3

Taking Great Pictures, Automatically

In This Chapter

Choosing the best options for automatic photography

Understanding the pros and cons of Auto mode

Shooting your first pictures

Getting creative by using Scene modes

Are you old enough to remember the Certs television commercials from the 1960s and ’70s? “It’s a candy mint!” declared one actor. “It’s a breath mint!” argued another. Then a narrator declared the debate a tie and spoke the famous catchphrase: “It’s two, two, two mints in one!”

Well, that’s sort of how I see the D5200. On one hand, it provides a full range of powerful controls, offering just about every feature a serious photographer could want. On the other, it offers automated photography modes that enable people with absolutely no experience to capture beautiful images. “It’s a sophisticated photographic tool!” “It’s as easy as ‘point and shoot!’” “It’s two, two, two cameras in one!”

Now, my guess is that you bought this book for help with your camera’s advanced side, so that’s what other chapters cover. This chapter, however, is devoted to your camera’s easiest shooting modes, showing you how to get the best results in your camera’s fully automatic modes, including Auto, Portrait mode, Sports mode, and the other Scene modes.

Note: Information in this chapter assumes that you’re using the viewfinder to compose your pictures. Things work a little differently in Live View mode, so Chapter 4 concentrates on that feature.

Setting Up for Automatic Success

Your camera offers more than a dozen fully automatic exposure modes, which you access via the Mode dial, as shown in Figure 3-1. Your choices include

Figure 3-1: For point-and-shoot simplicity, choose from one of these exposure modes.

  Auto: A general-purpose point-and-shoot mode.

  Auto Flash Off: The same thing as Auto but without flash.

Scene modes: Sixteen modes geared to shooting specific types of pictures. Five of the most commonly used Scene modes have their own Mode dial setting; they’re the ones represented on the Mode dial by the little pictures between the Scene and Effects settings. To access the others, you set the dial to Scene and then rotate the Command dial to choose a specific scene type. (The upcoming section “Taking Advantage of Scene Modes” provides specifics.)

All these exposure modes are designed for people without any knowledge of photography. You just frame the shot and press the shutter button. But you still have a few ways to adjust the camera’s behavior. In the Information display control strip, settings that aren’t dimmed are adjustable. Figure 3-2 labels these settings. You can also adjust ISO (an exposure control I cover in Chapter 7) and the Release mode (detailed in Chapter 2) when you use the Scene modes. You have access to certain menu options as well.

Figure 3-2: Settings that are dimmed in the Information screen are off-limits, but you can modify these basic options.

Now for a bit more detail about the options you can control:

Focusing method: You can enjoy autofocusing, if your lens supports it, or focus manually. On the 18–55mm kit lens, select the focusing method via the A/M (auto/manual) switch, shown in Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3: Use these switches on the kit lens to set the focusing method (auto or manual) and to enable or disable Vibration Reduction.

  Autofocusing options: Autofocusing behavior is determined by two settings, the AF-area mode and the Focus mode. I explain both fully in Chapter 8, but the condensed version follows:

• Focus mode: For all the automatic exposure modes, this option is set to AF-A, which stands for auto-servo autofocus. Here’s how it works: If the subject isn’t moving, focus is set when you press the shutter button halfway down, and it remains locked as long as you press the button. But if the camera detects motion in front of the lens, it may continually adjust focus to track your subject, setting the final focusing distance at the time you press the button fully to record the picture. If your subject is moving, be sure to reframe as needed to keep your subject within the area of the viewfinder covered by the AF-area (autofocus area) brackets, which indicate the location of the available focusing points. (See Figure 3-5, in the next section, for a look at the brackets.)

Although the Focus mode option is accessible via the Information display control strip, the only other setting you can use is MF, for manual focusing. With the kit lens and most others, the camera automatically selects that setting when you set the lens focus switch to M. If you want access to all the Focus mode settings, you must use one of the advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M), all detailed in Chapter 7.

