The Canon Magazine 33
SKILLS
Manual for macro
You can use Manual mode to lockoff your exposure settings for close-up
s h ot s , a s i n Av o r Tv m o d e , eve n a s m a l l
amount of movement will change
your exposure. Depth of field is much
more shallow when you shoot macro
subjects, making even a mid-range
aperture of f/11 seem very shallow.
Experiment with your aperture to get the
a m o u n t of d e pt h of fi e l d yo u’re h a p py
with. Camera-shake is much more
noticeable when shooting close-ups, so
b e s u re to s w i tc h o n i m a ge s t a b i l iz a ti o n
to reduce this, and use a tripod or
monopod to help steady the shot. You’ll
want a fast shutter speed of around
1/200 sec to get sharp close-up shots.
Once you’re happy with the aperture and
depth of field, you’ll need to tweak the
ISO setting to get the right exposure.
ISO affects exposure
As well as adjusting your aperture
and shutter speed in Manual mode to
tweak your exposure, you can also use
ISO in unison to brighten or darken shots.
S i m p l y p u t , i f yo u’re a t IS O10 0 a n d yo u r
shots are too dark, but you want to keep
your aperture and shutter speed fixed,
then you just increase your ISO to 200,
400, 800 etc, until you’re happy with your
exposure. You can also use ISO to obtain a
faster shutter speed – keep your aperture
fixed, and increase your ISO until you can
dial in a shutter speed you’re happy with.
For the sparrow image (left) we shot at
f/5.6 with a 400mm lens and we increased
the ISO to 1250 to get a very fast shutter
speed of 1/3200 sec to quickly capture a
sharp shot of the bird before it flew off.Exposure
indicator
Manual mode
isn’t as difficult
to use as some
beginners think; your
camera will still meter a
scene or subject, and then you can use
the Exposure Level Indicator as a guide.
This appears at the bottom of the LCD/
viewfinder. When a ‘correct’ exposure
i s s et , t h e E x p o s u re Leve l M a r k w i l l b e
in the middle of the Exposure Level
I n d i c a to r. I f t h e s h ot i s to o d a r k o r to o
bright, then you can either change the
shutter speed or aperture to brighten/
darken your images. For example, a
mid-range aperture of f/8 will let in less
light to your Canon camera’s sensor
c o m p a re d to a n a p e r t u re of f/4 ,
therefore darkening your photo.CANON SKILLS
In Manual mode you
can still use your Canon
camera’s meter to help
set your exposures