Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 User Manual

Also see for Lumix DMC-FZ200: Owner's manual Basic owner's manual Specifications Basic operating instructions Basic operating instructions

Contents

148How to photograph anythingIn my opening preface about this guidebook I stated “I've purposelyavoided giving detailed information on how to take specific types ofimages such as “travel pictures”, “sports pictures”.Instead I have tried to concentrate on giving you the tips and techniquesfor using the features of the Panasonic Lumix FZ200 to take any kind ofimage you want”.Well that statement is true. To photography “anything” just requires youto analyse the subject and ask yourself the following questions:Is the principal, or most important, factor one in which I will require themost, or the least, depth of field? If so then this will determine that theAperture priority mode will be required to allow you to set an aperturethat will give you this amount of depth of field at the lens focal length youhave chosen.Or is it that you require to capture some kind of image motion, being thatdeliberate blurring or capturing absolute freezing of the action? Then thiswill require you to select a Shutter priority mode to enable you to set therequired shutter speed to capture this effect.Or is a combination of depth of field and a requirement to capture somesense of motion either blurred or frozen action shot?Then this will dictate that you will have to use the manual exposuremode so that you can set aperture and shutter to the required values andthen use the ISO control to provide the correct exposure.Let’s look at the principal elements of the exposure again.DOF or depth of field is determined by three components;The focal length of the lensThe aperture of the lensThe distance of the subject to the lensIn the case of the focal length of the lens, if the focal length is small, e.g.wide angle or 25mm (equivalent) then inherently the DOF is quite largeat all subject to lens distances.If we were to take a picture of a subject that is very close to the lens,then we would see that the subject and a large amount of thebackground would also appear to be in sharp focus. This is true even ifthe aperture was wide open, or a value of f2.8 in the case of the FZ200.