• AF-area mode: This option determines which focus point is used to establish the focusing distance. You have access to all available settings for this one — again, you can change it via the Information display control strip — but be sure to read the explanations in Chapter 8 first so that you understand how the autofocusing system works at each of the settings. The default setting varies depending on your exposure mode; I spell out the details when discussing the various modes later in this chapter. Also be aware that the setting reverts to the default if you turn the camera off or select a different exposure mode.

Vibration Reduction: When enabled, this feature helps produce sharper images by compensating for camera movement that can occur when you handhold the camera. On the 18–55mm kit lens, turn Vibration Reduction on or off via the VR switch, labeled in Figure 3-3. Select On for handheld photography; set the switch to Off when you mount the camera on a tripod.

Flash: In Auto exposure mode, as well as in some Scene modes, the camera automatically raises and fires the built-in flash in dim lighting. In other modes, flash is disabled.

In modes that permit flash, you may be able to alter the behavior of the flash through the Flash mode setting. Chapter 7 provides complete details about Flash modes and other flash settings; here’s a quick intro:

• Checking the current Flash mode: A symbol representing the current Flash mode appears in the Information display. For example, in Figure 3-4, the symbol shows that the flash is set to Auto, meaning that the camera will automatically fire the flash if it thinks the ambient lighting is insufficient.

Figure 3-4: Press the Flash button while rotating the Command dial to adjust the Flash mode.

• Changing the Flash mode: If the flash is raised, you can change the Flash mode by pressing and holding the Flash button. The Flash mode setting becomes active in the Information display control strip, as shown in Figure 3-4; keep holding the button and rotate the Command dial to cycle through the available settings.

You also can access the Flash mode setting via the normal control strip process: Press the Info Edit button to activate the strip, highlight the Flash mode option, and press OK to display a screen showing the available settings. This technique works regardless of whether the flash is raised.

• Disabling flash: Select the Flash Off mode, represented in the displays by the symbol shown in the margin here.

• Using red-eye reduction flash: Look for the Flash mode accompanied by the little eye icon, as shown here. The word Auto also appears with the icon. In this mode, the camera still controls whether the flash fires, but if it does see the need for flash, it emits a brief burst of light before the actual flash fires — the idea being that the prelight will constrict the subject’s pupils, which helps reduce the chances of red-eye. Warn your subject to keep smiling until after the final flash.

Note that some Scene modes use a variation of red-eye reduction, combining that feature with a slow shutter speed. In that case, you see the little eye icon plus the words Auto Slow. It’s important to use a tripod and ask your subject to remain still during the exposure to avoid a blurry picture.

Release mode: This setting determines the number of images that are recorded with each press of the shutter button and the timing of each shot. Here’s a quick recap of your options, all detailed fully in Chapter 2:

• Single Frame: Records a single picture immediately after you depress the shutter button fully. Use this setting for normal photography.

• Continuous Low and Continuous High: These modes record a burst of continuous frames as long as you hold down the shutter button. Try this setting when shooting action shots; just remember that you can’t use flash during continuous shooting. Continuous Low results in as many as three frames per second; Continuous High offers approximately five frames per second.

• Self-Timer: Captures the image a few seconds after you press the shutter button, enabling the photographer to step from behind the camera and into the shot. The default delay is 10 seconds, but you adjust the timing via the Self-Timer option on the Timers/AE Lock section of the Custom Setting menu. You also can set the camera to record up to nine shots with each press of the shutter button via the same menu option. If you use flash, though, this multi-shot feature is disabled.

• Delayed Remote and Quick Response Remote: These two modes are provided for use with the optional Nikon ML-L3 wireless remote control. The first triggers the shutter about 2 seconds after you press the shutter button on the remote control; the other snaps the picture immediately.

• Quiet Shutter: Works like Single Frame mode but silences the camera’s normal operating sounds as much as possible. Try this mode in situations where camera noise might be disruptive.

The fastest way to change the Release mode is to press the Release mode button on top of the camera; doing so produces the screen where you can select the option you want to use. But you also can adjust the setting via the Shooting menu.

Image Quality and Image Size: By default, pictures are recorded at the Large Image Size setting, producing a 24.0 MP (megapixel) image, and the Normal Image Quality setting, which creates a JPEG picture file with a moderate amount of compression. Chapter 2 explains both options and offers advice on when you may want to stray from the default settings.

