One of the first technical elements you will begin to experiment with is shooting modes. Each mode has a specific function, which will affect your results. Most cameras have auto, program, shutter, aperture, and manual modes. These are specified with letters, such as P, S, A, M, or in Canon, P, Tv, Av, and M.
Tv stands for time value (which is the same as shutter speed), and
Av stands for aperture value. Most professionals usually toggle between a few of these settings. I typically shoot all of my events in manual mode, but that’s just personal preference.
As a professional, you should never stop learning. Regardless of how long you’ve been shooting professionally, new ideas will always emerge and it is a good idea to stay open-minded and keep updated on industry trends. Investing time in the beginning to understand the fundamentals of photography will help provide a better experience to potential clients. Many beginners who pick up a DSLR for the first time shoot in auto mode. For everyday photography, this may be fine, but for professional shoots will present you with many issues that auto cannot handle. Before shooting as a professional, you should know most of the functions on your equipment. It would be embarrassing if you had to figure out how something worked during an event. I’ll explain some of the most basic functions on a camera, which are universal no matter what brand you choose.
To become a serious photographer, please stop using your camera in auto mode immediately. As a photographer, you should be the director of the shoot and decide which setting(s) should be used. Auto mode takes away the creativity and control of photography. While it gives you the basic necessities of framing and lighting adjustment, other values that you rely on to make great shots (such as metering, focus, and various system properties) can be dramatically put off. Harnessing total control of the camera by learning to utilize other modes will make your photos stand out from those taken by photographers who shoot primarily in auto mode.
Using your EV button allows you to quickly underexpose or overexpose your image. When you’re taking a photo in auto or semi-auto mode, the camera’s job is to adjust itself by changing the shutter speed and/or aperture to properly expose your shot. When you play with the EV button, you’re telling the camera to either brighten or darken the photo from the optimal exposure it perceives.
Program mode is another setting I rarely use, although it may be a decent option for beginners who are trying to graduate from relying on auto mode. Program mode is practically the same as shooting in auto, with the key difference being that you get to change a few settings. First and foremost, program mode provides control over the flash. This is very important if you choose not to use flash in low-light situations. You can also choose other advanced options for how your flash fires, like fill flash, rear curtain or red-eye reduction. You can also set the ISO manually. ISO is an industry standard that once referred to the film sensitivity, but now (in digital terms) ISO simply conveys how the sensor perceives light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light it becomes. This is one reason why shooting in auto is not recommended. The camera might raise your ISO too high to compensate for lower light, when the shutter or aperture settings actually should have been adjusted instead.
White balance (WB) is another advanced feature that most professionals won’t mess with, but this setting is adjustable in program mode. All light sources emit a different temperature, which translates in the tone of your photos. Consider this analogy: If you’ve ever painted a room in your house, you know that when picking out the paint you have to decide if your color scheme is going to be warm or cool. This depends on the undertones of the colors you choose – typically grays and blues are thought to be cool, while yellows, tans, and reddish hues are thought to be warm. Similarly, some types of light are cool and some are warm. If you notice that your shots are too cool, you can adjust your WB to warm up your image.
What most cameras will not let you change are the shutter and aperture values. In program mode, the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed along with the aperture value. My style of shooting lends itself to faster glass, which means I’m prone to keeping the aperture wide open. This is the primary reason I don’t use program mode for my shoots.
Shutter mode can allow you to capture breathtaking photos. Shutter speed controls how quickly you can freeze action. The faster the shutter, the quicker the camera can take a photo without introducing motion blur. Shooting sports, wildlife, or other active events requires a faster shutter speed. Many photographers follow a general rule on shutter speed value: It should be at least equal to or greater than your focal length. This is easy to figure out if you are using primes, but sometimes telephoto lenses make it harder to identify your focal length. Typically, wide-angle lenses can take sharper photos at slower shutter speeds than telephoto lenses. For example, if I’m shooting a photo at 200mm, even 1/200th of a second may be too slow for the camera to capture a blur-free image. I will usually increase my shutter speed to at least 1½ times the recommended setting. This ensures a sharp image.
If you’re shooting stationary objects, you can also utilize image stabilization (IS) or vibration reduction (VR). Many companies have different names for lens optics stabilization, but they all work the same way. Depending on the model/version you have, you may be able to take a shot three to four stops lower than you would normally, using IS or VR. Imagine, if you took a photo at 200mm without IS/VR on, you’d have to set the shutter speed to around 1/250th of a second. If you enabled the stabilization, you could possibly shoot a photo at a 1/100th of a second. This works well if you need a little extra light capturing ability in low-light situations, but only if the subject or object isn’t moving at all. If your photos still come out overexposed, you’ll have no choice but to use a neutral density filter. If you don’t have a lot of available light, try longer exposures, like two to three seconds.
