Camera Modes
Understanding DSLR Camera Shooting Modes
Auto Mode
Automatic Exposure is when the camera chooses the
optimum shutter speed, aperture, ISO and flash settings for your shot.
All you need to do is point and shoot. This can be good if you have no
idea of what settings to choose and also when you need to shoot quickly.
The shot here is perfectly exposed as the day is well lit, though
auto-exposure may struggle in situations where the light is uneven, and
it tends to trigger the flash even when it’s not necessary.
Portrait Mode
Portrait mode will “think” that there is a subject in
the foreground of the frame and choose a shallow depth of field in
order to keep the human subject in focus but the background blurred. If
the camera reads the scene as dark, it will add fill-in flash. Fill-in
flash is useful in sunny conditions too, when the sun casts a harsh
shadow. Portrait mode generally works best in well lit conditions.
Macro Mode
Macro mode is very useful to take a photograph of an
image smaller than your hand. Remember that macro mode will not give you
super close up images; for this you will need a macro lens. Macro mode
will work best in bright conditions and will choose a shallow depth of
field to focus on the subject. Therefore, if light is low, use a tripod.
Your focusing also has to be more careful when taking a macro image.
This is because when you use a shallow depth of field, you give yourself
a smaller margin for error.
Landscape Mode
Landscape mode usually uses a small aperture (high
f/number) to create a well focused image from the foreground into the
distance (on old style cameras, the setting was ‘infinity’ represented
by a sideways figure 8). Landscape mode tends to suit a wide lens, and
again works well if the scene is well lit. It will use flash if it reads
the foreground as too dark, but you can manually turn this off.
Sports Mode
Because sports are fast paced activities, sports mode
will give you a high shutter speed of at least 1/500 – 1/1000 of a
second. With a high shutter speed to freeze movement, it means that
flash is usually not necessary – though once again this works best on a
bright day. Sports mode can work well alongside continuous shooting
mode, where images are taken consecutively – the result is a number of
shots capturing action in mid air.
Night Portrait Mode
In the night portrait mode, the camera will try to
balance the darkness of the background with the need to light the
subject in the foreground. The aperture will have to be fairly wide to
allow enough light in to capture the background and keep the subject in
focus, but at the same time flash is necessary to illuminate the person
and avoid blur. Sometimes the night portrait mode will double flash,
creating an unusual double exposure look.
Advanced Camera Modes
On most DSLR cameras, there will also be the letter
modes – M (Manual), AV (Aperture-Priority), TV or S (Shutter-Priority)
and P (Programmed Auto). Manual allows the photographer to change every
single setting; Aperture-Priority allows the photographer to set the
aperture value and the camera automatically sets the correct shutter
speed; TV lets the photographer choose the shutter speed first (for
example when shooting sports) and the camera automatically sets the
correct aperture. P-Program mode is similar to Auto mode - the shutter
and aperture settings are determined by the camera, but the photographer
can adjust the shooting and image-recording functions.
Conclusion
Some people consider it amateurish to use pre
determined settings, when in fact there may be times when we are in a
rush and cannot adjust everything manually. Also remember that using
these modes will teach you about photography and ideal settings for
different conditions. If in doubt, you can use Auto camera mode, then
adjust the settings manually. Auto settings are there to be used so try
them all, and become familiar with what each one does.
