A Novice Guide to Digital Photography

Automatic Mode

Auto mode tells your camera to use it's best judgement to select shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash to take the best shot that it can.

Portrait Mode
The symbol for this is a picture of a face. When you switch to portrait mode your camera will automatically select a large aperture (small number) which helps to keep your background out of focus (ie it sets a narrow depth of field - ensuring your subject is the only thing in focus and is therefore the centre of attention in the shot). Portrait mode works best when you're photographing a single subject, so get in close enough to your subject (either by zooming in or walking closer). Another trick I learned that is useful, is if you're shooting into the sun, you trigger your flash to add a little light onto their face.

Macro Mode
The symbol for this is the flower. Macro mode lets you move your camera closer to your subject to take close up pictures. Use this for shooting flowers, insects or other small objects. Keep your camera and the object parallel if possible or you'll find a lot of it will be out of focus. A tripod is valuable in macro shots as the depth of field is so small that even moving towards or away from your subject slightly can make your subject out of focus. I like to use this mode when I'm doing food shots.

Landscape Mode
The symbol for this is a mountain. This mode is almost the exact opposite of portrait mode in that it sets the camera up with a small aperture (large number) to make sure as much of the scene will be in focus as possible. It's therefore ideal for capturing shots of wide scenes, particularly those witch points of interest at different distances from the camera.

Sports Mode
The symbol for this is someone running. Sports mode is used for photographing moving objects example people playing sports, pets, cars, wildlife etc. Sports mode attempts to freeze the action by increasing the shutter speed.

Night Mode
The symbol for this is the star and moon. Night mode is for shooting in low light situations and sets your camera to use a longer shutter speed to help capture details of the background but it also fires off a flash to illuminate the foreground (and subject). If you use this mode for a 'serious' or well balanced shot you should use a tripod or your background will be blurred

Other common modes that I've seen on digital cameras:
Panoramic Mode - for taking shots of a panoramic scene to be joined together later as one image.
Fireworks Mode - for shooting firework displays
Kids and Pets Mode - fast moving objects can be tricky - this mode seems to speed up shutter speed and help reduce shutter lag with some pre focussing
Indoor Mode - helps with setting shutter speed and white balance
Foliage Mode - boosts saturation to give nice bold colors

Semi Automatic Mode

Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV)
This mode is where you choose the aperture and where your camera chooses the other settings example shutter speed, white balance, ISO etc, so as to ensure you have a well balanced exposure. Aperture priority mode is useful when you're shooting a stationary object where you don't need to control shutter speed. Choosing a larger number aperture means the aperture (or the opening in your camera when shooting) is smaller and lets less light in. This means you'll have more of the scene will be in focus but that your camera will choose a faster shutter speed.

Shutter Priority Mode (S or TV)
Shutter priority is the mode where you select a shutter speed and the camera then chooses all of the other settings. For example when photographing moving subjects (like sports) you might want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. On the flip-side of this you might want to capture the movement as a blur of a subject like a waterfall or moving lights and choose a slow shutter speed. You might also choose a slow shutter speed in lower light situations. If you are using slow shutter speed, its best to use a tripod cause the slightest movement will make the picture blur.

Program Mode (P)
Some digital cameras have this priority mode in addition to auto mode (in a few cameras Program mode IS full Auto mode confusing isn't it!). In those cameras that have both, Program mode is similar to Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO etc.

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Aperture and Shutter Priority Mode
Where to find it: Usually on the dial on top of your digital camera. On Olympus digital cameras, the mode may be represented by A/S/M. On Nikon digital cameras, shutter priority mode is symbolized with an S and aperture priority mode is an A. On Canon digital cameras, generally shutter priority is represented by Tv (strange, I know) and aperture priority is Av. Other digital camera manufactures generally use some sort of similar lettering.

What it does: Any photograph has both an aperture and a shutter speed. The aperture regulates how wide the lens opening is, while the shutter speed regulates how long the shutter was left open. These two items, in tandem, regulate the exposure of a photograph. In an automatic mode, the digital camera chooses its own combination of aperture and shutter speed to create a good exposure - you don't have to do any of the thinking. In shutter priority, you control the shutter speed while the camera determines the aperture. This allows you - with sufficient lighting conditions - to set a shutter speed fast enough to freeze sports action or slow enough to create a motion blur.

ISO
What is it: ISO is a carry over from the film days. Film used to be rated at a certain speed, indicating its sensitivity to light. Now, the ISO setting on your digital camera is a way of setting the sensor's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive the sensor on your digital camera becomes.

Where to find it: Most digital camera manufacturers hide ISO on one of the submenus within the camera settings. On some digital cameras, it may have its own button labeled ISO.

What it does: Ever become frustrated by your inability to take a photo indoors without blurring it because of your hands shaking? ISO may be the fix you are looking for. By setting the ISO higher, the camera is able to use faster shutter speeds or higher apertures, allowing you more creative freedom and more ability to keep shooting in challenging lighting conditions.

