Camera Modes

There are so many different types of modes cameras have to take pictures with. All of the modes do different things and add different effects to your photos. This post is a quick summary of what most of the camera modes do.

Automatic Modes

Automatic Mode

Automatic Mode is basically the camera deciding what the best options are for the picture. The camera decides the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, flash, and mostly everything else, but you might be able to turn off flash depending on the type of camera.

Portrait Mode

The camera focuses on one main subject and blurs out the background. The camera automatically selects a large aperture. When using this mode, make sure you are close to your subject, and use the flash if you're shooting into the sun.

Macro Mode

This mode is good for taking close up shots of your subject, like flowers or other small objects. Macro modes will have different abilities depending on what camera you are using; it's usually harder to focus on a subject, and slight movement can make your subject out of focus. When using this mode, keep your camera and object parallel, don't use your camera's flash, and tripods can be extremely useful to keep your subject in focus.

Landscape Mode

This mode is used to make sure your whole entire scene is in focus as much as possible by using a small aperture and usually a slower shutter speed; it is basically the opposite of portrait mode. It is good for taking pictures of scenes where the points of interest are at different distances from the camera.

Sports/Action Mode

This mode is good for taking pictures of moving objects such as cars, people playing sports, etc. The camera increases shutter speed to capture a moving subject. To increase the chance of capturing the object, you can pan your camera with the subject and try focusing your camera beforehand.

Night Mode

This mode is used whenever the lighting is low; it slows down your shutter speed to capture details in the background and sets off the flash to illuminate the subject of the photo. You can use a tripod to prevent the background from being blurry, or you can experiment with purposefully blurring the background and see if you like the look of it.

Movie Mode

This mode is used to capture videos and sometimes sound depending on the camera. The quality isn't that great, but if you see something and just taking a picture won't capture the essence of it, this mode can take a video of it instead.

Less Common Modes

• Panoramic/Stitch Mode - used for taking panoramas

• Snow Mode - taking photos of snow

• Fireworks Mode - taking photos of fireworks

• Kids and Pets Mode - taking pictures of fast moving objects (faster shutter speed and reduced shutter lag)

• Underwater Mode - taking underwater photos

• Beach Mode - another type of bright scene mode

• Indoor Mode - sets shutter speed and white balance

• Foliage Mode - increases saturation to create bold colors

Semi Automatic Modes

Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV)

This mode lets you choose the aperture and the camera chooses the other settings. This mode lets you control the depth of field in a photo of a still object. A larger number aperture (smaller aperture) lets less light in, which means your camera will choose a slower shutter speed, so more of the scene will be in focus, and vise versa with a smaller number aperture (larger aperture).

Shutter Priority Mode (S or TV)

This mode lets you choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the other settings. You can use this mode to capture photos of moving objects by choosing a fast shutter speed or capture a movement as a blur by choosing a slow shutter speed. You can also decrease the shutter speed in lighting that is lower.

Program Mode (P)

This mode is similar to Auto but you get more control over some of the features, like the flash, white balance, etc. You can check the camera's manual to find out what you can control in Program Mode because it differs depending on the camera.

Fully Manual Mode

Manual Mode

This mode gives you full control over your camera, so you can change the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, flash, and so much more. When using this mode, you can do so many different things, but you need to be able to know how to use the different settings and how to control them.