Your Digital Cameras Scene Modes
If you're like most people, you've used a few of the Scene Modes on your digital camera. Portrait mode, maybe Landscape mode and certainly Macro mode. After you finish with both parts of this article I hope you'll venture into trying some of the other Scene Modes.
Portrait Mode
Portrait mode is for taking people pictures. Whether it's a single person or a group of people, you should use the Portrait mode. Your digital camera will select an appropriate shutter speed and aperture combination to capture your subject and blur the background. The idea here is to make the background less distracting.
Newer digital cameras incorporate autofocus technology that actually scans the picture looking for faces. It's usually called Face Priority or Face Detection. It especially helps when your subject is not dead center in the picture or when you have a group of people. Nikon, Fuji, Sony and others manufacturers are putting this technology in many cameras.
Check your owners manual to see if your digital camera uses this technology and whether it's automatic or you have to enable it manually.
Landscape Mode
Landscape mode should be your choice for all of those breathtaking views you want to shoot. Scenic vistas of the beach, the mountains, a field of flowers or a city skyline are all prime uses for Landscape mode. Your digital camera selects an exposure combination to maximize what's in focus from front to back.
Although it's not absolutely necessary, using a tripod or some other sort of support will help. Walk around a bit to find the best vantage point. Sometimes a small shift to the left or right (or up or down) will make the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.
Night Portrait-Night Landscape Modes
Since I've just discussed Portrait and Landscape mode, I want to touch on variations of them. Night Portrait and Night Landscape are designed for shooting those scenes at night. Your digital camera may or may not have these modes, or they may be called something slightly different. Needless to say, when using these Night modes there is one thing you need to do to get good quality pictures.
Use a tripod! (Mine is in the back of my car about 75% of the time.) Since these Night scene modes both use a slow shutter speed, the camera needs to be rock steady. The longer exposure times help record more of the ambient light. Night Portrait mode will force the flash on so that your portrait subject is lit well, along with recording the street scene behind them. Night Landscape forces the flash off and strictly relies on long exposure times (perhaps a few seconds) to properly record the scene.
If you have a table or railing available you could use the self timer on your digital camera. Using the self timer allows the camera to settle after you mash the shutter button. Using a device like The Pod is another choice. It's a small beanbag with a tripod screw on top so you can mount your camera to it. The Pod works very well.
Sports Mode
Whether it's kids soccer or baseball, or an NFL game, Sports mode is designed to help you stop the action. Your digital camera will set the shutter speed as high as possible for the lighting conditions in order to stop action. Sports mode also puts your camera in to Continuous shooting mode and forces the flash off. If you can, setting the ISO to 400 or 800 will also help. A few cameras do this for you.
You'll want to get as close as you can for great Sports and action pictures. First get physically close, right on the sidelines if possible. Move up and down the field with the action. (Not so easy at hockey games.) Then use your zoom lens to get the shot you want. Take some wide shots to show all the action, along with tight shots of one or two players. This will help tell the story much better.
Be sure to pay attention to what's going on in the game. You may have to jump out of the way of the players!
Sunrise/Sunset and Dusk/Dawn Modes
Your digital camera will have one, or perhaps both, of these settings. While most Scene modes change the aperture or shutter speed used, Sunrise/Sunset and Dusk/Dawn modes change how the colors of the scene are recorded. The goal is to record the beautiful quality of light at these times of day.
Sunrise and sunset are times when the world is bathed in beautiful warm light. You'll hear photographers refer to this as Golden Light or the Golden Hours. By using these settings instead of Auto mode you'll capture that beautiful light and the dramatic colors. Try it for yourself next time you photograph a sunset and you'll see the difference.
Since there's so much to cover on Scene Modes I split this to 2 pages. Ready to read the rest? Check out More Digital Camera Scene Modes.
