Using Your Camera's Settings: Program Mode, Shutter Speed, and More

But if you're in Program mode, by turning the dial or pressing an arrow button, you can choose from among other valid shutter speed/aperture combinations. If you want to slow the shutter speed to introduce motion blur, just spin the dial (or press the arrows or rocker switch--check your camera's user guide) in Program mode. Likewise, if you want to increase the depth of field, move the controls in the opposite direction. You don't necessarily need to use Aperture or Shutter Priority modes as long as you remember that Program mode works this way.

Learn Camera Settings With CameraSim

So that's Auto and Program mode. But what about the other choices, like Shutter priority and Aperture priority Likewise, do you want to really understand how all the variables--focal length, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and so on--contribute to your photos A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. Even better is an interactive simulation where you can experiment with all these modes and instantly see the effect, without having to download photos from your camera and study the results.

Sound good Then head over to CameraSim, a website that simulates the operation of a digital SLR. You can use it to tweak the settings and see the results instantly.

You'll see something like this screen shot. You're seeing the scene as it might appear in a camera's viewfinder--a girl at the playground, holding a spinning pinwheel. When you click the shutter release, you see the effect of your exposure settings. (Click "Return to Viewfinder" to take another picture.) Now, let's look at some ways to experiment.