Nikon Learn & Explore
Intermediate

Live Image Control

Nikon 1 technology helps you take great pictures

Paul Van Allen example of the Nikon 1 Live Image Control technology, showing an image with and without Active-D-Lighting engaged

© Paul Van Allen

Using Live Image Control, the photo on the left shows the best use of Active-D-Lighting for the image. The shadows are not as deep. In particular, look for the opened shadows (or lighter areas) in the model's hair and face and in the detail of the leaves and bark of the large tree in the background.

Nikon 1 cameras incorporate various technologies that make it easier than ever to take great pictures. One of these technologies, incorporated into select Nikon 1 models is Live Image Control.

Live Image Control lets you preview how changes to various settings will affect the final image in real time, so you can make better pictures. Live Image Control will show the changes in Active D-Lighting, Background Softening, Motion Control and Brightness Control, in real-time on the camera's LCD, as you change the settings.

When using Live Image Control, you simply use the sliders on the side of the image to increase or reduce the selected effect.

Active D-Lighting optimizes high contrast images—where there are both bright areas (highlights) and dark areas (shadows) that you want to expose for correctly. Sometimes, when you expose for the highlights, the shadows won’t have enough detail and vice-versa. Active D-Lighting makes sure that the entire image is exposed properly.

Motion Control lets you choose whether you want motion blurred, sharp or somewhere in between. The camera does this by controlling the shutter speed—a faster shutter speed will freeze motion or action and a slow shutter speed will blur motion or action.

Background Softening lets you control whether you want the background of your photo sharp or blurred. The camera does this by controlling the aperture—a wide aperture means that there will be little depth-of-field, so the background will be blurred or softly out of focus; while a small aperture will have more depth-of-field, meaning the photo will be sharp in the foreground and the background.

Brightness Control lets you decide how bright or dark you want your photo to be.

Live Image Control - Watch the video to see how the Live Image Control feature works, shown is the Nikon 1 V3. (2:28 min.)