Program mode means the camera sets the exposure by adjusting both the shutter speed and the aperture. This is often the mode used by the point and shoot type of consumer cameras.

Shutter Priority mode means you select the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture. This mode is best choice for stopping movement.

Aperture Priority mode means you select the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed. This mode is best for selecting the best depth of field. For example, blurring the background with a shallow depth of field can create a composition where the viewer focuses on a part of the photograph the photographer chose to highlight. As we discussed earlier, using a deeper depth of field for clinical photography will give the sharpest image.

In focusing most cameras you will have various choices of automatic, manual or manually assisted. In automatic focus mode (AF), the cameras will use an electronic range finder and often sounds and/or lights that will tell you when the subject if focused. Evaluative focus tends to be broader area and tends to average what the camera sees while spot focusing tends to be more discreet area. Manual focusing (MF) means you will have to turn a ring on the lens barrel that focuses the camera. Many cameras have some aids to help you know when the camera is focused. In the view finder there will often be a piece of ground prismatic glass that is much easier to see when the image is focused. Some will have a spilt screen that when focused, the halves of the image will line up. Others will have a light or lights in the viewfinder of various shades that will illuminate and give an audio signal when the camera is focused.

It's the photographer, not the equipment.
As much as many of us like to talk about the technical aspects of the equipment, in the end, photography is more art than technique. A photographer can take exceptional photographs with a low quality camera and low quality photographs with an exceptional camera. You can use, and should use, artistic flair in your clinical and portrait sessions. It is critical to be able to use equipment to its full degree and the only way you will ever learn to do that is to experiment and use it. Take a lot of photos, film (digital storage space) is cheap, but the opportunities come along once in a great while. Ask any successful photographer and they will tell you they take a lot more bad photos than good. And the exceptional one just happens. Once you learn how to use your equipment, make sure that you can reproduce a good shot when you get it.

Dr Rhys Spoor DDS Aesthetic / Restorative Dentistry - Providing services in cosmetic and sleep dentistry to the area of Seattle, Washington.

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