Help! I don't know what all these pictures on this dial mean.

This dial - or something on your camera that looks similar - can be incredibly confusing for beginners. However, once understood, it is more simple than you might believe. 

One of the most fundamental settings on your camera, the mode dial is intimidation for beginners which most often put the dial to the full auto mode. Full auto is the green setting on most mode dials. 

I will explain what these modes are for and when you may want to avoid green auto and when it might be a good option.

NOTE: This will be a lengthy, and somewhat technical post. If you only want to shoot in full auto and possible the scene modes, scroll down until you see the big letters that says
 FULL AUTO in green.

Before we go too far, we need to understand that almost all cameras have four base level modes. Some models, especially entry level cameras,  have extensions of those modes. Pro cameras often have the four base modes only.  

On most, but not all, camera models, those four base level settings will actually be segregated by a bracket style mark. 

These four modes are Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority, and Program Auto. 

Most manufactures simply mark them M, A, S, and P but Canon will have them marked M, Av (aperture value), Tv (time value) and P. 

Despite the varying names, these are the same modes, just slightly different names. 

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Many experienced photographers use primarily Manual mode. When the camera is in Manual mode, the photographer defines shutter speed and aperture settings and they will be locked in until the photographer manually changes them. Most photographers using Manual mode will also manually adjust their ISO as well. This allows the photographer full control but requires the greatest understanding of how the three variable work together.   

While many pros are sold on idea of using the Manual Mode almost exclusively, there are other options that might be great options for all of us. 

Lets begin with Aperture priority or Av on Canon.

In Aperture priority, the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed based upon the f-stop the photographer chosen to use. That f-stop will remain locked in until locked in place until the photographer decides to change it. 

By allowing the camera to adjust shutter speed, the photographer can relax somewhat about ensuring proper exposure, especially in changing lighting conditions that would make shooting in full manual mode challenging. 

Since aperture effects depth of field, this mode is often used by those specifically wanting to ensure shallow or increased depth of field. For portraits, for example, a photographer might want to lock in a large f-stop to produce as much background blur as possible. I photography real estate so for that application, I can lock in a smaller aperture that ensures acceptable sharpness throughout the rooms. 

Sounds wonderful right? Why wouldn't we just want to turn the mode dial to A and lock it down? The first reason is that of the two variables, aperture and shutter speed, we may need shutter speed to be the priority versus aperture. The second reason is that these semi automatic settings, while very handy, may not perfectly nail the optimum settings. 

You can learn more about aperture in this post... 

https://paulsphotographybasics.blogspot.com/2020/06/aperture-explained-or-what-is-f-stop.html

Shutter Speed Priority or Tv on Canon

Shutter speed priority, allows the photographer to select a shutter speed they wish to use and will automatically select an aperture to, hopefully, provide perfect exposure. 

This setting is great for times where our shutter speed is crucial. For example, when capturing moving subjects, we may need to lock in a faster shutter speed to prevent blur. Or we may wish to intentionally use longs shutter speeds to create blur when it may not otherwise exist. Moving water or the streaks of moving automobiles at night are examples of this.

Shutter speed is always one of my priorities because slow shutter speed is the enemy of sharpness most of the time. 

Shutter speed priority can, at times, be a little more challenging because the camera is automatically adjusting the aperture but the aperture range of most lenses is smaller than shutter speed options. When in aperture priority, its unlikely the camera will hit one end or the other of the shutter speed range. If, however, you use shutter speed priority its quite possible the camera will run into limitations by hitting  the  largest or the smallest aperture settings without being able to create the ideal exposure. If that happens, adjustments to the selected shutter speed or ISO will be needed to get the system within operating range. 

You can learn more about shutter speed here... 

https://paulsphotographybasics.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-shutter.html

Probably the most overlooked mode is Program mode. Program mode is fully automatic, allowing the camera to adjust both aperture and shutter speed. 

When I want to let the camera do some of the thinking, Program mode is my default setting. Its far more powerful than many people realize. I like to think of it as shooting in Manual mode but with a head start. You see, in Program mode, the camera will select a starting point for me. And it often does a really good job. 

