or, How do I get this thing to do what I want? Copyright 2016 Paul Fisher

or, How do I get this thing to do what I want? Copyright 2016 Paul Fisher

So just what are the basic camera operations we re going to discuss? Set up. How do you have your camera configured ISO setting Picture quality (RAW, Jpeg) Color space (SRgb, Adobe RGB, Pro Photo etc) Focusing mode (Single shot, tracking, off center) Metering mode (Multi segment, spot, center weighted) Drive mode (multi frame fast/slow, single, exposure bracket, etc) What s displayed on your playback screen How does the histogram work Exposure (How do shutter, ISO and Aperture work together) Shutter speeds Aperture Depth of Field All of the Shooting Modes (PASM and Scene) How my camera s meter can lie And then we ll practice!

How I can make this thing do what I want

This is where your manual may come in handy! Some basics to get our cameras ready to work for us! So we assume you have a fresh battery in the camera and a formatted (IN THE CAMERA) memory card! The camera is ON.

1) Select high quality picture settings for your camera. I suggest Large, Fine JPEG or the equivalent. Some of you may be able to change aspect ratios such as 3x2, 4x5 or 16x9. I m partial to 4x6 but YMMV. You may also select RAW, RAW+J if desired and available. Note: JPEGs are small, easy to share and common but are compressed and some of the original information is discarded FOR EVER! RAW files require some processing but contain a lot more detail and color information than JPEG files and are usually uncompressed or compressed with a lossless technique. 2) Select ISO. Let s use AUTO for now. 3) Choose an exposure mode. You can leave it in Auto or whatever you may have set at this point. 4) Choose a metering mode. Let s use Evaluative (AKA Matrix, or Multi-zone) for now. 5) Set the focus and drive modes. Focus is your call and I suggest single shot for the drive mode at this time. 6) Snap a shot and let s review the playback information.

The playback screen can tell you a lot about the image you just shot! It s all there to help you analyze your photograph! In addition to the image, which you can zoom in on to check focus, all kinds of other info such as the histogram, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, focal length and numerous other settings that you can control to suit your style! More on that later! You can also choose how much of this data you want to see on the playback menu.

In addition to all of the technical information displayed (potentially) on the display is the histogram. This may be one of the most useful aids to photographers known to mankind! Let s see an example!

In Summary, the histogram gives us a pictorial presentation of the tonal values in our image. There is NO right, or wrong histogram Dark images will have more info on the left, bright images will display more on the right It is advised by MANY to Expose To The Right (ETTR) to get MAXIMUM data for our images ETTR will require post processing! This is a subject well beyond this presentation but I feel it s very important to be aware of this information. DON T LET IT STOP YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY!

Not THAT kind! We re talking photography here!

Photographically speaking, the proper exposure is when our subject is rendered photographically as we perceived it with our eyes. That s a long way of saying that what you got with the camera is what you saw with your eyes. 1) However, our eyes don t see the same way a camera sees. Most of us have binocular vision (two eyes) so we see in three dimensions (3D) but the camera has one lens so our images are viewed in 2 dimensions 2) Our brain also filters out a lot of the surrounding chaos near the object of our attention. The camera captures it in all of it s chaotic splendor. 3) Our eyes and brain also can see much more dynamic range of light and tone than our camera sensors. 4) Our camera s meters measure the scene we are viewing and determines a correct exposure that generally equals around an 18% gray tonal value. That means it sees all of the tones of bright and dark in the view finder and averages the scene to reflect the same tone as a tone of middle gray referred to as the 18% reflected value. If you have a gray card, it s at 18% gray and can be used to set an accurate white balance.

There are 3 controls we (or the camera) can utilize to control the exposure of our image. Once in balance for a proper exposure, a change to any one of these 3 controls will require an adjustment of one or both of the other controls to maintain the proper exposure. These controls are, Aperture (ƒstop), Shutter Speed and ISO (used to be film speed or ASA). Learning to fully utilize these controls is the key to getting the best quality and most effective artistic control over our photographs!

