User talk:Phocography

Various Camera Modes and their uses
Types of Camera Modes Here are the four main types of camera modes that can be found in most digital cameras today:

Program (P) Shutter Priority (Tv) or (S) Aperture Priority (Av) or (A) Manual (M)

1.Program Mode

Program Mode In “Program” mode, the camera automatically chooses the Aperture and the Shutter Speed for you, based on the amount of light that passes through the lens. This is the mode you want to use for “point and shoot” moments, when you just need to quickly snap a picture. The camera will try to balance between aperture and shutter speed, increasing and decreasing the two based on the intensity of light. If you point the camera to a bright area, the aperture will automatically increase to a bigger number, while keeping the shutter speed reasonably fast. Pointing the camera to a darker area will decrease the aperture to a lower number, in order to maintain a reasonably fast shutter speed. If there is not enough light, the lens aperture will stay at the lowest number (maximum aperture), while the shutter speed will keep on decreasing until it reaches proper exposure.

I personally never use this mode, since it does not give me much control over the exposure. There is a way to override the camera-guessed shutter speed and aperture by moving the control dial (on Nikon cameras it is the dial on the back of the camera). If you rotate the control dial towards the left, the camera will decrease the shutter speed and increase the aperture. If you rotate the dial towards the right, the camera will increase the shutter speed and decrease the aperture. Basically, if you needed to get a faster shutter speed for freezing action, you would rotate the dial to the right, and if you needed to get a large depth of field, you would rotate the dial to the left. 2.Shutter-Priority Mode

Shutter-Priority Mode

In “Shutter Priority” mode, you manually set the camera’s shutter speed and the camera automatically picks the right aperture for you, based on the amount of light that passes through the lens. This mode is intended to be used when motion needs to be frozen or intentionally blurred. If there is too much light, the camera will increase the lens aperture to a higher number, which decreases the amount of light that passes through the lens. If there is not enough light, the camera will decrease the aperture to the lowest number, so that more light passes through the lens. So in Shutter Priority mode, the shutter speed stays the same (what you set it to), while aperture automatically increases and decreases, based on the amount of light. In addition, there is no control over subject isolation, because you are letting the camera control the depth of field.

I try not to use this mode either, because there is a risk of getting an overexposed or underexposed image. Why? Because if the amount of ambient light is not sufficient and I set the shutter speed to a really high number, my exposure will be limited to the aperture/speed of my lens. For example, if the maximum aperture of my lens is f/4.0, the camera will not be able to use a lower aperture than f/4.0 and will still shoot at the fast shutter speed that I manually set. The result will be an underexposed image. At the same time, if I use a very slow shutter speed when there is plenty of light, the image will be overexposed and blown out. 3.Aperture-Priority Mode Aperture-Priority Mode

In “Aperture Priority” mode, you manually set the lens aperture, while the camera automatically picks the right shutter speed to properly expose the image. You have full control over subject isolation and you can play with the depth of field, because you can increase or decrease the lens aperture and let the camera do the math on measuring the right shutter speed. If there is too much light, the camera will automatically increase the shutter speed, while if you are in a low-light environment, the camera will decrease the shutter speed. There is almost no risk of having an overexposed or an underexposed image, because the shutter speed can go as low as 30 seconds and as fast as 1/4000-1/8000th of a second (depending on the camera), which is more than sufficient for most lighting situations.

This is the mode that I use 95% of the time, because I have full control over the depth of field and I know that the image will be properly exposed under normal circumstances. The metering systems in most modern cameras work very well and I let the camera calculate and control the shutter speed for me. 4. Manual Mode Manual Mode

As the name suggests, “Manual” mode stands for a full manual control of Aperture and Shutter Speed. In this mode, you can manually set both the aperture and the shutter speed to any value you want – the camera lets you fully take over the exposure controls. This mode is generally used in situations, where the camera has a hard time figuring out the correct exposure in extreme lighting situations. For example, if you are photographing a scene with a very bright area, the camera might incorrectly guess the exposure and either overexpose or underexpose the rest of the image. In those cases, you can set your camera to manual mode, then evaluate the amount of light in darker and brighter areas and override the exposure with your own settings. Manual mode is also useful for consistency, if you need to make sure that both shutter speed and aperture stay the same across multiple exposures. For example, to properly stitch a panorama, all shots that you are trying to put together need to have the same shutter speed and aperture. Otherwise, some images will be darker, while others are lighter. Once you set the shutter speed and aperture to the values of your choice in manual mode, your images will all have consistent exposures.

also read

learning besic of photography
There are lots of things to remember when taking a photo, and while it’s not possible to control everything, being aware of the factors outlined below can help mediate the things you can’t change and perhaps persuade you to explore and change the things you can. Eventually, these points will become second nature and even something to push the boundaries on! I hope these points help those who are in the “almost-it-nailed” camp, and want to advance further.

