Beyond Manual Mode is perfect for the beginner and brand new photographer.
If you’re just getting started in photography, then Beyond Manual Mode is going to help you out a lot. It’s one of the courses included in the 5 Day Deal. As it implies, it’s very much for beginners. You’ll explore various aspects of photography, including the lesser discussed options. Photographers will learn about light, color, theory, dynamic range, shutter speed, and other things. And there’s even bonus content where they talk about creative applications of these concepts. That’s the important part after you’ve learned all the rest, of course!
Beyond Manual Mode tackles several elementary things. You should really think of it as your manual. If you were still in school, you could imagine it as a textbook glossary of terms. The best part of all of this is that it’s all in one place for you. Instead of going around and searching for one YouTube video or another, you’ll get it from one source. More importantly, you’ll have it explained to you really well. What you won’t get is a more practical application of how these are used in each section. Instead, you’ll need to deep dive into other areas of the course. To go even further, you’re better off using the other courses included in the 5 Day Deal.
There are huge reasons why I love Beyond Manual Mode. While you’re introduced to a lot of basic concepts, you get it throughout the photo world. They talk about light, color theory, shooting, and various shooting situations. I adore the fact that backlighting is discussed so much too. Way too many photographers just work with it and natural lighting during the golden hour. But there’s so much more about incredibly complicated lighting. The instructor shows you that you don’t need to do everything in post-production. He teaches to be a photographer instead of relying on post-production, and that’s important!
There’s even a section about glare! Eliminating glare is incredibly essential at times.
Pretty much everything that you’d want to know is explained in very rudimentary ways. And everything is incredibly straightforward. Certain things may vary depending on what system you’re using. But you’ll love this course. You’ll even get to an area about color theory. Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot out there on this subject compared to other aspects of photography. And that’s part of why this course is so fantastic. Instead of just going out and shooting photos, this section will hint that you need to think more carefully about color. It goes into things like feeling, which too many photographers don’t do.
I’m going to specifically nitpick on the Metering explanation video. The presenter does arguably one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen. You learn a whole lot here. But I think that it’s still flawed. This may be personal, but I think everyone should know Sunny 16. Instead of relying on your camera’s metering, you should learn how to meter without it. If you do that, then you’ll understand more of what you want vs. what the camera is telling you. That means that you’ll get more of the photos you want and not what the camera thinks you want. All that is included in this section, though. However, he says that it’s flawed, and it is, but I think that you need to just understand more of what you want and not the camera. If you keep shooting at Sunny 16, then you learn to understand light, shadows, etc. more.
The screenshot is taken from the photography course.