When ever im on manual mode (canon 30d) and i snap a couple shots they are either too dark or too light. I also messed around with the exposure too. Maybe im doing something wrong?? How can i fix that

Dan

 

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You will see a meter that look something like this in your viewfinder.

You have a wheel on the back that moves and a wheel above the trigger that move. One contols shutter speed and one controls apature (amount of light the lens lets in)

NOW...as you move both of these you can get the RED LED bar to move left or right (see above diagram). Get the bar set to 0 and take the shot. Now you can increase shutter speed and decrease the apature (open it wider) and you will increasingly stop action, but decrease the DOF (area in front and behind the subject thats in focus) for a given light situation.

Google how to use a camera in manual settings.

 

manual mode means you set the aperture and shutter speed for the light in the scene manually, instead of letting the camera figure it out. The faster the shutter speed, the less light gets in, and the darker the photo if you don't open the aperture. The wider the aperture, the shorter the shutter speed needs to be to get a decent shot, and the lighter the piture if you don't select a faster shutter speed.

Aperture numbers are a ratio (length of lens over size of opening in lens), so "f/2" would be twice as wide as "f/4." In this case, "f" is the focal length, such as 50mm. So "f/2" would mean a 25mm opening, and "f/4" would mean a 12.5mm opening.

By the same token, shutter speeds are really a ratio. 500 really means 1/500 of a second, and 30 means 1/30th. Your camera might actually show 1/500, 1/30, etc.

ISO setting means how much light is needed to make a decent picture turn out. ISO100 needs twice as much light as ISO200.

You should play with it. It can teach you a lot about how cameras work, and you can do some really fun stuff. Setting a wide aperture lets you put one person in focus while everything in front and behind them is out of focus, which is always a cool trick

 

Along with the excellent advice given above, keep in mind your camera's meter "wants" to make a middle grey image. Whatever your target was to zero that meter discussed above should be close to a middle grey. That's great for many subjects but not all.

If you take a picture of a snowbank you want a nearly white snow. Your camera doesn't know any better and tries to make the targeted snow grey. The answer is to set the meter to something above +1, not the zero mark. Some deal if you fill the screen with a dark black bear. The camera wants to make that a medium grey bear. So set the meter to below -1. This is manual "exposure compensation."

Someone else with a 30D needs to chime in on setting metering modes (spot, center weighted, matrix or whatever Canon calls it). This is how to set the area of the viewfinder that your camera's meter evaluates.

 

Thanks guys. without your help i would of never figured it out even tho it was a couple clicks away LOL...Hopefully when mothernature treats me right I will post some pics ASAP

 

Btw is there any good books out there I can picked at Barnes and Noble for photography?

also ive noticed i have dust some where in my sensor or somewhere around there how would i remove that dust?

 

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews...wer-Review.aspx

I use the Giottos.

You can also "wet clean" the sensor (google search and don't say I didn't tell you so)

 

Here's a good sensor cleaning link --
http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm

+1 for Giotto Rocket blowers

I can recommend Copper Hill as a supplier of reasonably priced cleaning supplies.