Beginner’s Guide to Camera Shooting Modes

For beginners, it is a bit difficult to fully grasp the various parameter settings of the camera. Fortunately, today’s cameras have some automatic shooting modes. As long as you choose the appropriate mode, you can achieve the best results. Nice photos.

The shooting mode selection of digital SLR photography provides photographers with several commonly used scene modes. In the process of initially mastering digital SLR photography, you can make full use of several practical modes such as portrait, landscape, and sports to shoot.

1. Take good photos of people - Portrait mode

Portrait mode is more suitable for taking photos with people as the main subject. In the process of portrait shooting, this mode has two major advantages: First, the digital SLR camera will set a large aperture according to the specific conditions of the optional lens in order to achieve the effect of blurring the background and highlighting the subject of the character (during the shooting process, when the background The further away from the subject, the blurrier the background will look); the second is to use the photo style to adjust the photo tone and exposure to make the skin whiter and softer. In addition, based on the actual situation of portrait photography, many digital SLR cameras will automatically set the drive mode to continuous shooting in this mode. The photographer continues to press the shutter, and the camera will continuously shoot the subject.

2. Make the scenery more vivid-Landscape mode

Landscape mode is suitable for shooting vast scenery, night scenes and other subjects. The camera settings in landscape mode have a larger aperture value. The digital SLR camera will set a small aperture according to the situation in order to achieve a large depth of field. If the photographer uses a zoom lens to shoot, then using the wide-angle end of the lens can bring both near and distant subjects into focus, and the effect is better than the telephoto end. In terms of image quality, the landscape shooting mode can improve the sharpness of the image, detail the details of the image, and enhance the tones of green, red, blue and other colors to make the colors of objects such as the sky and trees more vivid. In addition, although a relatively large aperture value is used, because the ISO sensitivity is set to automatic, the camera will automatically adjust the sensitivity, so it is usually possible to shoot at a suitable shutter speed.

3. Zoom in and shoot small objects - Macro mode

Macro mode is a shooting mode used to shoot small objects. This mode does not add special processing in terms of color tone, but the camera Settings are changed depending on the subject. The aperture value will be adjusted appropriately according to the lens conditions, and it will be automatically set from the minimum value to the middle area. Using this setting can emphasize the blurring effect before and after, making the in-focus part more eye-catching and highlighting the subject. When using this mode to shoot flowers, insects, food, jewelry and other objects, the photographer should shorten the shooting distance as much as possible and focus on the subject using the lens's closest focusing distance. If you want to zoom in on tiny objects, you can add a macro lens to further enhance the effect. If you don’t have a macro lens, you can also use the telephoto end of the zoom lens to shoot the subject.

4. Shooting high-speed moving objects - Sports mode

Sports mode is suitable for shooting running children, moving vehicles or competitive sports with fast-moving subjects. When using this mode, the DSLR camera will first use the center focus point to track the subject, and then use the other focus points to track the focus. At the same time, in order to be able to freeze the moment of movement of the subject, the camera automatically uses a higher ISO sensitivity to ensure a higher shutter speed, and uses the shortest possible exposure time to capture the subject's instant movements. In addition, the sports mode also uses a continuous shooting function to improve the ability to capture momentary opportunities. When the subject enters the frame, press the shutter button halfway to start autofocus.

As long as the subject is within the frame, keep pressing the shutter button halfway to track the subject and continue to focus automatically. When you are sure to shoot, fully press the shutter button and keep it pressed. This will continuously capture dynamic moments and increase the probability of successfully capturing the best moment. In order to better utilize these properties, photographers are advised to use a telephoto lens with anti-shake function.

5. Shoot night scenes and people at the same time - night scene portrait mode

Night scene portrait mode is a shooting mode that combines two different types of photography technologies, night scene photography and portrait photography. , more suitable for taking portrait photos outdoors in dark light or at night. When shooting, the camera will automatically turn on the slow flash sync function, the flash will illuminate the subject, and the slow shutter will give the background a natural exposure.

In addition, in order to avoid the shutter speed being too low, the ISO sensitivity is set to automatic, and the camera can automatically select the ISO sensitivity according to the surrounding conditions. If the photographer uses a zoom lens, using the wide-angle end of the lens will help further enhance the breadth of the night scene. In addition, during night photography, photographers should also use a tripod to avoid camera shake or unnecessary shaking that may cause blurry images.