ISO Sensitivity settings: In the Scene modes, you have access to this option, which determines how much light is needed to properly expose the image. At the default setting, Auto, the camera adjusts the ISO Sensitivity as needed.

This option is a little complex, so I save it for Chapter 7; stick with Auto for now. You can view the current setting in the Information screen (refer to Figure 3-2) and adjust it via the Shooting menu or by pressing the Fn button while rotating the Command dial.

Advanced Shooting menu options: You also can control the following more advanced Shooting menu options:

• Storage Folder: This option enables you to create custom folders to hold your images, a feature that I cover in Chapter 11.

• Manage Picture Control: Picture Controls affect the color, saturation, and sharpness of images that you shoot in the JPEG file format. Through this menu option, you can create your own Picture Controls if you don’t find the provided options satisfactory. Ignore this option for now; it’s designed for advanced users. Chapter 8 talks more about Picture Controls.

• Auto Distortion Control: This feature attempts to correct for the slight distortion that can occur when you shoot with wide-angle or extreme telephoto lenses. Leave this one set to Off until you explore the details in Chapter 8.

• Color Space: Again, stick with the default setting, sRGB, until you delve into the advanced color issues covered in Chapter 8.

• High ISO NR (Noise Reduction) and Long Exposure NR: These features try to compensate for image defects that can occur when you use a high ISO setting or a long exposure time, respectively. Chapter 7 explains the pros and cons of enabling the features.

• Interval Timer Shooting: You can use any of the automated modes with this menu option, which enables time-lapse photography. See Chapter 2 to find out how to set up the sequence of shots you want the camera to record.

You also have access to a few Custom Setting menu options, but because the mantra of this chapter is “keep it simple,” I save those for later chapters, too. In fact, if you’re not up to sorting through any of the options in the preceding list, just leave them all at their default settings and skip to the next section to get step-by-step help with taking your first pictures. After all, the defaults are chosen because they’re the best solutions for most shooting scenarios. (See the end of Chapter 1 to find out how to restore the default settings if you changed them already.)

As Easy As It Gets: Auto and Auto Flash Off

In Auto mode, the camera analyzes the scene in front of the lens and selects the picture-taking options that it thinks will best capture the image. All you need to do is compose the scene and press the shutter button.

Auto Flash Off mode does the exact same thing, except flash is disabled. This mode provides an easy way to ensure that you don’t break the rules when shooting in locations that don’t permit flash: museums, churches, and so on.

The following steps walk you through the process of taking a picture in both modes. Remember that these steps assume that you’re using the viewfinder, which is the best option in most cases. Chapter 4 explains why and shows you how to take pictures in Live View mode.

1. Set the Mode dial to Auto or Auto Flash Off.

2. Set the focusing method, Release mode, and other basic settings as outlined in the preceding section.

3. Looking through the viewfinder, compose the shot so that your subject is within the AF-area brackets, labeled in Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-5: Position your subject within the area surrounded by the autofocus brackets.

The camera’s autofocusing points are contained within the area indicated by the brackets.

4. Press and hold the shutter button halfway down.

The following occurs:

• Exposure metering begins. The autoexposure meter analyzes the light and selects initial aperture (f-stop) and shutter speed settings, which are two critical exposure controls. These two settings appear in the viewfinder; in Figure 3-6, the shutter speed is 1/250 second, and the f-stop is f/13. (Chapter 7 explains these two options in detail.) The autoexposure meter continues monitoring the light up to the time you take the picture, however, so the f-stop and shutter speed values may change if the lighting conditions change.

The shots-remaining area of the viewfinder also changes from showing you how many more pictures can fit on your memory card to how many can fit in the camera’s buffer — Figure 3-6, for example, shows 24. This number is important only when you’re shooting a burst of continuous images, so don’t worry about it for single-frame shooting. (Chapter 2 has more details if you’re interested.)

Figure 3-6: The green light indicates that the camera has locked focus on the objects under the selected focus point.

