12. How to Take Photos 7: Camera Menu Settings

Each camera will have different menu settings and options, depending on when it was made and what it was designed for. It's good to look through your menu settings to see what options are available. Newer digital cameras may have the following:

HDR – high dynamic range photography, merges two or three photos together with different exposures - one underexposed, one overexposed and one in-between, combining all the detail from each. I’m not sure if there’s a function somewhere on you camera that does this while you shoot. I know it's a possibility to do manually in post production. One test of your camera's performance is to see how good its dynamic range is - it's ability to record the darkest and lightest areas of the picture without losing detail. This is commonly most problematic with bright skies and comparatively darker trees and buildings.

Exposure Compensation: This is a sliding scale meter function on your camera. You’ll find the button for it is a little box with a + and – sign on it. Hold it while scrolling a wheel to move the pointer on the scale. Some cameras have a large wheel on the back dedicated to exposure compensation. Leave it in the middle on Zero for mid-brightness. Move it to the left to make everything a bit darker, and to the right to make it lighter.  A + / – 1 makes a very dramatic difference because every whole number (or stop) represents either doubling the amount of light, or cutting it in half.  You can use this creatively for darker silhouettes and for over-exposed “washed out” images. To photograph lighter pieces of paper and get the exposure right, try moving the slider + 2 or 3. High end cameras currently have a range of about 10-14 stops. Older cameras have a range of around 7 stops.

Set quality to large, fine quality – either jpg or raw

Auto-Focus Modes

Depending on how new and expensive your camera is, you may be able to choose some different auto-focus modes. It's worth checking what your camera has available.

AF-S one-shot, single focus. When you press the shutter button halfway, it keeps that focus no matter where you point the camera afterward. This is better in general.

AI-Servo, AF-C, continuous, it’s constantly updates the focus. This is better for fast moving subjects, like birds.

Center Point Focus: This is what you'll want to use most of the time. Set your AF to the center point (if your camera allows it) since that’s what you most often care about.

Manual Focus Mode: This is useful when your subject isn't moving, and the auto-focus just can't get it right, for whatever reason - if there's low light, or it's foggy, or the subject is just too distant.

Eye Tracking Auto Focus Mode: Some newer cameras have the ability to recognize a person's eyes and will focus on them above all else. This comes in handy for portraits, especially outdoors, or anywhere with a very busy composition.

Drive Modes

Single shot is normal and best, in general.

Rapid fire is for rapid motion and you can’t just hit the perfect moment, so you rapid fire and hope one is best. This is great for action shots, like at sporting events or for nature in motion – birds, animals running. One fun fact: the speed at which you can take rapid shots is not just dependent on your camera, it's also up to your memory card. There's a number listed on each one, that says how many MB (megabytes) per second it can save. The higher the number the better:

10 sec timer: This is good for getting into the photo, but also for lowlight night shots where you don’t want camera shake. Even better with a remote control.

Mirror Lock Up Mode: This is a mode in SLR cameras to help reduce camera shake for longer exposures. It waits to the mirror to move up into place before taking the shot, because the movement of the mirror can cause a minor vibration that would add a bit of blur to the image. Not every camera has this mode. 

Light Metering Modes

The best metering mode for Canon is evaluative mode (Matrix for Nikon). This mode uses the light meter for the whole picture frame, not just one part. Other options are Partial, Center Weighted, and Spot modes. Spot mode is mostly useful for studio work where you first focus on a grey card to get the light metered just right. Some cameras will let you choose where the spot will be in the image, like on a person's face, even if they're not in the center of the image - there's a little red square you can move around, until you get it right where you want it, so that part will be metered and set the exposure for the rest of the image.