Fundamentals of Operating a Camera-Part 3: The Creative Modes
When you choose to move from your camera’s P or auto modes to one of the Creative Modes, you have the potential to create a better photo. Many architectural photographers and portrait photographers like me use the Creative Modes. I use the term potential because there is certainly no guarantee you’ll be shoot a better picture. In fact, you can easily fall into a trap of producing poor photos using the Creative Modes which will drive you back to the P mode for safety reasons and by default.
The Creative Modes are:
Aperture Priority (Av). Determines the amount of light hitting your camera’s sensor and the scenes Depth of Field.
Shutter Priority (Tv or S). Determines the speed at which your shutter takes the picture which determines how motion is frozen.
Manual (M). Allows you to set both Aperture and Shutter by hand.
Bulb (B). Allows you to hold the shutter open more than 30 seconds if you are shooting in extremely dark conditions or want a lot of motion or blur.
They are all driven by your camera’s light meter which is continuously measuring the amount of light entering your lens. Long before I was a Minneapolis commercial photographer, I used a film camera that was entirely manual except for its electronic light meter.
More Fundamentals of Operating a Camera:
Introduction
Part 2: The P Mode
Part 4: Aperture
Part 5: Shutter Speed
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