I just bought myself a Panasonic DMC-TZ20 Lumix compact travel zoom camera and keep it in my pocket all the time when I don’t have all my professional gear on me. I absolutely love the accessibility of a compact camera and this summer when you are on holiday, enjoying a picnic in the park, attending sporting events, barbeques or family gatherings you will want to capture all the action and memories without worrying about settings and missing a great shot.
Compact cameras have various scene modes to help alleviate all the technical thinking behind photography and still allow atmospheric shots depending on your light situation. Set your camera on these modes and get better results from your compact.
Landscape mode
Landscape mode is a basic aperture priority where the opening of the lens is smaller in order to give a greater depth of field to focus everything in the shot from the foreground to the distant background. It also sets the white balance for this type of shooting, so you may find the greens and blues quite vivid.
Try this mode at the top of Greenwich Park by the statue of General Wolfe. It is one of my favourite vista points and on a clear day, you will want that whole city- scape in focus.
Night/Portrait mode
This mode is very handy for urban settings or parties at night when you want to retain the ambiance of the light that is given without it being blown out from your built in flash. The camera sets itself to a longer shutter speed to capture more of the ambient light, but you must keep the camera steady to prevent a blurred shot.
Try this mode in the Painted Hall of the Royal Naval College, the natural light that flows in from the windows and the candlesticks lit on the tables would be spoiled if flash was used.
Sport
This is a great mode for anything that moves fast. Use sport mode to capture and freeze the subject, this is especially useful for toddlers on the move or perhaps your favourite pet. The camera in this mode speeds up the shutter and is a great shortcut for fast moving objects.
Try this mode next time your in the park- playing a ball game or chasing your children, it will capture the expression and freeze the movement for a sharp picture.
One last tip especially if you are taking pictures of loved ones or friends, think about your angles and where the sun is in relation to your subject. Keep aware with shadows that may be blacking out eyes or parts of the face. Sometimes if you use your sunglasses over the lens, it can act as a handy polarizer to help stop down harsh contrasts.
Any questions about your camera pop in the gallery and we can help. I run One Day Photography Tuition Workshops once a month to help photo enthusiasts come to grips with their cameras and they are left with confidence in controlling the right settings, whilst making creative decisions. Call on 0208 858 3309 or email the gallery: gallery@fergusnoone.com
Hi Fergus – is the resolution good enough for printing? I am not clear about that, even after reading the specification (on Amazon). Thanks.
One thing I really miss with digital photography is being able to have the subject in focus and the background out of focus – or is it possible now (it is a long time since I bought my first and only digital camera for images for web sites)?
Indigo – that’s definitely attainable with digital photography. Easy with an SLR (use a wider aperture, ie lower f stop number), harder with most compacts, but not always impossible.