Digital Photography For Dummies, 8th Edition

Chapter 3

Easy Does It: Using Auto and Scene Modes

IN THIS CHAPTER

Setting up your camera for automatic shooting

Taking your first shots in Auto mode

Solving focus and exposure problems in Auto mode

Exploring automatic scene modes

Learning all there is to know about digital photography — heck, learning a hundredth of what there is to know — isn't a quick process. You have so many technical terms and camera settings to consider that it's just not possible to sort everything out in a few days or a single read of this book. The good news is that while you're getting up to speed, you can still take great-looking pictures by using your camera's automatic shooting modes, which select most exposure settings and other critical options for you.

Even when you’re shooting in automatic modes, though, you can get better results by following a few guidelines, which I lay out in this chapter. After helping you set up your camera for automatic shooting, I walk you through the steps of taking pictures in Auto mode. Following that, you can get information about scene modes, which automatically choose settings geared to certain types of photos.

Note: Most “device cameras” — that is, cameras built into cellphones, tablets, or other multipurpose devices — don't offer the range of options that I discuss in this chapter or later chapters. So from this point forward, most information assumes that you’re ...