What are the basic camera settings I should know?

In this article you will learn about some important basic settings for your camera. We’ll talk about shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and more. This way you can quickly handle your camera and take beautiful photos soon.

Have you just bought your first camera? Or do you want more than just shooting in automatic mode? amazing! But where do you start? All of these buttons and settings can be overwhelming. Don’t worry, I’ll help you get started.

What do my camera’s basic settings do?

Every camera has some important settings that largely determine how your photos will look. In automatic mode, these settings are determined by the camera. But if you want more control over the outcome, you can also make the changes yourself.

I call the most important settings the basic settings. This includes shutter speed, aperture, and ISO value. Together, these three settings are called the exposure triangle, because they are connected to each other. But white balance and exposure compensation are also important. Using these functions, you can determine how much light the camera will allow and how sharp the image should be.

Does this sound complicated? Don’t panic, we’ll go through each of these settings step by step.

5x basic settings to control your images

1. Adjust the shutter speed

Shutter speed is the time the camera’s shutter remains open to allow light to reach the sensor. This typically ranges from about 1/4000th of a second to 30 seconds or more (bulb).

Why shutter speed is important
The time the shutter is open affects how motion is captured in your photo. Fast shutter speeds freeze motion, while long shutter speeds blur motion. Additionally, a long shutter speed can help when shooting in a place where there is little light. This makes it an essential setup.

How do you use shutter speed?
Want more shutter speed control? Then try TV or S mode (depending on your camera brand). This allows you to decide for yourself how long you want the shutter open. For example, for action or sports photography, you often use a fast shutter speed (for example, 1/1000 second). Unless you correct it By washing Want to do photography.

Want to capture motion? Then you can choose a longer shutter speed. This allows you, for example, to capture water flowing from a waterfall or fountain as a soothing stream. Make sure to use a tripod so the movement doesn’t blur because you’re moving yourself.

2. Adjust the aperture

Aperture is the opening of the lens through which light enters. This is displayed in the basic settings as the F number, which typically ranges from approximately F/1.4 to F/22, depending on your lens.

Why is aperture important?
By adjusting the size of your lens aperture, you affect the depth of field in your image. A large aperture (small f-number, such as F/1.8) creates a blurred background, often with a bokeh effect. While a small aperture (large f-number, such as F/16) provides greater depth of field.

How do you use aperture in your photography?
For portraits, for example, I always like to use a large aperture to blur out the background. This really focuses attention on the model and less on the environment. On the other hand, for landscapes, you often use a small aperture to focus everything. From the blades of grass in the foreground to the mountain in the background.

Try shooting in AV or A mode if you want to control your basic aperture settings.

Read more: Aperture: Sharpness and blur in your photos

3. Set the ISO value

ISO determines the sensitivity of the camera sensor to light. This way, you can still shoot manually, even in a dark environment.

Why is the ISO value important?
The ISO value affects the brightness of your image and the amount of noise (grain). A lower ISO value (such as ISO 100) provides the best quality for your image, but requires more light. A high ISO value (such as ISO 3200) makes the sensor more sensitive to light, but increases noise. This will make your photos less sharp. Fortunately, these days there are good ways to remove noise in Photoshop and Ligthroom.

How do you choose the ISO value for your images?
I always try to use the lowest possible ISO value so that the quality remains perfect. For example, you can choose a larger aperture or longer shutter speed to gain in terms of light.

But don’t be afraid to choose a higher ISO if necessary. You would rather have a clear image with little noise than have your image blurry or your image too dark.

Read more: Shooting with auto ISO

4. Adjust white balance

White balance is the basic setting that determines how colors appear under different lighting conditions.

Why is white balance important?
You usually want the photos you take to have realistic colors. By adjusting the white balance, you ensure that whites appear white in your image. This way you prevent discolouration.

How do you use white balance in your photographs?
In most cases, you can leave the white balance on automatic. Cameras these days are very good at displaying realistic colors. But in some cases this remains difficult. Then adjust the white balance based on the light source you are shooting with. For example, daylight, clouds, incandescent light, artificial light, etc. Think of snow photos, which often look a little blue when using automatic white balance.

Haven’t adjusted the white balance, but does your photo still have an off-color cast? No problem, it is also possible to change this in post-processing. Shoot in RAW format to get the most options regarding white balance settings.

5. Adjust exposure compensation

Exposure compensation allows you to adjust the exposure of your image without changing other settings. A very useful basic setting that is often forgotten.

Why is exposure compensation important?
This setting helps you lighten or darken images when the camera’s automatic exposure isn’t quite right. Or when you’re shooting with a manual setting like AV or S and don’t want to adjust the rest of your settings.

How do you use this basic setting?
Almost every digital camera has a button that allows you to adjust exposure compensation. It is usually a horizontal or vertical bar ranging from -3 to +3 in increments of 0.25. Choose positive exposure compensation (eg +1) to brighten the image without adjusting the rest of the settings. Using negative exposure compensation (eg -2), you can make the image darker.

These settings are easy to use and are often used in difficult lighting situations. For example, think of the backlight at sunset. Or when you want to take high quality or low quality photos.

Read more: This is how exposure value (EV) works in photography

If you master these five basic settings, you’re on your way to no longer relying on your camera’s automatic mode. I don’t use M mode much, but I do use the other manual modes! It’s very nice to be able to make adjustments in the settings yourself so that your photos look the way you envision them. good luck!