About modes

[marissawu]

I tried to shoot a performance of some break dancers in a shopping mall last weekend,it was unexpected actually.So,i took out my Nikon d60 then took some shots.i used RAW at that time but it was shocking when i realized something that i forgot to do,i forgot to set the ISO and it was definitely bad when i saw the photos.they were totally dark!

What i want to know:
What mode i should've used?i used shutter speed mode.
What is the difference between program and manual mode?because it seems that there is no difference .i often shoot with A or S mode.i shoot with A because i can get shape bokeh yet i am still confused between P and M mode.

Thanks before

[teaking]

P is automatic mode still the difference with this automatic mose is you can set white balance, ISO settings, and some other thngs depending on your camera where as the other automatic modes are full auto. M is manual and lets yu set everythng some photographers in action shots use manual and manual focus if they know where the action is going to be when taking the shot.. others use AV or TVthere all good.

But like you said it was un expected.. out of interest do you not have a safety shift its a kinda over ride on your camera? which will change the settings you put in if its going to be drasticaly over or under exposed to make sure you get a shot, I know a lot of photographers grumble at any auto feature but this one I do like especialy when something like this hapens.

[tday01]

Choosing which mode to use is really quite simple. First decide which is more important, stopping action or controlling your depth of field. Once you have chosen the mode you can then adjust your ISO. Set your ISO to whatever is required. (depending on the lighting situation you are shooting in.) If you would like all the answers to all of your digital photography questions, I recommend you take a look at. "Mastering Digital Photography Made Easy" Good luck and happy shooting, Terry

[inkista]

Originally Posted by marissawu

What mode i should've used?i used shutter speed mode.

It's not the mode--it's what you forgot to pay attention to. This is why chimping (looking at the pictures you just took while you're taking them) can be a good thing. If you'd noticed the first shot was too dark, you could have adjusted for the later ones.

You probably set too high a shutter speed, and the camera compensated as best it could.

It's not the camera or the mode. It's your not thinking it through. Indoors means you need a lot of light. Getting a high shutter speed with that kind of light means using a high iso or a very wide aperture. It's as simple as that. As you say, had you simply set the iso correctly, S would've done the job just fine. Shoots like that are how you remember. We've all done it. Left the white balance on tungsten, left the iso too low, left the iso too high, etc. After too many bad shoots, you remember.

What is the difference between program and manual mode?because it seems that there is no difference

Funny, I always felt that way about P and full-auto mode, not P and M.

In P mode, the shutter speed and aperture are set for you by the camera, based on the metering. You can adjust white balance, iso, and exposure compensation, but essentially, the camera's making all the decisions.

In M mode, you're choosing everything specifically: aperture, shutter speed, and iso. If you point the camera from a light scene to a dark scene in P mode, the exposure settings will adjust. You do that in M mode without touching anything, the exposure settings stay locked.