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Getting to Know Your Camera

Primary camera settings to know

Cameras are amazing artistic tools with a myriad of controls designed to help make creative decisions. Placement of these controls can vary widely across camera makes and models, but their functionality remains fairly constant. This prep worksheet will help you locate the most essential settings, which means you’ll spend less time searching and more time using them during a photography class, workshop or tour. The illustrations shown are approximations and may not look exactly like your camera, so keep your owner’s manual handy as well. If you are using a point-and-shoot or smartphone camera, search the menu settings to see if there are options mimicking the features listed below. Once you’ve located the controls and learned how to adjust them, it’s helpful to write notes so you can quickly remember. Don’t worry about how they work. We’ll show you that!

THE “EXPOSURE TRIANGLE”

SHUTTER SPEED

The shutter is a curtain-like device in the camera body located between the aperture and sensor. It can be made to open at different speeds so that light falls on the sensor for more or less time. This performs a function similar to our eyelids. Where is your camera’s shutter control?

APERTURE

Aperture is a diaphragm-like device inside the camera lens. It can be opened or closed to let more or less light fall on the camera sensor. This performs a function much like the pupil in our eyes. Where is the aperture control on your camera?

ISO

ISO refers to how sensitive the camera sensor is to light. The sensor records the scene being photographed. It is located behind the shutter and can be adjusted to be more or less reactive to light. A high ISO means the sensor is very reactive and needs less light to achieve proper exposure. This is what we called “film speed” in the old days. How do you adjust ISO?

Setting and controlling exposure and LIGHT

Shooting Mode

This is the control where you will find auto, scene, and various exposure modes. The symbols and names of these settings vary from camera to camera. On Canon cameras, aperture and shutter priority modes are called [TV] and [AV]. On most other cameras, they are called [S] and [A] respectively. Locate the shooting mode control on your camera.

EV [Exposure Compensation]

The EV control allows for camera exposure overrides when shooting in aperture priority, shutter priority or program modes. It is used to override the camera meter’s desire to convert the world to a neutral 18% grey. It can be used to easily increase or decrease exposure. Note: there may be two on your camera. Built-in flashes usually have their own EV setting to control flash output. Locate EV on your camera.

Metering Mode

A camera light meter measures overall light reflected from the subject back to the meter, and then calculates exposure based on the reading. By default, it’s set to matrix mode. This means the meter measures light from a wide area of the frame. There are other options that can help pinpoint a specific area in the picture for correct exposure, including zone, center, spot and partial metering. Read your manual to see what metering modes are available on your camera model and locate them.

Meter Display

The meter is a tool to help determine proper exposure. It displays in manual mode. A good exposure is calculated to be at 0. Overexposure occurs on the + side, and under exposure on the -. The meter also displays in aperture and shutter priority modes when the EV button is activated. Activate the meter on your camera by partially pressing the shutter button while in manual mode, or the EV button while in aperture priority or shutter priority.

Histogram

The histogram is perhaps the most important contribution of digital photography to the art of photography. It tells you in the field whether you have a correct exposure. Metering systems can be fooled in certain light conditions, and it’s sometimes hard to judge exposure just from viewing a photo on the playback screen. You can choose to have the histogram appear in the photo review mode by going into your camera playback settings and making the selection to display. The histogram plots all of the tones of all pixels in your photo, on a scale from white to black. Consult your camera manual to locate and display this feature.

White Balance

Light can have a color temperature and tint. Some light sources are close to neutral, but most are either on the warm or cool side of the scale. Our brain helps our eyes to always see colors the same in different types of light, but cameras cannot. Modern cameras are fairly good at balancing white balance automatically and therefore their default setting is Automatic White Balance (AWB). However, there are other presets available in your settings, and often a way to set white balance manually. Find the White Balance setting on your camera.

FOCUS and FAST (or Slow)

Focus Mode

Focus can be optimized to for certain subjects. AF-S [One-shot on Canon] locks focus on a stationary subject. AF-C [Al-servo on Canon] locks focus on a moving subject and tracks it through the frame until the shutter is deployed. Newer cameras can also have subject detection features. Find focus modes on your camera.

Focus Point Selector

This controls the point where the scene will be sharpest. There are many different types of focus point selectors. An important tool is being able to select and control a single focus point. Consult your manual to find the focus point options.

Drive Mode

Drive mode controls the number of frames shot with one shutter click. You may choose from single shot, continues low [multiple shots at a slow rate], or continuous high [multiple shots at a high rate]. Drive mode is also where the self-timer is usually found. Locate drive mode on your camera.