2010 - Week 28, Program Mode

Driveway
July 5, 2010 8:47 & 8:51 pm
Nikon D90, 50mm
Program Mode, No Flash, ISO 1600, SS 1/40, f/3.2
RAW,Pattern Metering, AF-C, WB in Auto

This winter when I finally wrapped my head around Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, I jumped straight from that little green Auto rectangle over to M (manual). I had learned enough to know how to use Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority, but didn't even know what that P even stood for.

Slowly, as I learned all the wonderful settings that I could control beyond the aperture, shutter speed and ISO (focal point, focusing mode, metering mode and white balance are the ones I adjust the most) I finally figured out what P was - it allowed me to have manual control over the focal point, focusing mode, metering mode, white balance and ISO, while the camera chose the aperture and shutter speed required for proper exposure.

With my prime lenses I really didn't have a need for that extra bit of photographing speed that Program mode might provide, but when I bought the used 18-105 VR, and then in June a refurbished 70-300 VR, Program mode became a real option for me.

Using P mode allows me to zoom in and out which changes the aperture and the camera automatically will pick the right shutter speed. This is especially handy on Nikons where the spot metering mode is engaged with the focal point so if your focal point is pointing at a face then you're metering for skin - which is what most portrait photographers are trying to expose perfectly every time.

This week, I was just tired after being gone from home two weeks and wanted to try and get some pictures of the girls playing with sparklers. I didn't even have the energy to drag out the tripod which real firework pictures demand because of the closed (f/11 or higher) apertures and long shutter speeds required.

So for these pictures I just set my ISO fairly high since was JUST before dark, and set the metering mode to pattern because I didn't want to have the light from the sparkler on their face determine the exposure.

The camera did pick a aperture/shutter speed combo that wasn't perfect for this situations of moving kids - golden rule for kids is never less than 1/125, but I would have had to move to manual for that and I wanted to play around with P mode a bit more after using it quite a bit on vacation. 1/40 of a second is pretty slow and there is some softness due to camera shake/kid movement.

I'm becoming more content in creating memories again instead of capturing a perfectly technical image. At the end of the year I'm going to have a book printed for each girl and while it will be my photography journey I also want it to capture the year 2010 for them as it really was. In this case, I really liked how the picture captures how smokey sparklers are and the glow of the sparks falling to the ground.





post-processing
I downloaded a trial version of Lightroom 3 to see if it was really so much better than Camera Raw. It's too early for me to tell, but I did use the Noise reduction Luminance slider and I could actually see some reduction in noise when I usually don't in Camera Raw.