Digital cameras come with a selection of modes available. Your camera instruction/user manual should be able to tell you what they all do. Below is a couple of the more common & useful ones found on many cameras.
Automatic (often a green icon) & P (Program)
The automatic setting is found on all digital cameras. If you just can’t work out how to take that shot then use the auto setting and get the shot. It’s better than missing it. While you are learning, it might even be a good idea to first take the photo on Auto before trying something else. Also, by composing your shot and pushing the button down halfway (so it focuses and does its light metering), you let the camera show you what it thinks are good shutter speeds and apertures to use. The camera is capable of taking great photos on Auto but it doesn’t have your human brain or ability to read all the elements in the proposed photo. It just takes an average view and sets to that.
Auto is also likely to select a very slow shutter speed in low light that you can’t hold steady enough. However, it will automatically select the flash for you if it thinks it’s needed.
In Auto the camera selects all the basic settings including the ISO and focal points etc. It’s the point and shoot mode.
Program is usually a semi automatic setting that shares the various options between photographer and camera.
TV or S (Shutter Priority)
TV (Time Value) or Shutter Priority mode simply means that You choose the shutter speed and when you focus and the camera does its light metering, the Camera then chooses the aperture. The camera doesn’t get fancy here; it just chooses what it considers to be the right aperture for a correctly exposed photo according to the light reading it took. This reading depends on the metering mode you have chosen. See Metering Modes for more info.
This is a great mode to start learning with. Once you understand your shutter speeds, you can use this mode to create the sorts of photos you want in terms of action. You don’t have to think about the aperture unless it’s flashing in the viewfinder to tell you the shutter speed you’ve chosen is too slow or fast and the camera can’t select a suitable aperture for you.
This mode is manual in most other ways. It allows you to select the ISO so you can attain the shutter speeds you desire. It won’t select the flash unless you want it to. You select the white balance etc you want. While learning, just leave that on AWB (Automatic White Balance). I think this is a good mode to learn with in the very beginning and it’s a mode I use a lot.
M (Manual)
Manual mode means that the camera barely helps you at all, if at all. It’s all pretty much up to you to select all that you need to get the photo right or how you want it. This mode is better used when you have some experience and understanding.
Night Photography (often a small icon with a head and moon or similar)
Many cameras have this mode and it’s a cool little mode in the right situation. Basically it uses a slow shutter speed to expose the general background before using the flash to light up the subject in front. This technique is called 2nd Sync or 2nd Curtain Flash and you’ll learn more about that later in the document.
For instance, let’s say you have your friend standing in front of you at night with a cityscape of light in the background. If you use the flash normally the flash will light up the person but make the background black. You lose the city. In this mode, the city and your friend are properly exposed in the photo because the camera uses a slower than normal shutter speed first, before flashing your friend, just before it finishes taking the photo.
