Kate’s Photo Journal

I apologise for the lack of new posts recently- I’ve just moved house and started a new job so things are a bit hectic at the moment. I’ll research and write a new post as soon as I can!

The Canon EOS 400D has the option to use a ’Continuous Shooting’ drive mode in the following Modes: Sports Mode, Portrait Mode, Program AE (P Mode), Shutter Priority AE (TV Mode), Aperture Priority (AV Mode), Manual Exposure (M Mode) and Automatic Depth of Field (A-DEP Mode). So I thought it would be handy to write a brief article exploring how continuous shooting works and when and why it can be helpful to use it.

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Over the weekend I went to a summer party and decided to take along my Canon EOS 400D rather than the smaller Nikon E4600 I usually use at social gatherings. This is because I’m now used to the incredibly high quality photos that can be produced by using the Canon with its 10.1 megapixel capability - the Nikon’s 4 megapixel capability just doesn’t come close. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to see how the Canon performs when taking more ‘candid’ photographs of people instead of the posed photos I’ve mainly taken so far.

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I’ve referred to shutter speed in previous articles, but for the sake of completeness I thought I’d write a quick entry on the subject.

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Before I got my Canon EOS 400D I had only ever used point-and-click cameras and so never had to think about the aperture value on my camera. Being non-technically minded I genuinely did not know what the term ‘aperture’ meant when I first heard it, so I have done some reading and experimenting with my camera to try to get a better (if still somewhat basic) grasp of what the term ’aperture’ means, how it is measured and what effect it has on photographs.  

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My current photography goal is to get comfortable using the Advanced Modes on the Canon EOS 400D. However, for me it is helpful to know some of the theory behind relevant technical terms before I actually try to put anything into practice, so in the next few blog entries I am going to attempt to get a basic grip on some of the technical features I have encountered when playing around with the various Advanced Modes.

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I think it’s important to state at the very outset of this blog that I am neither technically-minded nor particularly artistic. The main reasons for my current foray into basic photography are that I get bored quickly and that I enjoy taking ‘pretty’ pictures of things and embarrassing pictures of people. Therefore when my boyfriend very generously bought me a Canon EOS 400D Digital camera. I was (and remain) quite overwhelmed by the alarming array of possible settings on the camera. Whilst my boyfriend has a natural connection to all things technical (akin, perhaps, to a ‘computer whisperer’) and has demonstrated an uncanny ability to make the most of all that the camera has to offer, I have pretty much stuck to the ‘basic modes‘ on the camera. However, this highlights one of the great things about this camera; due to the presence of 6 ‘basic modes‘ anyone can pick up the camera and take some amazing quality photographs without having to think about the aperture and/or shutter speed etc.

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