• In Auto exposure mode, the flash pops up if the camera thinks additional light is needed. You can set the Flash mode to Auto (normal) or Red-Eye Reduction mode. Or you can disable the flash by changing the Flash mode to Off. Just press the Flash button while rotating the Command dial to adjust the Flash mode, as outlined in the preceding section.

• The camera’s autofocus system begins to do its thing. In dim light, the AF-assist lamp on the front of the camera shoots out a beam of light to help the camera find its focusing target.

5. Check the focus indicators in the viewfinder.

When the camera has established focus, one or more little rectangles within the AF-area brackets flash red for a split second. Those rectangles represent autofocus points. Then just a single black focus point remains to show you the final focusing area selected by the camera. For example, in Figure 3-6, the camera selected the center focus point.

In the display at the bottom of the viewfinder, the round focus indicator, labeled in Figure 3-6, lights to give you further notice that focus has been achieved. By default, the camera also emits a beep when focus is set. (You can disable the sound via the Beep option in the Shooting/Display section of the Custom Setting menu.)

Note that if your subject is moving, the light may blink on and off as the camera adjusts focus to track the subject. However, if the focus light blinks continuously, the camera can’t achieve focus (and won’t let you take the picture). Make sure that you’re not too close to your subject; if problems persist, you may need to switch to manual focusing.

6. Press the shutter button the rest of the way down to record the image.

While the camera sends the image data to the camera memory card, the memory card access lamp on the back of the camera lights. Don’t turn off the camera or remove the memory card while the lamp is lit, or you may damage both camera and card.

When the recording process is finished, the picture appears briefly on the camera monitor. If the picture doesn’t appear (or you want to take a longer look at the image), see Chapter 5, which covers picture playback.

I need to add a few important points about working in the Auto and Auto Flash Off exposure modes:

Exposure: In dim lighting, the camera may need to use a very high ISO setting or very slow shutter speed when flash is disabled. Unfortunately, a high ISO can create noise, a defect that makes your picture look grainy. And a slow shutter speed can produce blur if either the camera or subject moves during the exposure. If you spot either problem, enable flash or add some other light source. See Chapter 7 for details about both issues as well as other tips for dealing with exposure problems.

If the camera can’t select settings that will properly expose the picture, the f-stop and shutter speed values blink, and a blinking exposure meter appears as well. See Chapter 7 for details about reading the exposure meter and coping with exposure problems. If you’re shooting in the Auto Flash Off mode, changing to Auto and enabling flash typically provides a solution, however.

Autofocusing: As with all the fully automatic modes, the camera uses the AF-A Focus mode. Focus is locked as long as you hold the shutter button halfway down unless the camera senses motion and adjusts focus as needed to track your subject.

For the AF-area mode, the Auto Area setting is selected by default. In that mode, the camera selects which autofocus points to use when establishing focus. Typically, focus is set on the closest object. Chapter 8 explains how to modify this autofocusing behavior, but if you’re having trouble getting the camera to focus on your subject, the easiest solution is often to switch to manual focusing.

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Taking Advantage of Scene Modes

In Auto and Auto Flash Off modes, the camera tries to figure out what type of picture you want to take by assessing what it sees through the lens. If you don’t want to rely on the camera to make that judgment, check out the Scene modes, which are designed to capture specific scenes in ways that are traditionally considered best from a creative standpoint. For example, most people prefer portraits that have softly focused backgrounds. So in Portrait mode, the camera selects settings that can produce that type of background.

Again, because I presume that most people buying this book are more interested in the camera’s more advanced options, I don’t want to spend pages detailing each Scene mode, but the following sections provide a quick overview and offer some tips to help you get the best results.

Choosing a Scene mode

Scene modes are presented in two ways:

Primary Scene modes: Five modes are deemed popular enough to have their own address on the Mode dial: Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, and Close Up. I labeled these modes in Figure 3-7. Just rotate the Mode dial to the icon representing the scene you want to shoot, and you’re good to go.

Figure 3-7: Five Scene modes have their own settings on the Mode dial.

