USING PRE-SET MODES: LESSON 1
NIGHT MODE: "What in the moon is night mode for" you might ask. You know, on the dial where you can flip it to the little simbol of a stickperson and a star next to them? (Trust me, it is there...take a minute to find the little man with the stars). Now, why would you use this? Well, the night mode is a great tool to use WHEN YOU HAVE TO USE THE FLASH, BUT ALSO WANT THE BACKGROUND TO SHOW UP IN THE PICUTRE like a person standing in front of a sunset, a picture at dusk or even at night when you want to see the Statue of Liberty or other well lit monument in the background.
Normally, when you use a flash, it is TOO powerfull (really giving off alot of light) for this type of picture that the background becomes dark. You have probably all experienced this around sunset when there seems to be plenty of light out and you take a pic with the flash, but it ends up looking compeletly dark in the background and you cannot see the background at all. This dark background is due to the camera naturally giving off a large amount of flash so that the picture is sharp and there is no motion blurr (Definition-fuzziness from someone moving during the picture while the lens was being held open), or camera shake ( Definition-blurriness caused from the camera not being held still while the shutter/lens was open). In this same sunset situation, you probably then tried to take the same picture without the flash but it turned out all blurry. If you didn't use the flash, the person/picture would be extremely blurry b/c of motion blurr and camera shake. The camera needs the lens open for a long time to let enough light in for it to be visible. To get the picture to turn out you could tell you model to sit still for about 6 seconds while the shutter (lens) is open and you would also have to have your camera on a tripod to get the picture to work without using the flash, but this is usually not practical. Another option would be to use the regular flash, but this amount of light is really too much for the situation discribed above and would cause the background to be black.
This is where THE NIGHT MODE (that little man with the stars in the backgroung setting on your camera) is usefull. In this sunset/dusk situation, just flip your camera to night mode and pop up the flash. What happens is the flash shoots at a lower percentage (giving less light than the flash NORMALLY would give), helping to keep the background visible in the picture instead of making it look like the middle of the night. This also works if you are trying to catch colors from lights (such as in a concert or even the color from christmas lights on a tree). The flash "overpowers" the natural light, really just washing it out and not getting the colored effect you want. Just use the "NIGHT MODE" and you will hopefully find a little better results.
PICTURE AT TOP:
If this picture was taken at full flash, the background (cross and person) would be completly black (looking like it was takin in the middle of the night) and the colors in the background would not be visible at all.
TIP: The lens will actually be open a bit longer than normal (to allow more light in the lens), so try to have your model (or sucker if you are practicing) hold still, as well as your hand holding the camera...you may even want a tripod, but that may be a bit too much.
NIGHT MODE: "What in the moon is night mode for" you might ask. You know, on the dial where you can flip it to the little simbol of a stickperson and a star next to them? (Trust me, it is there...take a minute to find the little man with the stars). Now, why would you use this? Well, the night mode is a great tool to use WHEN YOU HAVE TO USE THE FLASH, BUT ALSO WANT THE BACKGROUND TO SHOW UP IN THE PICUTRE like a person standing in front of a sunset, a picture at dusk or even at night when you want to see the Statue of Liberty or other well lit monument in the background.
Normally, when you use a flash, it is TOO powerfull (really giving off alot of light) for this type of picture that the background becomes dark. You have probably all experienced this around sunset when there seems to be plenty of light out and you take a pic with the flash, but it ends up looking compeletly dark in the background and you cannot see the background at all. This dark background is due to the camera naturally giving off a large amount of flash so that the picture is sharp and there is no motion blurr (Definition-fuzziness from someone moving during the picture while the lens was being held open), or camera shake ( Definition-blurriness caused from the camera not being held still while the shutter/lens was open). In this same sunset situation, you probably then tried to take the same picture without the flash but it turned out all blurry. If you didn't use the flash, the person/picture would be extremely blurry b/c of motion blurr and camera shake. The camera needs the lens open for a long time to let enough light in for it to be visible. To get the picture to turn out you could tell you model to sit still for about 6 seconds while the shutter (lens) is open and you would also have to have your camera on a tripod to get the picture to work without using the flash, but this is usually not practical. Another option would be to use the regular flash, but this amount of light is really too much for the situation discribed above and would cause the background to be black.
This is where THE NIGHT MODE (that little man with the stars in the backgroung setting on your camera) is usefull. In this sunset/dusk situation, just flip your camera to night mode and pop up the flash. What happens is the flash shoots at a lower percentage (giving less light than the flash NORMALLY would give), helping to keep the background visible in the picture instead of making it look like the middle of the night. This also works if you are trying to catch colors from lights (such as in a concert or even the color from christmas lights on a tree). The flash "overpowers" the natural light, really just washing it out and not getting the colored effect you want. Just use the "NIGHT MODE" and you will hopefully find a little better results.
PICTURE AT TOP:
If this picture was taken at full flash, the background (cross and person) would be completly black (looking like it was takin in the middle of the night) and the colors in the background would not be visible at all.
TIP: The lens will actually be open a bit longer than normal (to allow more light in the lens), so try to have your model (or sucker if you are practicing) hold still, as well as your hand holding the camera...you may even want a tripod, but that may be a bit too much.
posted by adamjamesphoto at 8:40 PM
1 Comments:
Well written article.
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