CAMERA MODES
THE CAMERA - Shooting modes
Your camera has a number of modes that allow you to control how you shoot. For instance, you can let your camera do all the work for you in AUTO mode, or let the Shutter control the shot with SHUTTER PRIORITY (S), or let you Aperture do the work with APERTURE (A) PRIORITY. You can choose to use none of these and control the camera yourself in MANUAL (M) mode.
Depending on the model you have, there may be other modes such as PROGRAM (P), or you may have simple icons for portraits, mountains, close ups etc. So your dial may have an LED display like the Nikon D800 below, or a physical dial that you turn like the Nikon D3100 below, showing A, S, B, M.
In all my years of shooting, I have only ever used Aperture Priority and Manual, as they suit the type of work I do. The world of photography you are entering means that you should start learning to control your camera more. So you could just try and use A, S or M.
APERTURE PRIORITY
Use this when you want to set the aperture as a constant during the shoot. The camera then chooses the right shutter speed to match your aperture to give an optimal balanced exposure. For instance if you set a medium aperture of say f.11 for the entire shoot, the camera selects the correct shutter speed accordingly.
SHUTTER PRIORITY
The opposite of the above, so you set the shutter speed as a constant. You choose the shutter speed you need and the camera sets the aperture automatically to give an optimal balanced exposure. For instance if I want a constant blur to an aircraft’s propeller, yet the lighting may change, I can set the shutter speed at say 1/30th and the aperture will change automatically by the camera to compensate as the light changes during the shoot.
MANUAL
You set the aperture and the shutter speed yourself. This means you override the camera for setting long exposures when needed. This gives the greatest creative control of your camera. This is great where you want the SAME exposure for everything, no matter what the lighting is doing around you.
PROGRAM
The aperture and shutter are set by the camera as combinations that will suit the scene you wish to shoot. Some cameras let you choose from a number of different combinations, but basically the camera sets both to give an optimal balanced exposure.
For instance in Portrait mode, the camera assumes you are shooting a portrait and will give you ‘shallow’ depth of field, giving a softer background.
I would suggest not t’s not to use the settings offered under P, as they won’t let you master the craft as much as the ‘pro’ or creative settings like A,S & M that I am outlining in these
AUTO
The camera chooses both shutter speed and aperture. All you do is point and shoot. Great if you have no idea of what settings you want and allows you to shoot quickly.