Contents
- Camera Controls - P, A, S, M modes and Autofocus Modes
- Focal Length Choice
- Aperture and Shutter Speed Choice
- Principles of Composition
- Understanding Flash
- Workflow and Post-Processing
Camera Controls
This section deals with how to control the controls on your camera and how to use them to get the effect that you want. When you first start using a camera, it's almost very likely that you would be using what we call AUTO mode. In that mode, the camera determines everything and produces what is, usually, a pretty decent shot. Sometimes, however, the camera doesn't do a very good job and it gives us shots that are too bright (overexposed) or dark (underexposed), so it's not perfect. But what exactly is the camera working out?
The camera is working out three variables - the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Simply put, these three variables, together, determine how much light is reaching your camera's sensor.
However, the equation isn't always that simple. Each of these factors can affect your image in many different ways, beyond the brightness of your image and how much light reaches your sensor. In fact, we have a dedicated section talking about these three different factors. For now, however, it's just important to know what they are and how they affect exposure (the amount of light reaching the sensor).
The camera is working out three variables - the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Simply put, these three variables, together, determine how much light is reaching your camera's sensor.
- Aperture refers to the size of the opening in your lens. A larger aperture, of course, means that your lens is letting in more light.
- Shutter speed refers to how long your shutter stays open. A slower shutter speed means the shutter stays open for longer, thus, more light.
- ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera's sensor. A higher ISO means the sensor is more sensitive, so effectively, more light.
However, the equation isn't always that simple. Each of these factors can affect your image in many different ways, beyond the brightness of your image and how much light reaches your sensor. In fact, we have a dedicated section talking about these three different factors. For now, however, it's just important to know what they are and how they affect exposure (the amount of light reaching the sensor).
P, A, S, M - Exposure Mode Controls
You would be familiar with this sort of dial on the top of your camera. Most of the other modes are variants of AUTO mode, but as photographers, we are most interested in the P, A, S and M modes, which allow you to control, in different ways, the three exposure factors we discussed above - the aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
'P' mode is what we will be discussing for the rest of this chapter and what I suggest you shoot in unless you have a specific need to adjust the aperture or shutter speed. We'll be covering the other modes - A, S and M - in a later chapter when we'll be talking about each of the factors individually and how they can be adjusted in order to control artistic effects. Until then, we'll be shooting in 'P' mode, so you can click your dial over to the 'P' and leave it there for the next few chapters.
'P' mode is what we will be discussing for the rest of this chapter and what I suggest you shoot in unless you have a specific need to adjust the aperture or shutter speed. We'll be covering the other modes - A, S and M - in a later chapter when we'll be talking about each of the factors individually and how they can be adjusted in order to control artistic effects. Until then, we'll be shooting in 'P' mode, so you can click your dial over to the 'P' and leave it there for the next few chapters.
'P' - Program Mode
'P' - Program Mode is the first step up from AUTO in terms of the amount of control you have over your camera and what it does. Remember how we were discussing the three factors which determine exposure - aperture, shutter speed and ISO? In full AUTO mode, the camera selects what it thinks is best and that's that - it doesn't let you do anything about it!
But of course, the camera doesn't always make the right decision and most of the time, we know better than the camera. Switching to 'P' mode allows us to adjust (or compensate) when the camera isn't making the right decision, so unlike in AUTO mode, if we are in 'P' mode, we can actually do something about it. This is known as Exposure Compensation, which is perhaps one of the most important controls you'll need to understand.
NOTE: If you're used to the camera deciding when to use flash and when not to, you'll have to decide yourself in 'P' mode, you can activate the flash by hitting the flash button next to your pop-up flash. On my Nikon D600, that's the thunderbolt button on the left of the pop-up flash. More often than not, you won't need flash. In AUTO mode, the camera uses flash even when it doesn't need to, resulting in harshly lit pictures.
But of course, the camera doesn't always make the right decision and most of the time, we know better than the camera. Switching to 'P' mode allows us to adjust (or compensate) when the camera isn't making the right decision, so unlike in AUTO mode, if we are in 'P' mode, we can actually do something about it. This is known as Exposure Compensation, which is perhaps one of the most important controls you'll need to understand.