Alvin, Simon and Isabello

Controls Depth of Field

We ll call this amigo Alvin for APERTURE! What is aperture? It s the size of the opening in the variable diaphragm in our lens. Determines the Depth of Field (DOF), or the in focus area of the photograph. Large aperture, (f1.4, 2.8 etc) creates a very narrow DOF. Think flower portrait in focus, background nice and blurry Small aperture (f16, f28 etc) creates a larger DOF. Think landscape where everything is in sharp focus NOTE 1: YES, the smaller the f number, the LARGER the aperture. Small number = big opening, soft, narrow DOF. Large f number = small opening, sharp, wide DOF. NOTE 2: The closer you are to the subject, the narrower the DOF will be. Also be aware that a wide angle will also give you a very deep DOF. That s why a lot of landscapes are shot wide! You can get the foreground in focus all of the way from close up to (infinity)!

Controls the effects of motion

Amigo #2 is Simon for SHUTTER SPEED Determines the amount of time the shutter is open and allowing light to hit the camera s sensor. Depending on the camera setting it can vary from 30 seconds or longer to 1/8000 (or less) of a second! Your camera may or may not match these numbers but you should be aware of your cameras limitations! NOTE: Unless your camera is on a tripod or other support, speeds of less than around 1/60 second will likely result in a blurry photograph! Rule of Thumb: When hand holding your slowest shutter speed should be no slower than the reciprocal of the length of your lens focal length. The longer the lens, the more difficult to hand hold! 200mm lens = shutter speed of 1/200 th of a second! We can use it to stop a fast moving car, bike racer, or ball player by using speeds of 1/1000 or 1/2000 or even faster. We can slow it down to create motion blur, or the soft flow of a water fall, or a runner or car streaking past by using speeds of 1/8 or 1/2 or 1 sec.

How sensitive is my sensor to light?

Our last amigo is Isabello for ISO GREAT NEWS!!! In today s digital world, we can set the ISO anytime we want! The higher the ISO, the more sensitive to light our sensor will be. That comes with a warning though! As we increase the sensors sensitivity we also increase the digital noise in our image. That noise is a lot like the grain in the faster films of yesteryear. Most photographers will choose the lowest possible ISO that will allow them the shutter speed and aperture necessary to capture the image they have envisioned!

SORRY I didn t get these shot!

Alphabet Soup or PASM

AUTO Mode, AKA P&S Mode

In AUTO mode, the CAMERA determines almost everything for you. It makes your camera function like a Point and Shoot camera. Nothing wrong with that but we spent some hard earned $$ to do MORE, didn t we? It will get you a well exposed image under most common conditions It is perfect for some types of photography (street maybe vacation) and perhaps for some of the more inexperienced shooters may feel less pressure. It s a comfort zone! It will NOT do well in some lighting conditions such as backlight, dark scenes or very bright scenes and it doesn t give YOU (the photographer) any tools to help you improve the situation! You photo will likely be TECHNICALLY correct but ARTISTCALLY flawed. The camera can not possibly know that the thing you are photographing is moving and won t always stop the motion effects in your image. It also can t know you re planning a narrow DOF image and may set an inappropriate aperture. It will NOT recognize that your image is a dark or bright image and will likely miss-adjust the exposure and make your dark image too bright or your bright image too dark.

Auto takes over the camera an sets a number of settings back to a default condition. It does things like: Multi-segment metering set Single-frame advance Auto white balance ISO (the camera s sensitivity to light) reset to Auto Flash mode set to AUTO (If the flash is up, the camera will decide when to fire it.) Flash compensation reset to 0 Wide-area focus (the camera chooses which focus sensor to use) It may set Autofocus Priority (the camera won t take a picture until it thinks the subject is in focus) When you press the shutter release halfway, the camera WILL try to autofocus Noise Reduction for long exposures is turned ON Your Mileage May Vary! Check your manual!

So, How do I get more control of my camera? Auto hasn t left the planet, it s still there if you need it!

A LOT of folks have asked the question How do I get off of AUTO mode. Here is the secret! 1) Grasp your mode control knob between your thumb and forefinger 2) Turn the knob until the P mode is selected You will still have all of the convenience of the AUTO mode but will also have a few additional and very handy controls to help you make better photographs! NOTE: There is NO danger in making the mode change. The knob WILL go back to AUTO. The camera will reset to the default AUTO setting and life will go on! The camera can handle it!

