Digital Photography beyond Auto Mode

1. Digital Photography beyond Auto Mode Sing H. Lin, 林星雄,singhlin@gmail.com May Lee 李梅， mayleearts@gmail.com

2. Outlines • Photos of a Main Subject– Shallow Depth of Field • Scenery & Landscape - Deep Depth of Field • Sport Action Photo and Wildlife Action Photo • Compact Super-Zoom Photography • Panoramic Pictures • Download pictures from camera into computer

3. An Example of Mode Dial on Digital CameraEach mode is optimized for certain special effectAuto Mode: Fully Automatic Semi-Automatic Modes P Mode Aperture Priority Mode Shutter Priority Mode Sports Mode Portrait Mode Night Mode Landscape Mode Macro Mode etc. Manual Mode: Fully Manual Control

4. Some additional modes are not on Mode Dial but are on multi-page menu accessed through LCD screen

5. Photos of a Main Subject with Special Effect

6. Gorgeous Red Azalea

7. Sheer Beauty of White Iris

8. Passionate Red Rose

9. A Feast for the Eyes

10. Charming Purple Wisteria

11. Fascinating Pink Azalea

12. It is Magical

13. Romantic and Seductive

14. Amazing

15. Fruits of Plunus Mume

16. Prunus Mume Blossom in Snow – Harbinger of Spring

17. Magnificent Orchid

18. Picture of a Main Subject– with Special Effects Main subjectis in focus, sharp, clear, highlighted and emphasized to attract attention Other stuff in background and foreground are out of focus and blurred to avoid distraction of viewer’s attention frommain subject

19. Picture of a Main Subject– How to Achieve Special Effect? Use Shallow Depth of Field to achieve such special effect Depth of Field (景深) is controlled by 3 parameters: Aperture (光圈) Size, Focal Length (焦距) and Distance between camera and subject. High end, expensive DSLR cameras can achieve such effect by using Large Aperture Size (lower f-stop number) with large photo sensor. Use Aperture Priority Mode and set maximum aperture size. However, the maximum aperture size of kit lens of typical DSLR camera is still not big enough. You need Macro lens with very large aperture size (f/1.8, or f/2.0 or f/2.8) If the lens of your camera is big enough, the Portrait Mode on your camera may be able to achieve such effects Compact Super-Zoom cameras can achieve such special effect by using Long Focal Length (Long Zoom) But compact Point & Shoot cameras are difficult to achieve such special effect because of small lens and short focal length.

20. Picture of a Main Subject– Using Compact Super-Zoom Camera I stand at a distance of 15 to 20 feet away from the flower I zoom in so that the flower fills up the picture frame The long zoom with long focal length achieves the effect of Shallow Depth of Field Benefit of Long Zoom: If main subjectis a bird or a butterfly or other insects, the long distance poses less threat to such main subjectand has better chance of getting beautiful close-up pictures of such main subject.

21. Flower Picture with No Zoom – No Special EffectFlowers and background Trees and Leaves are all in focus and visible

22. Stand at same position, Zoom in on Flowerwith Special Effect of Shallow Depth of Field

23. Landscape Photography

24. Canadian RockyOh my God! This is unbelievable

25. Canadian RockySpectacular View of Upper Waterton Lake

26. Fantastic View of Honolulu in Hawaii

27. Gorgeous Autumn Colors in Holmdel Park

28. Stunning Beauty of Moraine Lake in Canadian Rocky

29. Rose Garden in Deep Cut Garden in New Jersey

30. Landscape Photos of Beautiful Scenery Everything is beautiful and fantastic in such landscape photos. We want everything to be in focus, no matter far or near Use small aperture size to achieve Deep Depth of Field DSLR cameras, compact super-zoom cameras and compact point & shoot cameras all can achieve such effects by using Small aperture size. The Landscape Mode if available on your camera is optimized for such effects, or Use Aperture Priority Mode and set minimum aperture size.

31. Action Photos

32. Magnificent Osprey in Action

33. Majestic bald eagle in the air with a big fish in its talon

34. An Osprey just caught a big fish and is comingto land on this pole to eat the fish

35. Majestic bald eagle is enjoying eating fishon top of a tree

36. An Osprey got something to eat on nest

37. Magnificent view of a gannet in the air

38. An osprey cruising in the air watching the lake below and is ready to dive if a fish in found

39. A pelican gliding just above water surface

40. A kingfisher dived into the water andcame up with a small fish in its beak

41. An egret cruising in the air

42. Red winged blackbird in the air

43. A red tailed hawk hunting in the air

44. A great blue heron cruising gracefully in the air

45. I was walking along lake sideA great blue heron suddenly took off into the air

46. Colorful mergansers taking off from water into air。

47. Aerial Ballet of Sandhill Crane

48. Action Photos Using Sports Mode and Super-Zoom The camera must be fast The photographer must also be fast and accurate Action target is often far away, Super-Zoom is often needed to pull it in for clear view. My compact super-zoom camera is Canon PowerShot SX50 HS with 50X optical zoom

49. Features in Sports Mode in my Compact Super-ZoomCamera for Action Photos Can take a burst of 10 pictures in 0.7 second Auto focus is very fast and accurate Shutter lag is negligible Good image stabilizer to minimize the effects of camera shakes Has 50X optical zoom to pull-in far away target in action Has Icon of Sports Mode on Mode Dial, just turn the dial to Sports Mode to use it – Very fast.

50. Action Photos - Photographer must also be fast and accurate Photographer needs lots of practice to be fast and accurate Almost like a western cowboy practicing hard to draw and shoot very fast and accurately In winter season, some parking lots of shopping centers (K-Mart, Sears, Costco, Pathmark, ShopRite, etc.) have many Seagulls flying around – Good place for action photographer to practice.