How to Shoot Manual and Why it Works!

There are three things you need to set to take a great photo: ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.

Rather than let the camera manage those settings by shooting in auto, Tyler sets his ISO and aperture for a scene, and adjusts shutter speed as needed. In this clip from Documentary Wedding Photography: Capturing Reality, he explains his technique.

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[SteveCoutts]

Good, simple and well explained. It may not work for everyone in every situation but it's great to have familiar system that works, especially when shooting documentary wedding photography. If you're looking at your camera to adjust settings, you are missing shots.

[bird]

If you use Canon 5D3, why don't you use Auto ISO with Aperture priority? You can also limit your minimum shutter speed to eliminate motion blur. This can be done in a camera setting. If you do it this way, you would not have to manually adjust your shutter speed any more.

[chasmoonie]

Ok for landscapes. For wildlife and ever changing light set ISO to auto, set exposure compensation, shutter speed and aperture as required. Set max auto ISO in settings if needed. You'll rarely miss a shot :-)

[Nonthanburi]

Correction to my post: With the Fugi X-T1 I set the aperture and shutter speed for the conditions I am shooting in and set the ISO to 'AUTO' ; this never worked for me with the 5D2, but I like to control the shutter / aperture and let the ISO float on the X-T1. It works well. High ISO's are not a problem with this camera, but a blurred image is.

[Nonthanburi]

Agree with Bird271828 except I use a Fugi X-T1 and it works great for me. I also set the minimum shutter speed to 1/320 second. I used to be married to Canon but after twenty-five years of owning their top of the line bodies and L-Glass, I sold all of it and moved on.

[ShaineMata]

I do something similar. I set my shutter speed and aperture and let the ISO flop around. Shutter speed is set to avoid motion blur, so that gets locked down at a good speed.

Aperture is set to make sure the whole face is in focus. I like shallow DoF; but, I can't rely on it to keep eyes in focus when I'm running around, or they aren't on the same focal plane. So that gets locked down at 8ish. 

That only leaves me ISO to adjust, which goes into full Auto. Yes, there is noise; but, only in dark places. Most people have enough sense to stay in lit areas for photos. The better your camera, the better it copes with noise. Why spend so much for a feature you're afraid to use?

The only time I do lock down ISO is when it's high enough that my shutter speed doesn't go too low, and I know that a bright light or dark patch will throw off the metering. This way I can adjust shutter speed like Tyler describes in this video. In that case, I can't rely on ISO to auto adjust properly, so have to take control of shutter speed instead. 

Even with all that, I know I can get away with underexposing one or two stops, which gives more ISO leeway. 

Of course, my use of photos is more about being witness to public events rather than selling a guaranteed level of quality. Noise is quite alright for what I do; it would likely be unacceptable for professional use. 

So, even though my purposes are different, I agree that manual can be simple and almost brainless if you've thought about it in advance.