Sony DSC-W80/W Sony® Guide to Digital Photography (Spring 2007) - Page 21

Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL darker than the overall scene. Think of a downhill skier on a sunny day, where most of the frame is bright, white snow. Significantly brighter objects on dark backgrounds pose the opposite problem. Camera designers have ways to overcome this challenge. • Specific scenes. Twilight, candlelight, fireworks and other common shooting situations pose their own, specific exposure challenges. Special "scene modes" can address these exposure issues. Sony exposure features Face Detection Taking advantage of the BIONZ™ integrated circuit, Sony cameras accurately recognize - and properly expose - the human face. Even a simple snapshot can trip up the automatic exposure of a conventional camera. For example, faces can become too dark when sunlight or other light sources are positioned behind the people you're shooting. Sony's BIONZ™ processor solves this problem with Face Detection. As you shoot, the Face Detection function actually analyzes the data that make up your digital picture. In this way, Face Detection can identify and track up to eight faces at a time. Then the camera automatically adjusts for optimum focus, exposure, flash and even white balance on the faces themselves. The result is far more "good" pictures, far fewer rejects and re-takes. For the complete story on Face Detection and the BIONZ processor, please turn to page 26. Full range of exposure modes For everybody from the absolute beginner to the expert user. Because exposure is so important for picture quality and creativity, Sony cameras give you a wide array of ways to control it, ranging all the way from fully automatic for the beginning photographer to full manual for the expert shooter. Scene modes Easily identified by icons, these modes optimize the camera's auto exposure system, achieving ideal results for many popular shooting situations. Sony solves common exposure problems with Face Detection technology. (Sample photos for illustration purposes.) USER FULL RANGE OF EXPOSURE MODES MODE ICON SHUTTER APERTURE OTHERS Beginner Auto Beginner Scene Modes Intermediate Program Auto Advanced Shutter Priority Advanced Aperture Priority Expert Manual Exposure SCN P S A M Auto Auto Auto Adjustable Auto Adjustable Auto Auto Auto Adjustable Auto Adjustable Auto Adjustable Adjustable Adjustable Adjustable Adjustable 38 Program Auto Exposure Semi-automatic exposure for the intermediate photographer, Program AE gives you manual adjustment of ISO sensitivity, White Balance and Exposure Compensation. Exposure Compensation Lets you adjust the Program Auto Exposure when backlighting or unusually bright subjects might throw the exposure off. CAMERA CONTROL MODE ICON Twilight Twilight Portrait Soft Snap, Portrait Landscape SCENE MODES SAMPLE PHOTO DESCRIPTION Slow shutter reproduces the mellow atmosphere of a night scene beautifully. Extends the shutter speed up to two seconds, compared to 1/30 second for Auto mode. Uses flash only on people in the foreground, while using a long shutter speed to reproduce the background beautifully. Applies maximum aperture to bring the person into focus while allowing the background to fall out of focus. Reproduces beautiful skin tones; makes the entire image softer. Reproduces the atmosphere of the entire landscape. Captures saturated blues and greens. Shutter Priority Auto Exposure An advanced mode for greater creative control. Shutter Priority enables you to select the shutter speed manually, while the camera automatically selects the appropriate aperture. This lets you use a fast shutter speed to freeze sports action - or a slow shutter speed to introduce an intentional blur on moving objects. If you "pan" along with a moving ice skater, a slow shutter speed will blur the background. And if you shoot a waterfall with slow shutter speed, the water will take on a beautiful, lace-like effect. Continued on page 40. Snow Uses a fast shutter speed for bright light and adjusts white balance to capture snow as clear white. Beach Captures saturated blue to emphasize the water. Slow shutter speed enables you to blur the background as you "pan" the camera. Candle Reproduces the atmosphere of a candle-lit scene without flash. Fireworks Fast Shutter Magnifying Glass Sets a slow shutter speed and high color saturation to emphasize the bright colors of fireworks. Uses a fast shutter speed to produce a clear picture of fast-moving subjects. Great for sports. You can also introduce an evocative blur to the subject with slow shutter speed. Displays a magnified image on the LCD in macro focus shooting. Suppresses flash to avoid saturated whites. Sample photos for illustration purposes. Fast shutter speed freezes the runner and the background. (Sample photos for illustration purposes.) 39