Mode for twilight fog

[ChadClancy]

I am a beginning photographer and I have Canon's Powershot A95 digital camera.

When I drive into work in the morning there is a lake that has a beautiful cast of fog over it when the temperature/humidity conditions are right. There are also lots of ducks and swans swimming around in the lake and it makes a good subject for a nice photo.

I need to know what the "ideal" camera settings would be for a twilight shot of the lake under these conditions. Being a beginner, I don't know quite where to start.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[iwatkins]

I don't know that cmaera personally, but I would advise the "landscape" setting if you can.

Best bet is to set it to landscape and also to self timer. Place the camera on a rock, fence post etc. and then press the shutter.

This will give you a shake free shot (in the low light) and the "landscape" mode on most cameras gives you the maximum depth of field you need.

Cheers

Ian

[ChadClancy]

Thanks for your reply,

That's basically what I was going to try in terms of using one of the preset modes. The landscape setting also lets you modify the white balance for "cloudy" conditions so I was thinking of using that setting.

I was wondering, however, if I would be better off using one of the M or Av modes if someone can walk me through getting one of these modes set properly for these conditions.

[Scottes]

And if you can do so with this camer try bracketing the exposure so you have 3 pics - one underexposed, one "correct" as far as the meter is concerned, and one overexposed.


I'd also recommend - though it's not so important at this point - not to use too slow of a shutter speed with lake fog. A faster shutter (1/30 or faster??) will give some definition to the fog. Too slow a shutter and the movement of the fog turns it into just a solid fog with no definition. It's nice to have some character in the fog - the fog tips reaching up, the edge of the fog rolling forward, that sort of thing.


Experiment! You have digital, so take 20 pictures. You'll be more likely to get a good one and - even more important - you'll learn more by checking all the settings and differences between the pictures.

[ChadClancy]

Scottes,

For the exposure, I can make adjustments in +/- 1/3 increments. Should I just try -1/3 and +1/3 settings or go a little more/less than that on the exposure?

What manual mode should I be in with respect to the shutter speed and apeture? If I am in Av mode, I can set the apeture but not the shutter speed. I was going to experiment with different apeture settings - what would be a good starting point for this type of shot?