Your Digital Cameras Scene Modes - part 2
Now that you've mastered Portrait, Landscape, Beach/Snow and the other modes in Part 1 I've got a bunch more info to ingest.
Copy Mode
The Copy mode is intended for those times when you are photographing a document or a map and just need a black and white image. You'll still find a B&W mode on a number of cameras, but Copy mode has replaced it on many P&S cameras. No worries. Just use Copy mode to shoot any picture in B&W.
I'm still a fan of shooting everything in color and using software to convert an image to B&W. However, switching to Copy mode in order to pre-visualize what your image will look like in B&W is useful. You may want to shoot the scene both in color and B&W (Copy mode) just to get the best of both worlds. It's up to you.
Beach/Snow Mode
Having been a longtime resident of Florida, and as a current resident of Colorado, I can attest to the real benefit of the Beach/Snow scene mode. Both film and digital camera light meters are calibrated to a medium tone. Overly bright or dark scenes are not recorded properly. Beach/Snow scene mode is for all those bright scenes.
Big open areas of water on a sunny day. Long stretches of white sandy beaches. Snow covered mountains on your next ski vacation. These are all perfect times to use Beach/Snow mode. You are telling the camera that your subject matter is quite bright and it will compensate accordingly. Instead of muddy grey snow it will be recorded bright and white as it should be.
Panorama Assist Mode
If you go check out Shooting Digital Panoramas you'll find out all about this special scene mode. Go ahead and read it and then come back.
Less Popular Scene Modes
Rounding out our discussion on digital camera scene modes are some of the less frequently used modes. I'll cover Party/Indoors, Backlight and Closeup here in this section.
Party/Indoors will allow you to capture good indoor shots, including the available room light. The flash will be in Auto mode and the camera will balance it's output to the existing light. Sometimes the camera will use a slow shutter speed. Using Image Stabilization (if your camera has it) or a tripod will help in certain situations.
The Backlight mode is for those times when there is a lot of brightness behind your subject. It's great when you have people in front of a window. If you're close enough to use your flash, force it on instead of using the Backlight mode.
Having a Closeup (Macro) setting in your list of scene modes may offer some options versus the standard Macro mode on the back of your camera. On my Nikon Coolpix P4 camera the Closeup scene mode allows precise positioning of the focus point. Check your manual to find your cameras capabilities.
Less Popular Scene Modes - Part Deaux
This is the last bit in the series of discussions on digital camera scene modes. The common selections of Fireworks and Museum modes can be found on most every P&S camera. I'll talk about a few others too.
Although you may only use Fireworks mode once or twice a year it will certainly help you get better shots of those aerial explosions. The quite long exposures will require the use of a tripod. It's a good idea to arrive early and claim a good spot to shoot from.
Every year around June the New York Institute of Photography puts a how-to article on their website about shooting fireworks. You can check them out at www.nyip.com or check out a couple of fireworks articles right here.
Many museums do not allow flash photography. With so many items behind glass, the flash would likely cause terrible reflections anyway. Museum mode forces the flash off. Keep in mind that your camera will be using lower shutter speeds. Be steady, brace yourself whenever possible. Use Image Stabilization if your camera has it available.
If you own a Casio digital camera you'll find an eBay mode. This setting records a low res (640x480) image designed to post directly to eBay. Remember to set your camera back to normal so you don't wind up shooting a bunch of low res images.
Your camera may also have some Vivid color modes, Sepia or special effect modes like Star filters and such. Consult your manual. You may never use some of them, but a few may prove useful to you.
Now go out and shoot something!
