TeachMeToShoot blog » scene modes

Photographing Winter Snow Scenes

Karl Peschel — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:27:22 +0000

We’re coming into that time of year when your outdoor scenes are changing from nice fall color to winter snow scenes. Don’t pack away your camera! For the next few months you can get some spectacular pictures of snow scenes.

Whether you’re shooting the huge 6 foot snow drift in your backyard or that early morning snow capped mountain scene, getting the proper exposure can be a challenge. Back in May I wrote about proper exposure and when your camera can be fooled. Snow scenes are one of those times.

Since your camera’s light meter is calibrated for medium gray, your snow pictures may tend to be underexposed. The snow won’t be as bright as it should be. You’ll need to override your camera settings. Also, a UV filter will help remove that blue cast from the snow, especially at higher elevations.

If you’re lucky enough to have a Beach and Snow scene mode, use it. This tells the camera you’re shooting a bright scene and it adjusts the exposure accordingly. You can also use Exposure Compensation to add more light. Go to +1 or +2 compensation, depending on how much of your picture is bright snow. Better yet, take 2 shots using each setting.

Winter snow scenes are the type of photos where you need to be smarter than the camera. With a little experience, you’ll quickly be able to look at a scene and know just how much compensation is needed.

So go out and shoot something!

Have a Standard Camera Setting

Karl Peschel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:12:56 +0000

How many times have you come across a great picture opportunity and had all the wrong settings on your camera? Too many? Yeah. Let’s fix that.

I was reminded of this as I read through some of the comics from the WhatTheDuck site. The author has a great sense of humor and most of the comics are centered around digital photography and computers. Here’s the one that spurred today’s post (click it for a larger image)

When I’m out shooting with my D70, I start with ISO 200, Aperture Priority, around F8 or F11, continuous shooting, and my 17-50 or 28-105 lens. It’s my basic setup and I do a pre-flight check before I step out of the car. If I change anything for a particular shot I always pause a moment and go back to my Normal settings. I’m always starting from the same settings.

Modern digital cameras have a plethora of settings for many different situations. You can easily miss a shot while fumbling for the right Scene Mode, or get a really bad picture by using the wrong one. Decide on a Normal group of settings and use it. Base it on what subjects you shoot most. Remember to reset to Normal after you change things.

You should find yourself getting more consistent results and you’ll have the ability to get grab shots better, knowing that you’ve got your camera set properly.

Auto White Balance is Evil

Karl Peschel — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:37:54 +0000

Yeah, I said it! Auto White balance has the potential to give you terrible results. If you’re a JPG shooter, you should seriously consider taking control of your WB. Set it to Daylight WB for most shooting and you’ll be happier with your results.

White Balance is all about rendering the proper color of what you’re shooting. Light comes in different colors; Dayight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, etc. The light may be neutral, more yellow or more green. Changing your white balance to match the light gives you truer color rendition.

Auto WB ‘guesses’ at the best setting and can be misled by an overabundance of a certain color in your photo. Shooting a sunset on Auto can result in the camera overreacting to all that beautiful warm light and adding a lot of blue to the picture. That’s why many cameras have a Sunset Scene Mode.

Get off of Auto WB, use the presets instead. Try shooting the same daylight scene using Auto and Daylight WB and see what your results are. Shoot a photo with a lot of one color and see how Auto overcompensates. You may never use Auto WB again.

** RAW shooters may use Auto WB and just change every picture later in post processing. I’m big on shooting it right the first time so I don’t have to spend the weekend processing and correcting images. To each his own.

Macro Photography With a P&S Digital Camera

Karl Peschel — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:17:13 +0000

Many P&S digital cameras have the capability for good macro photography. Some focus as close as 3/4 inch, but it’s common to see 1-2 inches as the closest focus point. Set the camera to Macro mode via the Scene Modes or by the Flower icon on the back of most digital cameras.

Macro photography encompasses photos of flowers, insects, coins, jewelry, and small details of objects. Digital SLR cameras need semi-expensive lenses to shoot good macro (more on this later this week). With a P&S digital camera it’s just a button away. There are some limitations though.

-> Using the onboard flash doesn’t work. When focusing so close the flash does not cover your subject. And it usually blasts too much light. Turn off the flash.

-> You should use a tripod since you’re not using a flash. This is sometimes inconvenient.

-> You’ll get a little distortion due to the camera using the wide angle end of the zoom. Some cameras allow you to zoom just a bit and still get real close. Most don’t.

Depending on what subject matter you’re shooting a DSLR may offer better results. They have better lenses, more flexibility in the flash systems, and 2 or 3 different ways to do macro photographs. That’s what I’ll be covering during the rest of the week.

Stay tuned . . .

Photographing Fireworks the Right Way

Karl Peschel — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:16:44 +0000

It’s near that time here in the States for Fourth of July fireworks. Bring your camera and tripod to the event and come home with great photos. The New York Institute of Photography (NYIP) has again posted their fireworks articles. Just scroll down past the Declaration to get to the links for the articles.

