If you’ve ever tried to take photos that just haven’t looked as good as you’ve wanted them to, you may have missed a few of the important steps that we’ll be discussing in this article. In order to get great images, there are some components of your camera’s settings that you’ll need to be able to understand and utilize properly.
In this article we’ll briefly walk through each setting and discuss some tips on composition as well. For a more comprehensive walk through of these things, feel free to sign up for my free Ditch Auto Course where I’ll explain everything you need to know to take amazing photos. You can check out that course here:
https://learnwithjerad.com/p/ditch-auto-start-shooting-in-manual
3 Main Settings
The three main settings that will control the amount of light and the general look of your photo are: the shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO. If you have no idea what these things are, or what they mean, don’t worry about it. We’ll walk through all three in this article.
If you have a Sony camera like me, your aperture will be adjustable on the control wheel on the front of the camera, (pictured below.) This is where the aperture adjustment is on most cameras.
You can adjust the shutter speed with the control wheel on the top of the camera. On smaller cameras that don’t have this dial, you’ll likely find your shutter speed adjustment on the main wheel on the back of your camera.
The ISO can be adjusted with the main wheel on the back of the camera here:
By default, you tap on the right side of the wheel and then dial the wheel to adjust the ISO.
The first thing you’ll want to do is identify where these setting adjustments are on your camera. If they’re different than the areas my camera utilizes, mess around until you find them or look them up online.
Another important thing to note is that you won’t be able to change these settings yourself unless you’re shooting in manual mode. To get to manual mode, Move the dial on the top of your camera to the “M” setting. If you want truly great photos, you’ll need to be shooting in manual. This mode gives you the greatest amount of control over your camera and its settings when you’re shooting. Now let’s walk through each of the three settings and I how use them to get a good shot.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is an adjustment that changes how long your camera’s sensor is exposed to light. Every time you take a picture, a shutter that blocks the sensor opens up for a split second, allowing light to reach the sensor. After a certain amount of time, the shutter closes again and your image is processed. Now your shutter speed is represented by fractions of a second. Faster speeds like 1/500th of a second will expose light to your sensor for less time than slower speeds like 1/30 or 1/2. How long your shutter is open also changes the look of your photo.
If you leave your shutter open for a longer period of time, it leaves more room for things to move and change while the sensor is still looking at the scene. Because of this, you end up with more motion blur the slower your shutter speed is. If you’ve ever taken a photo in automatic mode that has ended up blurry, especially in lower light situations, it’s likely your camera automatically made the shutter speed too slow which caused a lot of unwanted motion blur in the shot. In manual mode, you get to custom set your shutter speed to be fast enough that there won’t be too much motion blur, but slow enough that it lets enough light in to properly expose your shot. Now, fast shutter speeds and slow shutter speeds can both have great effects that might make your shot look great. For example, really fast shutter speeds, like the images below that have a shutter speed of 1/800, can be great for shooting sports or taking action shots.
Because you’re only opening the shutter for a very small amount of time, it captures really sharp images of subjects that are moving very quickly. On the opposite side, purposefully using a slower shutter speed can also have a real cool effect. Take this picture of a creek bed for example. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 because it blurred the running water to give it more of a smooth flowing effect.
One thing to note about using slower shutter speeds is that you’ll likely need to use a tripod. If you’re holding the camera in your hand, the movement of your hands during the shot will make your image look blurry and unfocused. Using a tripod ensures that your camera remains perfectly steady during shots with slower shutter speeds.
Overall, the shutter speed you choose to use is largely dependent on how bright it is and how fast your subject is moving. If you’re shooting in a dark situation, you’re going to need a slower shutter speed to make sure that your photo is bright enough. If it’s a really bright sunny day, you will probably want to opt for a faster shutter speed to limit the amount of light coming in.
Aperture
Next, let’s discuss aperture. Aperture is the second setting I adjust because it controls the look and feel of the photo more than the other settings. The aperture is a set of blades in your camera that limit the amount of light that hits your sensor while the shutter is open.
The aperture can get very small or very large, depending on what you want your photo to look like. Aperture is the setting that adjusts how much depth of field is in your shot. To put it simply, depth of field is how much of your shot is in focus and how much is blurred. A wide open aperture, like F1.4, is going to have a very shallow depth of field which means that your subject will be clear and everything in the background will be incredibly blurry. Here is an example of a shallow depth of field with a blurry background.
And here is an example of a very closed aperture at F11, with a very deep depth of field:
The aperture you choose will be dependent on what type of image you’re trying to capture. If you are taking portraits like the one below, a shallow depth of field is a great option that makes your photo look professional. If you’re trying to take a more scenic picture of some mountains, you’ll want to use a smaller aperture to ensure the whole scene stays in focus. The wider the aperture is, the more light will hit your sensor, making your shot brighter. Because of this, you may need to readjust your shutter speed to make sure your shot is exposed well.
ISO
The last setting you need to understand is the ISO. The ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor. Increasing your ISO will make your shot brighter. The tricky part about increasing your ISO is that the higher the ISO is, the noisier the shot will be. I typically set my shutter speed and my aperture to the settings I want and then I only use the ISO as an extra boost to the light if I feel like the shot needs it. If you find that you do end up with some unwanted noise, you can always apply a little bit of noise reduction with your image editing software if you’d like. Apps like Adobe Lightroom typically do a pretty good job when it comes to reducing the noise without losing too much detail in your shot.
Overview
Let’s summarize everything in a few quick steps. First, I set my shutter speed. I set it so it’s fast enough that my shot won’t be blurry, but slow enough that I’ve got enough light. Next, I set the aperture to get the depth of field that I desire. Lastly, I use the ISO sparingly to really zero in on the best exposure for the shot.
Exposure Tip
Most cameras come with an exposure meter that gives you a numerical value to represent how bright the brightest parts of your shot are. This is a great tool to help confirm that your shot is correctly exposed. I use my eyes for most of the work and then use the meter to check that I’m still on track. I shoot to keep my exposure at the -1.0 mark to ensure that I’m not over exposing any part of my shot.
Final Thoughts
The best way to improve at understanding these settings is to get out there and start shooting. Eventually, these things will start to become second nature and you’ll adjust them correctly without even thinking about it. I hope this article was helpful for you if you didn’t know what these settings were. For more detailed information on how to get amazing photos out of your camera, don’t forget to sign up for my free ditch auto course here: https://learnwithjerad.com/p/ditch-auto-start-shooting-in-manual
Also, check out my top 7 settings to change on the brand new Sony a7 IV here:
