to 1/2000sec Up to 1/8000sec With good light the fast speeds will freeze moving subjects.		In the dark, moving subjects will look blurred. This may be an intentional effect e.g. to create trails of lights from moving cars. In the dark, the shutter speeds may be very long. In really low light situations it may be necessary a 1 sec shutter time or even more (the Bulb setting allows to set a very long shutter speed of even several hours -used in astro photography). In such conditions a tripod is mandatory

Dawn: a difficult scene for auto modes

A dawn is a difficult scene to meter because the sun may be extremely bright and the surroundings extremely dark. Digital cameras are not very good at such contrasty scenes. Controlling each parameter will provide you with the exposure you need together with the parameters tailored to your taste.

ISO 100 35mm f/4 1/1250	ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/640	ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/400	ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/160	ISO 80 35mm f/3.5 1/160

Having a total control of the exposure is also needed if your camera tends to under expose (like the Rebel XTi) or over expose (like the PowerShot A570IS).

Exposure Compensation
In semi-automatic modes (P, Av and Tv) the photographer chooses only some of the parameters and the camera sets everything else. In such cases you can still have control of the exposure using the Exposure Compensation. E.g. if you want to shoot everything automatically but the scene has to be slightly under exposed, in such case you should choose the P mode and use the exposure compensation to under expose the scene. The same applies to Tv and Av settings. In fully automatic cameras (such as the Digital Elph line) you can only use the exposure compensation in the so-called "Manual" mode that in reality is pretty much the P mode.

Bracketing

Once you've determined the exposure, it is possible to let the camera shoot three photographs: one under exposed, other with the exposure that you selected and a third one over exposed. In this "bracketing mode" you can decide to over expose or under expose up to 2 stops. Finally, you can bracket the exposure in one third of stops increment.

These photos are an example of bracketing one stop.

ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/640	ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/400	ISO 80 35mm f/4 1/160

More than just exposure: other ingredients

The Manual mode has other settings that may be adjusted. Some of them are optional even in auto mode (such as flash or white balance). Depending on the camera the following settings may be adjusted in automatic modes.

White Balance

Our eyes and brain work together to see the colors accurately, even though the light source may be very yellow (tungsten lamps) or even green (fluorescent H lamps). The cameras measure the "temperature" (amount of blue or red) in the scene and balance the colors accordingly. The white balance may be automatic or some pre-programmed parameters could be chosen (such as tungsten, fluorescent and even underwater or snow depending on the camera). In more advanced camera it is even possible to calibrate the camera manually. The compact cameras usually have a good white balance, although Canon dSLRs are famous for leaving the scene without adjusting the white balance too much, especially under tungsten lamps.

If you want to know more about White Balance >> click here

RAW files
In the case of cameras with the option to shot RAW files, the creative zone has the modes that enable the camera to shot these kind of files for enhanced control. Many photographers use RAW files instead of JPG because they are left untouched by the camera for further manual processing. In post production a RAW file provides extra information to have even more control in exposure and white balance, not to mention the image noise. The RAW files is a great extension to the manual mode to obtain the exact desired look.

RAW files should be processed with appropriate software. Canon provides the software to process the RAW files that are available only with the G9 (and older G cameras) and dSLR models. There are many programs that can be used to improve the photograph and process the RAW files such as Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture to mention just two. The downsides of choosing RAW files is that they are uncompressed and pretty big, and that they couldn't be used right away, the most be processed and converted to another format (such as JPG, TIFF, etc.)

If you want to know more about RAW files >> click here

Auto Focus/Manual Focus
In compact cameras the manual focus is available only in creative modes. With dSLRs the lens has an AF(auto focus) and MF (manual focus) switch. Lenses equipped with ultra sonic motors (USM) can override the auto focus anytime for fine tuning focus.

Auto Focus: Artificial Intelligence Servo
This AF mode is ideal for subjects on the move and the focusing distance keeps changing. This kind of auto focus is very useful when shooting sports or any other fast moving subject. The AI Servo is available only on dSLR cameras.

Drive

You can choose from a single shot or continuous shooting mode. In advanced dSLRs there is even a high speed mode (e.g. in the 40D 6.5 frames per second -fps-) or a normal mode (3fps). This drive mode is used for very fast moving subjects (sports, kids, pets, etc.)

Metering

In order to expose a scene properly, the camera needs to meter the overall light conditions. Modern cameras have a sophisticated metering system that calculates automatically ISO sensitivity, shutter speed and aperture.

Flash

Well, a flash may save the day but most of the time ruins the photo. This theme deserves a fully chapter, but by now it is important to know two things: one, that you can turn the flash on or off; even auto modes allow this, or there is a dedicated "no flash" mode in dSLR cameras with built in flash.

The manual mode allows in some cameras (both compact and dSLRs) to choose the flash power to suit the scene.

You can find >> here a summary of functions available on creative zones for most common Canon cameras

Final thoughts

Although cameras are getting more and more intelligent, the photographer (that means YOU) will develop his/her photographic skills. Most of us begin using the auto mode and the scenes modes of our cameras because that "P", "Av", "Tv" and "M" look pretty intimidating. Fear not, the manual mode is easy to understand if the ingredients that compose the recipe are well understood. We aimed with this text to provide a basic and understandable explanation. The goal is not to master the manual mode, but to take the pictures you want when you want and as you want.