We took a trip to the local Art museum yesterday. Prior to a trip to any museum, make certain to check their photo/video requirements.
Our museum prohibits the use of flash photography, video, and – tripods! Hmm, what are we going to do in a low light situation with no flash and no tripod? Museum scene mode of course!
This mode automatically bumps your camera into high ISO mode. See the lesson from last week, for a description and examples of high ISO. It will also automatically turn off the flash. Depending on your camera, it may also enable multiple photos to be taken as long as the shutter button is held down.
Our museum, like most, prohibits the use of photos from their exhibits on the web. So today, we will use photos of other items taken in the museum with available light.
Our subject was created by a budding artist in the children’s area of the museum, where we were allowed to use flash. I used auto mode (with flash) to capture his masterpiece in this first photo.
Wooden architecture captured with auto setting
Well, I captured a photo of the building. You can also see why the flash is not always your friend. Could you tell that the rug was orange? The blocks look scarily washed out.
For the next photo, I wanted to use museum scene mode. I knew that the camera was in high ISO mode, so a tripod would be ideal, although not allowed. First we tried a child’s chair, but the surface was too uneven.
I tried stacking some books, but that left the camera aimed only at the lower blocks. How was I to capture the whole building?
I tried resting the camera on the rug to steady it, tilting the camera back until the entire building was in view on the LCD. Lying on the floor with the camera braced and tilted, I pressed the shutter.
Museum scene mode was used, but we have camera shake
Alas, the whole thing is out of focus. As I pressed the shutter, the camera moved slightly.
For the next attempt, I made certain that I carefully pressed only the shutter button, not any other part of the camera. I was still fully bracing the camera, with my elbows resting on the rug.
This photo using museum scene mode is in focus
This time the photo was in focus. Using the rug to brace the camera has the added benefit of making the building look quite tall.
Another benefit to museum scene mode: not using the flash means you will not see a glare from the museum displays in your photos. However, your auto-focus may have trouble focusing through the glass at close distance.
If you are taking a photo of something through glass, your best bet is to use the edge of the display (if allowed) to brace yourself for the photo. This will prevent camera shake.
You’ll notice, however, that you may be too close for the camera to focus. This is when you’ll want to keep the camera in museum scene mode, but also enable macro focus.
Your camera will know to focus on an item at close distance, and still capture the scene.
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