On your Point and Shoot camera you may have a fireworks mode you can use. DSLR users will be shooting in Manual. Either way, a tripod is absolutely needed since your exposures will be measured in seconds. You may also want to get to the event a bit early to “stake your claim” at that perfect spot for shooting the fireworks. DLSR folks should bring a short zoom and maybe a telephoto if you want to capture portions of the bursts.

Many years ago I found the NYIP site and signed up for their newsletter. I’ve learned a lot of techniques from their articles and have used the Fireworks method they describe for quite a while. All in all there’s lots of great instructional material on their website.

Click on the Photo Ezine link in their left menu and on that page you’ll find a link to sign up for their newsletter.

*** Thoughts Aside ***

One of the digital camera uses are for nighttime shots, although some users will stick with their film camera for these situations. To catch the whole show, sound and all, pack up a video camera and some extra video tapes and have a go. Just don’t forget the most important of video accessories, a tripod.

If you have nighttime visitors to your backyard, perhaps a hidden cam from your local hidden cams store will help you capture that critter. These easy to install electronic access cameras are quite useful.

Digital Scene Modes – I Missed One

Karl Peschel — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:30:00 +0000

I know. I can hear you, “Karl, what about Panorama mode?” Well, it is a fairly common scene mode these days on P&S cameras. Did you know that ANY digital camera can do panoramas? Your DSLR won’t have a Panorama mode, nor will your 2-3 year old Kodak or Pentax. Fact is, Panorama images are created with software.

I recently wrote an article and posted it to the TeachMeToShoot website. Instead of regurgitating all of that info here, jump on over to the website and read it there. It’s really quite easy to produce digital panorama photos with your camera and an inexpensive piece of software.

Less Popular Scene Modes – Part Deaux

Karl Peschel — Tue, 15 May 2007 17:30:00 +0000

This is the last in the series of our discussions on digital camera scene modes. The common selections of Fireworks and Museum modes can be found on most every P&S camera. I’ll talk about a few others too.

Although you may only use Fireworks mode once or twice a year it will certainly help you get better shots of those aerial explosions. The quite long exposures will require the use of a tripod. It’s also a good idea to arrive early and claim a spot to shoot from.

Every year around June the New York Institute of Photography puts a how-to article on their website about shooting fireworks. You can check them out at www.nyip.com or check out a couple of fireworks articles right here.

Many museums do not allow flash photography. With so many items behind glass, the flash would likely cause terrible reflections anyway. Museum mode forces the flash off. Keep in mind that your camera will be using lower shutter speeds. Be steady, brace yourself whenever possible. Use Image Stabilization if your camera has it available.

If you own a Casio digital camera you’ll find an eBay mode. This setting records a low res (640×480) image designed to post directly to eBay. Remember to set your camera back to normal so you don’t wind up shooting a bunch of low res images.

Your camera may also have some Vivid color modes, Sepia or special effect modes like Star filters and such. Consult your manual. You may never use some of them, but a few may prove useful to you.

Now go out and shoot something!

Less Popular Scene Modes – Part 1

Karl Peschel — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Rounding out our discussion on digital camera scene modes are some of the less frequently used modes. I’ll cover Party/Indoors, Backlight and Closeup today and finish the rest tomorrow.

Party/Indoors will allow you to capture good indoor shots, including the available room light. The flash will be in Auto mode and the camera will balance it’s output to the existing light. Sometimes the camera will use a slow shutter speed. Using Image Stabilization (if your camera has it) or a tripod will help in certain situations.

The Backlight mode is for those times when there is a lot of brightness behind your subject. It’s great when you have people in front of a window. If you’re close enough to use your flash, force it on instead of using the Backlight mode.

Having a Closeup (Macro) setting in your list of scene modes may offer some options versus the standard Macro mode on the back of your camera. On my Nikon Coolpix P4 camera the Closeup scene mode allows precise positioning of the focus point. Check your manual to find your cameras capabilities.

Digital Camera Scene Modes – Beach/Snow

Karl Peschel — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:20:00 +0000

Having been a longtime resident of Florida, and as a current resident of Colorado, I can attest to the real benefit of the Beach/Snow scene mode. Both film and digital camera light meters are calibrated to a medium tone. Overly bright or dark scenes are not recorded properly. Beach/Snow scene mode is for all those bright scenes.

Big open areas of water on a sunny day. Long stretches of white sandy beaches. Snow covered mountains on your next ski vacation. These are all perfect times to use Beach/Snow mode. You are telling the camera that your subject matter is quite bright and it will compensate accordingly. Instead of muddy grey snow it will be recorded bright and white as it should be.

Digital Camera Scene Modes – Copy

Karl Peschel — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:08:00 +0000

The Copy mode is intended for those times when you are photographing a document or a map and just need a black and white image. You’ll still find a B&W mode on a number of cameras, but Copy mode has replaced it on many P&S cameras. No worries. Just use Copy mode to shoot any picture in B&W.

I’m still a fan of shooting everything in color and using software to convert an image to B&W. However, switching to Copy mode in order to pre-visualize what your image will look like in B&W is also useful. You may want to shoot the scene both in color and B&W (Copy mode) just to get the best of both worlds. It’s up to you.