On the other end of the spectrum, longer shutter speeds or long exposure shootings are one of my favorite types of photography. It takes a little more work and effort to pull off good form with these types of photos, but if you do it right the results are amazing. Astrophotography, landscapes, and cityscapes at night lend themselves to long exposures. Showing movement in this type of shooting can also have dramatic results, like a cascading waterfall or the ocean current. You can get decent results during the day while adjusting other settings to provide a proper exposure. Getting out your equipment and testing this is one of the easiest ways to figure out how it works if you are new to long exposure shooting.
It is very important to familiarize yourself with timing value or aperture priority. The aperture in your lens, along with your sensor size, will determine how much depth of field you have in your photo. This also controls how much light gets to the sensor. Aperture is like the iris and pupil in your eye. As you go from inside to outside, your iris automatically contracts to allow less light to enter the eye, therefore reducing its sensitivity. This is why you are given sunglasses when leaving the optometrist after having your eyes dilated. Cameras act the same way and, sometimes, you need to put a neutral density filter on your lens, which acts like a pair of sunglasses.
Aperture settings also produce pretty neat effects for better-trained photographers. A popular look with customers is a blurry background with a sharply focused subject. Although they may not understand how the effect was achieved, viewers always recognize its attractiveness. This effect is something that many beginning photographers aspire to learn how to create when purchasing their first DSLR. Blurring the background is less about how you are shooting, and more about your aperture setting.
Aperture settings control how much of your subject is in focus and how much light travels through the lens to the sensor. That’s the fundamental principle of using the aperture, but there is more to it than just a cool visual effect; lenses matter too. Novice photographers tend to start off with kit lenses. Not all lenses are created equal, though, and understanding how a lens reacts to aperture will contribute to quality results. The quantity and curvature of the aperture blades are very important. The number of blades and their curvature will determine the overall pleasantness of the areas of the image that are out of focus. Aperture does another interesting thing to your photos as well. It controls your depth of field for your photos.
Pro Tip: Purchase a body-only version and then pick up a 50mm f/1.8 lens. The faster glass will allow you to capture more in low-light situations, while blurring the background. This coveted effect is called Bokeh.
Bokeh means blur or haze in Japanese. The out-of-focus parts of an image created with this effect are described as creamy bokeh and bokeh balls. The quality of the bokeh effect will depend largely on the quality of the lens and its parts. For example, higher-end lenses typically have nine rounded aperture blades. These rounded blades provide a clean, circular pattern to the bokeh when you begin to stop down the aperture. The inferior fewer-blade designs in cheaper lenses will render an octagonal shape, which is undesirable and less pleasing to the eye.
Beyond these special effects, some lenses are designed to be much sharper when wide open. Professionals gladly pay more for these types of lenses, since shooting wide open will not only provide creamy bokeh, but increased sensitivity to light as well. Lower-end lenses that are fast, like the 50mm f/1.4, tend to be softer when wide open. The sharpness increases as you stop down the lens to an f/2.8. The same goes for a constant aperture zoom lens at f/2.8. A lens that is designed at f/2.8 will be sharper from corner to corner at f/3.5 or f/4.0. Understanding how the aperture and your lens will translate to your final photo is very important. If you know how a lens performs, you can get much more out of it when shooting professionally.
Closing your aperture will decrease the amount of light available to your sensor. This will help properly expose your photo. I would only recommend closing the aperture to shoot landscapes or in situations when you have reached your max shutter speed. Pricier cameras have a higher max shutter speeds than most consumer-grade cameras. The more expensive your camera, the less likely you’ll need to close your aperture because of shutter speed.
Manual mode is the most talked about mode that beginning photographers struggle with. Shooting in complete manual mode may seem scary because it leaves all of the settings decisions up to you, but if you understand the exposure triangle, shooting in this mode will become second nature. The exposure triangle will ultimately control the noise, depth of field and motion blur. These three things will largely determine the quality of your photos.
As discussed earlier, the
exposure triangle encompasses the three keys to capturing photos in manual mode. It is a term you are likely to hear frequently within the photography community. The three keys to capturing in manual mode are ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. You must balance all three of these to achieve properly exposed photos. Keep in mind that various types of camera bodies have different sensitivities to each of these settings. This is why it’s important to select the appropriate body for the type of work you’ll be doing. The camera itself directly controls ISO and shutter speed. Depending on the lens and manufacturer, aperture can be manually controlled on the lens or electronically controlled from within. If the aperture is electronically controlled, the camera body itself will adjust that feature. Some photographers prefer manual apertures for many reasons, but I would suggest using electronic apertures for most applications.
