Digital Camera Programs.

Digital camera programs are built in. There are three.

1) P= Full Program mode.

2)S= Shutter Priority and

3) A= Aperture Priority.

There is also a setting whereby you can use your camera in full manual mode. I will explain each of the different modes, what they do and when to use them.

Full Program Mode;

When you set your camera to full program mode, it makes all the decisions for you. All you have to do is point and shoot. Kinda like a point & shoot camera, only costly.

Don’t miss understand. This doesn’t mean that it is not worth investing in a higher end camera. To help decide which camera category is right for you, go here.

If you set your camera to full program mode you will get very satisfactory pictures many times. At other times you will want control over the shutter speed or the aperture. Or both!

An example is when you are shooting in the direction of the sun. You’ll notice your subject is always too dark to recognize. “Honest auntie Liz, that’s Johnny! I swear! You just can’t tell it’s him.” Ever had that? Naw, of course not. Me neither.

The way to avoid that is to know how to have control over your shutter speed. Then you can have Johnny look his best regardless of the background.

Plus, when you decide it is time to start getting creative with your camera you will definitely want to be familiar with many more functions than just what it takes to get a quick snapshot of a couple of trick or treaters at your front door!

Maybe start out using full program mode with your new camera but don’t stay there too long. Branch out into shutter priority and aperture priority as soon as you are comfortable with a few of the buttons on your camera.

Like the on/off switch and the shutter release button. In other words use it for a day or two and then start branching out into the other digital programs modes.

Shutter Speed Priority; Because there will be plenty of times you want control over the shutter speed there is a digital camera programs setting known as shutter speed priority.

A picture speaks a thousand words. A slower shutter speed or some post edit work would cause this little beauty to look active in the picture rather than looking stone cold frozen.

Notice in the picture below, how her little legs and skirt actually have the appearance of motion. That is not so in the picture above.

When in this program, you set the shutter speed and the camera automatically sets the aperture for the correct exposure at that shutter speed. Little for you to worry about. All you have to know is when and why to use a specific shutter speed. Learn about that here.

Aperture priority; There is a little something inside your camera called an aperture diaphragm.

Adjusting the aperture changes something called depth of field. Don’t know what that means? It is a very good thing to learn and know.

Watch! I think this moment is much warmer with the background blurred out like in the second picture. That requires a different aperture setting.

When you are ready to learn how to use the aperture and advance your professional photographic skills go here.

You will learn how to get photographs you will be proud to display. Or- you could just do it in Photoshop like I did. Remember, no body cares how you achieved the photo. They only know whether they like it!

The above photo was a split second shot in one of the digital camera programs modes. I used aperture priority.There was no time to change the settings. Good thing too! That provided me with the opportunity to show you the difference.

Easy manual mode for beginners... is explained here. Manual mode is avoided like the plague by many people. I feel that is a mistake because so many great shots are unattainable using any of the digital camera programs modes.

The camera just doesn’t know you want the in flight bird to look really good. After all, it's just a little form in the middle of your viewfinder.

You can avoid so many wasted shots like this by learning and using manual mode. I offer an easy to understand and implement method of using manual mode.

Once you are familiar with your digital camera programs modes be sure you learn and try manual mode before you decide for sure whether you will use it permanently.

I carry my camera in aperture priority, but as soon as I settle on a subject I change to manual mode.

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