Loni with her Canon T2i in North Straub Park during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaWith the sound of racecars in the background, I met Loni for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg. The reason for the engine noise was that the Grand Prix was going to be raced a few days later. Fortunately the noise came and went and I was able teach my 5-step process for shooting in manual mode on a DSLR to Loni without having to talk over racecars the entire time. Like many people that take my photography lessons, this was her first DSLR and to this point had pretty much only been shooting in auto-mode. It is commonly thought that manual mode means changing ten or more settings to make a photograph each and every time. Even I thought that long ago. However, there really is no large complexity with shooting in manual mode, especially if you have the benefit of learning my tried and true step-by-step methodology.
Even though her Canon is an older model, it was actually more useful than many of the latest models as she pretty much had a physical button on the DSLR body for every one of the five things that need to be set for shooting in manual mode. Many newer cameras make you go into menus to change some things.
Loni caught on well in how to use the meter to get help in choosing a shutter speed as we practiced making shallow depth of field photographs, moving subject photographs and even natural light portraits in the shade. It was another info packed 2-hour introductory lesson. Loni wants to keep learing so I will be seeing her again soon.
