Of course, you may have multiple-photography personality, as I do, and need more than one option at your disposal. For example, for wildlife and travel photography, I lug around the large, advanced body and telephoto lens shown on the far left of Figure 1-1. (This type of camera is called a dSLR, which stands for digital Single Lens Reflex; see the section “Interchangeable-lens cameras,” later in this chapter, for details.) I get awesome shots with this setup, but it’s too large to carry all the time. For casual shots on the go, I use my smartphone — it's great for snapping scenes that catch my eye while I'm walking the dog, for example. As a point of reference, the phone in the figure measures about 5½ inches tall and about 3 inches wide.
FIGURE 1-1: Each of these cameras plays a different role in my photography life.
Then there are times when I don’t need all the bells and whistles of my “big rig” but want more features than my phone provides – a zoom lens, for example, or, if I’m shooting outdoors, a viewfinder that makes framing my shots easier than relying on the phone’s screen, which can wash out in the sun. For those outings, I pick up one of the two smaller models in the figure, both of which sport intermediate-level controls. The one in the middle of the picture is a fixed-lens model (meaning you can’t swap out lenses), but it has a pretty long-range zoom lens and fits easily into my purse. The other dSLR model (the far-right camera) isn’t really purse material, but it works with the same lenses and flash I can attach to my advanced model, and the body is considerably smaller and lighter than my other dSLR.
All of which is to say that it's okay to put more than one camera on your next birthday wish list. In fact, I highly recommend it. But you still need to make sure that each model you buy suits the type of photography you want to do.
To get you started down that path, the next sections pose questions that I ask anyone who comes to me for buying advice. Your answers will guide you closer to the perfect camera(s) for you.
How much control do you want?
Unless you’ve taken photography classes, you may not be aware of how much creative input a photographer can have over a picture, so Figures 1-2 through 1-4 offer a few examples.
Each figure shows two variations of the same scene, both shot with an intermediate-level camera. The first image in each pair shows the result of shooting in the camera’s fully automatic shooting mode. In Auto mode, the camera makes all the decisions for you, determining characteristics such as the brightness of the scene, whether moving objects appear sharp or blurry, and how much of the scene appears in focus. The second example in each figure shows a variation that I created by switching out of Auto mode and adjusting camera settings that modify these aspects of a photo.
Here’s a brief explanation of which camera controls enabled me to produce the variations:
Controlling exposure (picture brightness): In Figure 1-2, the Auto mode version of the image is okay, but what I had in mind was the darker, more dramatic shot on the right. To get that result, I used exposure compensation, a setting that tells the camera that you want a darker or brighter picture for your next shot. (It’s much simpler to use than its name suggests; see Chapter 5 for details.) Most cameras offer exposure compensation, but how much control you have over the amount of exposure shift varies, with intermediate and advanced models offering greater flexibility.Keep in mind, too, that for very precise exposure control, you may need access to other options not available on basic cameras, such as the choice to enable or disable flash.FIGURE 1-2: The shot produced in Auto mode (left) lacked drama, so I used an exposure-adjustment control to produce the darker version (right).
Controlling motion blur: You can determine whether moving subjects appear frozen in place or blurry. The waterfall in Figure 1-3 offers an example. The look of the water changes depending on shutter speed, another exposure setting covered in Chapter 5. The slower the shutter speed, the more moving objects blur. Now you know how photographers achieve the misty water effect shown in the right example. For that shot, I used a shutter speed of 1/30 second. For the left image, I used a much faster shutter speed of 1/125 second.Basic cameras don’t offer control over shutter speed; however, some offer a “blur motion” mode designed to automatically choose a slower than usual shutter speed. Still, you rarely can set a specific shutter speed on basic models, so you can’t alter the amount of blur the camera produces.
Controlling depth of field: Depth of field refers to the distance over which objects in a photo appear to be sharply focused. You can decide whether you want objects in front of and behind your subject to appear sharp, as in the left example in Figure 1-4, or blurry, as in the right image. For the right photo, I set focus on the boat in the front of the picture. In Auto mode, the camera typically tries to keep as much of the scene in focus as possible, as shown in the left example. For the right image, I adjusted camera controls to shorten depth of field. Notice how the scene gets progressively blurrier toward the back of the frame in the right example. (The difference is most visible in the tall palm tree.)FIGURE 1-3: Auto mode typically renders a waterfall similar to the left example; you need control over shutter speed to get the misty look shown in the right image. There are various ways to manipulate depth of field: You can adjust the lens aperture, or f-stop setting; change the lens focal length; or get closer or farther away from your subject. If you want the greatest control over depth of field, you need all these options at your disposal. Unfortunately, control over aperture (f-stop) and focal length aren’t common with smartphone and tablet cameras, although some new devices give you at least a little input over both settings.
FIGURE 1-4: With the right camera controls, you can specify whether you want the entire scene to appear in sharp focus (left) or for the background to blur (right).
Neither version of the photos in Figures 1-2 through 1-4 is right or wrong, by the way; beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. The point is, if you care about these artistic decisions, you need a camera that lets you take charge of the aforementioned settings as well as others that control focusing, color, and image quality.
So how do you find such a camera? Start by checking out Table 1-1, which lists the top ten features I suggest for photographers interested in fully exploring the artistic side of photography. Please don't freak out about the photography lingo found in the table or the preceding discussion — shutter speed, aperture, focal length, blah blah blah. I cover them in detail in later parts of the book. For now, just use the table as a handy reference when you’re looking at camera specs.
TABLE 1-1 Top Ten Features for the Creative Photographer
| Feature | Explanation |
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