Camera Settings and How to Use Them

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Be a Control Freak

When I first made the jump from a point and shoot style camera to a DSLR I quickly notice how my pictures didn’t look like what I saw, the skies where washed out, my shaded areas where too dark and only the main subject was in focus. With the point and shoot I always had it set to Auto or “P” mode and just thought you get what you get. With the DSLR I was determined to learn how to use the dreaded “M”anual mode. It was fun learning all the cool things I could do when I took control of my camera settings. Photographs started to look just like I saw them and a whole lot more.

Now that You Have Mastered Composition it’s Time to Be Master of Your Camera

Know what the button functions are on the camera body
Familiarize yourself with your in camera menu functions, here you will find additional settings that do not have a button
Read your Users Manual to learn about camera buttons, settings and functions
Play around with these settings, learn what works for you and your situation
Set these as your default options
If you get in a jam, no problem just reset back to the original default settings and experiment again, my camera has a 2 button instant reset
Nikon D600 | Nikon D7100 | Nikon D800 | Canon 5D Mark III | Nikon D5200 | Canon 1D X

My Top 10 Nikon Settings

1. Manual Mode

Allows me full control over exposure and depth of field

2. Metering set to Spot

Gives me the ability to take specific meter readings in dark and light areas

3. Aperture and Shutter Speed Dials

Aperture controls the amount of depth of field or how much is in focus, the smaller the f-number eg. 2.8 the item in focus will be crisp, clear and sharp but your backgrounds and foregrounds will be out of focus
Shutter speed controls how long the shutter blades stay open / how much light is reaching the sensor

4. Iso set to 200

200 is the clear and crisp setting, as the number increases so does the grain

5. Quality set to Large and Fine

Always set to max resolution you will be glad when it’s time to print images

6. White Balance set to Auto

In most situation auto works great, for those difficult lighting situations learn how to manually adjust WB for best color output or even creative colors

7. Release mode set to Ch

Continuous high speed shutter release, allows me to shoot at 6 frames per second

8. Bracketing order set for Exposure 3 shot .7 stop apart

While holding down the shutter release, 3 frames are taken, 1 at the metered exposure, 1 at .7 of a stop darker and 1 at .7 of a stop lighter, good for Enfusion, layering and HDR or for a backup making sure you have 1 good exposure

9. Area Focus set to Single Point / Single Servo / 51 Points

With the selector dial I manually select from 51 focus points through the view finder, I choose what to focus on as I half press the shutter release button

10. Picture Control set to Standard / Active D Lighting on Normal

The Standard / mid level preset adjusts the amount of sharpness, contrast and saturation levels, I prefer to do any additional adjustments in Photoshop so a mid level setting is safe and works well
Active D-Lighting helps lighten up dark / shadowed areas

Change Your Settings to Optimize Your Control
Different Situations Call for Different Settings

Focus set to Auto-area AF / Continuous-servo AF, great for sports and fast moving kids
Set Bracketing Exposure to 1 full stop apart, good for HDR
Higher Iso for night or low light shots
Mode set to "A" and metering set to Matrix for those situations when you dont have time to take meter readings
Add Raw to the Quality options, when the lighting is tough or when you don't get another chance to re-shoot, raw files can give you a second chance to correct incorrect camera settings such as white balance and exposure

3 Bracketed Exposures 1 Full Stop Apart Enfused in Lightroom

Be Confident and Turn the Mode Dial to “M”

Once you have your settings customized it’s time to locate the shutter speed and aperture (fstop) dials. For landscape photos I prefer f8 as my standard aperture setting, I know my lens is still sharp at f8 and I will have a decent depth of field. While looking through the view finder set your focus point for your meter reading, you will also see your meter along the bottom, rotate the shutter speed dial until the meter indicator is centered, this will be the correct exposure for the area selected. Snap away, it’s that easy.

Metering Tips

Using your Spot meter option take a reading from the brightest area, usually the sky and another reading from the darkest area usually shade or foregrounds and set the meter indicator to an average of the two readings. That way your skies will be colorful and your shaded areas will have detail
When you don't have a lot of time Matrix metering does a good job of taking an average of the whole scene

Also Read: THE 19 MOST EXPENSIVE PHOTOGRAPHS EVER SOLD

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Article & Photos by: Mark McCulloch, www.photopaddler.com