White Balance
What it is: A way of telling your digital camera how to compensate for the color of the light around you. I used to wonder why my photos come out either too blue or too red. Then I found out that this is because of the wrong white balance used.

Where to find it: Like ISO, white balance can either be set through a sub-menu or through a button on the outside of your digital camera.

What it does: Every light source has a color temperature to it. Florescent lighting emits a greenish light, while the normal household lighting is orange. This creates a challenge situation for your digital camera. While you might not notice the lighting color just walking around, you're sure to notice it in your photographs. To prevent this, the camera tries to set the white balance of the image as a way to compensate against the lighting color.

If you have shakey hands like me, tripods are the best way to stop camera shake because they have three sturdy legs that keep things very still. Another simple way to enhance the stability of the camera is to hold onto it with two hands
How you hold your camera depend upon what type of digital camera you are using and also your preference. The technique which I have learned and is comfortable is :-
1. Use your right hand to grip the right hand end of the camera. Your forefinger should sit lightly above the shutter release, your other three fingers curling around the front of the camera. Your right thumb grips onto the back of the camera. Use a strong grip with your right hand but don't grip it so tightly that you end up shaking the camera
2. The positioning of your left hand will depend upon your camera but in in general it should support the weight of the camera and will either sit underneath the camera or under/around a lens if you have a DSLR.
3. If you're shooting using the view finder to line up your shot you'll have the camera nice and close into your body which will add extra stability but if you're using the LCD make sure you don't hold your camera too far away from you. As for me I prefer looking through the viewfinder.
4. Add extra stability by leaning against a solid object like a wall or a tree or by sitting or kneeling down. If you have to stand and don't have anything to lean on for extra support put your feet shoulder width apart to give yourself a steady stance. The stiller you can keep your body the stiller the camera will be.

As I have written earlier on. When I first started taking out photos with our digital camera, I sometimes found the picture either too blue or red. Then I found out it's the white balance setting that is wrong. Did some research and this is my findings
Auto - this is where the camera makes a best guess on a shot by shot basis. You'll find it works in many situations but it's worth venturing out of it for trickier lighting.
Tungsten - this mode is usually symbolized with a little bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb lighting). It generally cools down the colors in photos.
Fluorescent - this compensates for the 'cool' light of fluorescent light and will warm up your shots.
Daylight/Sunny - not all cameras have this setting because it sets things as fairly 'normal' white balance settings.
Cloudy -this setting generally warms things up a touch more than 'daylight' mode.
Flash - the flash of a camera can be quite a cool light so in Flash WB mode you'll find it warms up your shots a touch.
Shade - the light in shade is generally cooler (bluer) than shooting in direct sunlight so this mode will warm things up a little.

I learn this after reading an article on the net. It's one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots. Here's a summary on what it is.

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts.

As you're taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.

With this grid in mind you now identify four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people's eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it

Are you amazed at the perfect sport shots that you see in magazines and newspaper. The moment when the ball passes the goalie's hand. Sports pictures can be quite challenging due to the amount of high movement. Sports people don't pose while you adjust your setting. Well here's a trick I've learnt recently. You can also use this trick for children as they also don't keep still.

With all moving objects, a fast shutter speed is required. The faster the movement the faster the shutter speed will needs to be. In digital photography in order to capture your winning shot example the goal keeper diving for the ball, your shutter speed needs to be faster that the movement of the goalie. Keep in mind that fast shutter speed works to reduce some degree of the light which is why a higher ISO is also often necessary. Well this is only good if the area is well lit. A high ISO in digital photography simply means the sensitivity to light that your digital camera has. So the more ISO you have increased, the less light the sensor needs. In sports photography an ISO of 400 or higher can work really well.

Burst mode is also known as 'continuous shooting' in my Canon EOS camera. This is a really handy tip. This mode allows you to get a sequence of shoots in succession. This will then increase your chances of getting that ideal shot that you are looking for. This is important if your camera has a long lag time.

As a beginner you should always experiment, take lots of pictures in different settings. That's what's great about digital photography, you can always delete what you don't like.
So go around and go crazy. Take as many pictures as possible. When I started taking food shots, I took almost 5O shots of the same dish. Don't expect every picture to be a masterpiece, though. Also don't judge the picture from your camera viewfinder. What I have learned is that what looks good on the viewfinder, will not always look good when its enlarged or printed. So keep all the pictures. Download to your PC, patiently sieve through the ones that are good, and delete the ones that you don't like. Carry extra batteries or chargers and also memory cards. As you will never know that when you get that perfect shot, your battery will fail or your memory card is full. Also its a good idea to have a notepad to jot down the different settings that you use for different shots for easy reference. Cause when you are taking a lot its easy to get confuse on what settings you used.

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