Camera settings...pre-enlightenment

Ok...so I've been taking photographs hardcore since I moved from Rochester to Buffalo in 2000. I started mostly because I realized once I was in Buffalo, that I had hardly any pictures of my best friends, who I've known since moving to the area when I was 4. It started with the kodak disposables, moved on to real film cameras, and then on to "point and click" digital. This class will mostly be based around SLR cameras, so I borrowed Mom's Canon EOS Rebel for the class.

I admittedly know nothing about cameras, much less how to create settings to achieve an objective aesthetic...so my first attempt at getting to know this camera is the following series of pictures inside of the dorm. I simply turned on the camera, and scrolled through the different modes (from creative, where you change settings a lot, to basic, where the settings are pretty standardized).

Here are the results.


A-DEP mode

M mode

AV mode

TV mode

P mode

Auto mode

Portrait mode

Landscape mode

Detail mode

Sports mode

Night mode

and...no flash.

I was amazed at how different each photo was simply due to some setting changes. After completing this little experiment, I began where I probably should more than I actually do...with the instruction manual.

But before I continue...the two things that make a photo possible are aperture (amount of light allowed) and shutter speed (how much time).