Messing with Manual ~~~ The Sunset

The past few weeks I have been really excited to be able to explore the manual settings on my Nikon. I have played with the aperture (f/stops), shutter speed, and focus. In these photos that I took of a sunset at a nearby park, I mainly changed the aperture and the shutter speed.

Left Photo: 1/800s (shutter speed) f/5 (aperture) Right Photo 200s (shutter speed) f/5 (aperture)

These two photos were taken when I was still trying to figure out the correct balance of aperture and shutter speed. By the way, I don't know about you, but I have mainly been adjusting the shutter speed to change the lighting. Is it better to use the aperture? I seem to have more flexibility using it.

1/1500s  f/5

I finally figured it out. :)

1/400s  f/5

Left Photo: 1/320s f/5.6  Right Photo: 1/320s  f/4.5 

1/800s   f/4

1/800s  f/5.6

1/1500s  f/3.5

1/500s  f/8

I hope you enjoy this first installment of Messing with Manual. I am having a ton of fun learning about all this and I hope it encourages any other photographers to give it a try if you haven't before. If you are a reader who has been doing this for a while, I would definitely appreciate any tips. Have a great week all of you!