I've struggled with this for months: Which mode to shoot in? For those less savy, the mode dial I'm referring to looks like this...
...which was actually an idiotical (is that a word?) conundrum. Yes, idiotical conundrum. How do you take a picture without using 'your' camera? Obviously, I had to get a shot of the dial, but the dial is ON my camera. Der. I had to use another camera. So, I used my wife's point-and-shoot Canon. It doesn't sound that entertaining now that I've typed it, but I was dumbfounded for a second. Or eight. Doesn't matter. Anyway.
Ironically, I know the answer to the question I've asked. I just don't like it. The answer is, and I know this is on the edge of your tongue Kiely, ready to fall off and soak me, but it depends on what I'm shooting, right? My main debacle is between the M (manual), A (aperture priority), S (Shutter Priority), or P (Program) modes. I know what all the other settings do...but I'm too lazy to type about them.
I like being able to control whether my background is in focus or not, so I like A mode because of that. You can adjust f/stop on the fly depending on what you're shooting. I like this. The higher the f/stop, the more of the image is in focus. The lower the f/stop, only more of your focal point is in focus. What I don't like, is that at certain times, my shutter speed slows down or speeds up, depending on the lighting and the shot is blown in some way. Drives me crazy.
Over Christmas I used S mode quite a bit to capture moments quickly and it worked great. But shooting spur of the moment in A mode doesn't always work. I guess the follow-up question to quench my ignorance is this: How do I shoot in manual mode (M), adjust the shutter speed AND the f/stop at the same time? I can't seem to figure it out on my Nikon. It's escaping me. I want to be able to shoot, controlling the background and the shutter speed in the same mode. School me folks. Tell me I can have my cake and eat it too. Tell me there's one-stop shop for this. I'm gonna set up my tent there. Minus the bugs.
I leave you with this...
Nikon D5000; f/11; Shutter 1/125; ISO - 200; 200mm.
I like horses.
4 comments:
I'm sorry I cannot school you in this ;) I always use Manual but I almost ALWAYS am doing people, therefore want my background blurred so I just shoot a small f stop and adjust my shutter as necessary for the lighting...hardly ever changing my F.
I also attempted to use a Nikon once...once and only once, never will my hands touch a Nikon DSLR again (unless I win one for free, who could resist a free DSLR)...
I could not figure the thing out to save my life!!! My camera was broken and I had three photoshoots scheduled that week (luckily two were good friends maternity-one owned the Nikon-her pictures SUCKED-we rescheduled...one owns a Canon XSI-the newer version of my camera-her pics rocked-no need to reschedule)
There I learned my lession...luckily the Nikon owners dad owns a Canon he rarely uses and he loves me just enough to let me borrow his camera for my other photoshoot...
This is why I need a backup body, for when my breaks ;) ugh the warranty is almost up on it...GULP...
I'm considering buying another body too. I switch back and forth with lenses too much depending on what I'm shooting. Most of the time, I can get away with my 18-55mm, but recently I wanted to get that shot of the horse, and he was farther away than I could reach. This is when I learned changing lenses in the field is NOT a good a idea. But I did it, right there in the freakin' snow, but I won't do it again. It'd be much easier to just have another body and just bring both cameras.
On a side note -
A friend of mine at work is one of those people who make animals and other weird things out of balloons. He asked me if I wouldn't mind shooting some in my lightbox at work for a menu he's working putting together. That was interesting. Never photographed balloons before. Some of them were too big for the lightbox, but it was fun to do. I'll post some from that soon.
No nothing about cameras, but I like horses!
Oops! KNOW nothing......
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