How-to
76 MA XIMUMPC DECEMBER 2004
Exposure Compensation can only go so
far—for everything else, there’s Manual.
This mode lets you fully control the
aperture and exposure, allowing you to
work around troublesome lighting or
tweak it to your creative whim (like we
did in our example). To show you how it
works, let’s play with underexposure.
Instead of heading blindly intoManual mode, use the two-step
approach, which helps you get com-
patible aperture and shutter settings.
Find something to shoot. Then switch
your camera to Aperture Priority, set
an aperture, make note of the shutter
speed that your camera sets, and shoot
a reference shot. To underexpose the
image, switch the dial to M, set a fastershutter speed than what the camera set
before, and shoot again. Experiment
with different settings—both faster and
slower speeds to see how they affect
the exposure. Likewise, shoot in Shutter
Priority, gauge the camera’s auto aper-
ture, and then flip to Manual and vary
the aperture size to lighten or darken an
exposure.2 ) GO FULL MANUAL
Manual mode lets you create some nifty effects—like this halo—that the auto modes would never let fly.Shooting in low light is a whole
other beast. While flash helps shed
light on shady subjects, it also
oblit erates environmental lighting,
like in a nightclub or on the Vegas
strip. If you want to capture the
atmosphere, boost the camera’s ISO
setting. This is also a great way to
avoid camera shake.
ISO controls the image sensor’s
sensitivity—the higher the num-
ber, the less time required to get
adequate light exposure, meaning
the shutter can snap closed faster to
help freeze action. Point-and-shoot
cameras typically produce more
image noise, or grainy texture, at
higher ISOs than SLRs, so beware.
Find a dark place with interesting
lights and locate a moving subject.
Boost your camera’s ISO up to 400 or
higher and try to freeze the motion
in your shot. If your shot is really
blurry, set a higher ISO. Experiment
with different ISO and Exposure
Compensation settings until you get
a good compromise of exposure and
sharpness without too much noise.3 ) BOOS T THE ISO
You can manually tweak your image sensor’s sensitivity for better results in low-
light situations.