If you look at the dial on your digital camera, you will probably notice several icons. There’s the green camera and the M – which you probably know mean automatic or manual. If you’re like most digital camera consumers, you learn how to turn your camera on, point, and shoot. And that’s it.
But take another look at the dial. There are probably other little pictures, like a flower, face, mountain, moon or palm tree, that could make your pictures even better. In this article, we’ll look at what the different scene modes on you digital camera can do in different situations.
In automatic mode, your digital camera sets the shutter speed and aperture for the correct exposure for the scene. Scene modes take it step further and automatically set the shutter speed and aperture for the correct exposure as well as the best possible image based on the subject or scene you are photographing. Shutter speed determines how quickly the shutter opens and closes while aperture is how much the shutter opens. Varying shutter speeds can cause your subject to show blurred movement, or freeze the action completely. Conversely, varying aperture settings determine how much of the frame is in focus.
Macro Mode
This will be an icon of a tulip or similar flower. Macro mode is designed to make your digital camera work as if it has a traditional macro lens. With a regular lens, the camera cannot focus on objects closer than three feet to the lens. Macro lenses allow the camera to focus on objects much closer. Even, though you digital camera doesn’t have a macro lens, the macro mode allows it to focus closer than a regular lens. It also adjusts the aperture to a low setting (such a F5.6) so the depth of field will be very short. This means the focus will be on the object, such as a flower like the icon suggests, but the background will be soft and blurred. The most successful macro shots have low depths of field to draw the eye and attention to the small subject. Keep in mind, when photographing objects close-up, camera shake is more evident. Using a lot of light on the subject will allow the camera to have a faster shutter speed which avoids showing camera shake.
Sports Mode
Probably represented by a running man, this mode is ideal for action and, obviously, sports shots. The sports mode sets the camera on shutter speed priority and uses a fast shutter speed, like 1/1000 or 1/2000. Using a high shutter speed you are more likely to capture motion without blurred movement lines. Don’t just use this mode for your child’s soccer playoffs. It is also the perfect setting for when your kids are swinging, running around blowing bubbles and playing with the dog. Use this mode when you want to capture the big race or any other time your subjects are in fairly fast motion.
Landscape Mode
This will be represented by one or two mountains. When you photograph a beautiful landscape there are usually many elements you want to capture. For example, someone standing in front of the Grand Canyon or a river with a field of flowers behind it and mountains in the distance. For the best photograph, you want everything from the foreground to the background to be in focus. Landscape Mode sets the aperture priority to a small aperture, like F22, so every detail on every plane of your scene will be in focus. This is also a good scene mode to use when photographing groups of people, like the annual Thanksgiving family photo. Anytime you have subjects at different levels in the photograph and you want them all to be in focus, not just the ones closest to the camera, use the Landscape Mode.
Ski/Beach Mode
This is fairly new to digital cameras and is represented by a palm tree or a palm tree and pair of skis combined. Ski/Beach Mode works similarly to the Sports Mode, but it accounts for all the extra light. Sunlight at the beach is very harsh because it reflects off the sand and water. Likewise, when photographing in the snow, you have to deal with bright winter sun reflecting harshly off the white snow and ice. Ski/Beach Mode uses a fast shutter speed to capture the action while also setting the perfect exposure for harsh lighting.
