This section describes basic camera settings for most cameras
Look on the top or the back of the camera for the ‘Mode Dial‘,
seen here.
A Mode Dial usually has the following: Auto, A, S(or T), P, M, Flower(Macro or close-up), Mountain(Landscape), Running Person(Sports), Face picture(portrait)
Modes:
Auto: Often represented by ‘Auto’ or Green Camera. Use this for most photos in most situations
Aperture: (A) controls the size of the hole in the lens. The larger the number, the Smaller the hole!
Conversely, Smaller numbers = Larger Hole in Lens. I use this for most situations. You adjust the aperture, the camera adjusts the shutter speed.
Shutter or Time: (S or T) is the shutter speed. The numbers will range, on average, between 1/5000 second(Very FAST) to 30 seconds(Very SLOW). Use this to freeze sports action or in very low light(indoor, evening or night) situations. In general, you will need a tripod with shutter speeds slower than about 1/30 second.
Program Mode: (P) is the program mode. This can be used to automate settings in different situations. Can also be used in situations where you don’t want the flash to pop up on the camera.
Manual Mode: (M) is manual mode. This gives you most control over the camera functions, and you can adjust shutter and aperture independently of one another. I don’t recommend this setting for beginner users. I’d recommend beginning by trying to take pictures with a steady hand(or tripod), getting the images in focus(I prefer auto focus), and photographing interesting things.
Macro Mode(flower): This is used for close up pictures, for example flowers or insects.
Landscape(mountain): This is used for landscapes, and distant objects like mountains. I recommend using a tripod with this setting.
Portrait(face): This setting is used for photos of people. The camera will often have settings designed to soften peoples faces.
Sports(Running person): This setting is used for photos of sports or fast moving activities. This will tend to produce crisper images of sports events using faster shutter speed and wide open lens.
Most of the newer camera from point and shoot through SLR(single lens reflex) will take fantastic pictures using the ‘Automatic mode’. There are times, though, when you may want to take a picture that you cannot achieve in the automatic mode. For example, if you are taking a picture when it’s dark, you may want to have the camera allow more light in, and this can be done by holding the shutter open for longer, or opening the aperture in the lens all the way, or by increasing the sensitivity(ISO) of the sensor, or a combination of the 3.
You may also want to have everything in the image in focus, which can be done with a very small aperture. If you only wanted one thing in focus and the rest out of focus, you would use a very large aperture.
I also cannot emphasize how important it is in many situations to have a good tripod. This can really help achieve sharper images because of less camera shake. Faster shutter speeds can also help sharpen up images and account for camera shake.
In my next posts, I will talk more in depth about Shutter, Aperture, ISO and exposure. After that I will talk about composition, and histogram.
All images copyrighted 2014 Jeff Jordan
biochem95 