Secondary Scene modes: For the remaining modes, set the Mode dial to Scene. The icon in the upper-left corner of the Information display then shows an icon that tells you which Scene mode is active. For example, on the left screen in Figure 3-8, the icon indicates that Night Portrait mode is selected. Rotate the Command dial to display the second screen in the figure, which gives you access to all the hidden modes. Then keep rotating the dial to scroll through all the available Scene modes until the mode you want to use is selected. Give the shutter button a quick half-press and release to return to the Information display.

Figure 3-8: To access other Scene modes, set the Mode dial to Scene and rotate the Command dial.

For all Scene modes, you have access to the basic setup options discussed at the beginning of the chapter. The picture-taking process is the same as outlined in the steps I give for shooting in Auto mode, with two exceptions. First, to use flash in the Food mode, you must press the Flash button on the side of the camera to raise the built-in flash. Second, the default AF-area mode — which determines the focus point that the camera uses to establish focus — varies according to your Scene mode, as follows:

Close Up, Candlelight, and Food: In these modes, the default setting is Single Point AF-area mode, which bases focus on a single focus point. Initially, the center focus point is selected as the target, but you can use the Multi Selector to move the point to a different position if necessary. (Sometimes you need to give the shutter button a quick half-press and release it before you can select a new focus point.) Remember to frame the picture with the selected point over your subject before you press the shutter button halfway when autofocusing.

Sports and Pet Portrait: These two modes set the AF-area mode to 39-Point Dynamic Area. You start by selecting a single focus point, as with Single Point mode, but if the subject leaves that point, the camera looks to the other 38 points for focusing information — it’s ideal for focusing on moving subjects. Just make sure to adjust framing as needed to keep your subject within the area covered by the AF-area brackets.

All others: The rest of the Scene modes use the Auto AF-area mode, which means that the camera considers all of the 39 focus points within the AF-area brackets and typically focuses on the closest object.

You can use the Information display control strip to change the AF-area mode setting; Figure 3-2 shows you where to look for the option. To activate the control strip, press the Info Edit button. Then use the Multi Selector to access the option and press OK to display a screen listing all your choices. Again, see Chapter 8 to find out exactly how autofocusing works at each of the settings.

Checking out the Scene modes

And now without further ado, here’s a review of all the Scene modes:

Portrait: Choose this mode to produce the classic portrait look, with the subject set against a softly focused background, as shown in Figure 3-9. Colors are adjusted to produce natural-looking skin tones. You can set the flash to Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, or Off.

Landscape: In the time-honored tradition of landscape photography, this mode produces crisp images with vivid blues and greens to create that bold, vacation-magazine look (see Figure 3-10). The camera also tries to select a high f-stop setting to extend depth of field, which keeps both foreground and background objects as sharp as possible. Flash is disabled.

Figure 3-9: Portrait mode produces soft backgrounds to help emphasize your subject.

Figure 3-10: Landscape mode features bold colors and a large zone of sharp focus (depth of field).

Child: A variation of Portrait mode, Child mode tries to use a slightly faster shutter speed than Portrait mode. The idea is that a faster shutter speed, which freezes action, helps you get a sharp picture of children who aren’t sitting perfectly still. In addition, Child mode chooses an f-stop setting that produces a slightly larger zone of sharp focus — the idea being that the child can move a little closer or farther from the camera without going out of focus.

Like Portrait mode, Child mode also aims for a blurry background and natural skin tones. Colors of clothing and other objects, however, are rendered more vividly. That’s a picture characteristic I dislike; I don’t want background objects or clothing to take the eye away from the face of my subject. But shoot some samples in both Portrait and Child to see which one you prefer. Depending on the subject’s attire and the background, you may not see much difference between the two modes. You have the same flash choices as with Portrait mode (Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, and Off).

Sports: Select this mode to have a better chance of capturing a moving target without blur, as I did for my furkid in Figure 3-11. To accomplish this outcome, the camera selects a fast shutter speed, if possible. But remember that in dim lighting, it may need to use a slow shutter speed to expose the image — which typically means a shutter speed too low to freeze action. Flash is disabled. Note that in bright lighting, the Pet Portrait mode would produce similar results to what you see in Figure 3-11; that mode is also geared to using a fast shutter speed when possible.