Each part of the exposure triangle will affect the other. If you decide to shoot sports, increasing your shutter speed means you will have less light hitting the sensor. You can open up the aperture to let more light in, but that means you’ll have a great chance of mis-focusing due to the small depth of field. Furthermore, increasing your ISO will make your sensor more light sensitive. It will increase the noise in your photos. Getting the exposure triangle just right is a balancing act. Understanding ISO, shutter speed and aperture in relation to your final photos will make shooting in manual mode much easier.
Understanding how ISO affects your images is critical. ISO will not make you take better photos, but it will allow you to capture a photo in conditions that are less than ideal. Many professionals do not believe in shooting above 100-800 ISO, but new cameras can now shoot at extreme settings. Before, shooting at ISO 6,400 was frowned upon. With the recent development of new sensor technology, you can easily shoot cleaner images at 3,200-8,000 ISO. High-end models can now shoot clean images at 12,800, though I would strongly advise refraining from shooting at high or boosted levels. For example, Nikon’s D4s is rated to shoot natively up to 25,600. It has a HI setting of an astounding 409,600 ISO, but noise would be very evident at this ISO level.
Understanding quality light sources, and how to use available light to your advantage, will help you tremendously. In wedding photography, sometimes you need to ask people to move into or out of the light. This familiarity with light will help create dramatic photos and add production value to your business.
When using ISO, there are two common settings to be aware of, manual ISO and auto-ISO. These settings are programmed differently depending on the manufacturer, so be sure to refer to your camera’s manual for instructions on how to switch between these modes. Personally, I prefer to shoot in manual ISO for more control. I would rather not let the camera decide which ISO I should be using. It takes a little more work to utilize this mode, but the results are worth it. The camera doesn’t understand what you are trying to accomplish. Using ISO in full-manual will allow you to capture photos deliberately under or overexposed.
Auto-ISO is, of course, automatic. You give up the ability to control how sensitive your sensor is to light, and how noisy your photos will become in low light when utilizing this setting. When you take a photo in Auto-ISO, the camera will ultimately try to make a properly exposed photo, given that you are shooting in program mode or auto. The problem with this method will be evident when shooting in lower light situations. Of course, there can be an appropriate time for using this mode.
Auto-ISO is great for shooting in well-lit conditions. If you prefer the ease-of-use and not having to worry about what ISO you should be using, then keep it on auto, as long as you have plenty of light. There are plenty of other settings you can focus on to make your work look amazing in daylight. If you do decide to stick to manual ISO, keep your ISO as low as possible.
Additional Settings:
Regardless of which mode you decide to shoot in, having a full understanding of how light reacts to your settings is important. Using natural light has its advantages, likewise with flashes and strobes. Using off-camera flash techniques and modifiers can shape the light the camera sees.
One setting under shutter speed is called
bulb mode. This is typically found when you adjust your shutter speed to the max timing. Bulb mode simply allows the photographer to take a photo as long as the shutter button is depressed. This mode is perfect for shooting with lighting because it will allow the user to stop the exposure when needed, based on current lighting conditions.
All DSLR’s will focus automatically. The two that are most used in photography are single and continuous. These two modes act exactly as described. In AF-S mode, when depressing the button the camera will focus on your subject. Regardless of if you move the camera, it will remain focused on that original point until you release the shutter button. This is great for composing your photo.
AF-C or servo mode is perfect for a videographer, or photographer who always wants to nail the focus of a moving subject. Sports and wildlife photographers will use this mode to keep their photos sharp.
These modes shouldn’t be confused with the switches on the lenses. Those switches are only designed to turn on and off the auto-focus system. The AF-S and AF-C modes can be set on the camera body itself. Consult your manual to understand how to set these modes.
Make sure you understand the file system you will be shooting in. If you are new to DSLRs and unfamiliar with editing
RAW files, I suggest shooting in JPEG format. Shooting in this mode will tell the camera to process the data it receives and apply its processing to the image itself. For most, this setting will result in high-quality images. The main advantage to this is the smaller file size for your computer. If you are shooting professionally or want complete control of your final images, shoot in RAW. RAW files are always much larger than their JPEG counterparts. RAW also keeps the integrity of the image file data. You’ll have complete control of the dynamic range of the photo, and also complex editing tools to your disposal. These larger files also require more computer power, fundamental understanding on how to edit and open them, correct software (typically provided by the camera manufacturer), and the space to store them.
While many of these settings may sound advanced, they are the basics to be aware of for shooting quality images with your camera. While some may prefer to shoot in full auto, creative individuals will love the freedom that RAW file processing, creative shooting modes, and full manual mode provides. If you are ready to take the leap and get out of auto, using program, aperture and shutter-priority will be a wonderful stepping stone. You’ll soon understand exactly how your camera processes data and sees the world.
