What does that button do?

On all but very basic cameras there are settings that you can, for the most part, change to your hearts content. Even most of the point and shoot like compact cameras can change settings like shutter speed and ISO. Most larger camera have a dial on the top right of the body with smaller cameras usually having the setting hidden somewhere in the menu systems.

Looking at a typical mode change dial you will usually see some modes represented by pictures and some by letters. The pictures are the Scene Modes designed for night photography, portraits, fireworks and the like.These can be quite useful, but once you understand the “Letter Modes” you will rarely need to use these scene modes.

Between these scene modes and manual modes, there is often an Auto Mode. Stay away from this. The only time you use this is when you hand the camera to someone who has never touched such a modern device.

This leaves us with the four lettered modes. These are only modes that we are really interested in. On Canon cameras these modes are marked with P, Tv, Av, and M. On Nikon cameras these are P, S, A, and M. Other cameras have their own variations, but the ideas are the same and easy to recognise. If it is in the menu system it might have a more descriptive name. There is also a button on many cameras to make it possible to quickly change your ISO level. If not, go menu system searching.

P Mode stands for Program Mode. For all intensive purposes P is just another Auto Mode. The camera does everything for you, but you are able to make some adjustments to the setting. Just like with full Auto Mode, you should stay away from this. It is not your friend.

S Mode on Nikon, Tv Mode on Canon, is Shutter Priority Mode. This lets you choose the shutter speed for your photos. The shutter speed determines how long your camera’s sensor or film is exposed to the light. That is the soft “click” sound you hear when you take a photo. When you look through your viewfinder or at your display on the back of the camera you will see your shutter speed displayed. It is usually a number displayed as 1 over something, e.g.. 1/30 or 1/250. This means that the shutter will be open for one 30th of a second or one 250th of a second. The larger the bottom number the faster the shutter will open and close. When the shutter speed is shown as a small number with what looks like a starting quotation mark next to it e.g.. 2”, it means that the shutter will be open in full seconds rather than fractions. In this case larger numbers mean slower shutter speeds.

Why would you care about this mode? Because this mode is useful when you are trying to capture motion. Those evening photos where cars rush by leaving the lines of light all over the image are done by leaving the shutter open longer. In other words, a slow shutter creates movement, blur and shake. Shake is bad. To avoid it most people shoot normal daylight photography comfortably at 1/30 shutter speed. Action, like sport, are often shot at about 1/250. It is a little more complicated than that, but this is not the place to discuss that.

A Mode on Nikon, Av Mode on Canon, is the Aperture Priority Mode. Most photographers seem to prefer this mode as it is easy to change aperture for full control over depth of field and knock-on control of shutter speed. A camera’s aperture is the size of the hole that allows light into the camera. The bigger the hole, the more light comes in to the camera. Usually this is very easy to change. Once you are in Aperture Priority Mode you usually have a wheel on the camera body to turn and change the setting. In your viewfinder or on your screen the Aperture will be represented by a “f”or ”F” followed by a number, eg. F8.0 or F2.8. Because of the f many people prefer to call this the F-Stop. Confusingly the smaller number means a larger aperture.

Aperture is very useful for “artistic” reasons because it is what you use to adjust Depth of Field, the focus area. Basically, a small large aperture Depth of Field mean a small area of the photo will be in focus and a large area will seem blurry. A small aperture will put most of the photo in focus.

Why would you care about this? Let us say you are trying to photograph someone, but you don’t really want to see all the people in the background. Set your camera to have a large aperture, a small F number. When you focus on the person, the background will be mostly blurred and the focus is taken of those people in the back completely. If you are taking a photo of a landscape then you want everything to be in focus, right? This is where you will use a small aperture, or a large number.

M Mode is the full Manual Mode and is not really as difficult as it sounds. It just lets you change what you already change in A and S modes. The biggest issue with this mode is that it takes time to set up your camera. With varying lighting situations like you might have while walking outside, this might not be the easiest mode to shoot in. This mode is good for cameras on tripods or in studios.

The last setting you need to worry about it your ISO. All this does is change your camera’s sensitivity to light. A higher ISO makes your camera more sensitive to light and you can therefore shoot photos in darker situations. In clubs, for instance, you need your camera to be very sensitive to light. More sensitive cameras mean brighter photos. Easily done because we can just bump up the ISO. The problem is that those club photo always seem like they are lower quality than that daylight photos. That is because a more sensitive camera picks up stray light and electrons which cause photos to look grainy. As a rule of thumb you try to keep your ISO as low as possible.

How do you know what your ISO should be? The best indication is your shutter speed. If it is too slow then your photos will be blurry. Keep pushing the ISO up until your you get 1/30 for normal photo or faster if movement is involved.

 

“Cheat Sheet” Aperture ( F Stop) Mode: Small numbers give out of focus background for portraits and single objects Large numbers for everything in focus like street photos or landscapes Shutter Speed Mode: Very slow 2” for lights at night Medium 1/30 - 1/50 for hand held everyday photos Fast 1/250 for action photography ISO: Is your shutter speed to slow? Increase the ISO number. Reset it to ISO100 when you are done

 

** I was hoping to have time to write multiple shorter posts that do not jam everything down in one read. Alas, it can’t be so. I will eventually rewrite this post and split it up into descriptions of each mode.