Reader Question: Which exposure mode should I use with my camera? What’s the difference between “Auto” and “A”?

My Answer: I’m going to start with a bit of background on the basics of camera settings. ”A” refers to Aperture Priority mode. The user chooses the aperture and the camera automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed. Similarly, “S” stands for Shutter Priority, where the photographer chooses the shutter speed and the camera automatically chooses the appropriate aperture. ”M” is for Manual, where the user selects both aperture and shutter speed — usually with the help of the in-camera meter.

“P,” or Program mode, is a bit of a hybrid. A simple explanation is that the photographer sets the aperture or shutter speed and the camera uses some built-in intelligence to make sure the picture does not result from a wrong setting. Usually a too-slow shutter speed would cause the picture to appear blurry. Program mode corrects for that.

The Auto setting is essentially the same as Program mode, but with one important difference: Auto wants the camera to produce a reasonably correct photo in all situations. Usually this is achieved by making the flash go off if the scene is the slightest bit dim. There’s a problem here, because it’s when a scene is starting to get dim that the interesting light that makes for great pictures happens. An indiscriminate flash can ruin the beauty of the scene. Another caution about Auto: it can cancel out specialized controls within the camera menu such as custom settings for saturation, sharpness, etc.

My recommendation: Most users would do well shooting with the Aperture Priority setting. But be careful and pay attention to the shutter speed produced by your chosen aperture, as it’s easy to forget that your lens is set to f/11 when you move from outdoors to indoors. If you leave that lens setting on, all of a sudden your indoor shutter speeds will be very slow (something you can actually hear, if you pay attention). If you find yourself being a little forgetful, switch to Program.

I’ve met many beginning photographers who have been told that if they aren’t shooting with their camera set on Manual, they’re not a real photographer. I would argue that the new version of “shooting in Manual” is to use one of the automated modes S, A, or P (but never Auto) but use exposure compensation to fine tune the setting.

Many cameras also have “Scene” modes. Usually these are indicated by little icons such as a portrait, flower, mountain, running person, etc. Those modes are great — much better than Auto — so give them a try.

My favorite “Scene” setting is the person with star or crescent moon icon (“Night Portrait”). This mode will keep the camera shutter open for a long time at night while using the flash to illuminate what’s in the foreground and freeze the action even though the shutter speed is slow. Experiment with this mode to capture amazing-looking pictures in the dark.

Most good cameras have a button marked with the +/- symbol. That’s the exposure compensation setting. A great way to work is to take a picture of a scene, check the histogram on the back of your camera, then set the exposure compensation to correct any over- or under-exposure. The histogram should, generally speaking, be centered. Then, after the compensation is set, you can look for interesting things to take pictures of. Re-set your compensation only when you notice that something drastic has changed in the scene. Experienced photographers use the histogram to check exposure instead of trusting what the picture looks like on the back of the camera.

In the photo above, I didn’t want to be bothering with Manual mode because we were within 10 yards of the North Pole and, as you can see, we were all focused on looking for it. I had originally dialed in +2/3 exposure because all the white in the scene tricked the camera’s meter into making the picture look too dark. I didn’t want the snow to appear completely white, so I only partially compensated, but the histogram helped me determine the best setting. Usually I use Aperture mode, but in this case my camera kept rubbing against my jacket and messing with the aperture settings. So, I switched to Program mode to stop that from happening.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.

My Answer: A photo editor’s nightmare is when someone shows him a picture and then starts to explain what’s in it. In the worst cases, the photographer starts to talk about important things that aren’t even in the shot.

In the simplest of terms, a storytelling photograph must show what the story is about. As the stories we want to tell with pictures get more complex, it becomes harder to fit all the elements into one frame. However, trying to make that happen is a great exercise.

The first step is to photograph all aspects of the story. Get to know the subject until you can decide what visual elements help tell the tale of that place or person.

Think about it in terms of covering the story from different angles. Photograph your subject from near, far away, back, front.

The key to an interesting photographic coverage is variety. Change up the size of the subject in the photographic frame. Shoot the same thing with different focal length settings. This is the time to really play around.

Photos work best when they have more than one storytelling element. In this case I was pretty bummed that the rain and fog were obscuring the Alaskan mountain range behind the glacier. Then I found out our boat was to be visited by two National Park Service rangers. Their small size emphasized the scale of the landscape.

One of my tricks is to think of adjectives that can describe a place and then see how many of them I can get into a photograph. Here I’m showing Cold, Fog, Rain, Immensity, Ruggedness, and Struggle.

And, last but not least, don’t fall into the trap of including the main subject of your story in every picture. After a few photos the viewers will get the idea.

