In the latest edition of my Digital Photography Tips, I want to talk “briefly” about the settings dial that is on your digital SLR or point and shoot digital camera. As always, I am going to work from my Canon 40D as a reference – but the settings I’ll discuss map very cleanly to other Canon and Nikon cameras. For the sake of this article I am going to talk about the 5 most common dial settings that you’ll encounter and the impact that each one will have on your photography.
Green Automatic is the Easiest But …..
On Canon & Nikon digital cameras there is a dial setting that is depicted as a green rectangle/icon. This setting is referred to as the “fully automatic” setting. When you set your camera to shoot in this mode, the digital camera is literally making every decision for you. In my last posting about exposure, I talked about Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. Under the “fully automatic” setting, your camera is making a qualitative guesstimate on what it thinks the exposure should be. As the person pressing the shutter button, you’re only job is to make sure that your subject is framed properly and that your hand is steady and not shaking. Use this setting when you first start using your digital camera and you want to get the shot without having to stop and think about anything. One important note about this setting, the camera will also decide wether it thinks your subject and exposure could be improved by the usage of the internal flash. I like to leave my camera on this setting if hand my camera to someone take a picture of me or my wife and I’m the least bit concerned about the ambient lighting. One final note: unlike the other dial settings that I am about to discuss, ”fully automatic” is the only one that COMPLETELY restricts my ability to change Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed. The Camera is truly in TOTAL CONTROL.
Aperture Priority is for the Artist in All of Us …
On Canon digital cameras there is a dial setting that is labeled as “Av”. This setting is known as “Aperture Priority” and allows you to directly control one of our 3 exposure characteristics. By setting the Aperture manually with this setting, your digital camera will guarantee that it adjusts the shutter speed and ISO to deliver a proper exposure. Depending upon the camera that you are shooting with, adjusting the aperture value will be a lit bit different from model to model. But why would we want to adjust our aperture settings? Well, if we want to selectively assign focusing priority to something in the frame while de-emphasizing focus from something else – we could utilize a larger aperture (smaller number) to guarantee that a shallow depth of field is applied around our target subject. Alternatively, we would also use aperture priority if we wanted to guarantee a very-large depth of field regardless of how deep into the frame our subject might happen to be. In this situation we would want to select a smaller aperture value (larger f/stop number). Using Av is best suited for situations where you are not concerned about your subject(s) moving and you want to generate a specific artistic effect with selective focusing or by rendering a large depth of field. (Nikon cameras use “A” in lieu of “Av”)
Shutter Priority is for the Brave, Steady or Tripods amongst Us …
On Canon digital cameras there is a dial setting that is labeled as “Tv”. This setting is known as “Shutter Priority” and allows you to directly control another of our 3 exposure characteristics. By setting the Shutter Speed manually with this setting, your digital camera will guarantee that it adjusts the Aperture and ISO to deliver a proper exposure. Depending upon the camera that you are shooting with, adjusting the shutter speed value will be a lit bit different from model to model. But why would we want to adjust the shutter speed settings? Well, if we want to selectively imply motion in our photograph, we would utilize a lower shutter speed like 15 (1/15 of a second) or 30 (1/30th of a second). If the subject is moving with any velocity at all, these shutter speeds will give the rendered image the appearance of motion. Alternatively, we could also use shutter priority if we wanted to guarantee that an overly dark environment does not prevent us from getting the shot that we desperately want to capture. In this case, even slower shutter speeds like 8 (1/8 of a second), 6 (1/6 of a second), 5 (1/5 of a second) [or even slower] will allow the camera sensor to collect more light to make that poorly lit church look nicely well-lit. Please be aware, when shooting with slower speeds like this – a tripod (or something guaranteeing the steadiness of the camera) becomes almost a requirement. On the other hand, using very fast shutter speeds like 250, 500, 1000, etc. will enable the photographer to “freeze” motion to produce an image that we could not normally appreciate with the naked eye. (Nikon cameras use “S” in lieu of “Tv”)
Program Mode is the Best For Everyday, Spontaneous Snapshots …
On Canon & Nikon digital cameras there is a dial setting that is labeled as “P”. This setting is known as the “fully programmatic” setting. When you set your camera to shoot in this mode, the digital camera is still willing to make every decision for you. In this regard this dial setting is just like the “green automatic” setting discussed earlier – but with one KEY difference. Shooting on “P” is differentiated by the fact that the built-in-flash will not automatically be fired. If the goal of the photographer is to AVOID the harshness that automatic flash often delivers AND have the camera STILL make all the decisions, this dial setting is the best to use for everyday photographic opportunities. This is the setting I use whenever I am in a “candid family photo” scenario. If I take the shot and then discover that there was some motion blur due to a moving subject (like my 6 year old son), I will turn my flash on and retake the shot. This is also the mode that I will place my camera in when I am walking around outdoors and want to be able to catch random subjects quickly.
Manual Mode is truly for Exposure Magicians …
On Canon & Nikon digital cameras there is a dial setting that is labeled as “M”. This setting is referred to as the “fully manual” setting. When you set your camera to shoot in this mode, the digital camera’s only response to you pressing the shutter half-way down is to indicate the quality of the exposure that has been metered based on your manual settings for ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Under this setting, you are responsible for EVERYTHING. The camera makes no assertions and just does whatever you tell it to. Aside from professional photographers, the only practical usage for this setting is when you might be shooting with lenses or flashes whose calibration is not automated with particular camera body that you are using. For most of us, this scenario does not come into play very often and as a result should be avoided unless you have a need to generate an exposure which would be considered non-standard. In the 15 months I have owned my 40D, I have shot on “fully manual” in a very limited number of situations.
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