What settings should i have my camera on

For starters, the ISO is not set by your camera. This means you can decide which ISO you want to use, and the camera will adjust the aperture and shutter speed settings accordingly. Then — this is the best part — you can shift those values in case you have a moving subject, or you want to control the depth of field.

Plus, you can also change other camera settings such as metering mode, white balance and focus mode in Program — which are usually disabled when you use your camera in Auto-mode. This is another semi-automatic program which — as you probably guessed already — gives priority to the aperture value.

If you want to have everything in focus or create a bokeh background, you just worry about the right aperture and the camera will take care of the rest. This way, you can avoid noisy images due to a super high ISO or blurry images due to camera shake. Being part of the exposure triangle, the shutter speed also has a semi-automatic program.

This is because it lets you choose the shutter speed while the rest of the camera settings are determined automatically. You already know all the letters in your dial, but what about the icons?

You probably know that different camera settings work better for different types of photograph y. With the scene modes, the camera will decide the exposure settings based on this. Depending on your camera, the amount and variety of scenes might be different.

Here are some of the most common:. Landscape : Since this type of photography is best with a deep depth of field, the camera will prioritize having a closed aperture causing a higher ISO and a slower shutter speed. Portrait : This mode is used mainly for headshots. Contrary to the landscape, a portrait needs a shallow depth of field to blur the background. Macro : With this mode, you are telling the camera that you need a shorter focusing distance.

Its icon is usually a flower because flowers are a common subject in macro photography. However, it also works on insects, jewellery, and other small subjects. Sports Action : When you want to freeze a moving subject, this is the scene program that will deliver the best camera settings.

It works well for sports, children playing, wildlife, etc. To achieve this, it chooses a fast shutter speed. As a result, the image can be overly bright or dark. Fortunately, digital cameras come with a feature that allows you to override the settings to get the best result. If the image is too bright, use a -EV to underexpose one stop.

If the exposure compensation on your camera is on a dial, just turn it to one side or the other. If the camera has a button, press and hold it while using one of the dials to adjust it. In the same way, the aperture priority mode will compensate by adjusting the shutter speed. This combination is the ideal way to shoot in most situations.

I suggest you start at ISO and adjust as necessary. But remember you can also open up your aperture if the light is low. Above all, do some test shots and review them on your LCD before you start shooting away.

See point 9 below for more on shutter speed. Use single point focus here not zone or multiple points , do not let the camera choose what to focus on for you. It often gets that wrong. If one eye is closer to the camera than the other, focus on the near one.

You want the autofocus to lock onto the subject, you do not want tracking focus that is for moving subjects. Lastly, learn how to set up your camera to do Back Button Focus. The benefit of doing this is that you do not have to focus every time if you and your subject are not moving. You can lock focus onto them, then leave it there. If you move a little or get closer to them just refocus and lock it again.

You can read more about this subject over on dPS in this article; Back Button Focus: What is it and why should you try it? Instead, intentionally press the shutter when you see a good expression and have good light on the subject. Burst mode often captures closed eyes and weird facial expressions. What I will do is give you starting points, then you need to think it through and make a decision for your situation.

Using a wide aperture like this will help you make the background blurry and less distracting. The depth of field is so narrow you have to be really precise with your focus and you could end up with their eyes sharp and their nose and ears out of focus.

If you like that look and can nail your focus — go for it. In point 5 above, I mentioned that you need to make sure you have a fast enough shutter speed to keep the image sharp. Think about minimum shutter speed you can use handheld one over the focal length , but also how slow you can go using a tripod. The tripod will keep the camera steady at any shutter speed, even one second or longer.

But what are the chances of the subject not moving during that time? So choose a shutter speed according to your subject. But if you are working with kids or multiple people in a group — make it the shutter speed faster. Choose the one that most closely matches the lighting conditions. For indoor window light do a test shot and see which looks best, gives you the most natural or flattering skin tones. I tend to err on the side or going too warm, as opposed to too cool.

People look better with more warmth yellow in their skin usually than blue cooler. Disregarding the camera mode, understanding how light metering works , and the different metering modes is fundamental. Your camera settings for a sunny day will be very different from your camera settings for astrophotography, and the way you calculate the light will have a direct impact on the final exposure of your shot.

If you are shooting in one of the auto modes your camera has, the metering mode will change the way your camera adjusts the settings. Multi metering is the default mode in most digital cameras and will serve your purpose in most situations. The center-weighted camera setting comes in handy when your subject is in the middle of the frame, like in a headshot portrait or in some wildlife shots.

You can set spot metering when your subject or the specific area of your subject that you want to capture is very small, like the eyes in a portrait, a small bird in the frame, or the moon against a dark sky.

One of the basic camera settings for taking sharper images is to adjust the different focus camera settings. Please note that the Nikon camera settings and Canon camera settings related to focus are generally the same, but they have different names.

Focus modes are the tools to decide whether the camera locks or continues to adjust focus once the focus button is pressed. As regards photo settings related to focus areas , these are the main modes to choose:. There are other good camera settings to learn related to focus areas, like EYE Autofocus, but this will depend on your camera model.

The buttons and dials to change the camera focus settings vary from camera to camera. In most entry-level cameras, you can do it from the menu while most advanced cameras include direct buttons or customized buttons to do it. Another basic and easy camera setting to learn is the white balance. In short, white balance is a photography setting to get the colors of your image right without being affected by the color of the light source of the scene.

The higher the number in the scale, the cooler the color will be. Regarding the white balance settings on camera , there are three main types:. AWB is the most popular and widely used white balance setting and the one set by default in most digital cameras.

White Balance presets are the best for environments where a single type of light dominates the scene. Manual White Balance is one of the best camera settings at night and in situations where the light can change, like when shooting panoramas. Unlike the previous camera settings, you can perfectly change your white balance in post-processing as long as you shoot in Raw. My camera setting related to white balance is in AUTO most of the time except when shooting in low-light or panoramas.

This also varies from camera to camera, with most entry-level cameras including this setting in the menu and most advanced cameras including direct or customized buttons.

Raw files contain much more information than JPEG, which is essential when you edit your images and need to make the most of the color and dynamic range.

If your camera model can compress the Raw without losing quality, then go for this option. In most cameras, you have to do it from the menu, even though some advanced cameras allow you to change this with a direct button. Simply put, drive modes are used to control the shooting frequency. You can use Single-shot in most situations , and Continuous when you shoot action like wildlife, sports, etc.

Shutter Delay is a very useful mode when shooting from a tripod. Learn how your comment data is processed. Photography Course. Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Privacy Policy. Password recovery. Beginner Camera Settings Photography Lessons. Basic Camera Settings. By Natch Anan. Learn in this course about advantages of shooting in the manual mode.

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