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Tips for Using a Point & Shoot Camera
get the same long shutter speeds for capturing ambient light that you would with "flash off" mode. The
standard illustrative picture for this has an illuminated building at night as the background with a group
of people in the foreground who've been correctly exposed by the flash.
Sometimes it all comes together, as it did here in Coney Island. Without fillflash,
the ride operator would have been a silhouette. Prefocussed on the
human subject's face. "Flash on" mode.
Prefocus
The best-composed photographs don't usually have their subject
dead center. However, that's where the focusing sensor on a P&S
camera is. Since the best photographs usually do have their
subject in sharp focus, what you want to do is point the center
sensor at your main subject, hold the shutter release halfway
down, then move the camera until you like the composition.
Virtually all P&S cameras work this way but not everyone knows
it because not everyone is willing to RTFM.
A side effect of prefocusing is that most P&S cameras will preset exposure as well. Ideal exposure with
a reflected light meter is obtained when the subject reflectance is 18% gray (a medium gray). Exposure
isn't very critical with color negative film, but you still might want to attempt to prefocus on something
that is the correct distance from the camera and a reasonable mid-tone. I.e., avoid focusing on
something that is pure white or black. This becomes much more important if you are using slide film.
Burn Film
http://www.photo.net/learn/point-and-shoot-tips (5 of 35) [5/15/2002 7:15:46 PM]