how to get great shots in tricky situations

Kelly Grannell

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
3,372
Action shot:
you will need a shutter speed of at least 1/600, ideally 1/800. This can be done if your camera has a Tv (Shutter Priority) mode. This speed is easy to obtain if you're outdoors in the sun. If you're indoors, this is going to be trickier. Forget flash, it's pointless. The only to do this is by boosting the ISO as high as possible (most cameras nowadays can do ISO 800, if your camera can't do ISO 800, in some cases, you might as well forget about taking the picture)

Portrait shot:
you can use Portrait Mode on your camera (usually the one with an icon that looks like a person) or use the largest aperture possible for your lens (use Aperture Priority or Av on your camera and choose the smallest number such as 2.8). Make sure your subject is as far away from the background. The result? You'll get a nice portrait with blurry background.

Backlit shot:
The sun is behind your subject? The background is brighter AND behind your subject? Use your flash to fill-in the subject. Of course, if your subject is too far away then the point is moot, but if your subject is within the flash range, switch your flash from "AUTO" to "FLASH ON" or "FILL".

posted by Kelly Grannell
 














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