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

Vary Perspective With the Zoom

CameraSim does a good job of showing the effect of distance and focal length on your photo. Since we can see this through the virtual viewfinder without taking a picture, there's no need to click the shutter release to experiment.

Start with distance: As you move the slider, you can see how changing your distance from the camera to the subject changes the look of the scene. Notice that the girl and the playground equipment don't change size at the same rate. Instead, as you get closer to the subject, the foreground gets bigger much more quickly than the more distant background. This is called the parallax effect, and you can take advantage of it to emphasize the subject while reducing emphasis on the background.

Next, move the Focal Length slider, which is equivalent to zooming your camera lens. When you do that, you'll see the foreground and background growing larger or smaller in equal measure. This is a good rule to keep in mind: Using your camera's zoom control is not the same thing as moving closer or farther from the subject. They have noticeably different effects on the photo.

Use Shutter Speed to Capture (or Freeze) Motion