Tip #4414 - Shooting Modes
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Shooting
Modes
If you haven't
noticed, we're in an age of all things being "ready made"
and the same applies to digital photography. Pick any point and shoot
camera or even a professional SLR camera and you will find pre-defined
shooting modes that help you automatically adjust the camera’s
focal length and exposure limits, depending on the picture you want
to take. That could either be close ups, landscapes, night shooting
or even dawn and dusk shooting. Or, even when shooting against a bright
backdrop.
Most photographers,
including professionals, are known to shoot in the Auto mode, while
very few rarely shoot in the full manual mode. There’s no right
or wrong answer to this, but below is an outline you can follow for
what shooting modes can do to a specific kind of photography. Here
we go!
For SLR
and DSLR Cameras
Aperture
Priority Mode (A or AV)
This mode is a
semi-manual mode where you choose the aperture while your camera chooses
other settings, such as the shutter speed, white balance and ISO.
It is put in place to ensure a balanced exposure level, thereby avoiding
either under-exposed or over-exposed photographs. This mode is particularly
useful to control a stationary object where you don’t need to
control the shutter speed. Choosing a larger aperture level means
the lens will get smaller and it will let less light in. That means
you’ll have a larger depth of field (more of the area in focus),
but your camera will choose a faster shutter speed.
Shutter
Priority Mode (S or TV)
With this one,
you choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the rest of the
settings. You can use this mode when you want to control the shutter
speed. For example, when photographing moving subjects, such as some
sporting action, you might want to choose a faster shutter speed to
freeze the motion. On the flip side, you might want to capture the
movement as a blur of the subject, like a waterfall, and choose a
slower shutter speed. You may also want to use a slower shutter speed
in low light conditions to get a better picture.
Program
Mode (P)
Some digital cameras
have this priority mode, in addition to the auto mode. With the cameras
that have both, the Program mode is similar to the Auto mode, but
it gives you a little more control over some of the other features,
including flash, white balance and ISO. Check your digital camera’s
manual on how the Program mode differs from the Auto mode in your
particular model.
Manual
Mode
The name says
it all. With this, you have complete control over all of the settings
and you're least dependent on any auto function of the camera. You
set the shutter speed, aperture level, ISO, white balance and flash.
This mode gives you the flexibility to set your shots the way you
want them to be. This mode is essentially used by those photographers
who are either experts or are willing to error in order to learn.
If you don’t belong to either of those types, it's best you
stick to one or the other for better results.
For Point
and Shoot Compact Cameras
Auto Mode
This is the mode
used by most photographers. Although it works in most conditions,
it’s really bad for indoor photography and some forms of outdoor
photography as well. Indoors, a camera set on Auto would use the flash,
blasting nearby subjects with light, while the background and subjects
farther back are lost in darkness. If you master the various shooting
modes, you could be using less and less of this mode, which is perfect
for beginners, but not for those who are climbing up the learning
ladder.
Sports
Mode
Represented by
an icon of a sprinter, this is perfect for taking pictures of moving
objects. This mode is also good for shooting children or pets in action.
This mode can give you higher shutter speeds to stop action, along
with a smaller aperture so that more of the action will be in focus.
Raising the shutter speed and narrowing the aperture both decrease
the amount of light coming through the lens. Some cameras then raise
the so-called ISO sensitivity to compensate, while others keep the
ISO unchanged to minimize picture noise.
Portrait Mode
The Portrait mode
is perfect for capturing solo subjects and taking passport photos.
This mode sets a wide aperture of the lens so that the background
behind your subject is softly focused. Here again, some cameras have
modes within this mode, such as Portrait Right, if the subject is
stationed on the right or Portrait Left. Similarly, there are sub-modes
for Portrait Close-up, Portrait Couple (if there are two subjects)
or Portrait Figure (if you want a waist upwards shot). However, with
its deliberately shallow depth of field, this mode is not a good choice
for group photos where members are at different distances from the
lens. The Landscape Portrait mode or even just the Landscape mode
would do better in that situation. Of course, there are some face
detection features in some cameras, like Canon, that solve this problem,
but it’s not found in most other cameras.
Landscape Mode
This is represented
with an icon showing a picture of a mountain range. This mode narrows
the aperture, so both the subject and background stay sharp, but might
zoom out to a wide angle to fit more of the background in. This mode
also works well if you want to just capture nature without any subject
in the foreground. You could also use this mode to showcase the architectural
wonders of a building. Plus, if you have two people standing in the
foreground against a mountain backdrop, some cameras have sub-modes,
like Group Right or Group Left, to help you with that as well.
Night Portrait
This mode is usually
symbolized by a figure against a dark sky with a star. This mode fires
the flash to illuminate a nearby subject and then holds the shutter
open long enough for the background to be exposed. Scene modes for
indoor photography typically turn the flash off to expose the whole
scene equally. You can open the aperture to let more light in and
turn on a stabilizing feature, given that longer shutter speeds are
needed. For shooting after a sunset, night modes turn the flash off,
hold the shutter open (use a tripod) and change the ISO sensitivity
(not always raising it, as high ISO and long shutter speeds both commonly
add noise to a picture).
Scene Modes
There are at least
a dozen different scene modes in any average compact camera. Flower
icons set the camera for close up shots and some cameras, like Nikons,
also have macro close up features that allow you to take shots of
buds, petals, bugs and insects in a way that will leave you bowled.
The Night Landscape mode (represented by a Manhattan-like skyline
at night with bright dots in the building and a crescent in the sky)
allows you to take great shots of stationery objects, whether they're
people, places or things during nighttime. But, remember to take the
shot using a tripod, because it will expose the scene for a longer
time. Any shake of the hand or camera could blur the picture.
Similarly, the
fireworks, beach and underwater modes are self-explanatory. Without
these modes, such bright scenes would look dingy, because the auto
exposure system, made for scenes of average brightness, dims brilliant
scenes. Sunset modes emphasize reds, while the autumn modes often
emphasize both reds and yellows.
And Lastly...
All of these modes
are meant to equip you with a basic knowledge of what you can do in
each of the different scene modes. The best way to learn photography
is intense practice. Don’t shy away from experimenting one bit.
The best way to know the difference between auto and the other scene
modes is to shoot the same subject in both the settings and note the
shutter speed, ISO level and aperture. The difference will be dramatic
in some cases. Tweaking the various functions of the camera can result
in some fantastic results that even textbooks can't teach you. Go
on and trial and error your way to better photography!
Happy clicking!
~ Zahid H Javali
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