Be sure to mix things up, take a lot of pictures, and review your shots while you’re still in the field because that’s when ideas for what will become the best photos — the keepers — will start bubbling to the surface.

Most photographers don’t just stand around waiting for the best scenes to appear in front of them. They work to draw their mind into the scene, hoping to capture the telling details that would have gone unnoticed without careful observation.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.

My Answer: Most photographers love early morning and late afternoon. There are many good reasons for this.

Typically, the light is coming from a lower angle. That makes the scene have more depth and 3-dimensionality. At these times the scene also has lower contrast between bright areas and dark areas.

Our cameras can’t see as much as we can with our eyes, and having the scene more tonally compressed makes for a better picture. Another reason is for more interesting color. Photographers refer to the time from approximately a 1/2 hour before sunrise to a 1/2 hour after (and correspondingly at sunset) as the golden hour.

The sun shining through the atmosphere has that typical golden glow. But, it is important to note that we don’t like that light because we want to take sunset pictures; those are a dime a dozen. We’re more likely to turn our back to the sun and photograph the objects or people that the golden light is falling on.

In these situations it’s important to have your white balance setting set on Daylight instead of Auto to make sure your camera doesn’t “correct” the warm colors you worked so hard to find.

Final word: Next time you find yourself on a beach at sunset, turn your back to the sun. You might be amazed at what you see.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.

The 25th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest has been moving full steam ahead, and we’ll be publishing the first round of stand-out submissions in each category — Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place, Spontaneous Moments, and Travel Portraits — next week.

Enter today for your chance to have your entry featured appear on the National Geographic website in the first batch of galleries. Here’s a sneak preview of our editors’ favorites so far:

Sense of Place Category: “The Galactic Squid”

While on a night dive in the waters off Okinawa Japan this reef squid showed up. The time and air I spent trying to get close to him paid off. (Photograph and caption by Cameron Knudsen)

Outdoor Scenes Category: “Midnight Tree”

I hiked several hours through the night in Patagonia to find a tree I had seen a few days earlier and photograph it with the night sky. (Photograph and caption by Max Seigal)

Travel Portraits Category: “Guardian of the Mountain”

Hajj claims to be 112 years old. He knew the Europeans that made the first recorded ascent of North Africa’s highest mountain, Toubkal, in 1923. (Photograph and caption by Joshua Exell)

Spontaneous Moments Category: “Light-Footed Penguin”

Penguin in action. (Photograph and caption by Nancy Dowling)

Traveler magazine will be awarding seriously spectacular prizes this year, so enter today for your chance to win. 

The prizes: The grand-prize winner will earn two spots on a 10-day trip to the Galápagos with National Geographic Expeditions to experience — and document — some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth. Other prizes include an intensive 7-day Santa Fe photography workshop, a 6-day cruise for two on a windjammer schooner in Maine, and $200 gift certificates to B&H Photo. Best of all, the ten prize-winning photos will appear in the year-end issue of Traveler magazine and on the National Geographic website!

The deadline: June 30, 2013

The cost: $15 per entry

So what are you waiting for? Read the rules and fine print, check out last year’s winners for inspiration, then submit your best travel photos today for a chance to show off your talents in a big way.

See all the photos that have been submitted so far and vote for your favorites at NationalGeographic.com/TravelerPhotoContest.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off on March 20, but due to a belated spring, the capital city’s famous trees are finally beginning to pop this week. Though the festivities will continue until the middle of April (the parade is on Saturday, April 13th), the delicate blossoms aren’t likely to last that long. So, don’t rest on your laurels — check out our photo tips, and get yourself down to the Tidal Basin before they’re all gone.

• Come early or stay late. The beauty of thousands of trees exploding with rice-paper-thin blossoms is no secret, so it’s best to stake out your shots before dawn or dusk in order to avoid crowds and get optimum lighting conditions. Weekdays are your best bet, as the Tidal Basin teems with people on the weekends.
• Bring a tripod. Photographing on the fringes of the day makes for beautiful light, but requires slower shutter speeds. To reduce camera shake and allow for longer exposures, be sure to bring a tripod or a monopod.
• Patience is a virtue. You’ll have to compete with other photographers vying for position and scads of tourists whose main focus will be on the blossoms, not on staying out of your shot or avoiding your tripod legs, so stay calm and carry on to snag a primo pic.
  

