“Shmauto” I just made that up. Kind of like it.
Ok, let’s see if I can explain this without writing a novel. Before I begin I feel like I should mention that all of this information is coming straight from me. I’ve done LOTS of studying and learning my camera over the years and so this post will be based off of what I know. I might not be technically correct with some of it, but it’s what I know and it works for me. Which I think is important…do what you know and love not what is technically correct. I think we can apply that to a lot of areas in our lives…just saying.
Let’s start with the differences in auto and manual. When you shoot in automatic you are telling your camera to do the work for you. You tell it to pick your focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance. I’m sure there are more but those are the main ones I’m concerned about when shooting. What your camera thinks is the right exposure for your shot might not be what you want it to be. It is going to make sure that everything in the view finder is just right…with no blown out areas. Well, sometimes we like blown out areas and its going to take you turning that knob to the M for you to get the right exposure. Now, I’m not going to go into all of the exposure stuff now but believe me…shooting in manual makes so much difference.
Manual allows you to set everything yourself. You get to decide what you want to focus on, what you want to be brighter or darker, what you want your white balance to be, your ISO and so on. ALL of these factors play a huge role in getting that perfect shot. This is why you need to form a new relationship with your camera. Yes, that’s right, I’m basically telling you to make it your new boyfriend/girlfriend, the child in your marriage, the third will on a date…Ok, not really but do you see where I’m going? You need to know what every little button does. I do, and could probably do a session in my sleep. Ok, not exactly. But it has become second nature to me. I am still constantly learning about it too. I never want to get to a point where I think I’ve figured it all out. What’s the fun in that? I want to learn something new with each push of the button.
So when you shoot in auto your pictures are saved as a JPEG (or at least mine are. I don’t ever take my camera off manual, so I’m not sure if you can change that) where as manual images have the option to be RAW *If you are shooting in manual but have your camera set to produce a jpeg image, I would suggest switching it to RAW. Yes, the files are huge but just trust me here.* You might think your pictures look ok in camera when you shoot in auto, but then you get them into PS or whatever you choose to edit in and it’s a whole hours worth of work just for one image. EVERYTHING is off..white balance, exposure, skin tones…the list goes on. I edit in PS CS5 which opens all of my RAW images in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW). This allows me to fix exposure, white balance, temperature…you name it, you can fix it in ACR. JPEG images open right up in PS…however, you do have the option to tell it to open in ACR but I find it difficult to fix a JPEG in ACR. Maybe that’s just me.
I took lots of examples to show you the difference in Auto and Manual. I used me sweet babies and shot a picture in auto and then set it correctly in manual. I will show you the SOOC (Straight out of camera) image for both and then I will show you how differently they look once edited. I used the same action recipe on all images.
Here is the first SOOC example. Yes, it’s in auto. Notice how blue/gray the entire image is. Nothing is showing it’s true colors.
Also notice that sweet beautiful smile. My heart leaps when she smiles
Here is the SOOC example in manual. It’s warm and pretty spot on to it’s true colors. 
Here is the edit on the image shot in auto…YIKES! It’s still so cool and look at her perfectly creamy skin…it’s not looking so creamy here.
Here is the final edit on the image shot in manual. What a difference!! I used the EXACT same recipe on these two images and look how differently they came out. So much better!
Here is another example of an image shot in manual. SOOC
My final edit.
With this next image I was simply MORTIFIED….my on camera flash popped up because I was in auto. UGH. I. NEVER. USE. ON. CAMERA. FLASH. I never use flash PERIOD. I can’t stand it. I would love to dabble in off camera flash. But, my friends, on camera flash is just nasty. plain and simple. All natural light is lovely!
Just look at how gross…sure the grass is green and the metal fence isn’t blown out…but look at Adalyn..blue and gray. Do I even need to say anything about the final edit below? YUCK.
You can see the flash in her eyes and that just drives me crazy. Please don’t ever do this and present it to a client…sorry for my blunt-ness but it just isn’t good.
Here is the next image I took in manual…the background is blown but so what…I’m not worried about the background or the left side of her face that is blown. The majority of her face is correct for the most part and that’s all I care about.
Here is the edit. Same actions used above in the auto image were used here.
Are you beginning to see a pattern? Auto/jpeg images just aren’t as easily edited as manual RAW images. Now, it wouldn’t be fair of me to post pictures of my sweet girl and not my big boy.
So here you go. Hutch and daddy playing t-ball. Again…the sun was pretty low, not giving me much light so my on camera flash popped right on up when I put it in auto. Look at the blur from his swing…eww.
Here is the final edit. Blech.
Here is the image in manual. Not a technically perfect shot but you get the point.
Final edit.
One more example.
Auto= Dark and boring.
Final edit= nothing special.
Here is the manual image I shot right after the one above. It really doesn’t need any help in PS but I did because I just can’t help it.
Are you beginning to see that using actions on an image shot in manual and RAW can enhance your image? They can bring them to life!
My intentions here were not to step on any toes but to show you just how important it is to know your camera if you are going to call yourself a photographer and charge clients. If you come up with one picture after 30 minutes of editing and wouldn’t hang it on your wall…then don’t present it. I often find it helpful when I’m editing to step away for a while and then come back. This gives my eyes a rest so when I come back to the computer I see that it’s too bright or still to dark which allows me to fix it.
With most of my manual examples, there really wasn’t much need to even edit them. This is because they were properly exposed and set in camera. That is the important thing…get it right IN camera. Don’t say “Oh well, I’ll fix it later”. No No friends…why create more work for yourself?
So, I’m encouraging you to get out, play with your kids/pets/friends and learn your camera. If you have a DSLR and use it in auto then you just bought a really expensive point and shoot camera. You should have just bought the Canon Powershot. I know that there are times when you want to get a quick snap shot of your kiddos at night and the only way to do that is by putting your camera on auto and using the pop up flash. That’s fine! I do it sometimes. I’m just begging you to not do it for clients. But if you are a momma who never intends on going into business…have at it!
I hope you feel encouraged after this. I really hope it wasn’t too in your face, but I had to get my point across. This business is so over saturated and I see so many “photographers” who have a DSLR and think just because they have one they can go into business. Not so much. So this was to help encourage you to set yourself apart from all the other “newbies” out there. I am by no means claiming that I’ve got it all figured out and that my work is perfect. I never will and my work will never be perfect. But I like it and that is all that matters. I also happen to know a thing or two about how to use my camera and I feel like sharing that knowledge. So go out and practice and come back here to ask ANYTHING. I’ll answer!
So I’m going to close my eyes to this last part and share some of my very first pictures that I took. I thought they were awesome. Eww…not really. I don’t have many that I shot in auto because I’ve pretty much always shot in manual. I learned back in high school and took a class in college. But you still get the idea how practice makes you better! It is actually fun to see how much I’ve grown with my camera. Hopefully it will encourage you to not give up if you feel like you just can’t get it. Do you research in your spare time and learn to get it right. All it takes is one good shot for the lightbulb to come on. Once you get it, it’s like everything else will start to make sense.
First set of pictures I took of my son in 2010. Not great.
Can we say over processed??
His hands are in focus here…why would I do that. His eyes should be…
This is just awful. Look at his eyes.
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