Bill Raymond
People who participate in the Art Club Photoshop Essentials Workshops come there to learn more about taking better pictures. Many of them have been taking all of their pictures on Auto. Often they are happy with the results and many times they are not. They know that there are many possible adjustments and are unsure of what adjustment does what. The purpose of this article is to explain why these adjustments exist with the hope that you will explore them to improve your picture taking.
Digital cameras have a built-in light meter and focusing system. In Auto mode, these two capabilities give the camera computer enough information to automatically make adjustments so that a properly exposed picture will be taken most of the time. This system works well if you are taking a typical unchallenging shot that is uniformly illuminated. If you want to do something else, the camera computer lacks an understanding of what you want to accomplish. As a result, it makes assumptions that are not necessarily correct for your situation.
Scenes Mode
In the Scenes Mode (called different things dependent upon your camera), you tell the camera computer what you are trying to accomplish by selecting from different icons on one of the camera buttons, or inside the camera menu system (or both). For example, the flower icon indicates a close-up. The runner icon indicates an action shot. Some of the scenes modes are quite sophisticated. They make multiple adjustments for you based upon this information. Having said that, there are still many times when you will want to use other modes as well.
Other Modes like Shutter Preferred, Aperture Preferred or Program Mode
These modes give you even more control. They are designed to help you make choices to freeze action, intentionally blur backgrounds, get proper exposure in difficult lighting situations, etc. If you want to do more artistic work, knowing how to use these modes is very important.
Exposure Compensation
Sometimes the metering system does not read the part of the picture that is important you. Therefore, there are many times when you will want to override the meter. A backlit subject is but one example of where built-in metering may not give you the results you want. Exposure compensation lets you increase or decrease the light reaching your sensor relative to what the meter is telling the camera. This control has a +/ – next to it on your camera.
Did I get a good picture?
One of the beautiful things about digital cameras is that they have a display that lets you instantly see whether you got an acceptable picture. If it is too bright out to see the display, many of the cameras have a histogram feature that tells you if your picture is properly exposed even if it is so sunny out that you can barely see the display.
All of this may sound complicated, but it really doesn’t have to be once you understand the context of what a camera has to do to take a good picture. I hope you will try some of these capabilities. They will greatly increase your skill as a photographer.
Bill lives in PebbleCreek and teaches the Photography Essentials Beginning and Intermediate Workshops for the PebbleCreek Art Club.