Figure 3-11: Try Sports mode to capture action.

Close Up: As with Portrait and Child mode, the camera selects an aperture designed to produce short depth of field, which helps keep background objects from competing for attention with your main subject, as shown in Figure 3-12. You can set the Flash mode to Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, or Off.

Figure 3-12: Close Up mode helps emphasize the subject by throwing the background out of focus.

Night Portrait: This mode is designed to deliver a better-looking flash portrait at night (or in any dimly lit environment). It does so by constraining you to using Auto Slow-Sync, Auto Slow-Sync with Red-Eye Reduction, or Off Flash modes. In the first two Flash modes, the camera selects a shutter speed that results in a long exposure time. That slow shutter speed enables the camera to rely more on ambient light and less on the flash to expose the picture, which produces softer, more even lighting. If you disable flash, an even slower shutter speed is used.

I cover the issue of long exposure and slow-sync flash photography in detail in Chapter 7. For now, the critical thing to know is that the slower shutter speed means you probably need a tripod. Your subjects also must stay perfectly still during the exposure.

Night Landscape: This setting uses a slow shutter speed to capture nighttime city scenes, such as the one in Figure 3-13. Because of the long exposure time, use a tripod to avoid camera shake, which can blur the picture. Note that even when the camera remains perfectly still, any moving objects in the scene appear blurry, as does the fountain water in this example. This mode also is designed to reduce noise and avoid unnatural colors, both of which are common problems in night landscape shots. (See Chapter 7 for more information about noise; refer to Chapter 8 for help with color issues.) Flash is disabled.

Party/Indoor: This mode is designed to capture indoor scenes that are lit by room lighting as well as the flash, using settings that produce a nice balance between the two light sources. If the lighting is very dim, the camera may use a slow shutter speed, so use a tripod to avoid blurring. You can set the flash to Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, or Off.

Beach/Snow: Use this mode when you’re photographing a scene with lots of bright areas, such as sand or snow, which can fool the camera’s autoexposure system into underexposing the image. Flash is disabled.

Sunset: Use this mode when photographing sunsets or sunrises and the sun is in the picture; the camera chooses settings designed to preserve the brilliant colors seen at those times of day. And, yep, you guessed it: A tripod produces a better chance of a sharp shot because the light will be dim and the camera will need to use a slow shutter speed.

Figure 3-13: To capture this kind of after-dark photo, use Night Landscape mode and a tripod.

When photographing sunsets, don’t stare at the sun directly through your viewfinder because this can permanently damage your vision, especially when you’re using a telephoto lens. Flash is disabled in this mode.

Dusk/Dawn: Use this mode to better capture the colors of the sky when shooting landscapes just before the sun rises, or just after the sun sets. Flash is disabled. I recommend using a tripod when using this mode as well because the shutter speed the camera selects may be very slow.

Pet Portrait: Despite its name, this mode is just like Sports mode — meaning, you can use it to photograph any moving subject, not just pets — except that in dim lighting, the flash fires unless you set the Flash mode to Off. Note that if flash is required, the camera can raise the shutter speed no higher than 1/200 second, which may not be fast enough to capture a really speedy animal. If you do use flash, you can choose from the Auto and Auto with Red-Eye Reduction Flash modes.

Candlelight: Use this mode when shooting subjects lit by candlelight. Flash is disabled, and because the ambient light will be dim, the shutter speed will likely be slow. Again, mount your camera on a tripod to avoid a blurry photo.

Blossom: If you’re photographing a large expanse of flowers instead of a single bloom, experiment with this mode. Flash is disabled; again, use a tripod when photographing in low-light situations.

Autumn Colors: This mode yields pictures with saturated reds and yellows of autumn leaves. The built-in flash is disabled. Mount your camera on a tripod in low-light situations.

  Food: This mode increases color saturation to render food more vividly. An important note about flash: Unlike other Scene modes, Food mode requires you to raise the built-in flash yourself if you want to add flash. To do so, press the Flash button; the flash pops up and sets itself to Fill Flash mode, which fires the flash regardless of the ambient light. To go flash-free, just close the flash unit. You can’t adjust the Flash mode.