The best part, at least in my opinion, about Program mode is that I can change the combination of shutter speed and aperture the camera sets for me. So, for example, perhaps I need a faster shutter speed. I can, with the turn of the command dial, increase the shutter speed and open the aperture appropriately at the same time. This feature allows me to let the camera adjust base level exposure and then I can adjust either the aperture or the shutter speed to suit my needs. In this way, its almost like shooting in Manual mode, Aperture Priority and Shutter Speed Priority all wrapped into on tidy little package. 

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These auto and semi-auto modes can handy but understanding a bit about automatic modes on your camera might be good knowledge when using auto or semi-auto anything. 

Lets take a look at the camera's metering system.

The metering system in your camera is designed to produce perfect, neutral gray images. I often tell people that and they're confused.  So here I have a visual that helps understand it.

Take a look at this photograph of a house. When you analyze it, there are roughly equal amounts of red, green and blue as well as roughly equal portions of bright, dark and middle toned densities. Its a bit shy in the reds but it will do. 

When your camera looks at this image, it averages what it "sees" and attempts to create an image that averages to gray. In this case, that exposure will be quite close. If we blur the images more and more you'll see it happen. 

You can still barely recognize the original scene here.

Here, the original scene is complete gone and the image is becoming one large gray image.

So eventually, if you have equal amounts of everything, you'll have a perfect density, perfectly neutral gray average like this. 

If this represents what you photograph your camera will nail it, every, single time. 

 But most of us aren't photographing perfect scenes that have exact equal amounts of everything. In fact, we rarely photograph perfect scenes. I struggled to find any image in my library that averaged perfectly to what you see above. 

So, be aware that if your scene averages to something lighter, or darker, the metering system of your camera when using automatic or semi-automatic modes may not get things perfectly right. They may end up too light or too dark. 

For example, Here are two images and how they average. So as you can see, depending upon the contents of the scene, the perfect gray average may not yield a perfect exposure. 

To solve this, camera manufacturers put exposure compensation on the camera, typically available in Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed priority and Program Auto modes. You'll need to find it on your camera but its worth the trouble.

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********  FULL AUTO  ********

Full auto is a good option now and then. I often refer to it as brother in law mode. I say "If you're going to hand your brother in law the camera, set it to green auto." But why?

Because green, or full, auto puts everything into auto mode no matter what you've set previously. So, that means when your brother in law takes lousy pictures he can't blame you for having the camera set wrong.

But this same behavior of the camera can benefit you as well. There may be times you're just overwhelmed or busy or just don't want to think about camera settings. We all have those moments. Turing the dial to that beautiful little Auto setting will generally get you some kind of acceptable image. Maybe not the best, but usually decent.

On most cameras you won't have the ability to utilize exposure compensation like you do in Program mode. If the camera believes you need a flash, the pop-up will open if you have one as well. But its still a good mode at times.

Scene Modes

Scene modes are simply a subset of full, green, auto. You are still locked out of most setting, but by choosing a particular type of scene, you're arming the camera with a little bit more information than it has in green auto.

Portrait mode

Take portrait mode, for example. In this setting, the camera will automatically adjust various settings on the camera in an attempt to achieve the best portrait photograph. These settings include things like aperture, picture style/picture control/creative style, focus settings and drive mode. 

Other scene modes might include Sports/Action, Kids, Landscape, Food, Close-up/Macro, and many others. Each of these modes will set the camera up for that style of shooting so I encourage you to try them. They might just make quick work of struggling to get the settings right. 

Since real estate on the mode dial can often be at a premium, some manufactures are now simply creating menu based options with a single position of the mode dial.

In addition to these scene modes, some cameras might also provide other creative options such as the Effects mode on the Nikon dial above or the interlocking circles on the Canon dial. These additional creative filters can also give your images a different look so definitely take a look at them if your model includes them. 

Hopefully that scary old dial isn't quite as frightening now.