  The cherry blossoms aglow in the early-morning light. (Photograph by Krista Rossow)

• Embrace the clouds. Overcast skies can make colors pop, so use the blown-out white sky to your advantage as you compose a shot, or cut it out completely and focus on the delicate details of the blossoms. But always keep an eye on the sky: if it becomes turbulent, the looming storm clouds can create a moody landscape (which can be good or bad, depending on what you’re going for).
• Let it rain. Rain can be a special challenge for photographers. But as long as you can keep your equipment safe and dry, it can pay off, allowing you to make dramatic use of monument lights and streetlights reflected on wet pavement.
• Get creative. Once you’ve gotten the standard blossom-framed shots of the Washington Monument or the Jefferson Memorial out of the way, have some fun experimenting. Shoot low or high (try hoisting your camera in the air on your tripod and using the timer to trigger the shutter). Play with motion and blur from passing people or branches moving in the breeze. Or use your flash in a new way.
• Pastel colors trick your camera’s meter. Shooting a scene full of pale cherry blossoms (especially in close-up shots) will throw off your camera’s light meter and cause your image to be underexposed. To offset this, set your camera’s exposure compensation dial to overexpose and then watch your histogram. Many point-and-shoots also have a setting for photographing in snow which should give you similar results.
• Go beyond the basin. Explore the blossoms from other angles, even cross the Potomac River to photograph back towards the city. If you want to avoid the crowds, there are plenty of cherry blossoms at the National Arboretum and the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. You can even go to the National Cathedral, and use the weeping cherry tree in the gardens to frame great shots of the spires.

Krista Rossow is a senior photo editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow her story on Twitter @KristaRossow.

Related: 

• Know Before You Go: Washington, D.C., National Geographic’s practical guide to the U.S. capital.
• I Heart My City: Nat Geo’s Washington, D.C.
• National Geographic Travel’s Washington, D.C. City Guide

The prizes: The grand-prize winner will earn two spots on a 10-day trip to the Galápagos with National Geographic Expeditions to experience — and document — some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth. Other prizes include an intensive 7-day Santa Fe photography workshop, a 6-day cruise for two on a windjammer schooner in Maine, and $200 gift certificates to B&H Photo. Best of all, the ten prize-winning photos will appear in the year-end issue of Traveler magazine and on the National Geographic website!

The categories:

Outdoor Scenes
Sense of Place
Spontaneous Moments
Travel Portraits

The deadline: June 30, 2013

The cost: $15 per entry

So what are you waiting for? Read the rules and fine print, check out last year’s winners for inspiration, then submit your best travel photos today for a chance to show off your talents in a big way.

See all the photos that have been submitted so far and vote for your favorites at NationalGeographic.com/TravelerPhotoContest.

That chance came when the National Geographic Society joined Yale University in funding a return expedition to the site. National Geographic Magazine dedicated the entirety of its April issue to showcasing the Inca’s “wonderful city of refuge on the mountain top,” as then editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor would write. This April marks the 100th anniversary of that issue.

So when I found out I would be traveling to Machu Picchu, I pored over the photographs Bingham had taken over the course of his expeditions, imagining what it would have been like to see the now-famous archaeological site through his eyes. I brought copies of the photos along with me and spent hours comparing them with what I was seeing in an attempt to pinpoint where he had been standing when he took some of his most famous shots of the ancient city.

I was amazed at how much had changed — and how much had stayed the same — since the ancient Inca city had been (re)discovered, excavated, and brought to the world’s attention.

Here’s Machu Picchu, through Hiram Bingham’s eyes, and mine:

Then

“So far as I know, there is no part of the Andes that has been better defended by nature.” – Hiram Bingham. (Photograph by Hiram Bingham)

Now

The ancient site today. Notice how the walls have been further excavated and repaired. (Photograph by Jonathan Irish)

Related:

• Read Hiram Bingham’s original report published in April 1913
• See Machu Picchu for yourself…with National Geographic Adventures
• Check out National Geographic’s Guide to Machu Picchu

Jonathan Irish is a program director at National Geographic Adventures and a professional photographer. Follow his story on Twitter @MagnumJI and on his website, jonathanirish.com.

Is it true that a great landscape image will almost always be better if there’s a human presence in it?

My answer:

It depends on the intended use of the picture.

In general I would say that landscape pictures meant for magazines usually benefit from the presence of human figures because they lend a sense of scale to the scene. On the other hand, landscape pictures used in calendars almost never include humans.

Including the color red can also increase the visual impact of a figure in a landscape. In fact, the effect is so strong that it led to what some people call the “Red Shirt School of Photography.”

This term was usually used in reference to photography in National Geographic Magazine. From the beginning of color photography until the 1960s, photographers at National Geographic and other magazines were accused of traveling with red props — shirts, umbrellas, you name it — in their trunks to add a little extra color to their photos.

I must tell you that the Red Shirt School is now used as a deprecating label because those same colorful photos often had a cheesy, posed look.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.