P is for Professional mode

So, now we are officially OFF of the dreaded AUTO MODE! Congratulations! So what really changes from AUTO? The answer? Not as much as you might think. The CAMERA still: Sets the Shutter Speed and Aperture based on the value YOU set as the ISO setting. It still takes a picture when you press the shutter button SO, what do I gain? The ability to change the ISO to a setting YOU prefer The ability to use exposure compensation to brighten or darken your images based on the image you are attempting to capture. Subtle changes for sure but very handy for taking your images up a notch without any significant changes to the way you photograph

Bright sunny day at the beach or perhaps snow skiing The camera is going to calculate what you need for a proper (18%) exposure. It WILL result in an UNDER EXPOSED image. The sand/snow will be rendered as a more subdued gray instead of bright white. So, use your Exposure Compensation to add a stop or stop and a half of compensation and all will be good. A hike in the woods or perhaps an indoor shot against a predominately dark background Once again, the camera will calculate an 18% tonal value and result in an image that is too bright (OVER EXPOSED). The dark areas will be rendered as more of a gray tone instead of a real black. Exposure Compensation to the rescue again. This time force it to UNDER expose by a stop of so.

The King of Depth of Field!

Another click of the Mode Selection knob will take us to the Aperture (remember Alvin?) Mode. Now YOU are controlling the Depth Of Field (DOF) by changing the aperture. The camera will select a correct shutter speed based on the ISO you have selected and any Exposure Compensation you may have entered. Remember the Three Amigos! If you close your Aperture, the CAMERA will reduce the shutter speed to compensate. PLEASE keep an eye on the shutter speed so it doesn t get too slow for your image. The camera s not going to stop you from making bad choices!

The Sultan of Freeze or Blur

Another click of the Mode Selection knob will take us to the Shutter Priority (remember Simon?) Mode. Now YOU are controlling the freezing or blurring of motion in your subject. The camera will select a correct aperture based on the ISO you have selected and any Exposure Compensation you may have entered. Remember the Three Amigos! If you speed up (shorten) the shutter speed, the CAMERA will open the aperture to compensate. PLEASE keep an eye on the aperture as it may max out and not be able to open (or close) enough to get the correct image without making a change to the ISO also! The camera s not going to stop you from making bad choices!

Ready to take the leap?

Well, one more turn on the knob takes us to M or Manual Mode. So, unlike shutter and aperture modes, exposure compensation is not available! Well, it s there, you just have to read the meter in your viewfinder. YOU ARE NOW IN TOTAL CONTROL OF YOUR CAMERA! A lot of photographers prefer Manual Mode over the other options for a few simple reasons. Using the view finder s meter indicator, they can choose the amount of under/over exposure compensation they want without taking their eyes from the view finder. They are also very aware of the shutter speeds and apertures they are working with. On my Sony A700 I have two control knobs, one for shutter and one for aperture. When I m shooting my meter tells me if I am over or under exposed and by how much. All I have to do it rotate one or both knobs until I get the exposure I think I want. No other buttons or knobs to fool with unless I can t get the meter where I want it. Then I might have to make an ISO adjustment. It just seems so simple! If I am shooting flowers or portraits and want a soft background, I just set my aperture wide open and roll the shutter knob until my Three Amigos are balanced. If it s jet airplanes, I crank the shutter to 1/2000 and let the aperture (and possibly ISO) go where it needs. If I m shooting propeller airplanes and know I need a SPECIFIC, slower shutter speed (1/125 or 1/80 etc) roll the shutter knob, the aperture will adjust (within limits) and I m good to go! EASY PEASY!

BLURRY Motion FROZEN Motion SHUTTER SPEED 1 second ½ sec MORE LIGHT Brighter ƒ STOP ¼ sec ƒ 1.7 1/8 sec ƒ 2.8 1/15 ƒ 3.5 1/30 ƒ 5.6 1/60 ƒ 8 1/125 ƒ11 1/250 ƒ 22 1/500 ƒ 32 1/1000 LESS LIGHT Darker FUZZY BACKGROUND SHARP BACKGROUND

The Running Guy, Mountains, Flower ICONS NOTE: These modes ONLY work with JPEGs

When turning the knob to the Running Guy (Sports mode) or selecting it from the menu: The camera will choose the fastest shutter speed available for the available light. It will also select the widest possible aperture if the lighting conditions warrant.

This mode will enhance the warmer colors of the sunset. That s about it!

Emphasizes a small Depth of Field (wide open aperture) and brings out the warm colors and skin tones.

Combines a flash exposure with a long shutter speed to burn in the background light and properly expose the subject with flash.

Slightly increases color saturation and contrast

Seems to do as Sports mode (fastest shutter speed) but a close focus distances