Using Digital Camera Exposure When Photographing Children

Understanding Digital Cameras

Using Aperature Priority Mode: F/5.6 for depth of field control

Almost every digital camera on the market today makes it very easy to take quick and dirty snapshots using an automatic exposure mode. Automatic exposure is great much of the time, but I hope that you will sometimes want to get a little bit more creative when photographing your children.

And when you do decide to get more creative, you may need to adjust the digital camera exposure of your photographs as we have discussed earlier.

Not all cameras provide different camera modes and camera metering modes for exposure settings; if yours does not, then you might want to think about upgrading at some point in the future to a camera with more features. The Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera (some people call it the cannon eos), for example, is an example of cameras that have automatic exposure modes as well as manual, priority, and program settings. I personally favor Canon EOS SLR cameras, and have owned several of them, because of their quality and intuitive ease of use of the canon metering modes. Click on the image of the little baby girl if you would like to see my favorite Canon EOS camera. Here’s what each of these metering modes does, and when you would want to use them:

Automatic- In this mode, both shutter speed and aperture settings are selected by the camera to match the current lighting conditions. Some digital camera automatic modes try to set the fastest shutter speed possible in order to minimize camera shake when you take a picture, while most choose something in the middle, a compromise between speed and depth of field. There is generally nothing you can do to change the settings that the camera chooses when set to fully automatic, except for adjusting the exposure compensation (EV) dial to over or under expose the scene.
Program- The program mode is similar to an automatic mode. Although the camera selects both the aperture and shutter speed, you can generally modify the camera selection by turning a dial or pressing a button. The effect: you can increase or decrease the shutter speed, and the camera will adjust the aperture to match. This is a good compromise between fully automatic operation and manual selection. Use this mode if you don’t want to worry about devising your own exposure values, but still want some say over the shutter speed or aperture setting of the camera. Understanding photography can help you a lot in this program when you learn to use the digital photography exposure compensation dial to keep your histogram within an acceptable range.
Using Shutter Priority 1/1000 of a second to stop the action
Shutter priority – This setting is usually indicated by the letter S on your camera’s mode dial or (liquid crystal display) LCD display. Using this mode, you can dial in whatever shutter speed you like, and the camera accommodates by setting the appropriate aperture to match. This mode is ideal for locking in a speed fast enough to freeze action scenes, or slow enough to intentionally blur motion.
Aperture priority- this setting is usually indicated by the letter A on your mode dial or LCD display. Using this mode, you can dial in the aperture setting alight, and the camera accommodates by setting the appropriate shutter speed. Use this mode if you are trying to achieve a particular depth of field and you don’t care about the shutter speed.
Manual – The manual mode (typically indicated with the letter M) is like an old-style non-computerized camera. In manual mode, you select the aperture and shutter speed on your own, sometimes with the help of the camera’s recommendation. This mode is best used for long exposures or other special situations when the cameras exposure meter is not reliable.

The more you understand about camera exposure, and the settings available, the better photographs of your children you will be able to take. As they say, practice makes perfect, so practice using these functions and experiment until you understand the effect of all of your camera’s controls.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Betty Muscott, Child Photographer

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About Betty Muscott

Betty A. Muscott is an experienced child photographer and online entrepreneur for tools to capture great photographs of children by parents and grandparents. Connect with Betty on Google+

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