NOTE: If you're used to the camera deciding when to use flash and when not to, you'll have to decide yourself in 'P' mode, you can activate the flash by hitting the flash button next to your pop-up flash. On my Nikon D600, that's the thunderbolt button on the left of the pop-up flash. More often than not, you won't need flash. In AUTO mode, the camera uses flash even when it doesn't need to, resulting in harshly lit pictures.
Exposure Compensation
NOTE: Before we get into discussing Exposure Compensation, we need to understand that most of exposure is measured in an exponential scale, rather than a linear one. Photographers call this stops. Basically, what this means is if a picture is 1.0 stops brighter, it is twice as bright. If it is 2.0 stops brighter, it is four times as bright, so on and so forth.
NOTE: You need to ensure that Auto ISO is on. This can be adjusted in your Shooting Menu. Turn ON Auto ISO and leave the Minimum Shutter Speed at AUTO. If there's no option here for AUTO, leave the Minimum Shutter Speed at the reciprocal of your approximate focal length. E.g. if you're using a 50mm lens, then leave it at 1/50s. If you use a zoom, use the longer focal length.
In order to adjust exposure compensation, you need to hold down the +/- button on your camera and rotate the dial, the info screen will show how much you have increased or decreased by. On my Nikon D600 and most other Nikon cameras, the +/- button is right behind the shutter button, just to the right. I have to press that button and rotate my rear dial to adjust the exposure compensation. On most other cameras, it is also located near the shutter button.
Zero refers to the default - i.e. what the camera has chosen, you usually can go up to +3.0 or down to -3.0 in 1/3rd increments. So it goes 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0...etc on the plus side and similarly on the minus side. Of course, a positive number means you want a brighter image than what the camera has determined is best and vice versa for a negative number.
Below, I've taken a shot in 'P' mode and the camera decided that the following was the best exposure - I felt that the image is a little too dark.
NOTE: You need to ensure that Auto ISO is on. This can be adjusted in your Shooting Menu. Turn ON Auto ISO and leave the Minimum Shutter Speed at AUTO. If there's no option here for AUTO, leave the Minimum Shutter Speed at the reciprocal of your approximate focal length. E.g. if you're using a 50mm lens, then leave it at 1/50s. If you use a zoom, use the longer focal length.
In order to adjust exposure compensation, you need to hold down the +/- button on your camera and rotate the dial, the info screen will show how much you have increased or decreased by. On my Nikon D600 and most other Nikon cameras, the +/- button is right behind the shutter button, just to the right. I have to press that button and rotate my rear dial to adjust the exposure compensation. On most other cameras, it is also located near the shutter button.
Zero refers to the default - i.e. what the camera has chosen, you usually can go up to +3.0 or down to -3.0 in 1/3rd increments. So it goes 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0...etc on the plus side and similarly on the minus side. Of course, a positive number means you want a brighter image than what the camera has determined is best and vice versa for a negative number.
Below, I've taken a shot in 'P' mode and the camera decided that the following was the best exposure - I felt that the image is a little too dark.
So I adjusted the Exposure Compensation to +1.0 stops and I got the following image.
What do you think? Is the second image better? Perhaps you would make a different choice in this scenario in terms of what should be done. That's completely fine - exposure is an artistic decision, that means you adjust exposure compensation so that the image you take is the one you want to take. If you want a brighter image, you increase the exposure compensation, however, another photographer, in that situation, might not want to. It's all a matter of opinion and what looks good to you.
Now that you understand how to control the brightness of your shot, next time you take a shot, use 'P' mode and think about whether your final shot is possibly too bright or too dark and adjust your exposure compensation accordingly, then take another shot.
As a general guide, shots which have lots of white will require you to increase your exposure compensation whilst scenes which have lots of darker colours will require you to decrease your exposure compensation. This might be a little counter-intuitive, but what happens is that with scenes that have too much white, cameras will tend to assume that it is too bright, even though it might not be, so they dial down the exposure - you then need to compensate by dialing the exposure back up.
