Nature Photography How To

This tutorial is sure to turn some heads, so if you enjoy surprises you've got one in store as a notable pro explains what he says is the easiest way to nail exposure every time. His name is Steve Arnold and he insists that by following his advice you'll consistently get the light right forever more.

Arnold begins the episode with this promise: "I'm going to show you a simple method pros use to easily capture perfectly exposed images without ever having to worry about all the complicated stuff like calculating stops, ambient light or metering so you never have to worry about missing a shot again."

So what is this miraculous surprise? Manual Mode! You heard us right. Arnold puts it like this: "I want to dispel a common myth and explain why using your camera in any kind of Auto mode is the hardest way to shoot—while using a camera in full Manual mode is the easiest." We bet you weren't prepared to hear that.

This notion certainly contradicts conventional wisdom, but we suggest giving Arnold the benefit of the doubt as he explains the reasoning behind this technique that's supposedly reserved for very experienced shooters. You may even agree and rotate your camera's mode dial to "M" by the time this six-minute discussion concludes.

Arnold provides this reminder with which most photographers would agree: "When shooting in full Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or even Manual with Auto ISO, you're letting the camera decide what the best exposure is." His point is that that there's room for the camera to get it wrong, and your only choice when this occurs is messing around with Exposure Compensation.

On the other hand, "If you want to take all the decisions away from your camera and capture exposure at the right levels for what you're doing, then Manual mode is the only way to go." Many photographers would also agree with this statement. What raises eyebrows, however, is Arnold's insistence that shooting in Manual is easier that using one of the automatic modes.

His explanation is this: "I'm going to lay it out in a way that's easy to understand and even easier to use when you're out in the field and it's crunch time. I've got it down to a simple step-by-step process that anyone can follow." So take a look and give it a try. If this approach works for your there's an added bonus: You can ignore all the purists who insist that "you're not a real photographer unless you shoot in Manual."

There's  lot more to learn, about landscape photography in particular, on Arnold's popular YouTube channel.

We also suggest watching the related tutorial we posted recently, explaining how another accomplished landscape shooter restores underexposed photographs in Lightroom.