3 Basic Digital Camera Modes you Should Know

“Great, I’ll get going and try to-”

Now now, not so fast, we can’t have you running amuck with next to no skill in photography, you might miss a scandal of Miley Cyrus! We can’t have that happen, can we? We have to learn how to take a picture first.

Alright, first thing’s first, get ready to take the hardest step in photography: Taking pictures.

You see that there button positioned, usually, at the right hand corner of the DSLR? Yes, that is what we call the… honestly, I don’t know what it’s called, just click it. It should take a picture, right?

Anyways, what exactly makes a digital SLR different from other cameras? First off, look at the size. The cameras we usually take on vacation are considered “point & shoot cameras”  They are semi automatic, you can switch their settings to be fully automatic, or control the ISO of the camera itself. But that’s pretty much you can do with a point& shoot; however, with an SLR, everything can be: Automatic, semi-automatic, or manual. Usually, this depends on the person taking the picture, since you guys are beginners (Or I’m guessing you guys are)  you guys should set your camera to that green box positioned on the dial.

That is what we call the automatic setting (make sure the lens are on automatic too) This is basically, for the beginners. In this mode, you should notice the settings on the screen when you actually take a picture. For example:

Canon Digital Rebel XT

The settings are on the illuminated screen there. The 4000 is the shutter speed, while the 5.6… we shouldn’t really be focusing on that right now, but it should be taught sooner or later.

So right now, we need to make a few things straight:

-The camera has horrible automatic settings, things come out darker than usual. Only trust the camera when you are at a place like a party, and you aren’t too bothered with taking “artistic” pictures.

-Manual should only be used for people who hate anything automatic. I use manual, because I’m impatient. Also, it’s fun to experiment with.

-”P” is the recommended automatic setting. It takes in light like a beauty, but it’s not so good with moving targets.

-The green square-When at parties, trust the green.

-A-Dep is used by many people, however, I am very sorry that I know very little on this setting, but I promise that I will study up and teach you guys.

For now, let’s just stick to the green box, and the “P” settings.

For the green box… Even a monkey can use it. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.

For “P”, you can hold it by hand, or you could just use a tripod. Using a tripod on this mode is really recommended, since this mode is used to “illuminate” still pictures. It’s useful when you want to take in light trails, or movement blurs. However, it’s not useful to take party pictures.

So, I’m sorry if this post didn’t really teach anything, but I couldn’t really sleep. Please comment on things that need to be clear. Thank you.