One thing that many newcomers to digital photography find most challenging is getting the correct exposure for their digital photos. This can also be challenging for more experienced photographers. One of the great things about digital photography is that digital photography lets us use PhotoShop and other photo editing software to make corrections after the digital photo has already been taken, but it's certainly better to get it right to begin with.
Most people take their digital camera out of the box, charge up the camera batteries, make sure the exposure setting is on automatic and never change it. However, using all the settings on your camera is not really that complicated. It just takes a little information and some practice. Here are some tips to get you going in taking more control over your digital photos.
First, decide what you want to emphasize in your photo. Are you taking a digital photo of a child against a dark background? Is the sunlight overly bright, or is it a hazy day? Perhaps the child is in a filed of flowers with a dark forest in the background. Do you want to be sure the child's face or clothing is correctly exposed, or do you want to emphasize nature and make sure the trees in the forest stand out? Your exposure settings might have to change to emphasize what is most important in the photo to you.
Second, you need to decide whether you want the camera to decide on the exposure, or whether you want to make some or all of the decisions about exposure. Most modern digital cameras give you a choice of exposure modes, including so-called programs. For example, there might be a stylized symbol of a mountain for landscape photographs or a profile of a runner for action photos.
If you select one of these modes, the camera can then use one of its internal programs to make decisions about shutter speed and camera lens aperture. The camera will select the settings the manufacturer has decided is best, on average, for these kinds of photos. For example, if you're taking a landscape photo, you can always just set the camera on the landscape photo setting and let the camera make all the decisions. The problem is, you may not be in an average situation for your landscape or action photo. If so, it's time to get into a more lands-on mode, and take more control over how your digital photos will look.
In addition to auto exposure, nearly all digital cameras come with settings for aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes. The cameras aperture setting determines how large the opening is in the lens that lets the light through. The shutter speed is how long the lens stays open. The larger the aperture, the more light comes through, so if the aperture increases (more light), the shutter speed must also decrease (open a shorter period of time) to make a correct exposure.
When you use the aperture mode, you control how large the lens opening is. With a small lens opening, you can have a very sharp focus on one object in your picture, but objects that are not the same distance from the camera will not be as sharp. If the aperture opening is larger, objects up close and not so close to the camera can both stay in focus (greater depth of field). To compensate for that, when you increase or decrease the aperture, the camera will adjust the shutter speed up or down.
This is great if you're taking a close-up of a flower and want it to be extra-sharp. But if you photography a moving object, you r must have your shutter speed set fast enough to stop the motion. This needs to be at least 1/125th of a second if you are following the motion with your camera. If you are shooting a scene with motion in it, you probably need to be anywhere from 1/250th to 1/1000th. When the shutter speed is increased, there will be less time for light to come through the lens, so the lens opening (the aperture) must be larger to compensate. You can set the shutter speed in the shutter priority mode. Then the camera will adjust the aperture to match.
Finally, you can switch to fully manual mode for total creative control over your digital photos. This may require more decisions than you think you will want to make, but it does give you total artistic control because it allows you to break the rules tying the aperture and shutter speed together. Manual settings are more than we can get into in this article. We will cover this in a separate article.
Finally, the best part of digital photography is that, in most cases, if a photo doesn't come out just like you want it, unless it's one of those once in a lifetime shots, you can always take it over. So be sure, especially if you're on a trip or at a special occasion, to scroll through your photos before you leave. Then if a picture didn't come out like you wanted, you can always try again.
Dave Hunt has shot landscape and scenic photos in almost all states of the US and in most countries in Europe. He is the author of numerous articles on photography, travel and recreation. You can find more articles, tips and how-to's, along with and the latest news and information on digital photography at: http://www.digitalphotographygeek.com For tips on travel and vacation ideas, visit: http://www.deskatravel.com and http://www.bahamasbeat.com
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