Monday 15 June 2015

Manually Challenged!

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been trying to follow the challenges laid down by Katy each month to discover and try out hitherto unknown settings on my camera. This month's challenge was very daunting - to dispense with the comfort of automatic or pre-set settings and go into freefall with manual!

My husband thinks I spend too much time dithering over taking photos as it is, so this was definitely going to be a challenge and a half :) Fortunately, for me, said husband took himself off to Ireland on a golfing trip last week so at least I wasn't clock watching as well as trying to get my head around the manual settings!

The gardens in a local stately home are just coming into their best so that was my first port of call for the manual challenge.

Gardens, Belsay Hall Northumberland


I am used to only having to think about one setting when I take my photographs, so as you can probably imagine having to consider several things seemingly at once took a bit of getting to grips with! Landscapes, at least, don't move which is more than can be said for the subject of the next challenge photo.

A while ago my mum gave me a solar-powered butterfly decoration for a pot plant. Although the plant was sitting next to a set of patio doors, it clearly didn't get enough sun as the butterfly never moved an inch. A recent reshuffle of the rooms lead to said plant being relocated to the greenhouse. When we then had wall-to-wall sunshine for the next few days, well I am sure that you can image what happened! The poor butterfly has been frantically beating its' wings ever since :)

The perfect subject to challenge my manual skills. Just in case you think I have cracked it though, here is my first attempt :)

Not quite so obvious there is a butterfly there is it?

I have certainly enjoyed this challenge, and would never have attempted the manual settings on the camera without it, but I suspect that it will take a lot more practise on my part before using the manual settings comes anywhere near naturally to me.

How about you? Are you a point and shooter, or do you know your way around your camera settings like a pro?

Linking up to

Camera Challenge Outtake - Where Shall I Take My 'Where I Went On My Holidays' Photos This Year?

13 comments:

  1. Yay you, well done for embracing it! The butterfly looks fab, and believe me, I have plenty of failure shots lol

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  2. Well done! Shooting in manual mode is a bit scary at first, but it gets easier with practice.

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  3. good photos you are certainly getting into this camera.

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  4. Your 'butterfly' shot is great, no blurring at all. I used to use a manual camera with no bother at all before the automatic ones became affordable but now, well, I'm so used to point and shoot I don't think I could go back to manual!

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  5. Well done. I love your photos. I'm afraid I'm a point and shooter. Both my cameras are completely idiot proof, they have to be.

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  6. Well done. I love your photos. I'm afraid I'm a point and shooter. Both my cameras are completely idiot proof, they have to be.

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  7. If it makes you feel any better the pros say you get 1 good shot in 10 and 1 great shot in 10 good ones!

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  8. I very impressed - I'm even worse than point-and-shoot - I'm grab-the-phone!!!! In my defence my camera is pre digital! Both girls did A level photography, and so there is a proper camera around, (not that I'd know where to find it!) but I think even they did more on composition than the workings!

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  9. Sad to say, point and click for me. You are powering along!!!

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  10. Your photography is going from strength to strength :)

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  11. I find even click and point challeging but your photo is very impressive!

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  12. Point and click here! Your butterfly looks amazing.

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  13. I'm with you on the trials and tribulation of "manual"! My first attempt was so dark I deleted it immediately. I'd never have attempted using "manual" either if it hadn't been for Katy's push! I guess we just have to keep practising. I'm still feeling optimistic about the outcome, after all I've learnt a ton already!

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