Focus and Depth of Field

Focus draws your eye in and says, “this is important; look at me!” If nothing is in focus, your eye doesn’t know where to look, reading an image as a pattern. If everything is in focus, then everything has equal weight. Depending on your needs, this can lead to a great shot, but if you’re trying to place importance and hierarchy on one or two things, adapting your focus and depth of field is key. Consider focus as the singular best tool for storytelling: it creates a subject, while still retaining the supporting context around it. If you want to isolate one object, open up the aperture of your camera to between f1.8 and f4. To increase depth of field, use an f-stop in the range of f11 to f20.

learning besic of photography

Brightness

Your eye will naturally travel to the lightest spot in a photo. This is perfect if your subject is the lightest element, but if it’s not, then the bright spot off in the distance will end up competing with what’s really important. It can be confusing, both visually and in terms of content. If your subject is naturally dark, then either tone down everything around it or make everything around the subject lighter, so it pops.

learning besic of photography

Saturation

As with brightness, your eye will naturally gravitate toward the most color-saturated element, so try to be aware of what is saturated and popping in the background so you can make decisions about whether to play off of the color or remove it.

learning besic of photography

Composition

The rule of thirds definitely has some merit, but it can also get formulaic pretty quickly, plus it doesn’t really apply to square pictures. The tricky thing about square pictures is that objects are more likely to feel crammed together, so either back up or move in and embrace the intimacy.

While back-lit images seem to be in vogue right now, exposure gets tricky because unless light is reflected from the front, it’s necessary to overexpose by at least one stop so that the subject has the right exposure. This will blow out the background, which you may or may not want.

Exposure/Lighting

learning besic of photography

Exposure is probably the most common misstep I see today, and one that feels like a big bummer when every other aspect is spot-on. It’s an intuitive feeling where if it’s not quite right, there’s an uneasiness when looking at the picture, whereas if the exposure is right, it feels satisfying. The old school philosophy (to which I mostly subscribe) is to retain detail in both the shadow and the highlights. The new school trend is to have blown-out highlights, making things look a bit more washed out and dreamy. Either way you choose to go, be intentional about it. Beware of things like a light-colored object in bright noonday sun, because it’s almost impossible to get a good exposure, and if you don’t get it right, it could be a really distracting element. Set the exposure for the highlights, because you’ll be able to fix the shadows later (in post-production, fingers crossed). In this example, it means underexposing the shot, i.e. letting less light into the camera. There’s usually a +/- button on most cameras, so if you want to underexpose the bright white ball in the sun, try adjusting the f-stop to -2/3 or -1. Play around with it. Conversely, if you’re shooting in snowscape, the light meter in the camera wants to make the scene 18% gray because it assumes that it’s grass and not snow. Unless you overexpose by a stop in this case, the snow will look dirty white instead of white. If you’re using a phone, the area you touch will act as the both the focus and the place where the exposure is set.

Lighting will give you an overall feeling and it’s best to stick with natural light (daylight). Fill in shadows with a big piece of white cloth or paper if you don’t have a reflector. If you’re lighting in the studio, move the light source toward the subject for softer shadows, or away from the subject for crisper shadows. I love shooting in soft light, because it’s way easier to deal with exposure and guiding the viewer’s eye in the composition. Colors also look deeper and more rich. Lastly, if you’re taking a shot from above, don’t get your shadow in it unless that’s the point. Otherwise your shadowy presence can be distracting and look a bit creepy.

White Balance

learning besic of photography

How many times have you seen delicious food look like the opposite, because it was shot inside a restaurant with incandescent or fluorescent lighting? If the camera’s white balance settings don’t match the color temperature of the lighting perfectly, your image can look yellow, green, or blue. To rectify this, shoot in natural light whenever possible and/or make sure only one kind of light source is used (i.e. the halogens aren’t lighting the object from one side, and the window from the other.) If you’re inside without daylight, make sure your camera is set to the right color temperature for the lighting, because while you can adjust the color balance to some degree in post-production, it’s way better to do it right from the camera. AWB (auto white balance) can be used for beginners who don’t know how to detect what kind of light is being projected, but often a manual adjustment leads to the most balanced photo.

Shadow/Highlights

learning besic of photography

The levels and the related shadow/highlights tool is a fantastic tool for fixing exposure post-production. You can adjust levels to bring down the highlights, so you have detail, and vice versa for the shadows. The trick is to not overdo it because when you do, a halo will develop around the interface of a light area and a dark area. You’ll see it where the sky meets a building or around a tree. The solution is to either back off a bit on your phone or use a more sophisticated desktop version to increase the radius, which smoothes out the transition between edges. Also note that adjusting the levels will increase saturation.

Resolution

learning besic of photography

Resolution still matters even on a little phone screen. Unless you’re a 60s photojournalist or a street photographer, graininess in pictures simply looks bad. ISO is a measure of how sensitive the “film” is to light. The lower the number, the finer the resolution and the less grainy/pixelated it will be, so try and keep your resolution at 400 ISO or below.

The usual 400 ISO on the left, a massive 12,800 on the right. See how pixelated the handle and plywood are on the right? Normally in the day, the camera won’t automatically set your ISO so high, but at night or in low-light situations, cameras and phones do this in automatic mode in order to get the shot. The solution is to use a tripod in low light, keeping the ISO low or opening up the aperture.