Hi

I'm new to digital photography and Im going to my nephews 1st birthday party next weekend. I was just wondering what the best mode is to use when taking indoor and outdoor portrait and group pictures. I'm hoping to do a course in digital photography but at moment work is making it hard for me to get time to organise it. Hopefully you can help me out with some info.

Regards

Damien .

Hi Damien,

Welcome to the site. First let me say that I for one use program mode most of the time, auto flash, auto white balance, auto everything, I only take the camera to another mode when I think it will not be able to cope properly with a situation. If I were shooting the birthday party that would probably be the way I would work. Only use the other modes when you have identified a problem and learned how to solve it.

One thing to make sure of though, is to focus on the right subject. Decide which is the most important thing in your picture, probably your nephew's face, and put that in the centre of the viewfinder while you press the shutter button halfway to focus and take a light reading. Then with your finger still holding the button halfway down (don't let go), compose the picture the way you want it and press the button the rest of the way down.

Try and avoid tricky lighting situations where the contrast is too high, such as when there is a lot of light coming in through a window behind your subject. Just turn things around so that you have your back to the window and you'll be OK. The same outside, look for a shady spot to take your portraits.

There's plenty more info on the site about all this, just absorb it at your own pace. Don't think you have to use all those fancy knobs and dials just for the sake of it, they will be there when you need them.

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