by Chris d'Aquin

Created on: April 02, 2008

When it comes to general photo opportunities, point-and-shoot cameras are amazing. You point, shoot, and most of the time the photo comes out looking wonderful.

But what about instances when it's difficult for a point-and-shoot camera to guess at what you're shooting? That's where the scene modes come in. You can tell your camera it needs to behave in a special way to get the photo.

Some point-and-shoot cameras have the scene modes set through a menu on the LCD, while others use a dial. Some use both, putting the most commonly used modes on the dial and the less used ones buried in a menu. Your camera's manual will tell you how to set your modes.

While the types of scene modes can vary quite a bit from camera to camera, here are the most common ones:

PORTRAIT

This mode is designed for taking up-close photos of people and will try to throw the background out of focus to help center attention on the subject. It may also use a color setting that creates pleasant skin tones.

SPORTS

This mode will open up your aperture and increase your film speed in an attempt to increase your shutter speed. It is called sports mode because a faster shutter speed helps stop action. This mode may also set your camera from single shot to burst mode and change your focus from single focus to continuous focus (if your camera has these capabilities, that is).

In addition to being good for sports, this mode will also help you avoid blurry shots in other situations when your subject is moving. For instance, if your children are swinging on a swing set or if it is a windy day, the sports mode will help freeze any movement.

LANDSCAPE

This mode tries to get as much of the photo in focus as possible, from the front to the back. A classic example of this is getting a photo of a mountain meadow. The landscape mode will help get both the flowers in the foreground and the mountains in the background in focus.

You don't have to save this mode for just photos covering long distances. You can also use this mode anytime when your photo has something important in both the foreground and background, like a lovely photo of your family in front of your home.

NIGHTTIME

Often bright lights at night may trick the camera into underexposing the shot. This mode tells the camera to leave the shutter open for a little longer than it usually might.

Using this mode with a flash will be a great way of getting a photo of someone standing in front of a beautiful night scene of lights. Both the subject and the lights in the background

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