Now that you understand how to control the brightness of your shot, next time you take a shot, use 'P' mode and think about whether your final shot is possibly too bright or too dark and adjust your exposure compensation accordingly, then take another shot.
As a general guide, shots which have lots of white will require you to increase your exposure compensation whilst scenes which have lots of darker colours will require you to decrease your exposure compensation. This might be a little counter-intuitive, but what happens is that with scenes that have too much white, cameras will tend to assume that it is too bright, even though it might not be, so they dial down the exposure - you then need to compensate by dialing the exposure back up.
Shooting Mode
Now that you've learned how to adjust your exposure, it's important to understand the different shooting modes available on your camera. Most cameras have two shooting modes Single and Continuous. In AUTO mode, generally, the camera will only allow you to be in Single mode. However, by moving to 'P' mode, apart from being able to control our Exposure Compensation, we can now also change to continuous mode.
So what's the difference? In Single Exposure mode, hitting the shutter button will take one single picture. This is what you're used to. But how often do you take a picture, just to realise that someone has blinked or that a bird flew right past and ruined your perfect landscape? I'm sure we've all experienced that and as frustrating as it is, especially with candids of people, you can't always get the same shot again.
In Continuous Exposure mode, the camera keeps firing as you push the shutter button and keep it held down. Of course, there's a limit to all this, after several shots, your camera will need to unload its buffer and stop firing. More expensive cameras, such as the Nikon D4S or Canon 1DX have much bigger buffers and shoot more frames per second. My suggestion is to always use Continuous Exposure and keep the shutter button pressed for a split second after your first shot so you always get one or two more just in case.
On more budget oriented cameras, you'll find this setting buried in the menu. Consult your camera manual. On more advanced cameras, you'll find this setting next to your P, A, S, M dial. On my D600, it's right underneath and you can choose between S (Single Exposure), CH (Continuous High), CL (Continuous Low) and several others which we aren't going to discuss for now.
If you have the option, you might want to us CL, which limits the number of frames the camera takes, so you get a little more time between your frames, because if your camera is too fast, shooting in CH might get you two frames where a person hasn't stopped blinking yet. So using CL might have saved you there. Generally I use CH, but try both and see what works better for you.
NOTE: Don't just hold down your shutter and fire continuously for 10 shots every time you take a shot. Not only is that a waste of memory, it's pointless and won't help you, unless you're shooting action. If you're shooting action, e.g. sports, you should always be shooting as quickly as you can, taking as many frames as you can so you can pick the best one.
So what's the difference? In Single Exposure mode, hitting the shutter button will take one single picture. This is what you're used to. But how often do you take a picture, just to realise that someone has blinked or that a bird flew right past and ruined your perfect landscape? I'm sure we've all experienced that and as frustrating as it is, especially with candids of people, you can't always get the same shot again.
In Continuous Exposure mode, the camera keeps firing as you push the shutter button and keep it held down. Of course, there's a limit to all this, after several shots, your camera will need to unload its buffer and stop firing. More expensive cameras, such as the Nikon D4S or Canon 1DX have much bigger buffers and shoot more frames per second. My suggestion is to always use Continuous Exposure and keep the shutter button pressed for a split second after your first shot so you always get one or two more just in case.
On more budget oriented cameras, you'll find this setting buried in the menu. Consult your camera manual. On more advanced cameras, you'll find this setting next to your P, A, S, M dial. On my D600, it's right underneath and you can choose between S (Single Exposure), CH (Continuous High), CL (Continuous Low) and several others which we aren't going to discuss for now.
If you have the option, you might want to us CL, which limits the number of frames the camera takes, so you get a little more time between your frames, because if your camera is too fast, shooting in CH might get you two frames where a person hasn't stopped blinking yet. So using CL might have saved you there. Generally I use CH, but try both and see what works better for you.
NOTE: Don't just hold down your shutter and fire continuously for 10 shots every time you take a shot. Not only is that a waste of memory, it's pointless and won't help you, unless you're shooting action. If you're shooting action, e.g. sports, you should always be shooting as quickly as you can, taking as many frames as you can so you can pick the best one.